Capt. Chad Carney
“The deeper you dive, the bigger the fish!” has been my slogan as a spearfishing instructor since 1978. Depths of 132 to 187-ft are half of why spearfishing is so great on these SW FL wrecks. The other half is they’re 50 to 90-nautical miles (nm) offshore. All are natural wrecks, not artificial reefs, & many divers have speared their personal best (PB) fish on them!
Yellowfin A commercial grouper boat, about 60-ft long with one screw & no deck. It’s 162-ft deep & 50-nm due W of Bradenton. In the Gulf small broken down wrecks often produce quality fish. In fall of 2002, a 46-lbs gag grouper bent my 1st freeshaft, but the 2nd stoned it – my PB! Buddies shot a nice gag & big mangrove snappers too.
C-47 With 96-ft of wingspan & 64-ft length, this twin engine aircraft has lasted many years, because it’s 156-ft deep. Part of the fuselage has a wing attached, & one near by. The tail is out of sight to the S. It’s a 50-nm run due W of Sarasota. We first dove it in 1994, & in the late 90s a buddy shot his PB 59-lbs “rusty belly” (big gags get algae stains on their bottoms). While teaching advanced nitrox & decompression courses, my long shot stoned “the smartest fish underwater”, a PB 82-lbs cubera snapper!
Roatan Express The 180-ft supply vessel ran routes from Tampa to Honduras. She sunk Oct. 1 1992 in 187-ft of water, 76-nm due W of Fort Myers. The wreck is upright & intact & in 2003 we saw cars, trucks, containers & a capsized lifeboat scattered about. We shot nice gags, AJs & red snappers, which were just coming back to the SE Gulf.
Stoney Point Ferry Little is known about her & that keeps her underrated. Depth is 132-ft & range is 59-nm due W of Naples. About 160 to 200-ft long based on the large broken up metal pile with 12-ft of relief. In 1996 this was a first 100-nm SW run from St Pete, on my 36-ft sportfish. We saw 2 unreachable 100-lbs blacks (“carbos”) & another (50-ish) shook my spear & was gone. We got 25-lbs gags & AJs. Years later we chased a big cubera here that eluded us, again. Oh well – great hunt!
USS PC-463 174-ft Patrol Craft “Sub Chaser” was ironically & intentionally sunk by the Sub USS Trutta, while torpedo testing in 1953. Her stern is S of her bow by .5-nm, in 165-ft of water, 63-nm due W of Marco Island. I dove her on a friends boat & think it was the larger bow section, which was more spread out than the Stoney. I love any wreck when I see a 50-lbs+ carbo on descent! Got a big scamp as well as mango snappers. Thank you Jim Rozzi for the wreck photos!
Baja California This 265-ft steel freighter was torpedoed in 1942 & now lies in big chunks on her port side. Depth is 118-ft & distance is 56-nm SW of Marco Island & 59 from Naples. She is most known for artifacts & huge herds of Goliath groupers, but always has AJs, snappers, & sometimes cobia,and groupers. Only 3.2-nm E is the L-Tower, which provides great spearing from top to bottom!
Technical Spearfishing & Tech Dive training is recommended deeper than 132-ft.