SPI - Spearfishing with a whale shark!!!

On saturday 9/24, I had one of the greatest experiences I've ever had on the water. Keith, Cesar and I headed out of the jetties and ended up at the Little Sarah rig about 10 miles out. Keith and Cesar jumped right in with their snorkels, and I decided to stay in the boat and drop down to try to catch some snapper. I had a couple snaps and grouper to the boat and had gotten hit by a big 'cuda, but nothing too exciting. After about an hour, Cesar finally got a shot on a big ling that they had been stalking. We decided to stick around a little longer, so I geared up and jumped in to check out the scene underwater. The visibility was about 60'+ and there was almost no current. The rig was a beautiful sight and there were lots of fish on it. Most of the snapper we could see were just out of range, but there were lots of big barracuda cruising around. I was getting ready to shoot a barracuda when I heard Keith yell that a whale shark was coming in. I looked over and saw the 25'-30' behemoth slowly swimming toward me!! We swam toward it and could see that there were about 10 big ling swimming with it. For the next hour or so, the shark was circling the rig, and it came up about 4 or five times. We were picking off the ling at every opportunity and taking short rides on it's fins.... We took a little break, and as soon as I got back in the water, it was coming up at about a 45 degree angle about 20 yards from me. I swam to it, shot a ling, and then grabbed its dorsal fin. It kept coming up, so I let go of the dorsal and grabbed its tail. By then it was on the surface, and I got a nice tail ride for about 5 swoops of it's tail!! The whole time, I had the ling pulling on the line, but I was able to pull out the camera and take the video. In the video, you can see my shot ling, Caesar taking a fin ride, and Keith going in for a shot that he decided not to take. You can also see a snapper that was caught by a kid in a little skiff on the surface. After this last encounter, we loaded up and went to the sea buoy where we found a nice tripletail sitting under the buoy. I got up close and personal with it and gave it a skewering... From there, we hit the end of the jetties. I stayed in the boat and fished for some of the tarpon that they were seeing, while they shot several more mangrove snapper. We ended the day with five nice ling, the tripletail, and about 8 mangrove snapper!!! I must say, Keith has found a cool new hobby and I can't wait to get out there again with him! This trip will be stuck in my head forever. I'll never forget taking a ride on the biggest fish that swims in the ocean, and I'm really glad I had the camera to capture some shots of this beautiful animal!!
This was the first thing I saw when I jumped in:

This 'cuda was the second thing I saw:

Caesar fighting up a big ling:

Enter the whale shark:

Keith down about 40'+ You can see the whale shark under him:

Keith coming up:

Keith with a nice ling:

Me with a ling:

Big ling:

Gangster fishing!!!

Me with the tripletail:

Whale shark video:

Lake Travis 9/11

I hit Lake Travis today with Lance Hale and his neighbor, Domingo. The day started off with steady action on crankbaits and frogs. Lance caught a nice bass and then a nice yella cat on a crankbait. We hit a few more spots and I picked up this one on a Lucky Craft crankbait. It was 5.5 on Lance's scale, but I'm callin' it a six!!!

Baby Buster Double Up!!

I hit up Lake Travis this afternoon and caught this double on a pearl colored Baby Buster!! I also caught fish on frogs, shaky head, Gunfish, and crankbaits. The lake is about 45' low & I found some nice brushpiles to hit up after we get some rain....

Mexico Super Grand Slam!!

Rachel and I had a great day of fishing with Enrique Trinidad in Isla Blanca, MX on 8/25. I caught my first inshore Super Grand Slam!! All of these fish were sight casted on my new 3 piece travel rod I made for this trip! The permit came first on a small pink & white spade head jig. Right after that, I got the tarpon on a crab pattern Buggs lure. The bonefish was a little hard to get because the sun went behind some cluds and they were tough to spot. Luckily, I saw a little flash and was able to reach them with a long cast. After that, Enrique took us through a tunnel of mangroves to a perfectly glassy lagoon. There was a little 3' channel running into the lagoon on the back side, and there were about 6 snook sitting on the side of it. The snook hit a 3" rootbeer/gold gulp shrimp. This was definitely one of the most memorable days of fishing I have ever had!!! While we were looking for the snook, I started telling Enrique the story about last time I was down there six years ago and a shark ate my snook right after I released it... His reply was "That was me!"...It turns out this was the 2nd time I've fished with Enrique, so I guess now it's a tradition! Big thanks to Enrique and to Martin van der Does at http://www.cancuntarponfishing.com/ for setting this trip up!!