Guests
Chum Bucket, Gillfish, Herc83, Chuck Vanness, American Spearit along for
some hook and lining, and the madman himself Marty Martel. Thanks to
Gillfish and Marty for supplementing the Jolly cuisine with seven full
racks of ribs as well as a full sushi spread of yellowfin tuna, white
tuna, seaweed salad, flying fish roe, and sushi crab. We ate like kings!
Sea Conditions
Well, the forecast when we left of 5-10 knots winds and seas 2' or
less all weekend never quite materialized. It was pretty calm until
Friday night when it started to howl with nearby t-storms. Saturday was
2'-3' all day increasing that night when the wind started up again like
it did the prior night blowing 15-20 knots, and making Sunday a little
sloppier than average for this time of year. The current was ripping
with the full moon when the tide was running, and the vis was generally
much better the further north we were in the MG.
Slay Report
Ten seconds into my first dive when I saw the school, check that,
SHOAL of gag groupers and red snappers following us down to the bottom,
I knew this was going to be a good trip. I signaled to Marty who let out
a yell like someone lit his hair on fire, and we both along with Chuck
streamlined ourselves, guns extended as we descended to the chaos that
would ensue in mere seconds. Marty shot first into a gag, sending the
entire mob of reef fish into a mad scramble for cover like cockroaches
when the lights get turned on in the middle of the night somewhere
nasty. There were almost too many fish, too many targets, but both Chuck
and I were able to put stone shots into gags sending clouds of fine
particulate that this ledge has into the water column like atomic
blasts. As I emptied my gun of shafts while hearing the gun clicks from
Chuck and Marty, I mused to myself that I was correct-THIS WAS GOING TO
BE A GOOD TRIP!
The action remained steady all day, and before throwing the anchor the
first night we had a half box of fish going. Hook and line fishing was
superb as well. The first night we sat over a small wreck, and
absolutely waylaid the gags which averaged around 15# each. Despite
being exhausted the second night, everyone was up until 3AM catching
mangos that absolutely went off with the full moon when the ripping
current so strong that 10 oz. wouldn't hold bottom finally slacked off.
Musical entertainment was courtesy of Jimmy Z's new iPod which was
plugged into the boat stereo system. It was programmed by his son with
4000 tunes...most of them old school gangsta rap. So along with classic
rock favorites like Bad Company, Van Halen and The Doors we fished hard,
drank beer, talked sh*t to a soundtrack of Ice T, Public Enemy, and NWA
.
Our dives in the MG continued to produce more gags until we limited the
boat out, red grouper, trophy type hogs for most of the guys, plenty of
your garden variety female hogs, a nice mutton snapper for Marty, along
with the usual suspects of more mangos, porgies, triggers etc.
Truly one of the more entertaining trips with plenty of rowdy behavior
not appropriate while on land. Good times were had by all, beverages
were consumed after diving, and the trip catch phrase (absolutely not
fit to print) which this group always gets every year they dive with us
will no doubt have Gillfish repeating non stop to the other guys until
the next trip when the new catch phrase is created. Let's do this again!
Standing by.......
***** POWER !
AJ Suarez
When we gut fish they
are usually kept in a five gallon bucket that gets used for chum later
that night. The fishing was so good both nights that it was never used,
and just kept getting filled and filled with more viscera that by the
second day was almost to the point of overflowing. Marty decided that he
would toss this vile, bubbling witches cauldron overboard, but
unfortunately he did not judge the wind direction beforehand, and got a
full facial blast of the noxious stew that could have easliy been
weaponized into a battlefield chemical agent. While his buddies screamed
PUKE, PUKE in unison, Marty gagged, choked, and coughed in epic
fashion for a full ten minutes, but never lost his lunch. It's good to
have good friends ........
Note To Self
While on any overnighter trip, stay awake the entire time, and NEVER
fall asleep. Here we see Chuck about to get ass-faced by Marty. Would
anyone care for a spot of tea?
Toilet paper? That's for
fags!!! Marty discovers the ancient art of gunnel hunching, and the use
of the European bidet inspired raw water washdown hose for that
"spot-free rinse". Damn, he's kicking up a bigger rooster tail than an
APBA Super Boat on the last lap of the Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix
........
