Well, there aren't any big AJs at the yamaha right now. In the past I've been able to just pick out the lead fish in the school, and he's always been at least 34-35". So, I tried that, and he was 25"?! Ok, so try again, this time looking at the lead fish, then finding one bigger than him in the school. Wtf? 27"? I thought I was going insane. I swore I wasn't going to shoot another AJ at that point. I already had a decent mangrove on my stringer, so I figured I'd head back down to the barge and hunt for more grouper/snapper.
I'd just mounted a light on my gun, and it made a huge difference. I saw many more fish in the holes in the barge than I normally would have. There are some monster grouper on the Yamaha reef, and there are plenty of broken off leaders to show that you don't have a chance of hook-and-lining them. They're pretty easily spooked. As often as the Yamaha sees divers, I'm not surprised. It ended up being pretty unproductive, just the one mangrove, and Joe killed a nice hog.
On the way back up, I saw an AJ that I was pretty sure would keep. I got a nice stone shot on him, he folded instantly. Measured him back at the boat, and he was 28 1/8".
Our next dive stop was a bit of natural bottom in 35 fsw. The bottom was absolutely beautiful, but the vis was about 5-6'. Lot of little caves, 6-18" in diameter. More rock bass than I've ever seen in my life. The grouper were hard to hit, since the sound of our bubble scared them, and we couldn't see them unless they were right under our noses. I did manage one shot on a nice red grouper. Unfortunately, he was sitting right on top of a flat rock, and I was directly above him. My spear went right through the meat behind the head, hit the rock (barbs didnt go in far enough to engage), and bounced back out of him. Right back into his cave he went, and all I have is a blunted tip to show for it.
The only fish (other than the billion rock bass and grunts) that was fearless enough to come within 5 feet of me was a sheepshead, and he went right on my stringer. A nice hog was obliging enough for Joe.
Even though conditions were slightly adverse, we had a blast anyway. I can't wait to do it again. Like Joe found out when our anchor and marker buoy got hung, I'll use any excuse I can to get in the water, even if it's just for freediving.
Wil
......I had such a blast in the Keys snorkeling that I think I might be going to the darkside 
