Monday, July 26, 2010

Diver Spears Warsaw Grouper

John Ciulla versus the beast.

"Saturday, in 200 feet of water off Jupiter Inlet, John Ciulla couldn’t believe his eyes. As he looked on, he saw dive buddy Louie Devaliex spear a 20-pound amberjack near the reef about 140 feet from the surface.

Competing in the third annual Big Bang Open spearfishing tournament, the jack wasn’t a remarkable score. But what happened next took both men entirely by surprise.

As Devaliex’s fish began to battle deeper against the reel on his speargun, a hulking warsaw grouper emerged from behind a ledge on the reef and swallowed the speared jack.

“It was insane,” said Ciulla who had never seen a warsaw grouper before Saturday’s dive. “To see how big the grouper was, it was huge.”

Ciulla knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to shoot the grouper. But what diver in his right mind, diving at a depth that was his physical limit, would think he could win a tug of war with a 100-pound class reef fish on its home turf.

Ciulla did."

The tug of war continues here.

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