First Kill

[the gooch]

Got to try out my pole spear yesterday that I got from ST with my gift certificate. I was out with some friends on their boat hunting bugs and had brought my pole spear along just in case. I have never shot anything with a spear before in my life so I was a little hesitant to bring it under the first dip. With all the limitations on what you are allowed to spear I thought it best to stick with Hogfish but was unsure of the legal size.

While on the boat we had 4 divers and were running 2 up 2 down. While I was on the boat waiting for the two down to come up FWC motored on over to us. I thought for sure he was going to come aboard and start checking the bugs, jackets, etc. He just BS'ed with us for a little while and it hit me to ask him what the legal size on hogs was---after all that is his job. So 12" it is. FWC tells us good luck and gets on his way. A few minutes later our two divers come up.

My next dive I brought the spear with me JIC but the main focus was tail. This second reef we were on was baron and lobster were no where to be found so I set my eyes out for a good size hog. ---Of course the first dive I saw two beasts but didn't have a spear or know what legal size was.

Just before I was going to signal to my buddy to go up I noticed a hog swimming towards me about 15 ft away. I was trying to size him up and swam towards--he slowly changed direction but did not dart. I was trying to use anything I could for reference and stuck my arm out towards him to try and size him up. Close enough I thought----cocked the spear and let 'er rip. BAM----hit him. He twitched around a few times and then I threw 'em in my bag. Signaled to surface and went back on the boat. Had to wait till I got back to the house to measure him and it was bugging me the whole ride home. 1/4" over the min size. SCHWEET! Can't wait to do it again.

Tally for the day was 3 tails and one hog.

[thesmoothdome]

Congrats. In Cali, we'd get fined for hunting bugs and having a spear on us.

[the gooch]

Spearing bugs is a big NO NO here but you can definitely have spear and bugs on your person. BUT if FWC sees a spear hole in a bug you are in possession of you are screwed.

[chewyjr15]

what is a bug?

[thesmoothdome]

Originally Posted by chewyjr15

what is a bug?

bugs = lobsters...tasty little critters they are

[Bigg_Budd]

Awesome man. I've always wanted to try my hand at spearing, but don't live close enough to blue water...

[WV Diver]

Great, I have never gotten a chance to do any spear hunting. Looking forward to it though.

[kiwi]

Spearing bugs is a big no-no in NZ too, though some of the more unscrupulous characters fix a small shark hook to the base of their spears and extract them using that. This leaves a hole in the brisket CSI couldnt find