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2010 St. Pete Open -August 20-22, 2010 Check this forum for details about the 2010 SPO.

View Poll Results: Please Guess the Weight of this Warsaw Grouper
Between 30 - 39 pounds 7 12.96%
Between 40 - 49 pounds 4 7.41%
Between 50 - 59 pounds 0 0%
Between 60 - 69 pounds 6 11.11%
Between 70 - 79 pounds 17 31.48%
Between 80 - 89 pounds 11 20.37%
Between 90 - 100 pounds 9 16.67%
Voters: 54. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 08-24-2010, 07:07 AM   #46
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

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Originally Posted by SpearMax View Post
Howie, you are so classy.

Please stop with your toilet humor.

It is way too funny! LOL

Here is my warsaw that made you cringe back then.

If I am a "loser" for coming in second place, is that how you also regard all the other "losers"?

I imagine you have never seen one under water. Or have you?

Lee's Taxidermy does such great work!

I have recommended Lee to many people.

Now, have you got your anger out of your system yet?
Nice "loosing" fish Tony. I wouldnt mind loosing with a fish like that!
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Old 08-24-2010, 07:08 AM   #47
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

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Originally Posted by SpearMax View Post
Howie, you are so classy.

Please stop with your toilet humor.

It is way too funny! LOL

Here is my warsaw that made you cringe back then.

If I am a "loser" for coming in second place, is that how you also regard all the other "losers"?

I imagine you have never seen one under water. Or have you?

Lee's Taxidermy does such great work!

I have recommended Lee to many people.

Now, have you got your anger out of your system yet?







This is better than the Hattfield & McCoys ,having my morning coffee and
enjoying the glass houses being knocked down.
Its always great reading when Jobert gets involved ,this man knows his
sh!!.
I know ,lets start an underwater cage match,built your the ref.
my money is on Tony, especially if its a deep cage.
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Old 08-24-2010, 07:28 AM   #48
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

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Originally Posted by inletsurf View Post
A jewfish is a grouper, could I show up to the SPO with a 350 lb jewfish and then proclaim myself the "REAL SPO GROUPER WINNER" and have you all respect me as such, just as I was getting hauled off to jail?


Tony, bravo, again you shot one of the dumbest fish in the water, and you act like its comparable to shooting a carbo of the same size. Rules are rules, maybe you should go run your own tournament if you don't like them. I agree with Scott, you're a little off keel with this issue the past few weeks. But hey, what do i know.
80 percent of the fish out there are stupid and swim right up to you. Thats a given and we all know that. The skitish ones are that way due to experience with divers.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SkywayGray View Post
The Real St. Pete Open winner???????
A. He didn't enter, without entering, you CAN NOT win...
B. Rules said no Warsaws... So Again Can Not win with this...
C. I didn't see anyone crying about the new Pelagic category...

There are Rules to each tournament, so you PLAN ACCORDINGLY to those rules and you make a plan to win it...

An example was the southern open when they made Red Snapper its own category... CHANGE THE PLAN TO WIN THE TOURNAMENT!!

Maybe you should of gone after Big Carbos and none of this would have been an issue???

PS, If this is just for fun, Please DON"T erase my Post, or Ban me from the board.....

You do not change the rules a week before the tournament based on fish reports in order to give the local shooters an advantage, lie about it and then lie some more. You all call Tony out for integrity issues and then pull a stunt like this. Please! Get a clue. "Safety concerns" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!



Quote:
Originally Posted by SpearJunkie View Post
You guys need to give it a rest already...
Yeah I agree. It is a tough pill to swallow. That right there would have been the winning fish. It is amazing to me how such a prestigious tournament could so compromise its integrity. This thread is a black eye for the SPO. It should be deleted.

Quote:
Originally Posted by chawk25 View Post
Thats like catching a big Wahoo in a Kingfish tourney. BFD
No, it would be like having a billfish tournament and due to a rivlary with the east coast and a recent saturation of, lets say swordfish, at the last minute, having a secret vote to ban swordfish and attribute it to a liability issue due to their unpredictable nature. Anyone entering a kingfish tournament clearly knows way ahead of time that only kingfish are allowed. This is a spearfishing tournament and warsaw is a legal sportfish. If the deep diving concerns were valid, your tournament would be concerned with depth and not fish. Dont be stupid and dont expect others to be so either. It is very easy to see thru the BULLSHIT.
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Old 08-24-2010, 07:31 AM   #49
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

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Originally Posted by PropMan View Post
This is better than the Hattfield & McCoys ,having my morning coffee and
enjoying the glass houses being knocked down.
Its always great reading when Jobert gets involved ,this man knows his
sh!!.
I know ,lets start an underwater cage match,built your the ref.
my money is on Tony, especially if its a deep cage.

Ref? Im in Tonys corner. These hypocrits can kiss my ass.
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Old 08-24-2010, 07:33 AM   #50
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Smile Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

Howie and I are actually sending friendly PMs to each other now.

I do apologize to Matt Joswig and Ken Jones for any angst they are suffering as a result of these Internet jousting matches.

Guys, I know you are good people and great spearos.

One thing you will not see me do is lash into Howie on a vile personal level. For me, that is not appropriate and shows a low level of maturity.

However, I might poke a little fun at him.

In fact, we had a meeting and secret votes were cast. The good news is that Howie won the 2010 Bloody Chicken Trophy as I promised would be presented near the end of this episode.

Now that is over, I have invited Howie Hogsniper to come spearing on my boat this weekend to hopefully see some warsaws for the first time for him. The offer is open and awaiting his decision.

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Last edited by SpearMax; 08-24-2010 at 09:06 AM.
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Old 08-24-2010, 07:37 AM   #51
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

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Originally Posted by SpearMax View Post



I like dat!!
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Old 08-24-2010, 09:30 AM   #52
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

So let me get this straight...you shot a barely mediocre model of one of the easiest to approach fish in the ocean(~20% of their max size), and you are publically patting yourself on the back!?!?!? Your need to make yourself feel important is bordering on clinical.

Quote:
The per contestant prizes ratio is probably the highest in the world, but who cares?
As far as this goes...hahaha, we'll see next year. I think the underhanded manner in which you handled that this year will certainly be biting you in the ass next year.

BY THE WAY...how did it taste??? You did eat it right???

Last edited by Mattedhead; 08-24-2010 at 09:44 AM.
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Old 08-24-2010, 09:31 AM   #53
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

Rule Changes huh?? I didn't see any big deals when they made Red Snapper its own category in the Southern Open the night of the CAPTAINS MEETING...

I know the "Captains Meetings" aren't really a big deal for your tournaments, BUT that's where you find out about rules and ASK about rules you aren't sure on... If one would have been at the Captains Meeting, one would know to not shoot and bring a warsaw to the weigh ins..............
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Old 08-24-2010, 09:53 AM   #54
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Lightbulb Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattedhead View Post
Quote:
The per contestant prizes ratio is probably the highest in the world, but who cares?
As far as this goes...hahaha, we'll see next year. I think the underhanded manner in which you handled that this year will certainly be biting you in the ass next year.
Matt, you need to get a life dose of reality in the business world. There was nothing underhanded in asking commercial entities if they wanted to advertise on spearboard or in the tournament or both. If they choose not to, that is fine with me and I lose no sleep over the matter.

In fact, one large sponsor who dropped out in a prior year came back this year. There has actually been a surge in marketing budget allocations towards the Internet, especially for venues with family-friendly content and lots of visitor traffic. This is happening even with the down economy.

Howie and Chris were doing the same thing at the Blue Wild Expo. They were going around to potential sponsors and saying buy from us because our rates are so small compared to spearboard. All I have to say to the sponsors is yeah right -look at their traffic - you get what you pay for.

Matt, all the innuendo in the world that you spew is not changing the basic dynamic of the marketplace. Sorry to burst bubbles here, but Howie and Chris are chasing dollars just like everyone else. More power to them in the American way of free enterprise.
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Old 08-24-2010, 09:55 AM   #55
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

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Originally Posted by SpearMax View Post
Matt, you need to get a life dose of reality in the business world. There was nothing underhanded in asking commercial entities if they wanted to advertise on spearboard or in the tournament or both. If they choose not to, that is fine with me and I lose no sleep over the matter. In fact, one large sponsor who dropped out in a prior year came back this year. There has actually been a surge in marketing budget allocations towards the Internet, especially for venues with family-friendly content and lots of visitor traffic.

Howie and Chris were doing the same thing at the Blue Wild Expo. They were going around to potential sponsors and saying buy from us because our rates are so small compared to spearboard. All I have to say to the sponsors is yeah right -look at their traffic - you get what you pay for.
If that was what I was speaking of, I would follow your advice. So how was the Warsaw...Tasty?
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Old 08-24-2010, 10:00 AM   #56
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

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If that was what I was speaking of, I would follow your advice. So how was the Warsaw...Tasty?
Damm tasty dude! The meat is solid white and firm.
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Old 08-24-2010, 10:27 AM   #57
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Pig
Put this up on the other board, but I know a number of members on Spearfishing Planet aren't welcome there.


Since it has been determined by Tony and others that I am a liar and a cheat, you will probably not believe what you are going to read. I thought about posting this earlier but was waiting for Tony's sources to inform him about why deep water grouper (warsaw) was removed from the SPO. Surprisingly, nobody bothered to look through the archives.

When this discussion was hot and heavy the SPUC was split about leaving it in or removing it. Then the following thread was posted after the 2007 SPO. This thread and the fact that others were talking about getting trimix cert to chase grouper at 300 ft plus put the final in the coffin

http://www.spearboard.com/showthread...ghlight=warsaw

Quote:
Originally Posted by financial advisor

"Am I going to die?" Roaming gnome goes deep.
Welcome to the SPO 2007!!!!

The only tourney I know of that a 47 pound (ungutted) grouper will get you 70th pick. But what the hell it is all in good fun.
We got a run out to a "wreck" that I had from some numbers out of a book of loran numbers that I have but did not confirm. A buddy of mine gave me a "confirmed" number to the same wreck and it was 393 feet from my loran so I believed it was there. The only problem is that this wreck is a little bit deeper than most you would want to dive (around 256 feet). I was told that this wreck was a tiny barge split in half and there was a resident Warsaw that went 200 to 250 on it. I really felt that if I got this fish I might get at least 3rd or 4th pick at the table(sarcasm). The only problem was that we could not find the wreck just a huge fish show. It was probably the only time a huge fish show was a problem but I wanted the lead to hit the correct spot because current was moving hard.
John and I got geared up with jacked lp 120's and several different pony bottles attached and with the might of giants we slung them up over our heads and strapped them on. uh...no....in reality I whined like a little bitch for some help and barely managed to pick my crap up and get it on the gunnels. Lucky us the current was going so hard we had the buoy dragging so we decided to "chase the lead to 250".

Jug goes over and "splash go the morons".

The first 40 to 50 feet the water was blue and warm, just like diving dreams then the MURKY water came. Oh F'ing great I am going to dive 250 in 5 foot vis! After another 20 feet it became clear to 80 to 100 feet of vis and REALLY COLD. As in my nuts must have receded so far into my body they were what were making my ears ache. Oh well the murk layer made it dark as hell and we are freezing our asses off in these skins and we are going to f'ing WIN! Or at least that was what I kept screaming to myself as I went on down. So we go down another 70 to 90 feet or so and we see the wreck from about 100. The little barge that could be turned into the 100 to 110 foot ocean going tug that was. Why the hell could my bottom machine not see this thing? Here is a tip: If you can see the gag from 100 feet above him and he looks big.....he is. Just a tip. The water being that dark had the gags looking very white with rusty bellies everywhere. I keep falling and lock onto a nice 5 foot model and whack him behind the eyes. He promptly hauled ass through a door ripping my shaft out of his head and good bye. Then I settled on the sand beside the tug. I look at my comp and I got me a whopping 1 minute till deco time. I should be able to get at least 5 fish! Umm.....yeah. I had just set a knee on the sand when out from under the wreck slides Mr. carbo. He is maybe not quite as big as the one I shot down in the keys but a hell of a lot bigger than the one I GOT down in the keys. There is a big difference between shot and got. I figure he might have gone 80+ pounds and he swims up to me 3 feet away and just sits there. Look away....stay cool....don’t look him in the eye....load slow.....you are just a big dumb fish.....WAIT!! did I just say big AND dumb.....aint no such thing. When I engaged my shaft and when he heard that little click someone came and put rocket boosters on that fish. I mean flew and never even turned once. Oh well maybe he went to the other side so I swim around the wreck looking for him or someone just like him smiling and waving at 30 pound gags. I am passing up 20 and 30 pound gags? Only the SPO. Well looky there after 5 minutes I have my first deco stop at 50 feet for 3 minutes. Check air, 1800 pounds....no sweat. Start to go up and hit 180 check air, 1100 pounds ....huh?....ok a little sweat. Make it up to first little hang at 100 feet, check air, 700 pounds....ok this is getting silly. Of course while we were coming up we had many 60+ jacks we could have shot but those wont get you crap in the SPO. I mean a 60 pound jack is not even worth a slipper lobster (more sarcasm). We did our hangs and got out of the water and I did not even have to go the bail bottle but we did do the scrubbing.

I handed up an empty stringer.

Lesson learned: Use a line shaft, and you can run out of air REAL damn quick at this depth. Be prepared and don’t do this shit if you are the LEAST bit uncomfortable.

The rest of the trip was pretty damn fun and we only dove numbers that we found while driving around in the elbow. I found a nice bait show that was about 2/10ths of a mile in radius and we stayed on it or near it and produced hogs to 18 pounds (YAY Chuck Schnur first place hog, and Jon Herrera second place hog). I found myself a nice mutton at 10 pounds and swam by several 20 pound gags and 10 to 12 pound hogs to get. Once again only in the SPO! And last but not least Keith, who is ok diving 158 feet but, 160, no way in hell, got his best gag. He swam up to the boat trying to be a coquet but when I looked over the side and could see the tail down by his fins I knew it was a damn fine gag (47 POUNDS). I think he wanted to take an anchor chain and wear the thing to work like a necklace he was so proud.

Damn fun Tourney, we killed a lot of fish, and no one got hurt.

Some one took some picture so put them up.
Here is the thread that Tony Spearmax refers to copying what Financial Advisor (hudgens) stated in the thread that Ken posted above (this was posted in 08/2007)

http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=50962

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spearmax
My grand plan was simple - Win the St. Pete Open by shooting a deep water Warsaw grouper in my back yard off Palm Beach Inlet on the east coast of Florida. As mentioned above, I have since learned that several other people like Chris Hudgens were working somewhat of the same plan in the Gulf of Mexico.
So here he is obviously FOLLOWING Hudgen's plan of shooting a deep water warsaw (not shallow water). The key point here is that Hudgens, Tony, and "Several others" were all equally putting theirselves at greater risk for a tournament.

Spearmax first started diving deep in 08/2007, as shown by his scamp harvest at 330' here, only months before he planned to shoot this big warsaw for the SPO:
http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=50735

Man, that sure isn't a whole lot of experience in diving for warsaw at 300+' depths is it? Get certified, shoot a 6 lb scamp and all of a sudden one is ready for the big game? In any case, he states in his own threads that others are making the same plans.

So obviously "warsaw fever" was going around, and people were obviously PUSHING their experience level for the tournament.

Allowing warsaw in the SPO would obviously increase liablilty, no ifs ands or buts. Tony in the thread above, along with many others, stated he was going very deep for a warsaw, and he wasn't the only one i.e. Hudgens and "several other people" in his own words.

Being faced with the influx of people seeking these extremely deep water fish, it was the club's decision to either accept whatever potential liability could be or be responsibe and reject it. Although I would love to contend for 1st place grouper out of my home port with a warsaw, I also understand their reasoning and rule and think it is extremely responsible.

Many people don't seem to get it: the SPUCs can easily come over and dive off sebastian and shoot a big warsaw off our deep wrecks if they wanted to, and blow their own record straight out of the water. They just seem to have the common sense NOT to.

Last edited by inletsurf; 08-24-2010 at 10:39 AM.
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Old 08-24-2010, 10:33 AM   #58
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

There you go Tony, you called out "who" these individuals are, and you stated in your own thread that there were "SEVERAL" that you planned to follow, all pushing their experience levels to get a big warsaw. You weren't diving shallow, you had just got certified on trimix a month or two prior (you even have a photo of your new card in your thread), you proceeded directly to shoot a scamp at 330', which was the same month that you shot the warsaw that earned you 2nd place in the SPO, also shot deep.

Now explain to me how Hudgens, yourself and the others are not a liablity to anyone sponsoring a tournament when exhibiting and publically acknowledging such behavior?
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Old 08-24-2010, 10:41 AM   #59
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Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

FWIW I am not a SPUC, nor do I care to follow any club mentality. But it is obviously clear to me that if I were the SPO tournament, that I would also prefer not to allow warsaw to protect people who were too stupid for their own damn good, as well as my club from potential legal liability.
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Old 08-24-2010, 10:43 AM   #60
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Lightbulb Re: Guess the Weight of the Warsaw Grouper Shot the Day of the 2010 St. Pete Open

Quote:
Originally Posted by inletsurf View Post
There you go Tony, you called out "who" these individuals are, and you stated in your own thread that there were "SEVERAL" that you planned to follow, all pushing their experience levels to get a big warsaw. You weren't diving shallow, you had just got certified on trimix a month or two prior (you even have a photo of your new card in your thread), you proceeded directly to shoot a scamp at 330', which was the same month that you shot the warsaw that earned you 2nd place in the SPO, also shot deep.

Now explain to me how Hudgens, yourself and the others are not a liablity to anyone sponsoring a tournament when exhibiting and publically acknowledging such behavior?
It is real simple Steve. I know about that Chris Hudgens thread and that the SPUCs considered banning warsaw a few years ago. I have a few SPUC insider friends that told me all about it. The vote did not pass back then, even with the trimix divers doing their thing for many species of fish.

The fishy thing this year is that warsaws are plentiful in shallower waters on the east coast and many big ones are landed. All of a sudden, the SPUCs ban warsaws and do not make it public? That smells. :

The issue is not about liability or safety. I say to you that the liability exposure is pretty much the same no matter what species is being targeted. Look at the waiver the SPUCs make you sign. Ask a lawyer my friend.

If that was the issue, depth limits would be far more approriate as well as diving certification proof for the SPUCs to reduce any potential liability. But, then again, that might restrict their ability to bring in the big black groupers. They would not want to do that....duh!
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