Guests
The Arkansas crew back for another round in 2006. Scott McCrory,
owner of the The Dive Shop in Little Rock who organized the trip, Frog
Legs (Frank), Phil, Robert, and Dave. Check out the Dive Shop's website
at www.diveshop1.com, and call
Scott at 501-666-DIVE to have him hook you up with what you need. In
addition to to their Little Rock HQ they also have locations in Marietta
GA, Memphis TN, and Joplin MO.
Big thanks to Frog Legs for bringing the BBQ feast...again. Racks of
ribs, smoked chickens, and a pork tenderloin prepped up at the Cross
Eyed Pig hit the spot after a day of non-stop slaying, and Robert
stepped up with awesome dinner rolls and jalapeno cornbread baked fresh
at his restaurant, Homer's in Little Rock.
Finally, be on the lookout for Jolly Rogers 2 slaying in high definition
coming soon. Phil (who didn't even bring a speargun on the trip ) had
the Sony HD professional video camera setup, and filmed on every dive.
Trust me, once the raw footage gets edited, it should be sicker than
anything you have seen on Spearboard.
Sea Conditions
CALM. I'm talking so calm that you can't make out where the water
ends and the sky starts at the horizon. That is until Sunday morning. We
were getting ready to drop a marker jug on a spot in absolutely farm
pond flat condition when all of a sudden a 5' roller hits the boat
sending shit flying from the table and counters. Within minutes 4'-5'
long period rollers coming out of the SE are visible as far as the eye
could see in every direction. Jimmy Z started flipping out that another
earthquake occurred in the Gulf, and chatter goes wild on VHF channel 06
among the commercials. The seas never calmed down after that, but the
100' tsunami never materialized. Sorry guys, you won't be diving the
wreck of the JR2 anytime soon .
Slay Report
We got the party started early on the first day scoring big with
gags on a couple of our mid range spots. Big thanks to Robert, for
finding my beloved Sporasub Snake Dagger knife on a backdive that I had
inadvertently lost in a slaying melee an hour before. We ended up
anchoring just east of the MG on some rock piles and absolutely waylaid
the red snapper on hook and line. The following day we did our first
round dives there before heading to the big show in the Grounds. There
were literally 1000 head of red snapper in the 3#-7# from the middle of
the water column to the structure on the bottom. How Roy Crabtree of the
NMFS is trying to strongarm tighter restrictions on the recreational
sector when the fishery is in the best shape that it has been in here in
the eastern Gulf for a decade is something that all of us should be up
in arms about.
The MG for the rest of the trip was as it always is, productive and
dependable. Endless supplies of ubiquitous mangos, alpha male hogs for
most of the divers, gags to round out what the guests harvested en route
to the MG, manhole cover sized triggers, and red grouper on every spot
(here is another grossly mismanaged fishery with excessive restrictions
placed on the rec sector).
I looked at a milk carton and saw a picture of a MG amberjack. Hey reef
donkeys, where are you guys? I miss the no-brainer summer opportunity to
watch that goofy face you make the second after I shoot you, and the
second before you realize that there is a 60" shaft of stainless steel
in your head when you go absolutely ape-shit. Call me sometime, let's do
lunch. I'll buy the Jolly Dogs .....
I great time with one of my "A-list" crews. I actually had as much fun
playing spear guide underwater on a couple of dives, and helping the
guys get on some fish than shooting them myself. I'm sure Robert is
still getting ragged on by his boys for not pulling the trigger on that
50# jack with his 48 Sea Hornet. Damnit dude, didn't I just say that
they have been scarce this summer?!! I would have helped you out...after
watching you get your ass dragged around the ledge for a couple of
minutes . He made up for it by going into the slay zone with Scott and
myself on a dusk dive the second day, and ended up getting a front row
seat watching me go into full spelunking mode to extract a holed up gag
that I had Scott shoot while I spotlighted it. Ahh, the joys of being
torso deep under a limestone ledge in 110 fsw at 8PM playing tug of war
with a beserk grouper. When can I go again?
AJ Suarez
