Block Island Spearfishing Report May 29, 2016 - Ricardo Cruelles

Date: Friday 5/29/2016
Area: Block Island Report
Report Contributor: Ricardo Cruelles

First trip out on the Imagination to BI was slow, as expected. We met up with Captain Jay and we were off by 630am. Ride out was relatively flat with just a bit of a southerly breeze and seas of ½ foot, if that. We tried some of early season drifts closer to shore that looked promising on the machine but ended up being rather slow and lifeless, water temp closer to shore was a balmy 54 degrees and with the new Beuchat 5mm Rock Sea suit I was very comfortable indeed. We managed a couple of decent blackfish and saw many juvenile black sea bass, which is a very encouraging sign for the future.

We moved to a different side of the Island and tried a few more drifts, which yielded one Striped Bass and a few other Blackfish in relatively shallow waters.

With about 50 dives under our belts we decided to hit for a little bit deeper water in search of some Bass, water temperature dropped to 51 degrees which is still very cold for this time of the year. We were rather unsuccessful in our search and we only managed to find one small bunch of Bass which eluded one of our younger divers. We did see some very nice sized Sea Bass which we hope they will still be around once RI season opens up.

All and all a very nice day on the water with some great buddies and a nice shakedown for the Imagination. Thank you as usual to Capt. Jason Saiz for always taking us out.

In my humble opinion in the next two weeks things will start to light up out there and the fish will start to show up in numbers, until then, best bet to stay inshore and fish the Bay and the Sound.
Aloha and stay Safe out there boys and girls!

First Lobster Dive Report Cape Cod Bay - May 30, 2016

A good buddy Mark Welzel and I had scheduled ourselves for a freedive for lobster trip this morning in Plymouth County, then the rain from remnants of tropical depression Bonnie moved in.  At 6:00 a.m. this morning we looked at the radar and made the call to go anyway, even though it was raining when we left NEF. We arrived to getting suited up in a downpour and the walk to the shore felt a little silly as the rain dripping from our heads clouded our view as we chuckled about it. The tide was high, the sea was flat, there was no lightning forecasted so what did we have to loose... what were we going to get a wet?

The tide was high as we hopped into 50 degree water temps that felt so good in the new Beuchat Rock Sea Trigo Camo 5 mm wetsuit. Immediately we noticed the big Jonah Crabs were in in big numbers. I have a few great recipes for crab so maybe once or twice a year when they seem big and plentiful I like to grab a bunch for my kids to eat and then pick the rest of the meat and freeze for some future cooking. Yes it is a little work but some free time, and a 6 pack and some reggae playing I manage to clean them all. The large ones in spring are very sweet tasting and an excellent choice for any number of crab recipes.

We proceeded to work a short stretch of shoreline as the rain came down pulling many bugs for the next few hours. The 20 foot visibility in this location makes it fun to hunt bug dens from the surface and enjoy seeing all the life in the area. Small blackfish, cunner, small eel pout and a womper of fluke I wish i could have taken with my Crist polespear in hand. But i was occupied pulling a keeper bug from it's lair when i noticed it a few feet away.
 
We managed to cull through the very shorts, just barely shorts, too big, V notched females and egg bearers to end up with a few keeper lobsters a piece. Typical early season dive that i can look forward to getting better in the next few weeks. Along the way we also managed to both almost limit out on the large Jonahs that seemed to be everywhere, so we could be selective.



By trips end we had a nice dive bag of tasty morsels for our families and a great workout at 64 drops. A great day with a great friend and some more quality time with mother ocean. It seems as though some good lobster diving is here and hopefully you manage to find more keepers than i did today, but plenty of lobsters inshore to make it fun diving. Mahalo.

Mass Invitational Spearfishing Tournament Report - May 28 2016

Just a quick dive report from the Mass Invitational Spearfishing Tournament hosted by the Mass Freedivers Club at Sakonnet Point yesterday in Little Compton RI.

New England Freedive Spearfishing Co sponsored some gear for prizes for the competitors in yesterdays meet. The atmosphere of this tournament is not a competitive as some and designed to get more new spearfisherman involved in our dive community and gives them a chance to dive a fun tournament, meet other divers and spend the day with one of the coolest and most helpful spearfishing communities you can find anywhere. It is truly not about the competition and more about the camaraderie and that is what we want all newcomers to the sport to experience and enjoy.

The wind out of the South West provided a little chop and stirred bottom up making for tight visibility to hunt in. Nonetheless, divers had a great day in the water although it was very tough to find tournament size fish (2" over minimum state regs) . Water temps were still around 54 degrees making a 5mm the perfect suit for these dive conditions.

This important fact should be noted - Almost all divers could find legal but not tournament size (2" over state regs)  fish and chose NOT to harvest them. I think this is a testament to the great stewardship of our local spearfishing community to act towards what the rules of these tournaments was designed to do and provide a manner for us to self regulate ourselves for a fishery we so love here in New England. Well done my friends !


Congratulations to Olivier Lauzon finishing First Place with a great stringer of fish including a striped bass and a pair of tautog, Mark Welzel took Second Place and Largest Fish with a 27.5 lb striped bass and Third Place was earned by Jon Stevens who connected with a tautog.

NEF was again honored to be the sponsor for this fun tournament and was proud to raffle of some gear to competitors and congratulations to Shang Jen who won the Mares Viper Pro 90cm Speargun we donated.

Some rainy weather seems to be heading our way tonight into tomorrow so today is the day to get out there and chase fish before your Memorial Day plans gets washed out. Do not plan on Sakonnet Point for bigger Tautog, maybe head North into the Bay to find those spawning fish or some of the spots outside the Bays along river mouths that were holding good fish earlier in the week. Divers are taking bass from the Bay to Block, with the inner bays holding more consistent numbers of fish right now.

Gear Review : HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Speargun

GEAR REVIEW: HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Speargun 85cm

Contributor: New England Freedive Spearfishing Co

Date: 5/16/2016

One of the new speargun lines that I have been testing heavily so far in 2016 is the HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Speargun. The most obvious feature on this speargun is their unique take on a elliptical or cuttlefish shaped barrel. This shape of barrel profile is nothing new in the industry but the way that HammerHead has incorporated this design with some of the other fantastic features offered on the Raptor make this speargun an animal all it’s own. First the poly urethane molded barrel is very hydrodynamic, making it easily maneuverable and adds some nice balance to the gun (we’ll get to that in a minute), while this exterior barrel covering offers a great sound deadening system both for when the gun is fired and if you should hit it on a rock or pier pylon. While chasing togs around a pier the other day I noticed first hand when I whacked the barrel against the cement base when aiming up to shoot a fish heading behind it there was no “twang” we are accustomed to hearing when we do that with an aluminum barrel gun. This speargun also features a full integrated shaft rail, so the noise of the shaft firing down the rail and bands retracting is highly minimized against this surface. Shooting is very quiet and smooth.

The most exciting fact about this Raptor barrel is that it absorbs some of the energy when firing, or what we spearos experience when firing as “kick”. This has allowed HammerHead to step up the rigging of this gun to utilize two 17.5 mm diameter bands which is different from the standard 16 mm bands we are accustomed to using on most reef hunting size guns with a 7 mm shaft. What I honestly expected was this gun to be overpowered. I expected it to kick and I had prepared myself to learn to adjust my technique at aiming and shooting to account for this. What I actually experienced is this is actually “the Perfect Setup” for this barrel! Laser accuracy, no recoil and a dependable greater shooting distance. 

I believe another key feature to enable this is the unique design of the pistol grip style molded hand grip that this speargun is outfitted with. “Hand Grip” believe it or not has a lot to do with how each person aims and fires a speargun. The molded formed grip design perfectly positions your hand and thumb when gripping it for great line of site when aiming and minimize any torquing of the wrist. Each gun comes with both a right and left handed grip to suit each diver’s need. I did miss the first fish I attempted to shoot with the 85cm. I then realized I was trying to brace my shooting arm for an expected kick to hold the gun steady on firing. So on the following drops I settled into a comfortable grip, relaxed and let the gun do the work. After that it was lights out on some tautog with some perfectly placed shots. The Raptor also comes rigged with two wraps of mono shooting line, foreseeing that you will soon realize your extended shooting range with the 17.5 mm bands. 

So how does this come into play for you here in New England? We are always dealing with our notorious ever changing water visibility here, and it usually not great.  So when diving the green haze I am now finding that I can use a shorter gun for better maneuverability and easier hunting and not have to sacrifice the shooting distance or power. I find myself diving with my Evolution2 Raptor 85 cm when the visibility is bad to good. We have all had that dive when we were using a shorter maybe 75 or 85 cm gun and had the opportunity to line up on a nice fish at extended distance and fire only to have the gun lack the power for good penetration or the shooting distance of shaft fall short due to one wrap of shooting line setup. The HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor is great weapon to solve that problem for you. With the extended shooting distance and increased power, you may consider the Raptor an alternative in situations where prefer the characteristics of a roller gun to accomplish a similar task... but with all the simplicity of 2 band railgun. I will be trying to dive outside the bay in the upcoming week and hopefully get to test the Raptor 95cm better in more open visibility conditions.

The other fantastic features of the Evolution 2 Raptor speargun are great design to the open muzzle allowing it to be easily setup for left or right hand users. This open muzzle also has deep defined posts and notches for the shooting line to sit in and not come loose, a problem I see with the design of some other guns.  

HammerHead has even designed the area (normally a line guide with not much thought put into a double line wrap use on some guns) for making the second line wrap around the line guide rounded with a lip (raised edge) to hold the line in place. Allowing you to easily make this second wrap and not worry about the line coming off its seat during reloading in the heat of battle. 

The Evolution2 Raptor is also designed with full integrated rail for the shaft on this unique barrel. Add to this list of great features their stainless steel trigger, stainless steel SIDE line release and adjustable trigger sensitivity and the Raptor boasts some really amazing features for a speargun in its modest price range. If you desire a reel with this gun the HammerHead Remora 70 meter Composite Reel simply slides on to the pre-designed reel mount on the gun and you are ready to rig it and dive. 

Another notable mention is that the Evolution2 Raptor also comes rigged with a high quality 17/64 hardened stainless steel flopper shaft with shark fins - and…. and… the flopper is already perfectly tuned !  That is another component often lacking in quality from other manufacturers and usually the first thing I change out on a new gun… with the exception of a few gun makers. Well done HammerHead !  

New England Freedive is presently stocking the HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Spearguns in 85cm & 95 cm sizes. HammerHead also offers the Evolution2 Raptor speargun in 105 cm & 115 cm lengths. We can gladly Special Order one for you in either size you desire. Special Order arrives quickly within 3 -4 business days. Just contact me at phone #774-644-3564 or email me at mike@nefreedive.com

May 14 2016 Narragansett Bay Spearfishing Report - Mike Chace

Date : Saturday 5/14/2016

Location: Narragansett Bay, RI

Report Contributor: Mike Chace

What a difference one week makes ! The Tog Cult here in the North East is back in the water and finding fish. Yesterday’s dive took place in upper Narragansett Bay. After 2 weeks of dismal reports from outside with few fish seen and water temps still holding at 47-49 degrees in some areas. Divers that have been finding blackfish have been finding few on deep rockpiles and ledges outside, with not much consistency. It was a great move to head up farther in the Bay and hit some areas that had a “some fish” 7-10 days ago. 

My Captain for the day and dive buddy had already hit a couple of spots farther south in the Bay before they picked me up at 9:15 and had seen again “more fish” at those spots than last week and picked up a couple of tautog each. We then proceeded to head to some rockpiles further north in the Bay in hopes of better numbers and maybe a chance to greet some of decent size bass that had taken up residence there in the last 2 weeks. 

The next area to check held plenty of tautog  18 -22 inches in length and my two dive buddies easily finished out their stringers with a third good fish. I managed to take one while being selective as I was really hoping to put some new gear through the trials and test new gear setups on this trip as well. I was just waiting for a bigger target to tempt me so I could light him up and test a new gun setup from a little further away but the visibility made longer shots difficult to determine fish length in the hazy green murk, so I held off. Water temp was 53 degrees and I was seeing as many as 8-12 fish on a drop in spots, a welcome site. Visibility was about 6 feet. 

The new Beuchat 5mm Rock Sea Trigo Camo Wetsuit is perfectly warm at the 53 degree water temp and made diving for a few hours very comfortable. This suit features Beuchat’s new Rock Sea Trigo Camo pattern which could be possibly the best camo pattern designed for hunting our New England rocky shorelines.

We proceeded to check one of my favorite early season bass spot a little further north in the Bay. Although the tide had not risen as much as I like to hunt this location, we dropped down to find many pods of tautog on every corner. Getting a limit of blackfish was not going to be a problem but I was keen to stretch the legs on the HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Speargun and take a bass with it here before heading home. One of my dive buddies saw one undersized bass but none of us was able to find a keeper, before the wind switched to blowing out of the south west and our captain advised us we had to pick up and head in to avoid a sloppy ride back. The water temp was noticeably 54 degrees in the final location. Fisherman have been taking some bass in the 40 inch range in the upper bay so it is only a matter of a day or two I think before a dedicated spearo or speara takes one up here. There is plenty of bait from squid to sea herring and lots of smaller offerings to hold the bass up here. Topping off your stringer with some fresh shellfish this time of year provides for some additional fun.

Hopefully I will get a trip in, in the next couple of days to check outside the bay to see how things are progressing since last week. 

Mahalo for a great day on the water with a couple of great friends Kevin Sheets and Eric Cadorette, good weather and a bay full of fish again. I wish you safe diving in 2016 and an exciting season.

Feel free to post up your own spearfishing pictures or reports over on our New England Freedive Spearfishing Co Facebook Page, here -  https://www.facebook.com/nefreedive . We love to see what everyone is catching or seeing out there.

If you purchased a piece of gear from NEF we would love to have you submit a product review on our website. Simply go to the product page of the item you purchased (either online, phone or in shop... does not matter) and click the Submit A Review Link on bottom of page. Thank You.

La Paz Mexico Spearfishing Trip Report April 16 - 23 2016 - Ricardo Cruelles

Trip to La Paz, Mexico April 16^th – 23^rd 2016

Trip Report Contributor - Ricardo Cruelles  @rcruelles

As we stuff our Sportubes with our gear the anticipation builds, it has been a long winter in New England! The boys and I have been texting constantly to figure out if we have all the gear we need and talking about the sea/weather forecast. 

At last the day comes, after many trips back and forth to see Mike at New England Freedive Spearfishing Co gathering last minute gear add-ons. We left from Providence and headed out for La Paz, we collected Ed in Baltimore during our layover and we were off. 

Once we got to Cabo San Lucas we were greeted by Don Pedro, which the guys at Pistoleros del Mar had set up for us, and loaded all the gear to make the 2 HR trek north to La Paz. The landscape is unlike any other I have seen anywhere, it is truly a vast and rather barren landscape filled with cactus with views of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean.

We arrived at our hotel in La Paz, The 7 Crowns Centro, unloaded of all our gear and quickly made our way to “El Malecon”( boardwalk ) overlooking at La Paz’s Bay, and we made ourselves at home in one of the many restaurants along the waterfront. We indulged in some of the local dishes and a few cold Pacificos before heading back to our hotel to meet Patrick from Pistoleros. Once we met with him we devised a plan for the upcoming week. 

We spent Sunday prepping all of our gear, rigging wire/lines, making bungies, etc…. as well as taking in some of the local sites and cuisine and counting down the hours until we got to jump in the water to start hunting. 

Monday morning came around and as planned the guys picked us up bright and early, we loaded up the pick up truck with gear and we headed to the marina. Once we arrived at the marina we were pleased to see the 28ft cat style boat ready to take us to the diving spots. We sorted out our weights and we made our way out of the manmade marina channel. Once we steamed out of the channel we were in awe of the landscape that lay before us, Baja is truly a unique place unlike any I have seen before anywhere. 

Day one started off diving at one of the reefs at about 35 to 75ft in depth to get us acclimated to the water and some of the bottom structure. We were able to wrestle up a couple of good size pargos and a few cabrillas along with a monster Parrotfish Dave shot that made for a delicious dinner at the marina restaurant once we made it back to land.  Some of the lessons learned from day one where that the fish here were not going to be easy to get, mainly their speed and the distances where incredibly difficult to judge as we lined up on them, and we were going to have to work hard to achieve our daily limits. The depths in which some of the nicer fish reside are definitely deeper than any fish we are accustomed to hunt for in New England, between 50 and 90ft. Water temp was around 73 degrees and we were all happy to be wearing our 3mm wetsuits. 

Day 2 started off a little bit later in the morning and with a lot more gear being prepped as we set off to the fishing camp in the Village of San Evaristo. This was the beginning of our 3 day adventure north of La Paz inside the Sea Of Cortez, diving the Islands and making camp at night in Mr Antonio’s compound on the beach in San Evaristo. The family was most accommodating to us and treated us like kings while we were there. The accommodations are “rustic” at best and do not look for WIFI there because there is none but the remoteness and the isolation from the everyday rat race made this a truly wonderful adventure with a great group of people. 

We dove the Islands of San Jose, Santa Cruz, San Dieguito, Las Animas, Espiritu Santo and many others, all with their unique and distinct features and marine bottom. We also dove a few Bluewater spots in between that averaged 150ft to 300ft in depth, were Patrick a nice AJ and we shot few Red Snappers. I was happy to be using my new Bluewater set up, Rob Allen 130cm Carbon with a Mori Slip-Tip coupled with the Neptonics breakaway system that worked flawlessly while gliding into the fish balls at 65ft, point and shoot and BINGO! Guachinango Time! (Local name for Red Snapper)

We ended up the day with a few good Pargos, a couple of Barred Pargos, some cabrillas and a few good triggers. 

The next two days were similar in the type of diving but we were getting a lot more comfortable with our dives and understanding the fish behaviors. We loaded up on day 3 on the pargos along with a couple of monster triggers that weighed in at over 10lbs! One at 12lbs! Needless to say that Antonio and his family were happy to see all the fish coming in at the end of the day. 

We finished our time on the water with a swim with two Whalesharks clocking in at over 25ft each! This capped our water time off with a bang! 

I can truly say that this was one the best dive trips of my life, the crew at Pistoleros del Mar is second to none. Patrick, Victor and Gonzalo are exceptional at making sure all was set up for us and that we had everything we needed. They ran the boat flawlessly and brought us to some amazing spots, they set up the fish camp adventure and ensured we were comfortable. I really recommend their operation to anyone considering a trip to Baja to spearfish. 

Some of the things we learned about the gear set ups are that pargo will make playdough out of steel shafts when they want to. I really recommend using coated wire vs. mono line while targeting this fish. A 130cm or bigger gun with a breakaway set up is highly recommended here, reels are not the way to go. My Carbon RA was perfect most of the time. 

A 75ft line and a 3ATM float would be preferred with your breakaway set up, this will ensure that you have all the gear you need on the reef/wrecks and also in the Bluewater situation. 

We were lucky to have loaded up with gear for the occasion that New England Freedive brought in for us over the winter to set us up for the trip, it made for a week free of gear mishaps and wishing we had this set up or that set up, we had everything we needed to get the job done. I can’t thank Mike Chace enough for that! 

This was an amazing adventure with friends! I recommend La Paz to anyone looking for some challenging spearfishing, some incredibly nice people, fantastic food and marvelous topography!

Hasta el Año que viene La Paz! Nos Vemos! Y muchas Gracias por todo!