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Old 09-26-2006, 10:52 AM   #61
LuvMyRedDog
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Re: Whew.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadHunter
And then, a hush descended as we realized that we didn't have a block and tackle on the boat.
Someone's got to respond to this smart ass comment - - HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Great Fish!!! Jason's turn is next!!!
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Old 09-26-2006, 11:15 AM   #62
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Re: Whew.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by SpearMax
We are going to have to start a 300 pound club!

I wonder how many are in that club?

I know two and they are on the same boat Team.
Way to go Ricky!!!

Tony I know of three in the 300 pound grouper club.

#1. Dan MacMahon, 403 lbs. Gulf 2005, (400 club? I guess it's not a club if there's only 1 guy!)

#2. Ricky Hampton, 348 lbs. ???, Gulf 2006.

#3. Harley, Dave Earp's buddy. 338 lbs from the Bill Boyd wreck, Atlantic. (Spearfishing Magazine, Winter 2002.)

So Dan... what else did you guys bring up?

Chad
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Last edited by SpearMax; 09-28-2006 at 07:09 AM.
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Old 09-26-2006, 11:45 AM   #63
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Re: Whew.....

Off the Chain.... Congrats!!!!
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Old 09-26-2006, 12:08 PM   #64
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Re: Whew.....

Ok...

Dan ran over a really good looking spot and swung the boat back over it. If you ever dove on the boat, you'll know that the sound of a fast turn around usually means somebodys fixing to be deep into something.

Jason and I were up. We had to switch a lot of gear around as the dive was a little deeper than we were planning on. We had been heading towards shallower water, when the new spot appeared.

Dan had a puzzled look on his face while looking at the show....he remarked that it looked like a small tight bait show, but it just didn't feel right. We joked about it being a few monster fish and promptly forgot that thought as we geared up for the dive.

We splashed and began the descent, visibility was good to decent on the way down. At around 240', a strong thermo materialized and the visibility, surprisingly, improved.
Jason was on my left watching that side of the field and I was watching the right side.

I noticed an approaching large brownish shape, that was really coming in quick, but with no noticeable effort. It roared up and threw up it's dorsal...I swear if it could have screamed out a challenge, I think it would have. I realized it was a monster Warsaw and knew that the game was on.

It gave me a perfect shot and I punched in the first shaft, which I instantly followed up with shaft #2. The second shaft really took a lot out of him. I hit him with the third shaft and he pretty much gave it up.

I closed with him and strung him...good lord, he's as big as a house. His tail was moving a little and he made a few small motions that I wasn't really comfortable with, so I used my kill spike and gave him a PH between the eyes.

We started swimming him up, I had all I could deal with, getting him up and depended on Jason to keep the couple of big biters that had showed up off me. They were really, really interested in the fish. Quite a feeling, having a 348 Lb fish in your arms, having to manage all the gas switches and depth requirements that deep open water TX diving requires and trusting your buddy to keep the big uglies off you. I think the military calls this type of situation being "task saturated".

Finally got it to the surface and we all managed to wrestle it onto the boat. What a dive. Really an outrageous spot...monster fish.

I had reservations about posting this. Dan and I both make a living from spearfishing and I would never want to do anything to hurt this great sport. Trust me, this is not anything like shooting a cow with a 30-06 or something. Hunting an animal this size with an u/w bow and arrow gives most of the breaks to the animal. It'd be really easy to end up losing everything in this contest. Maybe thats what makes it what it is.

As far as depths, this dive was done on full tri-mix gear, definitely not on helitrox or some such, bounce style gear. We were a little shallower that the 403 Lb'er, but not a whole lot.

As far as myself giving the fish a kill spike PH, it was pretty much the same story as Dan's. It probably wasn't neccessary, but at those depths, dealing with a fish that big and that strong, why take a chance on your life? I'm not interested in records and such. Just putting him on the boat was pleanty good enough for me.

I'd like to thank Dan for putting me on him, Jason for being right alongside me and keeping the %$^$%# sharks off of me and Kenny for everything else. You guys are the best. Thanks, Ricky
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Old 09-26-2006, 12:16 PM   #65
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Re: Whew.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by SpearTen
Ok...

Dan ran over a really good looking spot and swung the boat back over it. If you ever dove on the boat, you'll know that the sound of a fast turn around usually means somebodys fixing to be deep into something.

Jason and I were up. We had to switch a lot of gear around as the dive was a little deeper than we were planning on. We had been heading towards shallower water, when the new spot appeared.

Dan had a puzzled look on his face while looking at the show....he remarked that it looked like a small tight bait show, but it just didn't feel right. We joked about it being a few monster fish and promptly forgot that thought as we geared up for the dive.

We splashed and began the descent, visibility was good to decent on the way down. At around 240', a strong thermo materialized and the visibility, surprisingly, improved.
Jason was on my left watching that side of the field and I was watching the right side.

I noticed an approaching large brownish shape, that was really coming in quick, but with no noticeable effort. It roared up and threw up it's dorsal...I swear if it could have screamed out a challenge, I think it would have. I realized it was a monster Warsaw and knew that the game was on.

It gave me a perfect shot and I punched in the first shaft, which I instantly followed up with shaft #2. The second shaft really took a lot out of him. I hit him with the third shaft and he pretty much gave it up.

I closed with him and strung him...good lord, he's as big as a house. His tail was moving a little and he made a few small motions that I wasn't really comfortable with, so I used my kill spike and gave him a PH between the eyes.

We started swimming him up, I had all I could deal with, getting him up and depended on Jason to keep the couple of big biters that had showed up off me. They were really, really interested in the fish. Quite a feeling, having a 348 Lb fish in your arms, having to manage all the gas switches and depth requirements that deep open water TX diving requires and trusting your buddy to keep the big uglies off you. I think the military calls this type of situation being "task saturated".

Finally got it to the surface and we all managed to wrestle it onto the boat. What a dive. Really an outrageous spot...monster fish.

I had reservations about posting this. Dan and I both make a living from spearfishing and I would never want to do anything to hurt this great sport. Trust me, this is not anything like shooting a cow with a 30-06 or something. Hunting an animal this size with an u/w bow and arrow gives most of the breaks to the animal. It'd be really easy to end up losing everything in this contest. Maybe thats what makes it what it is.

As far as depths, this dive was done on full tri-mix gear, definitely not on helitrox or some such, bounce style gear. We were a little shallower that the 403 Lb'er, but not a whole lot.

As far as myself giving the fish a kill spike PH, it was pretty much the same story as Dan's. It probably wasn't neccessary, but at those depths, dealing with a fish that big and that strong, why take a chance on your life? I'm not interested in records and such. Just putting him on the boat was pleanty good enough for me.

I'd like to thank Dan for putting me on him, Jason for being right alongside me and keeping the %$^$%# sharks off of me and Kenny for everything else. You guys are the best. Thanks, Ricky
No problem... Loved every minute of it.

Jason
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Old 09-26-2006, 12:39 PM   #66
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Re: Whew.....

Ricky,
Thanks to you and Dan for explaining to everyone reading this that the Headhunter boat is a commercial boat.
It goes without saying that what you guys do and the depths you dive are well beyond what 99 percent of the diving community are even capable of.

Again, great job and awesome fish!
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Old 09-26-2006, 12:54 PM   #67
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Re: Whew.....

Thanks for the report, You guys must have been DEEEEP if you found this spot on the way in
I think you guys should be featured on " most dangerous jobs" Discovery.
WTG
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Old 09-26-2006, 01:18 PM   #68
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Re: Whew.....

Thanks for the details, that is the cool part.!
Again that is just way to cool.!
Great job team HH..!!!

Dago.
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Old 09-26-2006, 02:12 PM   #69
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Re: Whew.....

Thank you very much for sharing

Jason
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Old 09-26-2006, 02:18 PM   #70
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Re: Whew.....

Yeap!, holly shit .
awesome fish.
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Old 09-26-2006, 02:44 PM   #71
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Re: Whew.....

WOW....another amazing HH harvest!
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Old 09-26-2006, 02:53 PM   #72
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Re: Whew.....

Sick, just sick. how do you fit all those giant balls on the headhunter
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Old 09-26-2006, 03:00 PM   #73
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Re: Whew.....

Awesome fish. Congratulations

John
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Old 09-26-2006, 03:02 PM   #74
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Re: Whew.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironhed
how do you fit all those giant balls on the headhunter
Kenny hangs his over a pot....

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Old 09-26-2006, 03:59 PM   #75
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Re: Whew.....

I gotta chime in here..too good of a story to pass on. Scott Lakes comment about the Moose hanging his over a pot.....

We were on the way in from a deep trip and Kenny had set up a grill on the deck. His goal was to blacken up some fresh Blackfin Tuna that'd we'd caught.

He was sitting on an upside down 5 gallon bucket and had the grill, hot sizzling oil, and blackening tuna situated kinda between his knees. We had a long hot run before us and most of the crew were catching a few zzzz's before the upcoming Blackfin feast.

I was manning the helm and turned to observe what Kenny was doing for a minute. OMG! It can't be...but it was.....the Moose family Jewels had freeded themselves of his swimsuit and were swinging back and forth over the hot pan of sizzling oil and food.

I was horrified as to their close proximity to my cooking food, but was also worried about the possibility of hot oil splatter and the ensuing chaos as a singed Moose demolished everything on the deck as a result of his pain.

And I mean it was hot brother...really hot, not even counting the heat from the cooking oil. I said to Kenny "hey, the fruit has escaped the loom" thinking that it was a clever way to advise him of the situation. All I got in return was a" WTF are you talking about" look.

Well, the first attempt failed so I was forced to put it into plain english..."your *alls are hanging out and they're right above the hot oil". This got a prompt response, and the big ol' fellow nonchalantly stuffed down a massive paw and tried to straighten things out. Uh OH...the twins went from the right, through the middle and out the left side..PLOP. Oh Gawd, make it stop...please. A shower of sweat slowly fell like acid rain into the hot cooking oil and MY FOOD. (I'll leave it to your imagination as to where the sweat came from).

Well you know what happens when "water" gets dumped into hot oil....loud splattering popping noises with artillery blast of boiling hot oil drops.....some which landed directly on the offending objects....OMG...I don't think I've ever laughed harder. I mean..it was funny!

We pitched the first pan but the second pan of Tuna was superb...and no UFO's this time.....
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Last edited by HeadHunter; 01-25-2015 at 05:04 PM.
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