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Old 01-25-2009, 08:31 PM   #91
ROBERTO REYES
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

I have to say I had a blast in Costa Rica.
I will give some brainstorm from my memory, and
post some pics, it was 5 days in the water, so
this will be long and probably boring, so dive in at your
own risk.

I hope Tommys wife is ok, and I wish I had met the legend.


We had bad weather some days,
blue water was far out, and since we could not take
the bill fish, (and there were lots of them) , and the big
Gorilla tuna did not knew there was a tournament
expecting them, we could not realice the dream of landing
a really big fish in the tournament.

But, even when I was sick in the boat ( I still have the flu) , when
we saw the spinner doplphins , I had to jump in, with big hopes to see
those giant yellowfins under the dolphins,but, we only saw small Yellowfins.

Only the last day of the tournament, at the last 1/2 an hours,
not too far from shore, we found a group of tuna going very fast
running after the flying fish, we jumped at them twice, but had to
let go, due to the short time left.

The mahi were big (all but mine) and smart, not going for the chum,
something not normal, since they are usually always hungry.
The wahoo were few , but they were there, some really big.

Without a doubt, meeting the guys in the tournament and been
able to share our lies about big fish, sharks and adventures was
my favorite part.
The guys from South africa are spoiled with big fish, and
they are a lot of fun to be with, Zac Zuccharo,Cameron Condie and Daryl Balfour, thanks for letting me use one of your guns, I had none and was able to go back to
the water thanks to you, and still shoot at a fish, I owe you a shaft.
I was very impressed by Daryls story of his encounter with one particular
elefant, Geez!, we even had a water melon war 30 miles offshore, next to
a 30+ log floating next to us.
Daryl, I keep forgetting those Zulu words...

That log had 3 mahi mahi on it, 2 of them 30 pounders, and a female of around 25, Alejandro shot the first and the second fish that was shot, got entangled with the first fish, and broke , the third fish was shot and lost, there were some 14 divers diving in the log after that, and still a marlin show up to look at Eric walker flasher.
Water was clear enough for me to see the 3 fish being shot at, ain't blue water great,GRRRR...

I took some chum , 3 trigger fish under the log, I was using then Daryl Wong personal gun, when he found out I had no gun, he offered his own gun, I cant say enough good things about Daryl, I wanted to meet him for such a long time, and I mean more than 10 years, and I finally met one of the nicest guys in our sport, what a gentleman,he even took a few handles, and mechanism to give some of the guys there, as a warranty for a product that was not broken, but he knew might have a problem, not to mention that he put a new mechanism in Alejandro Franco gun, it had some kind of problem, good things happen to good people, I wish him the best.
Oh, by the way, his guns rock, I wanted to test how far I could hit those oceanic
trigger fish, and I was nailing them really far, Bertrand came up to me and asked
what I was doing, I go, shhhhhh!, next thing he shot the last one with the tuna gun he made himself, great shot.
Sean George and some other guys had marlins swam up to them, they did not puled the trigger, Sean told me how he could see the big striper eye looking at him as he passed 10 feet away from him underwater.

I had the chance to dive again with Sheri, I remember her when she
was a real rookine diving with us in Louisiana, I think she still was stopping
at ten feet to decompress while coming up from a freedive in those days,
now she can dive like one of us, I have great pic of her in Costa Rica blue water,
that really represents what blue water is 90% of the time.

I have Eric Walker in the next island , and had to go to Costa Rica to see
his awesome new gun, Sheri was taking pics of us and seasniper in the boat
when a mahi came close to the boat, am still doing close ups of the pic to see if I can see the mahi in it.
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Last edited by ROBERTO REYES; 01-25-2009 at 09:37 PM.
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Old 01-25-2009, 09:06 PM   #92
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Great report Roberto, to bad the fish didn't comply...

Hope to see you one of these days in PR...
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Old 01-25-2009, 09:19 PM   #93
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Now, let me see if I can explain this without crying, sniff, sniff.
My Tuna gun broke shooting an aquarium Dorado, I went for a
really long shot just for fun, the day before we could not go out
to the blue water, so we stayed inshore, I found myself with my
6 band alexander making aspeto in the reefs, it seems that
somehow it got a nick in the wood, and the bands got inside the wood
when I shot the mahi, delaminating the wood, will post pics, since
I had never seen some like that , It hurts me, but am sure you
guys will enjoy the pics.
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Old 01-25-2009, 09:49 PM   #94
ROBERTO REYES
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

I also got some pics of the guys taking shots.
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Old 01-25-2009, 09:56 PM   #95
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Quote:
Originally Posted by deepdown View Post
Great report Roberto, to bad the fish didn't comply...

Hope to see you one of these days in PR...

Thanks Gerald.
I know for a fact that in fishing, is not all about the fish,
the real adventure is the trip itself, fishing is just the best
excuse we have.


Maybe I will see you one of these days in FL...
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Old 01-25-2009, 10:14 PM   #96
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Congrats all. It would have been nice to have been there.
Roberto I know the broken gun really hurts. And you of all people, I've seen how well you take care of your gun.
I've never met Daryl but on the phone he is very nice.
Question? Isn't blue water and not alot of fish, more the norm than outside the norm?
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Old 01-26-2009, 10:01 AM   #97
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Roberto, you forgot to mention something. On the last day, there was a raffle for a really nice 60" Wong and the proceeds would go to buying a computer and printer for a local school.

I had got acustomed to not carrying any money and the tickets were going fast so I asked Roberto to buy some tickets for me so he bought half for him and the other for me. He was kind enough to let me choose my half of the tickets and lucky enough I ended up winning the gun.

Don't think there is much else to add to the repports, so I will just leave the picture of the gun with the builder, another of Robertos gun breaking dorado and one of a cubera that got in the way of frustration.

One of the days I ended up staying in shore and was taken to a deep (100ft) rock with green and murky water. I went down by myself with my omer 115 with reel and no buoy. When I got to 19m (63ft) I leveled out and this cubera shows up and before I could think I took a shot. I started pulling the fish on my way up and then realized I was somewhat deep and with no one on the surface so I just let go on the fish and let the reel go. All the way up I could only think I was so dumb on shooting this fish and that it was going to cost me my beloved gun. I fortunately go to the surface and just started pulling the snapper up, it weighed 33Lbs.

By the way, I didn't have plans on returning more guns that I took so I had a really hard time making the 3 guns fit into my gun tube, and had an even worst time getting them out yesterday. It took 30 minutes to take them out, and that was with the guns completely dissasambled.

It was a pleasure to meet and dive with all the people present. It made the trip worth it.



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Old 01-26-2009, 10:39 AM   #98
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

To everyone who attended, it was nothing short of a really great time. As Roberto mentioned we got to meet alot of really great spearos from around the globe. It was also nice to meet up with Daryl and Zak once again and to meet there fellow SA Cameron who had plenty of Cuta stories to keep me thinking I will find a school like that here in STT one day. Sheri it was a pleasure to meet you as well after seeing and reading about all your stories and hunting over the years, hope to see you at the Expo in a couple of weeks. Daryl I will be seeing you in a few weeks in Hawaii as I have a bit of work to attend to over there.

Even though the fish weren't there( well I seen plenty of billfish to keep me dreaming until next time) it is alwasy nice to be able to just get into the water and dive. Even if it looks like it is snowing at 35ft inshore on a super windy day when I think some of the guys were wondering if there boats would make it back to shore. Next year hopefully the fish will show up and make the comp a bit more interesting.

Jumping in on the porpoise schools with Alex was awe inspiring seeing however many hundreds or even thousands there. What you see from the surface is just a fraction of what is there. Can't wait to see what it is like with the tunas under there. We jumped and jumped and jumped but no tunas. I would still go out right now and jump in again and again. We spent hours doing this and it never got boring.

There was alot of nice prizes given away and I ended up with a new Rob Allen to add to my collection.
And Roberto that gun of yours, OUCH!!!!

Eric
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Old 01-26-2009, 12:33 PM   #99
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Back to Canada and back to reality!: Here is the air temp at about -25 Far. and the sea is inshore frozen...
As organizer it's still to soon and pretty hard for me to give an objective Open report. But what comes first to me is :
Thank,s again to the competitors: they fighted friendly and did their best. To be patient is probably one of the most decisive skill in blue water hunting...

Code:
We have seen Wahoo, Marling, Sailfish, Mahi, Tuna, and all types of game. They have been pretty elusive so far, but that is what blue water hunting is like. I told all the guys if they shoot one fish in the tournament, they are doing great. I've been doing blue water for a long time and getting blanked is the norm. You have to be dedicated to spending hours on end looking into "blue water"
Daryl Wong.

Most of the divers met by chance sailfish, black/ blue/ stripped marlins and they could observe these magnifiscent pelagics at a very close range. an amazing experience as well as, for example an encountering with a giant manta ray swimming around a flasher in shallow water (during the windy day)...
Congratulations again to the winners and to Bert Tiap Chong in particular.
Warmly thank's to Sheri Daye and Roberto Reyes for giving us a great support and for sharing their exceptional experience. I'm very please to inform the spearos they accept to take part as guest divers to the 2nd. edition in January 2010.
Clear water!
Pura Vida!
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Old 01-26-2009, 05:54 PM   #100
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Quote:
Originally Posted by ROBERTO REYES View Post
Now,my
6 band alexander making aspeto in the reefs, i.
Hey Roberto does this gun ~WAS~ a Steve Alexander????
i do not reconize it!!what model?open track??

strange ..very strange..old gun??

rgds marco
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Old 01-26-2009, 07:26 PM   #101
ROBERTO REYES
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Allen
The thing about blue water is that normally
is very boring with no fish 90% of the time, is the
kind of fishing that most guys who dont sell fish
or go for many fish but instead go for the few hard ones
to find.
I love reef fishing, licking the rocks like I call it, but
nothing gets me exited as blue water( Hum!, almost nothing...).
Still, that 10% when you do find them, its all worth it.
Someone asked me, if I dream in spanish or english,
after thinking about it for a week, I can tell I dream in
blue water.

Alejandro,
I did not forget about it, I was just very happy that
my friend got the gun, we were all drooling for it.
You should have seen your face when you thank me,
your ears were on the way for a bigger smile.;-)
And, take a look at my Mahi, I was so proud of it that I wrotte "Rob"
on his cheeks with my knife.
Not a bad shot either.

Eric
Am ready, lets go.


And Marco Alexander my friend,
the tuna gun from Alexander is an incredible gun,
its not pretty, not build to hunt buyers, but very efficient, acurate gun.
It was my mothers gift (rest in peace), it does hurt more than any of
you would believe.
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Old 01-26-2009, 09:38 PM   #102
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Great reports everyone...I'd love to make this trip one day. Roberto, I had something similar happen to a gun I made with a closed track. I shot a snapper under a ledge and the shaft didn't completely leave the track and the flailing fish apparently put torque on the shaft and put a stress crack in the front portion of the muzzle. I didn't realize it and then later somehow the same thing happend except my shooting line ended up sliding/slicing into the wood ???? Fortunately it was only about 2 inches deep and I've laminated it back up using epoxy and a syringe and its been fine.
Best Regards
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Old 01-26-2009, 10:49 PM   #103
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

[quote=

And Marco Alexander my friend,
the tuna gun from Alexander is an incredible gun,
its not pretty, not build to hunt buyers, but very efficient, acurate gun.
[/QUOTE]

yes Roberto..we know ...we got one ..i thought the one that broke was a steve as you mentioned but should be a misunderstood..from me..this is why i was surprised it could happen to such a gun..

@ bientot ..see you in wild blue expo may be??
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Old 01-27-2009, 08:49 AM   #104
ROBERTO REYES
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Brent, thanks, I had somelike that in mind, hopefully
it will work.
And Marco,its and old gun, I have been doing real
blue water with my Alexander for around 15 years now.
cant complain.
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Old 01-27-2009, 02:46 PM   #105
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Re: 1st. Annual Costa Rica Blue Water Hunting Open

Its a shame anytime a gun breaks, is lost, or just does not perform like it should... My heart goes out to you Roberto. But that many years and that many fish. Sometimes you just have to retire a classic and charis its sentamental value. Especially with the family ties in this case... Good luck to you and hope we can dive together someday...

James Hardesty
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