The coolest thing since.....

A few days ago when Willow pulled in I started snorkeling with Nancy and Ginny. When we first went out they introduced me to a new toy of theirs, and it has to be the coolest thing since.... well, since I don't know what but it really is cool. It's called a Scuba Stick and simply put it is a telescoping underwater fishing pole. While David, Nancy and Ginny were out spear fishing I played with the Scuba Stick, for hours. Just like any other fishing pole one can use a lure, bait or a combination of the two. What's great about fishing underwater is you can place your bait exactly where you want it, maybe at the opening to a hole in the reef, on the sandy bottom or even just a few feet below you. Being underwater it's easy to observe which fish are trying to take your hook which allows you to be selective on what you want to catch. Pull the bait away from the smaller ones but leave it if a larger fish is approaching. And it was interesting to see how different fish react.

Here are some examples of my experience using the Scuba Stick. With a 4" dead sardine on the hook I lowered the hook to about four feet below me. Plenty of mackerel swam up towards me and investigated the sardine but didn't take it. Mackerel will hit fast moving lures and bait but clearly hesitate with drifting bait. Rock hinds prefer the bait to be sitting still for at least one minute before they approach the bait. I had small rock hinds of 3 to 4" take my 4" sardine in their large mouths and try to swim off with it, obviously they can't eat the sardine whole but I suspect they were taking it to a secure hole where they could eat it in smaller bites. The larger rock hinds behaved the same, spending a minute or so watching the dead bait before striking. Seconds after dropping the sardine just in front of a small hole in the coral a large lobster poked his head out, David was next to me and speared the lobster.

With smaller pieces of cut bait the mackerel were again interested but the bait was still not moving fast enough to cause a strike. Many of the smaller snappers, grunts and other reef fish readily picked at the bait. And I played with a few different type of jigging style lures, it's fun to see how each lure performs differently under water.

So without any hesitation I have to say that the Scuba Stick is a really cool toy that puts new interest in fishing and snorkeling, a toy that is fun to use and of course falls into the category of frivolous spending. That said, I gotta get one of these!