Spearfishing NY .Octoberfest: togs and stripers.

Spearfishing, in New York.
I have a big float and "diver down" flag. Still, I always scan the horizon for boats.
October 26, 2023. The water is getting cooler and clearer. The fish less abundant.
Two hours in the ocean. Took one shot, one fish. There is something satisfying in minimalist restraint.
I found what looked like an underwater mountain of rocks emerging from the sandy bottom.
I swam around it, looking for some legal size blackfish or something else.
16 inch is the minimum allowed. That size and larger tend to have whiter and puffier lips than the juveniles.
One came out from a hole, I thought "big enough", took it. 18 inches/45 cm. Good size.
I saw several striped bass of dubious size.
With the legal slot 28 to 31 inch so hard to evaluate, I will pass a striper if I caught other fish already.
I saw a dead false albacore at the bottom. That would be a dream fish to take. I like what looks like a small tuna somehow, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, albies.
They are challenging, they are fast and powerful.
Blackfish and striped bass are slow growing fish. They can be 20 or 30 years old. They grow slow. Bluefish grow fast, live around 7 years and are some of the top predators of these shores.
But now that the water is 61F/17C, they seem to have gone south.
I upgraded my @salvimar.spearfishing pneumatic speargun with a brown 17-4PH heat treated steel that does not flex like stainless when loading. And a mini spear tip with tiny floppers. the shaft goes through every fish like a needle and sewing thread. Since then I have not lost a fish, every fish on the line.
I gut the fish on the rocks, the gulls fight for the scraps.
track by @official_dj_olive
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