2nd Annual October Shootout Report (2006)
by: Mike Wade

The 2nd Annual October Shootout was held on Saturday, October 21st at Tacky 
Jack's Marina in Orange Beach, Alabama.  This was a one day event and only the 
hardest core spearfishermen and women competed.  This would also be the last 
competition of the year for the Stickmen Freedivers.  Our team would consist of 
David Biron, Jack deVilliers and myself.  While this was only a one day 
tournament, we squeezed in every minute we could towards spearfishing.

Our day began by hunting for our first and most important category, flounder.  
This is the favored fish of the Stickmen and we take pride in hunting them.

Everything about this tournament worked against us; it was 51 degrees, which is 
cold with a north wind blowing, the tides were wrong, the water was dirty and 
there didn't seem to be enough time to accomplish all that we needed to do.
  
However, when we arrived at a dive spot, there was not much discussion about 
whether it was divable or not, we just suited up and got in the water.  Our 
first dive provided us with only one foot visibility with an outgoing current.  
The absolute worst conditions to hunt flounder in.  We put our noses to the 
bottom and scoured it for the well buried up fish.  David comes out with a nice 
four pounder and the rest were what we call "tater chips" aka "barely legal".  
Nevertheless, we needed every fish because we knew that the other competitors 
were probably dealing with the same conditions.  

After securing our flounder category, we stop for a cup of coffee and proceed to 
launch the "Angelina".  Jack would be the Captain and drop Dave and I off on 
fish reefs for the rest of the day.  This would help us tremendously as the day 
wore on by allowing us to dive like "madmen". Jack would pull up, Dave and I 
would go over and then Jack would back off and idle the boat until we waved him 
back, indicating we had shot a fish. This scenario was played out several times 
during the course of the day.

We started out diving on structure 70 feet deep and unfortunately all the fish 
we needed were hugging the bottom.  Dave and I worked every tactic we knew of.  
We would dive one up, one down for a while, then he would work one side of the 
structure while I worked the other.  I think this method paid off the most. 
David would shoot a fish and the rest of the school would go to the 
other side where I would be waiting.  The Team filled every category by using 
this technique.  The down side was that we were having to make repetitive dives 
over 60 feet deep and it is very taxing on the body.

After lunch we had hit everything in the area so we moved in shallower to some 
areas that were in 55-45 feet of water, picking up a fish here and there.  As 
the afternoon progressed the water got more dirty and murky.  Our last location 
had us swimming to within 4 feet of a fish before we could identify it.  This 
kind of visibility makes for dangerous diving and increases the chance of 
getting hung up or bumping into metal structures, so after a while we call it 
and head back to the dock in order to make it to the weigh in on time. I 
estimate that between David and I, we made over 200 dives.  My ears are still 
stessed, two days later.  Alcohol and Peroxide are standing by.

We arrived at Tacky Jack's and there were divers already weighing in their fish.
We greeted some of our competitors and went back to the boat to retrieve our 
fish. David weighed in a nice 4.10 lb. flounder that held on to 1st place.  He 
also weighed in a sheepshead, mangrove and red snapper. All four categories.  I 
weighed in only three categories.  

As Director of the Alabama Spearfishing Association it was my duty to organize 
the tournament and along with it the job of announcing when the weigh scales 
close.  There have been several occasions that a boat would be pulling up to the 
dock as the scales close.  Since you have to be in line to weigh in by 6:00 p.m. 
they would be disqualified and that really stinks.  This tournament would be no 
different and at 5:59 p.m. my best friends brother, Trip deVilliers and his team 
and our old team the (Current Drifters) came pulling up to the dock.  I 
encouraged Jack to get Trip to jump on the dock and get in line by 6:00 p.m.  
They were trying to make it on the dock when the clock struck the top of the 
hour and I had the worse job in the world at that moment; to tell Trip that they 
didn't make it in time.  Of course, he was a good sport about it and was under 
the impression that the scales were open until 6:30.  I felt bad for them but 
had to stand firm on my decision.  Thankfully, the fish they had to weigh in 
would not have changed the outcome of the results but it hurt more to tell them 
than anyone I've had to tell before and I've had other friends find themselves 
in the same situation.  

After that, the tally sheets were turned over to the scoring committee to 
determine the winners and the results showed Stickman David Biron to be the 
Master Spearfisher.  Congratulations brother!

Jack was the pivotal factor that helped us achieve this feat.  He Captained the 
boat everywhere we needed to be and was steadfast in his deckhand skills 
allowing David and I to give 100% in the water.  The Stickmen also prevailed by 
winning every 1st place flounder award in every tournament we competed in this 
year; four in total.  I won the first two, Jack won the third and David the 
fourth.  We also netted two Master Spearfishermen awards in 2006. This was 
definitely the year of the Stickmen Freedivers.

Thanks to God for blessing us with the skills to participate in something we 
love so dearly and for keeping us safe.  I'm sure we each have our own Guardian 
Angel. I know I do!