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A Farewell To HOD's.
Jolly Rogers 2
Guests
The Palm Beach posse back for trip number two in 2008 this time to try
their hand at winter diving off the Hatch. The Hill brothers, Jack (The 66
Kid) and Dr. Nat (Lazy Bones) along with Mark Dahlmeier and Derrick Andres.
Also aboard was local Hatch icon Eddie "The Dock Rat" as a hook n' liner.
Sea Conditions
NOAA was calling for a small craft advisory the day of departure and
4'-6' seas but Intellicast did not confirm it. I'll go with Intellicast
every time. Besides it was the last trip of the year before the NMFS dropped
the grouper hammer on us so we were set to go in anything less than
"Deadliest Catch" conditions. As it turned out the seas were 4' max the
first day, but in the form of very manageable long period rollers which
gradually laid out at nightfall. The second day which was forecasted by NOAA
to be nicer ending up of course being a worse 2'-4' chop which did lay out
for the ride home. The water temps warmed up from the last trip averaging
61*-64*, and the vis ranged 30'-40'.
Slay Report
After the worst JR2 charter year on record which can be blamed on record
fuel prices and an economy where most cannot justify the cost of going out
on a weekend charter we somehow managed to finish 2008 with two trips in a
row.....in the cold front laden month of December no less. Strong fish
production again with an easy boat limit of large inshore hogs, amberjack to
45#, plenty of gags and a few mangos tossed in.
Jimmy Z needs to tighten up. If he is not going to dive in the winter then
he at least needs to be the mack daddy at night on hook and line.....right?
Well, after his dozen missed strikes, half dozen gags getting unbuttoned
halfway up, and several nice out of season red snappers that had to be
tossed back Nat decides to pick up a rod. Within ten minutes he had three
good sized gags over the rail and into the pail prompting much good natured
smack talk at Jimmy Z's full schooling. Even the Kingfish feels like a Key
West grunt once in a while
Slayed this 24#-26# gag with a fresh
8 oz bucktail jig in its mouth on the top of a wreck whose superstructure is
just 35 fsw below the surface. Try as we might we could not escape the
shadows in the solo pic. Eddie stands in with me for a better look.
Derrick and Mark went on full
rodeo rides subduing these jacks on a barge wreck.
The Brothers Hill. Think football lineman for Jack (he did play at the
college level), and basketball point guard for Nat.
Picture quality
progressively deteriorating. We did not blur Mark's face on purpose
because of alleged encounter with Shirley, the renowned one toothed
Hatch hottie who works third shift at the Wal Mart in Chiefland . I
think there is moisture inside the camera lens.
President Jimmy Carter was out
on a grouper charter which was working less than a mile away from us the
second day. You can just make out the USCG rigid inflatable that
escorted the charter boat which no doubt had fully strapped secret
service personnel aboard. The coasties pulled up to us to make sure we
were not terrorists.....which we are, but only to fish.
The JR2 took Carter out four years ago on a fishing trip, and had a USCG
cutter escort in addition to two rigid inflatables.
__________________
The Iron never lies to you. The Iron will always kick you the real deal.
It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go, but 200
pounds is always 200 pounds.
-Henry Rollins
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