The Jolly Rogers Institute Of Advanced Slay
Science. Jolly Rogers 2
Guests
Kitefisherman, Topshotta, Firemedic247 (Rich), and his two buddies
Paul and Kenneth. My buddy Tom who is American Spearit on Spearboard (aka-MPAboard)
rounded out the manifest as hook n' liner/extra limit . Rich had just
gotten back from Iraq the the week before where he was a civilain
contract firefighter, and kept us entertained with stories from the
front lines. I guess we kept them entertained too because they are
already pumped up to come back for second trip in late March.
Thanks to Kitefisherman for bringing some awesome wild boar gumbo. That
combined with the chili, black beans, and Jolly Joes that were already
on the menu must have played a part in disentigrating the toilet flapper
that almost sank the boat (more on that later) .
Sea Conditions
At last a trip where we only get our asses only somewhat kicked. The
seas were quite nicer than forecasted for the first two days of the
trip, but got up to 5' towards the first part of the final day. Water
temps were 75*-77* which is OK, but it was brutal getting out of the
water with the pervasive cold wind......on the eighth day God created
the dive parka. Vis generally averaged around 40', and the currents were
manageable despite the new moon.
Slay Report
Talk about throwing a long bomb TD on your opening possession.
Despite only getting in one round of drops on the first day it was
absolutely off the hook. Jimmy Z completely waylaid into a not ready for
SFP stringer on a piece of hard bottom, and two dives later Kite and I
dropped in on brownsnouter hog heaven. It was nearly dusk when we
descended on a smallish ledge in 85 fsw which was lit up with schools of
some of the biggest inshore hogs I have seen in some time. You know it
is an epic slay session when you are passing over legitimate
brownsnouters to shoot hogs that wouldn't be out of place in the
MG......never mind the big mangos and gags. It took all I had to head
for the roof a few minutes early to get the backdive team ready before
the sun went down.
The MG the following day was hot for the first few dives with Kite
having a monster drop where he bagged some very nice gags and bent up
one of his DeathStick shafts. Then came a lull where several spots
showed as ghost towns on the bottom machine devoid of bait or show.
Despite having to go through many spots we powered through our
rotations, and picked through our requsite MG hogs, jacks, and scamp
grouper which seem as if they have become the dominant reef fish on many
of the ledges out there. We headed just NE out of the MG the following
day where we had more consistent action like we did at the start of the
trip, and topped the fish box off before heading to the Hatch.
On the ride home when everyone was either sleeping down below or BS'ing
in the cabin Paul noticed something awry in the V-berth. He yelled at
Tom to wake up who stepped down off his bunk into knee deep salt water
rising fast. Jimmy Z showing the speed and dexterity of a spider monkey
on crystal meth jumped down into the bilge access next to the head while
yours truly made a dive for the tools that the Admiral needed. A couple
minutes later the water was drained and we went back to condition green.
Apparently in the rough seas the flapper in the head leading to the
outside had broken off allowing water to rush in faster than the front
bilges designed for more pedestrian issues like gunnel hunch overflows
could handle, and hung up the float switches. It's a thrill a minute on
the JR2.
GENIUS MOVE OF THE TRIP- Kite bringing his MP3 player and noise
canceling headphones=not being able to hear Jimmy Z's political and
sociological diatribes. The iPod is now packed in my dry bag and is now
as an important part of my gear as my speargun .
Standing by....
Paul and Rich show off the top
gags from their first dive that Jimmy Z crushed the fish on. If we
showed his stringer the entire Gulf would be made an MPA tomorrow . Just
imagine a crusty salt with a Woody Woodpecker hairdo straining to hold
up a massive stringer, and trying not to let his hernia pop out.
Kite and I with our HIGHLY
edited first dive HOD's. Topshotta, Firemedic247, and Paul showcase
their dusk backdive on the same spot. Drops like that are what make the
rough seas and cold seem like not that big of a deal.
Everyone one was jockeying for a
tuna steak once Tom brought this blackfin over the rails. I guess he
realized that the walk home from the Hatch to Tampa (I was the driver)
would take a long time so I ended up with a pretty nice piece .
I'll let Kite tell the story of
our first dive of the trip in the MG.
Topshotta is a low key guy on
the boat, but he totally gets the steel to the meal underwater.
Kenneth lets loose on his first
trip to the MG, and on the JR2.
It's so hard to impress Kite and
Topshotta because stringers like these are common place off of Boca
where they normally dive . This dynamic duo made the fish cry emo tears
on the last day of the trip.
No stringers or individual fish were pictured more than once in the
making of this trip report. Thank you ......
The Jolly Rogers 2 Trip Report Department
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