Where's the best place to spear in the USA?

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Reel Crazy14

Contributor
Messages
211
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Location
Orlando
# of dives
200 - 499
I know there's a lot of spearos from all over the country. What state/region/city has the best spearing?

I would have to say NE florida. Not very good vis or warm water but the spearing and lobstering is outstanding. Not to mention uncrowded dive sites.
 
NE Florida has the great advantage of being near Georgia which has the largest fish nursery in the US. I agree, of course, lots of game. What's the deal with the local fish names? Can you give us a few starting with yellowtail snapper (real name)?

I don't have any favorites. There was a time, in the 1970's, when I would have named VA Beach. Before the days of diver head boats and LORAN, the offshore wrecks were absolutely crawling with tautog, jacks and all manner of critters.

The bridge tunnel area contained so many stripers, tautog, flounder, sheepshead, bluefish (thousands upon thousands) that spearfishing was a done deal even for a novice, that is if the water was clear which is seldom. My all time record flounder, 13 pounds, had plenty of company. The sea trout (weakfish) cannot be approached by a tank diver. On summer, freediving, I landed about a dozen in the 5-10 pound range.

The tank diving has always been so so. Not much to see except some wrecks which are hard to access being 30 miles off shore. However, freediving/spearfishing for king mackeral and spanish mackeral, and , of course amberjack, was the best anywhere I've seen, and I've seen a lot. That could be done over inshore wrecks and towers because the surface vis was usually better than the murky bottom.

Nowadays, there are still fish to be had but, face it, near everybody seems to have a boat these days and there are traffic problems; also there are more restrictions.
 
Reel Crazy14:
I know there's a lot of spearos from all over the country. What state/region/city has the best spearing?

I would have to say NE florida. Not very good vis or warm water but the spearing and lobstering is outstanding. Not to mention uncrowded dive sites.

You're bound to get some passionate answers to this question, but I'd have to say the oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. The first offshore rig was set in 1947, and more than 3,500 have been erected since. Spearfishing around the rigs played an important role in early scuba, and the famous NOGI Award presented each year to a baron of the sport originated as a New Orleans/Grand Isle spearfishing trophy. Even in these civilized days, virtually every diver on the rigs is carrying a gun. The rigs cover the entire coastline of the state, starting with deepwater rigs near the mouth of the Mississippi River near Venice, LA (South Pass and West Delta oil blocks), the most dived rigs in the Fourchon/Grand Isle area south of New Orleans in the Grand Isle and South Timbalier oil blocks, and the shallower rigs in the western part of the state (Pecan Island) in the Vermilion and East Cameron oil blocks. -Clay
 
I second louisianadiver. I have never seen more big fish anywhere else. The oil rigs rule.

Captain
 
Who is diving out of Apalachicola? That place used to be unbelievably good for string fishing.
 
The rigs are pretty impressive, and have surprised even an old hand like me. First time I've ever seen (or heard of) a tank diver shooting a tuna. Honestly, from a free divers perspective, these fish can be hard to come by. Yet, sometimes the tuna seem to circle tankers on the rig like amberjack. Weird. I need to get back down there but half the time I tried to leave out of Grand Isle the wind was blowing 30 nauts and got scrubbed.
 
there is a koi pond in my backyard, big fish, very colorful, water is warm and visibility is from shore to shore unless the fish block your view. I guess its good spearing when your visibility is limited only by the number of fish in front of you. so yeah i think i have the best spot, butt errrr are those the qualifications for a good spot, just lots of good fish and good diving conditions?
 
Being the devils advocate here:

My favorite places to hunt are the rigs from AL to TX. The unlimited food source provided by the MS river nutrients, the huge amont of structure provided by the rigs, submerged infrastructure, and sunken service boats, and the lack of heavy fishing pressure due to the huge area and relativly small user population all combine to make for some awesome fish populations and hunting. It's the only place I've ever been where I couldn't see the rig leg 20' away in 200' vis because there were too many fish in the way.

That said it's not an ideal place to hunt. Water is "wierd" to say the least with several haloclines and thermoclines common in 100' of depth with each distinct water mass all moving in different directions. Most have no reachable bottom, the water just gets thicker or it's WAY too deep to go there. Navigation is compounded by both the layer cake water and the fact that compass don't work out there, they just pooint to the nearest average metal mass. There are a lot of 6' long fish out there, but there are also a bunch of fish that feed on 6' long fish. Being well down in the middle of the food chain is a new experience for most of those who dive elsewhere.

It's great hunting, but not for the newbie with poor water skills or those with a faint heart.

FT
 
i've loged many of hours divin the la rigs,shot alot of big fish. If you want to shoot with the best try the la gulf waters.
 
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