Spearboard Open 2007

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.

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