A day on the reef in Belize

[Hank49]

Shot this medium sized dog snapper on the edge of the dropoff in about 80 feet of water. As I pulled it within 25 feet of the surface (using 100 foot floatline and floater) a barracuda charged in and started chomping its tail. I was yanking on the line cursing the barro, and at that point my son dove down and took a shot at it, missing. The barracuda swam off and I turned to swim towards the boat, pulling the fish. Then I felt a very strong pull on the line. As I turned, a pretty large, fat shark (8-9 feet) had grabbed the fish and was diving into the blue. I watched my 100 foot line and then the 35 liter floater disappear into the blue. I popped to the surface thinking that classic line from Jaws, "we're gonna need a bigger boat". hah. I yelled for Jake to come and pull the anchor so we could chase down the floater if it came up. Right then it popped to the surface about 100 yards away. I guess the shark couldn't bite through the cable of the slip tip and let it go. He bent the hell out of it though. I never saw the shark until he had the fish. Jake saw it coming in acting all agro and was yelling at me....but I never heard. Like the saying goes, the one you never see is the bad one.

Great spot. I shot another 14 lb dog that dove and went into a cave at about 100 feet over the wall. I couldn't pull him up and had to strap on my scuba gear and dive down to get him out. The 100 foot floatline, 18 feet of shooting line and the stretch bungee were straight down. I had to crawl into this little "cave" and reach up in to a hole to get the fish, which had died.
Good spot. Hoping some wahoo show up there next full moon.

 

[JPENDERGRAST]

Nice kill!

 

[OceanEd]

Where are you in Belize? I spent a year down there on my sailboat, diving and spearfishing.

 

[Hank49]

Where are you in Belize? I spent a year down there on my sailboat, diving and spearfishing.

I live just north of Dangriga near a little fishing village called Mullins River, which is also where the Mullins River is. I've lived in San Pedro for a year and a half when I first came here and then moved to Placencia for 5 years. I've been here in Mullins for 4 years now.
Those fish were in the cut outside of Southern Long Caye.
Are you the same OceanEd on Spearboard?

 

[Scubahagel]

What kind of laws and regulations are there for spearfishing in Belize? It sounds like alot of fun, but I would be worried about a nice bull or tiger shark coming to take a closer look at my catch lol.

 

[OceanEd]

Hank:

That's affirmative. I recently started getting active here on this board.

I loved the spearing out at the southern end of Glovers Reef, both just inside the reef on on the south outside of the reef.

I sailed all over and then during hurricane season I went up the Rio Dulce river in Guatemala to wait it out. Then came back out and kept diving Belize for awhile before sailing back up to the USA.

 

[Hank49]

Scubahagel: You can only free dive spearfish here in Belize. There are protected marine reserves also that are NO TAKE zones. You can't shoot Nassau grouper and, I believe, now parrot fish are protected. Other than that, you can bring a gun here on vacation and find a guide to take you out. Or, call me.

Hi Steve: I thought that was you. I recognized the jacks in your avatar but you looked different. I've been wanting to get out to Glovers because there is supposed to be a very good wahoo spot on the northwest tip. The rest of Glovers is now an enforced (as well as Belize CAN enforce it) reserve, meaning no spearing at all. I do get out to the Elbow of Turneffe (southern tip) and have about 6 good spots in cuts along the reef.
Sounds like you live a good life.

 

[OceanEd]

Hank:

I loved diving the elbow at Turneff. There really is some good diving out on the Atols. Another place I loved was down by the bird preserve at the southern end of Lighthouse.

Wish I was down there with you now. About a year ago I was asked to develop the diver training for ScubaWorks in Jupiter, Florida. So I am not cruising now but an training divers and instructors for a while. Having a blast, expecially when you consider that the owner is the captain of the SharkTales team who are presently the #1 team in Florida presently. We get to talk about hunting all the time and practice it.

 

[letterboy]

Sweet Hank!!

I so wanna get back down to Belize - probably not in the cards again this year :depressed:

 

[Hank49]

Sweet Hank!!

I so wanna get back down to Belize - probably not in the cards again this year :depressed:

It'd be great if you can get back here. But please....don't cause another earth quake this time.