Collecting animals while snorkeling (freediving)

[mrbigshot]

i dont oppose offshore drilling, i think the practice should be refined however. perhaps somthing other than concrete wellheads as they have been proven to be faulty at best.

 

gilling (kinds like this?)

[johnmaloney]

sounds about right lol

 

on oil -

 

why do we drill in the ocean? is there a shortage on land? or is it for the thrill and excitement only?

 

 

I think that video says it all for me, so I will promise to stop ranting now...

[johnmaloney]

well i didnt want the thread to die:

 

Another tip i learned with nets is that they should be sewn from the inside. A poorly made net will have netting on the outside of the rim. When this hits rock it causes fraying and eventually the net breaks. It will of course only break when you least want it to. A good net has a seam on the inside and there is no netting on the outside of the rim, the netting is fully protected. If you are stuck with a net that has the "wrong" stitching. you can wrap it in electrical tape to protect it from fraying.

 

what tips do you all have?

[dickie52]

Also that the capping dome they are building has a high probability of working so that at least the leak will stop.

May 4th seems like so long ago now......

 

makes me sick!

[yardboy]

Yea, "high probability" doesn't mean crap now, does it.

 

Oh, and of course John knows this but I didn't for a long time. WEAR GLOVES!

[Mudfish]

I've always worn gloves.

[johnmaloney]

Yea, "high probability" doesn't mean crap now, does it.

 

Oh, and of course John knows this but I didn't for a long time. WEAR GLOVES!

 

I still haven't figured that out yet to be honest. I do own gloves though. My hands get scraped up some times, but the salt water heals it amazingly fast. I hate vermetid snails, barnacles and oysters now though. They usually get me in the ankle. Ankle brace sounds like a good idea if you are as clumsy as I am. My problem with gloves is that if you are snorkeling and trying to pick up small things you lose dexterity and time on the bottom and then you have to re-surface and go back down etc...takes forever. Some things, like decorator crabs or emerald crabs, cling when they see that you spotted them and there is no escape. With gloves I feel like I am being clumsy in coaxing them off the rock, but bare handed you can get a better feel for it. Porcelain crabs with gloves are hard.... But then again I probably had the wrong gloves and I am super clumsy to begin with. For fish though gloves make a lot of sense, I will have to remember that next time.

[C-Rad]

I collect in cold water (California, 58-65 F) and I find that cold water scuba diving gloves limit dexterity, but that warm water (tropical) diving gloves are no problem, unless the water is so cold that you lose dexterity from that. Tropical diving gloves are thin, tight fitting, and have fake leather on the palm side to protect. I've never considered wearing no gloves, because of the cold and the sharpness.

[johnmaloney]

in that cold...for sure. you probably have every inch covered

[yardboy]

There is no win with gloves. Either you sacrifice dexterity (and that's even true with latex surgical gloves to a small extent) or you scratch the hell out of your hands.

I was glad to have them yesterday though. Flipping over a flat rock and a spotted moray rocketed out from under it and the chase was on, ended with him getting a fang into the glove that was trying to hold the net closed, but no contact with flesh, fortunately. They're pretty vicious, not sure I'd want one in my tank!

Thanks for the recommendation on Tom, John. We had a freakin' blast. Just got back, finishing up on putting away my prizes, will tell the tale if you all want to hear, with some pics of course (still the conundrum on collecting/photographing, can't do both at once!)

[tyty]

I usually just wear a glove on one hand. Of course, it's always the wrong hand when I really need it, but it's the best I've come up with so far.

[johnmaloney]

There is no win with gloves. Either you sacrifice dexterity (and that's even true with latex surgical gloves to a small extent) or you scratch the hell out of your hands.

I was glad to have them yesterday though. Flipping over a flat rock and a spotted moray rocketed out from under it and the chase was on, ended with him getting a fang into the glove that was trying to hold the net closed, but no contact with flesh, fortunately. They're pretty vicious, not sure I'd want one in my tank!

Thanks for the recommendation on Tom, John. We had a freakin' blast. Just got back, finishing up on putting away my prizes, will tell the tale if you all want to hear, with some pics of course (still the conundrum on collecting/photographing, can't do both at once!)

 

 

good to hear! did you get to "go all out"...did he show you the commercial barrier nets and drop nets?

 

 

isnt that always the way tyty? lol...

 

with eels I use a net that is tapered. The more they struggle and try to escape the further down they fall into it. This works great on normal fish too, they will never escape, but it tends to injure small fish and inverts and really a medium french angelfish or larger is what it is designed for. Let me see if I can find example of this kind of net.... I almost made the mistake of keeping an eel in a bucket with my hand once...but then I realized that was dumb and used the tickle stick instead. lol....had to do it! I wouldn't take offense though, have you heard of my adventures in open toe shoe construction work? lol...that is dumb.

[yardboy]

Tom is very handy with a drop net. We used dip nets, but our livelihood didn't depend on them!

[johnmaloney]

oh but you got to see it? the guy i bought my license from said Tom and his nephew are legends with a drop net. I would have enjoyed watching a pro at their craft like that. Have you seen the guy from Cairn's Marine on youtube? Those fish in the pacific seem a little dumber though than what we have here.

 

--If this all sounds horrible to those environmentalists out there, drop nets are considered a safe method of fishing, and have helped the hobby move past cyanide and the like.

 

did you keep the eel? i edited after your post...

[yardboy]

I saw it, but I didn't see it. The guy is so fast it's unbelievable. He's like a Jack Russell Terrier on the reef, constantly moving and looking, wasting very little effort for maximum effect. I was literally following him with the camera and didn't see where this queen was hiding, but boom, it was in the net.

 

I traded the eel for some of Tom's stuff, not very much as he had ten or so already. He's got a pretty neat setup, but stupidly I didn't take any pictures of it. We went out twice with him and collected on his license, but I'm not the quickest fish snatcher of all time. And Genie, my wife, whom I dare say could work for Tom as a collector, she's so good (she really loves collecting, and has a sharp eye) got seasick the first day and was paranoid about it the second so didn't go, when the sea was much calmer.

 

Sometimes the rewards are more immediate, like that evening

[yardboy]

Okay Kids!

Let's see how many good ideas for collecting you can see in this pic of Tom prowling the reef.

 

First of all, Note NO GLOVES!

[johnmaloney]

lol... I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but you don't see reefs like that around here in the shallows. What were you in? 10-15 there? Got to love the Keys....

 

Shame your wife got sick. Did she get to enjoy some of the other days at least?

[saltyliving]

Sometimes the rewards are more immediate, like that evening

 

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and hope you were just trying to be clever with this photo and comment.

 

There is no what in HELL that grouper is legal. Where the FWC when you need them. Gotta be 24" Thats at best 18-19".

[yardboy]

The deepest we went was about 35'. That was because it was a bit gentler when the waves were 3-5. Going into 10-12 ft water was an exercise in frustration because you couldn't hold your position. That was when I got some "memorable" fire coral bites. One literally went right up the leg of my suit and...... well, I'm sure you can imagine.

The last dive, the one where I caught the moray, was only 5-6ft. Little coral heads, mostly rubble, and a wreck (I can imagine running up on that in the dark, big waves, 5 miles from shore. Ouch) where we were looking for sally lightfoot and porcelain crabs. I also caught a (not sure yet but think) a Key Brotula (Ogilbia cayorum)

That was the dive where I about wore myself out, 2-3 hours underwater on a 150 ft. tether. Lots of rocks to look under that way.

[yardboy]

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and hope you were just trying to be clever with this photo and comment.

 

There is no what in HELL that grouper is legal. Where the FWC when you need them. Gotta be 24" Thats at best 18-19".

 

Calm down Clyde.

Don't think I'd have posted that pic if Tom was doing something illegal. Funny you should mention the FWC. They were at the dock every day we came in. No way in HELL Tom was doing anything wrong. He measured it as soon as it hit the deck. Then it was remeasured by George at the dock.

Collecting for 30 years, Tom had the regulations memorized. They visit his facility regularly and are on the lookout for anything they can bust anyone on.

I am impressed that you think you can measure a fish by eye when it's folded back on itself in the net though.

[saltyliving]

Calm down Clyde.

Don't think I'd have posted that pic if Tom was doing something illegal. Funny you should mention the FWC. They were at the dock every day we came in. No way in HELL Tom was doing anything wrong. He measured it as soon as it hit the deck. Then it was remeasured by George at the dock.

Collecting for 30 years, Tom had the regulations memorized. They visit his facility regularly and are on the lookout for anything they can bust anyone on.

I am impressed that you think you can measure a fish by eye when it's folded back on itself in the net though.

 

 

do you remember how big it is bc i bet im close. LOL Its all about scale . Plus you can tell by the size of his head. Seen enough grouper in and out if the water. Not wanting to come down on you some people are jack bags and just dont care and nothing pisses me off more than and irresponsible fishing/ collecting.

[yardboy]

When your livlihood depends on staying above the law you care a lot. He dictated to us what was legal and what was not. Putting in at a public launch pretty much guarantees you will be checked regularly. He's not a tourist.

[Mudfish]

Haha - complaining about a fish picture!

[nanoreef-R]

Do you ever meet sharks?

 

 

 

I sound like a five year old.

[yardboy]

Nurse sharks are common, on our last dive a schoolteacher from Georgia spotted a 4 footer, and you could hear her scream underwater (I didn't even know you could do that!) then when she flipped a rock and a moray shot out, her scream was even louder. Not to tease her as she said she was "trying to get our attention"!

 

Some I'm looking at a cool little bommie, wondering if it'd be worth trying to emulate in a tank

 

when the local surgeons convention let out for dinner

 

Stopped off for dinner at the local vegetarian place

Then they made for the nearest strip joint (couldn't get too close, they're a "wham-bam-thank you-maam" kind of crowd