Ft Myers diver dies

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First, I would like to offer my deepest condolences to Carson's family. It is, indeed, a terrible tragedy.

Jewfish (by any name) are not the hulking teddy bears they appear to be. They are powerful and relatively fearless predators.
I have had more problems with Jewfish than sharks.

Some years ago, I worked as a divemaster in Key West . In order to entertain the customers, I would carry a bag of bait to feed the fish and morays on the local wrecks. Once, while holding a balao for a cloud of yellowtails, I was grabbed from behind by a previously unseen Jewfish (approximately 300 lbs) who took balao, hand and wrist and headed for the other end of the wreck. I was dragged along like a rag doll for about 50 feet before I was released. My hand and wrist looked like they had contacted a power sander.
Another time, while investigating a small wreck, I was knocked ass over tincups by a Jewfish I encountered in a passageway. Another one, also in wreck, grabbed my hand while I was trying to get ready to take his picture. When a Jewfish "woofs" at me, even in more open environments, I pay attention.

When spearfishing, I always have a line attached to my stringer that can be easily released or cut. When doing a stop on a line, I hang my gun, but hold my stringer in my hand for instant release if necessary.

Over the years, one of the more important things I have learned is that stuff happens and often happens damned fast.
 
Funny you mention that...

They have the ability to make this "booming" noise (that's the only way I can describe it) that you can FEEL in your chest.

I presume that this is their way of saying "I'm pizzed off, go away!"

I've yet to get one irritated enough to get them to "boom", but I've heard 'em boom before when someone else in the water was swimming around them trying to get film and just look.

Anything that weighs twice what you do or more is potentailly dangerous, especially when it can breathe water, you can't, and you're IN the water.
 
Didn't see any mention of a jewfish in any of the reports - did I miss something?
Now hear this!
Do not clip off your stringer to yourself.
Clip it to the down line.
Clip it to the anchor line.
Clip it to a lift bag and send it up for the boat to retrieve.
Tie it to a rock.
If you must have the stringer with you, either hold it in your hand or tie it with a half bow (which you can release with a simple pull even when it's under tension) to a ring you can reach easily no matter which way a predator pulls it.
Trust me on this one.
E.
 
A stringer inside a (largish) game bag.

I do clip it off. BUT I tie the bolt snap to the handle of the bag with a piece of cave line, which I can easily cut if I have to. No metal-to-metal connections, remember? :)

This way (1) I can get bugs OR fish on any given dive, since I have a place to stuff bugs, (2) the fish are not easily VISIBLE to predators (hunting modes are aural, visual and by smell; interrupt at least one and you help things greatly!), (3) I have a stringer for really big fish and a bag to stuff small fish (e.g. flounder) into, which is much faster than stringing them, (4) I can clip off the bag around the anchor line and/or clip a lift bag to it, and send it up if I have to, (5) it appears to be a part of ME, and that tends to deter attacks; a diver is large, noisy, bubbling and threatening (especially if you have a speargun in your hand) and (6) if something grabs the bag anyway or things get too threatening for my taste I can cut it free even if it is under extreme tension.

No, its not perfect, but I feel that this is a good choice for the local conditions. If I was shooting only one fish on a dive then I'd just send it up when shot but that doesn't work if you are hunting and shooting multiple fish on a single dive, and we usually are.

So far I have not had to ditch my game, and we do often see sharks and occasionally Jewfish. I've also keep a "surprise" for anything that gets real aggressive, provided that I get the time to use it. The problem with a popper is that the most common time to get "ambushed" is right after you've shot something (think about it - the fish you shot is obviously injured or dead, looks it, and that's the "dinner bell" for anything predatory in the area), and at that point your gun is UNLOADED and thus your popper is useless.

With that in mind NEVER connect your gun to you when fighting a fish, and be prepared to lose the gun if something big takes what you just shot. Guns are expensive, but way cheaper than your life! (The other alternative is to rig your line so you can "ride" it; FredT has posted some descriptions of this kind of rig, but I have been unable to get it to work well with my Riffe, as that gun uses the line to secure the shaft until the gun is fired.)
 
crispos, this thread should help you out:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35893&highlight=goliath+grouper

I have had an experience or two looking down the maw of a 200-300# jewfish.. I'll tell you without hesitation that big guy had 0% fear of me, in fact, taunted me by coming out of his hole and turning full sideways to me just as lazy as one looks at the last of their beer in the bottom of a bottle after imbibing in a 6 pack. With hardly a move of the tail he just glided off into the Gulf somewhere.. It was quite awe inspiring.

crispos once bubbled...
C'mon Fred, Attack of the Killer Jewfish?

You know, they are as hungry and aggressive as sharks, but only with the blood in the water. I guess I just haven't seen this sized monsters up close and personal like you guys. What is "drug divers around by the stiringer"?? Anyways, again, poor diver, but didn't he shoot a grouper which surfaced? My thoughts are more likely it's an out of air situation.
 
I know grouper behavior very well. My strategy when hunting them is to make them curious, get them to slow down and stop. Never chase a grouper. Make them curious and they will come to you.

I just don't believe that giant groupers are any different, that they would purposely grab a divers leg. They are going to the food, that is one thing. If you threaten a big grouper, I could see it. Other than that, I would have to come down to Florida to believe they purposely grab on to a divers leg and drag him aruound "like a rag doll". I just don't believe they are inherently that aggressive. I am ready to drive down to Floridad (with my Trans Am and my five spear guns and Hawaian slings) to find out.
 
they have been FED for quite some time.

That's bad news, like feeding sharks is. They come to associate divers with food, and if you then show up with some food (a dead or dying fish) they may decide they want it - NOW.
 
http://www.spearboard.com//newsjewfishattack.html

Another account of the same hit
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Daily fishing report

By: CHAD CARNEY
Published August 9, 2003
© St. Petersburg Times
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It was bound to happen. Last week a 500-pound goliath grouper grabbed a scuba diver from his knee to below his calf and shook him underwater. This occurred at 165 feet on a sinkhole offshore Sarasota.

Dan MacMahon just had speared a cobia and said the goliath had been stalking him. Fearing his knee would buckle, he slammed the fish in the head with the butt of his speargun, but it only backed off a few feet and attacked again. In the split second between attacks, MacMahon loaded a 30-06 powerhead, designed for shark protection, onto his speargun and killed the fish. The grouper's behavior led MacMahon to believe he was not its first victim.

One only can wonder what the outcome would have been had a novice spearfisherman been attacked on a popular wreck like the Tramp Steamer, where a dozen or more monstrous goliath groupers, a protected species, reside.

The St. Pete Open Spearfishing Tournament is Aug.16 at the Tierra Verde Resort & Yacht Club. Weigh-in begins at 6:30 p.m.

- Chad Carney teaches scuba & spearfishing and runs charters out of St. Petersburg. Call 727 423-7775 or e-mail

http://trekflorida.com/cgi-bin/WebO...D=2003921822702
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https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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