MikeJacobs
Guest
I love fish, both IN the water and ON the grille! This week's harvest included hogfish and grouper, as well as a few grunt experiments - some successful and some NOT so successful.
The fact is, though, that we don't see a lot of "keepers" here in LBTS and so I've decided not to take any more from the shallow reefs... now, the dropoff or thereabouts is fair game since that's where the fishing boats go, and where the bigger critters live.
It's not a good idea to spear on the closer reefs, and IMO those who do are probably too inexperienced to discriminate between the keepers and the protected.
For example, the smallest species of grouper you can take is 20" and the largest "minimum size" species is 24" with a few protected species that you can't take at all. Given that you're often shooting into a hole, it's almost impossible to measure before you kill - VERY unfortunate for us sightseers (and especially for the grouper).
So basically a grouper has to be SCARY big to be a keeper. 2 feet is a LOT of fish, especially when they're grouper-bulky. Even a 12" hogfish looks BIG underwater (the minimum size) and we don't see many of them in-shore anyway.
Pork fish are plentiful and the larger ones are VERY tasty and easily grilled without scaling - the skin just peels off. I tried other grunt species because we have a couple of fishermen who keep them, but they don't grill well and are difficult to eat without a lot of work. The good-size pork fish are out at the mooring bouys, and there's no limit on them.
Well, that's my report... spearfishing may or may not sit well with other LBTS locals, but I had to try it before concluding for myself that it's not a practical hunt. If you see other divers or snorklers spearing here and there's a BSO or fish & game officer nearby, you might let them know to check for licenses and legal sizes.
Otherwise, any kayak divers (or diveyak divers lol) who want to try out the bouys sometime with a spear, let me know.
The fact is, though, that we don't see a lot of "keepers" here in LBTS and so I've decided not to take any more from the shallow reefs... now, the dropoff or thereabouts is fair game since that's where the fishing boats go, and where the bigger critters live.
It's not a good idea to spear on the closer reefs, and IMO those who do are probably too inexperienced to discriminate between the keepers and the protected.
For example, the smallest species of grouper you can take is 20" and the largest "minimum size" species is 24" with a few protected species that you can't take at all. Given that you're often shooting into a hole, it's almost impossible to measure before you kill - VERY unfortunate for us sightseers (and especially for the grouper).
So basically a grouper has to be SCARY big to be a keeper. 2 feet is a LOT of fish, especially when they're grouper-bulky. Even a 12" hogfish looks BIG underwater (the minimum size) and we don't see many of them in-shore anyway.
Pork fish are plentiful and the larger ones are VERY tasty and easily grilled without scaling - the skin just peels off. I tried other grunt species because we have a couple of fishermen who keep them, but they don't grill well and are difficult to eat without a lot of work. The good-size pork fish are out at the mooring bouys, and there's no limit on them.
Well, that's my report... spearfishing may or may not sit well with other LBTS locals, but I had to try it before concluding for myself that it's not a practical hunt. If you see other divers or snorklers spearing here and there's a BSO or fish & game officer nearby, you might let them know to check for licenses and legal sizes.
Otherwise, any kayak divers (or diveyak divers lol) who want to try out the bouys sometime with a spear, let me know.
