Guests
Kitefisherman,
Topshotta, Bigfish53, John Buljalski, and his son John Robert. Kite came
through as usual with the appetizers bringing the best ceviche he has
made to to date and smoked LA almaco jack spread to complement my
blackfin tuna sushi rolls. Add some Jolly Burgers with a side of BBQ
ledge beans, and you are in MG gastronomic heaven.
Sea Conditions
You're in trouble when you are leaving the dock and there are
whitecaps...in the Steinhatchee River. The wind was howling out of the
NW on Friday offering up the high side of 4'-6' seas with ample amounts
of higher rogues to fully wash over the top of the JR2. The wind changed
from W to SW and died to somewhat manageable levels by Friday night,
progressively laying down on Saturday to beautiful conditions for
tournament shooting. Vis was top to bottom on almost every site, with
76* water temps, and light currents.
Slay Report
We left early Friday and crawled our way out in heavy quartering
seas to one of the many red snapper spots we have inside the MG.
Everyone got in just one dive and hook and line fished a little more
than normal which resulted in the usual deck full of ARS's flopping
around as everyone scrambled over each other to get their next bait in
the water.
The SBO began very early for us Saturday morning in an area of the MG
that we have not been to in a few years. Hogfish, red grouper, and big
pie plates were thick while the gags were scattered and amberjack were
MIA until the very end which leads to my most memorable dive of the
trip.......
It's late Saturday afternoon, and we were getting down to the wire.
Everyone had a respectable SBO stringer so far, but were hurting for
those easy 20 amberjack points. We left an area that had loaded the fish
box with 10#-15# hogs all day to check out some of our "no fail"
amberjack ledges. I dropped down with Bigfish 53 and Kitefisherman, and
really only looking for a jack went down with the lineshaft loaded on my
Rhino gun. I immediately spotted a nice male hog however upon hitting
the bottom and rolled him dead. Stoned.....too stoned. The shaft had
buried in the hog's skull and no amount of force was letting me pull it
out. F*ck it, I strung the fish letting the shaft and line trail, and
loaded my one extra freeshaft that I brought down. I went break left and
met up with Kite giving him the edge while I swam on the hard top. Lucky
move because a few minutes later I spotted a nice gag on my side of the
break that ended up being one of the two I weighed in, and it quickly
joined the hogfish on the HOD. The ledge started getting taller and more
vertical with pinnacles and broken off limestone out on the low side....
a classic jack zone, get ready. Sure enough, the swarm of perfect sized
tournament 15#-25# reef donkeys moved in, but unfortunately they were
swimming high off the bottom. While Kite....uhhh I'll let him tell his
story , I perched on a pinnacle like King Kong on the Empire State
building desperately hacking away at the hogfish like Jason from the
Friday the 13th movies to free the lineshaft while amberjack buzzed
around me. After what seemed like an eternity, I got the shaft loose,
loaded it, and let fly with a stone shot on my one and only jack of the
day. Damnit, I could have used my freeshaft all along! This occurred
simultaneously while Kite was.....uhhh I'll let him tell . I clipped him
on the stringer, and headed for the roof before both my unhappy dive
computers filed for a restraining order.
I got my ass kicked by the Gulf on Friday, dove my ass off on Saturday
until I had too much blood in my nitrogen system, and got so little
sleep for three days until Sunday night that it made the Alaskan crab
fisherman on Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch show look like a bunch
of narcoleptic Ambien addicts. On Monday I was ready to do it again. I
need help......
