Each type of fish has its own unique “I don’t wanna be your dinner” survival technique. For hogfish, the poor things, they have a very ineffective technique. They stop, turn sidewise to you, flash different colors, and think they look like a sea fan. They don’t. Except for the really really big ones, they bolt. I guess that’s why they got big. Groupers have a much better technique, they swim up into the closest deepest hole and take their time coming back out, if at all. Mutton snappers, though, they’ve got it figured out. They swim slowly always just out of spearing range so that you follow them half way across the reef believing that you can get closer to them and once they have sufficiently teased you they take off so fast they are out of sight in a second. These muttons have been giving Keith the challenge, I knew he’d get one though…. and it was a biggie! Probably 20 lb. Woohoo, it fed the entire anchorage! It’s a fun way to meet the other cruisers (and try all their tasty side dishes).
Over the mutton snapper and conch dinner plans came together for a wreck dive the next day led by a couple Keith had met at Manjack. It was a 300′, 1907 wreck. I don’t know the name of it, I’ll be googling it when I get some wifi. The day was perfect for it, the glassy flat calm day made looking at it from the dinghy as clear as underwater. It helped that it was in really shallow water as well. We were able to find two boilers, two anchors, two propellers, the shaft, rudder…it was an absolutely amazing dive.
^^ check out the shade for our little dinghy excursion.
^^ we followed “Teamwork” out to the site, you can see the wreck below the water
^^boiler
^^one of the props
^^other boiler
^^one of the anchors
A pinch-me-perfect couple of days 🙂
Wright Away Sails Away 
Great post!
We are getting ready to buy our Hawaiian sling. Any advice on length, material, tips, etc.?
Thanks and fair winds!
Jesse,
It’s all a personal preference. What works for us is a 6 foot fiberglass pole spear (grey, the yellow ones are flimsy and don’t shoot straight). For the tip we like the long narrow tip with only one tang. The tip is long enough to go through the whole fish without getting to the pole part (this is important). Keith and I use different strength bands and always have back ups-they don’t last long. We have tried the detachable tips, and some people love them, but we found we don’t like to have a flailing fish on the metal wire that we can’t grab onto and control. We prefer to be able to put one hand on either side of the fish, lift it out of the water and swim back to the dinghy with the fish out of the water, we can’t do this with the detachable. We like to believe this attracts less attention from other predators. We tried the arrow tip with double tangs as well but they took a lot more force to pierce all the way through the fish. We found the metal poles, though nice, to be worthless once they get bent. We also tried the hawiian slings (the sling shot type with seperate spears) it just wasn’t our thing, works for some though. Cheap garden or mechanic gloves are also helpful when you have manhandle the fish. Good luck in picking your gear, fresh fish dinners are in your near future!
Keith and Deborah
God!
That water is so clear and perfect. I miss tropical islands.
What is your new phone number? Call or text me at 956-638-3483; or Emily at 956-638-0840. We love your posts!