slurp guns - Page 2

acroboy · #26 10/06/2006, 02:55 PM

Just got my first white and black banded butterfly. First in 25 years. This has been anawsome year on Long Island. Got a large lion the other night and a huge orange file.

speckled trout · #27 10/06/2006, 03:13 PM

pactrop,

The visibility can be upwards of 80' in the Gulf of Mexico where I dive.

Tons of small damsels, blennies, a few dwarf angels, a few butterflies, and small varieties of grouper are all around the oil rigs. Snapper, ling, barracuda, big groupers, and sharks are also to be found.

How do situate your nets to catch the fish? I'm assuming you set them out and secure them to something before running the fish into them. Is this correct? If so, how do you keep them from going over or under your net at such deep depths?-Mike

pactrop · #28 10/06/2006, 03:51 PM

Do the ornamental fish live on the rigs?

The nets are weighted at the bottom. you just lay it out on the bottom.

Try to catch puffers first, they are the easiest.

Small angels all stay right near the bottom. fairly easy to catch.

Damsels will retreat to their holes, use it to your advantage.

Butterflies in general will be easy to chase into your net. some will hang higher but if you set up your net then come around from the other side from the to they will retreat to the reef.

Blennnies are a whole different story, especially the real small ones. they will fit through the eye of your nets most likely.

Just watch how the fish act and try to predict where the best place to lay your net to chase them into it would be.

speckled trout · #29 10/06/2006, 03:55 PM

At 100' feet I can't stay down there all that long. Tends to cause problems with the bodily functions!

speckled trout · #30 10/06/2006, 04:02 PM

The blennies all retreat into their dead barnacles that are attached to the rig. They are very easy to catch. Just plug the barnacle's opening with your finger and pop it off from the rig. The blenny will be on the inside of it.

These are really cool looking blennies, too. Very comical looking. They resemble sailfin blennies in body shape and have similar looking faces but are a little more colorful. The small ones have some red dots on their heads and the larger ones are very dark-bodied with red hair-like projections on the top of their heads. They look like little spiked hair-dos.

Yes, the ornamentals stay real close to the rig. The damsels are beautiful, unlike any I've seen for sale. I've got to get an underwtarer camera to take pics. Hopefully, I'll eventually catch some without killing them. The ones I've caught, so far, were critically injured because I accidentally smashed them against the rig to get them in my WHITE net. I won't be trying that technique again.

pactrop · #31 10/06/2006, 04:18 PM

here are some pics of the tools for collection.

http://www.pacifictropics.com/collection.html

pactrop · #32 10/06/2006, 04:22 PM

Are you catching the fish mid water on the rig or on the ocean floor?

We usually get about 20 to 30 minutes of bottom time at 100 feet.

acroboy · #33 10/06/2006, 08:24 PM

I think we should have a forum for collectors who truly love this hobby. I have been off these boards at least 2 years because I was unaware of how many people collect like myself. I mean guys post here from all over. There are so many fish that are native to individuals all whom have perfected there own collecting methods.

beaker99 · #34 10/06/2006, 10:10 PM

I did 1 dive and I caught 13 butterflies and 1 snowy grouper. the fish couldn't see the net and it was quik and easy storing them in the bait bucket.
oh, btw this dive was in NY. [/B][/QUOTE]
Oh the benefits of global warming. As a boy growing up in New Jersy that sort of thing was unheard of. And a week or so ago some artic fur seals washed up on a bch in Jupiter Florida. I fear some ominous things going on in the depths of the oceans. By the way at what depth did you make your catch.

fishome25 · #35 10/06/2006, 11:06 PM

well i don't think its due to global warming. the fish can not winter through up here. juvi's get caught in the gulfstream and pockets of warm water from the gulfstream break off and land on long island. this will happen late summer. the butterflies start of fingernail size. ones that last will grow, right now some are just over silver dollar size. the groupers grow faster. we probably have just a couple more weeks to collect these guys before the water gets too cold and they all die.

that particular dive was prob around 24'.

acroboy · #36 10/07/2006, 12:58 AM

I agree, global warming doesn't seem to be the answer. These fish have always been coming up here and always will, as long as the gulfstream current is pumping . Preditors and gulfstream movement effect where the fish go and how many of those fish survive. Hatch rates of individual species also determine which species are able to arrive in large numbers. Some years orange file fish arrive in such great numbers I could see them grazing docks in schoals of 50 or 60 fish, other years it's tremendous schoals of lookdowns. It always varies. The gulf stream is miles and miles off shore. When these fish separate they are carried with the tide hiding under rafts of sargasm weed and debris that are caught in the current. If you look at reference text books you can see butterflies ID in the gulf of Maine back in the 1800's when they started cataloging fish.

speckled trout · #37 10/09/2006, 11:34 AM

Pactrop,

We are seeing most of the ornamentals from 1' to 60'.

pactrop · #38 10/10/2006, 12:15 AM

wow. so you are pretty much catching fish mid water off of the rigs legs.

speckled trout · #39 10/10/2006, 07:50 AM

That's what I've been trying to do. Fairly unsuccessful, so far. I can't wait to get back out and try again. If I only didn't have to work!

KING OF THE REEF · #40 10/17/2006, 06:29 PM

hey i hail from the jupiter area. thanks for mentioning me lol. those seals were so cute to bad one died.

celstar · #41 10/29/2006, 11:25 PM

Were can someone go other then the usa to catch your own fish and bring them back? And were in the states can you?

stevemc · #42 11/04/2006, 10:12 AM

I also collect. I have 2 slurp guns, but only use them for specific fish, that get in coral and never want to get out. You have to push water at them, they swim into it, and then you slurp. I only use those maybe 1 time every 2 years though. I use nets exclusively. I have several large -2 foot by 2 foot nets with 4 foot long bags 1/4" mono webbing. And for Neon gobies and real small stuff go to the paint store and get some 5 gallon paint filters. It is a real fine mesh bag about 2' deep and perfect size to sew onto a wire hanger. One problem some of you might not be thinking, is some fish-most ,have air bladders, and will die if not decompressed foor hours. I decompress for 3 hours if they come from 50'. I bring them up to 30' and leave them there for a while, while I am diving, then slowly bring them up about 1 foot per 2-3 minutes in the boat. I see many different types at 120+ (Atlantic longnosed butterflies, deepwater blue damsels, other deep water stuff, but they would need much more time than I want to wait for, as I spearfish too. Gobies, blennies and jawfish are fine but angels and butterflies and most others will die if brought up wrong. Steve.

RELAD · #43 11/26/2006, 08:33 PM

I heard that when bringing up fish from deeper depths you can needle them to releve the air bladder. How do you do this?? I am going diving next month and might collect if I see something nice.

speckled trout · #44 11/27/2006, 01:41 PM

Pop the air bladder with a sharp(thin) needle or blade.

To do this, insert it into the airbladder. We do this with snapper when we release them, so that they can dive back down once they've been brought up on rod and reel. If you don't, they'll just float at the top and die.

I'd think it be pretty hard to do on a smaller ornamental fish without hurting it. The needle would have to be extremely tiny and the chances of puncturing something other than the airbladder would be pretty high, IMO.