My buddies and I plan every year to attend the Spearboard Open Spearfishing Tournament (SBO) in New Port Richey. It's a great tournament that draws spearos from around the country - not only for great prizes, but also for it's unique rules.SBO rules allow divers to shoot fish anywhere within driving distance of the weigh-in point. We've had entries from Texas, Louisiana, and the Carolinas. The rule is that you can only shoot during daylight hours on Saturday and you have to be in line at the weigh-in point on Sunday morning without flying in your fish. The other catch is that participants can only enter fish that are legal to spear and are legal size in Florida. So, as much as the guys from the Carolinas would love to bring down some of their big permit and pompano, Florida law doesn't allow taking either species by spear, so they're not PERMITted in the tournament, if you'll pardon the pun.
One of my usual dive buddies, Randy Docks, and I enlisted a couple other buddies (Matt Doty, Joe, and Ann Scutti) and opted this year to dive in the Florida Keys. Last year, Randy and I chartered out to the Middle Grounds (75+ miles off the Gulf Coast near Tampa) and decided for something a bit closer to home. We chartered with 'Dive In' located in Key Largo on the ocean at MM-97.5. If you fill the charter, Dawn Barber and her crew will take you just about anywhere you want to go. Otherwise, spearos are permitted as room allows on the boat and depending on which trip you take.
NOTE: The Florida Keys has very specific rules about where you can and cannot take fish by spear - make sure you know the rules before you go spearfishing on your own.
We opted to dive the Duane and the Bibb - a couple of artificial reefs (purposes sunken ships) famous for hot current, deep water, and great fish habitat. Our shallowest dive of the day was a freedive from the surface to pick up a trigger fish and the deepest dive of the day was around 136 feet - obviously pushing the limits of recreational diving. However, all of our divers have experience in deep water dives and better still, deep diving with spearguns.
Most of Florida this particular weekend was being thrashed with high seas. Tournament participants on both coasts were pounded with thunderstorms and heavy seas upwards to 8 feet. Not much fun when you're loaded with diving gear and sharp pointed objects. Many regular charter boats and die-hard spearos never left the dock, which made competition a bit lighter than normal.However, the weather gods blessed the Florida Keys with unbelievable weather that weekend. We had average seas of 4 to 6... INCHES! Seas were nearly flat calm all day (see photos), plus the water was warm and visibility was pretty good given the storms we had been having in recent weeks.
I landed a nearly 20-pound black grouper (See photo in my profile), 1 nearly 8-pound hogfish, a decent mutton snapper and mangrove snapper, 2 trigger fish, and a small 6-pound yellow jack. My tournament total came to 46.92 - not great, but good enough to put me in a good position for the prize table.
Special thanks to Armor Products who donated the VERY cool gear bag that I picked up at the prize table. I had been looking for a new bag to replace my worn out backpack and this certainly did the trick. It's an oversized duffle with adjustable backpack straps. Perhaps the nicest feature beyond the durable mesh material that allows the bag to drain is that it is long enough to carry my freediving fins and still have room to spare. It also came with a full-width dry bag - very unusual size, but perfect for my miscellaneous dry stuff.
Randy came home with a nice black grouper and hogfish, Matt had an excellent hogfish, and Joe brought in a very nice yellow jack and a few snapper. Ann was our 'bubble watcher' as she was recovering from a recent surgery. However, it was great to have her on the boat making sure all of us stayed hydrated and organized. Thanks Ann!We did a total of 4 dives each, most of which were at 100 feet or deeper. Of course, with deep dives, your bottom time is relatively short, so we were back on the dock gutting our catch right around 5pm. We made the drive back to my house, switched vehicles, and then headed up to New Port Richey. We stayed overnight with some friends and after a nice breakfast, took a leisurely drive up to the weigh-in.
While there weren't as many competitors this year as in years passed because of the weather, the numbers were still huge. The biggest fish categories were all exceptionally nice offerings and as usual, many of the divers donated their catch to the local food bank.The price table was actually a walk-through tent this year with LOTS of booty including dozens of spearguns, gift certificates, dive gear, fish artwork, and much much more. Special thanks to the folks at Spearboard and Spearfishing Magazine for organizing another great event!
We hope you enjoy the photos half as much as we enjoyed bringing up those truly yummy fish.
All the best,
--Branon
