Harry from West Palm came down and we went out spearfishing April 21st and 22nd. First day we stayed close to Key West. We did ok but nothing spectacular. The visibility was not that good 30 feet most of the day, for a little while it was in the 40s. A lot of rocks that held a lot of grouper a couple months ago seem to be dead now, except for shorts. Harry shot his first permit and a large hammerhead shark seemed attracted by it but did not try to eat it. One thing that was pretty amazing was the triggerfish. In one area there were a ton of trigger fish. It must be their spawning time, at one point I counted 20 just in front of me and they were all around me. I shot a large trigger, maybe the largest I ever shot, I should have weighed it. We also shot some smaller dog snappers.
The next day we went west to the Marquesas Keys , vis was around the same but with a little more current. We hit a lot of rock ledges and picked up a bunch of fish. A larger dog around 8 pounds, a couple of permit, a yellow jack. Then in a little cave I shot a big cubera snapper, well not really big since they grow to over a hundred pounds and this one was 45#, but huge for me. And big for anyone diving without tanks. When I shot it it ran out the other side of the cave taking my gun through with it. Harry swam in and shot the fish again, but it was still still kicking so we shot it a third time. It didn’t seem very important to shoot more fish that day, and ironically shortly after my mask broke , so I had to sit the last few spots out. Harry shot a black grouper and then a nice mutton snapper off the edge of the reef.
The wind was flat all day, and it was a great day to be out on the water.
One more pic of the snapper
Actually it is legal to spear permit once you are in federal waters. The gear restrictions apply to state waters.
Great story, Permit is illegal to shoot, Nice Cubera