Has anyone tried underwater fishing before?

[ClayJar]

I was diving the Black Bart off Panama City Beach, FL, earlier this year, and I saw what looked for a moment like an underwater turbo-micro-hedgehog (or the old Bugs Bunny tunnelling left-turn-at-Albequerque thing). Then I saw the catfish that was dragging the lead egg weight on about a foot of line. It took off for the deck, almost made it, and then plummeted back to the bottom.

Well, I did what anybody would do. I signaled my dive buddy, "Wait. I grab that. Okay?" I finned slowly toward the fish until it tired for just a moment, at which point I lunged forward and caught the weight. We closed back up, me with a catfish spinning around my hand like a bad attempt at a yo-yo, and off we went to find some divers with cameras.

Best part of it was walking my "pet catfish" up to the wheelhouse where a class of OW divers was with their instructor on the fifth dive of their checkout weekend. The instructor did a double take and then laughed and pointed me out to all his students, who got a great story out of it.

We released the catfish after one more photo op. No telling how long the poor thing had been fighting that weight, but I figured if any fish deserved to be released, that was the one.

(Plus, I don't have a fishing license.)

 

[dhampton82]

I wholeheartedly support the idea of catching fish under water. I tried for a full day to catch some in Death Valley but only a few stones moved and I went away dehydrated and asking myself existential questions..

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say that....

 

[Guba]

Two weeks ago, my buddy and I were in a lake in Oklahoma when he pointed out a foot-long Apaloosa catfish on the bottom. I thought it strange that it didn't move much until we realized that it was hooked and caught on an underwater log! We did the photo op thing, too, then released it. Poor thing was emaciated and chewed on by other critters. No telling how long it had been on the bottom on that one-foot tether of monofilament. Of course, we released it.

 

[billblack]

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say that....

I am ashamed to admit that I never thought of it....

 

[CJ Waid]

Kind of hard to practice catch and release with a spear gun...

Yea, what I was saying was don't buy a spear gun, go out and kill fish just to kill them, I know people that do that, and I think it is evil.

And you can catch them and release them with a spear gun, they just swim a little different after they have had a spear in them.

 

[Thalassamania]

It's hard to release them after you eat them too.

 

[Santa]

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say that....

Well imagine some of the replies I got to my "How do you breathe?" thread ;0)

 

[plot]

At Beaver Lake in Arkansas we often find clams, break them open, and let the fish come eat out of our hands. They're all little tiny perch or sunfish or whatever they have down there, but it's fairly easy to catch them with your bare hands while they're eating clam guts out of them.

 

[fire_diver]

It's hard to release them after you eat them too.

A little fiber in your diet should help that. :mooner:

FD

 

[PapaBob]

A while ago I was trying to help keep a local reef clean by removing some monofilament that had wrapped around a sponge before the fisherman snapped it. When I felt a tug at the other end, I "reeled in" a small puffer fish. This was catch and release. I did have a valid salt water fishing license.

---Bob