Guests
Kitefisherman, Topshotta, Speargun, Conspearasea, and his buddy Dave Feeley. As usual, Kite showed his culinary prowess wrapping up roll after roll of blackfin tuna sushi Saturday night in various combinations from the vacuum sealed tuna, avocado, cream cheese, cucumber, and sesame seeds that I brought. We were so full that what was supposed to be dinner Saturday night was eaten on Sunday afternoon.


Sea Conditions
NOAA blew it...again. I thought June was supposed to be the bluebird month of weekends with flat calm seas? Since Memorial Day weekend we have not had one yet. It was a very sloppy 3'-5' on Friday into Saturday morning, but nothing the JR2 couldn't handle with ease laying down to 2'-3', and staying that way for the balance of the trip. Vis was on average 50'-60', water temps at the bottom were 74*, and currents were moderate on certain spots.


Slay Report
This will be quick because soon I will be grilling, frying, and blackening fish along with rolling sushi, and making smoked fish dip for people coming over to celebrate the holiday. Bottom line, this experienced crew put a behind the woodshed ass whipping on the fish this weekend.

We left earlier on Friday, and made dives the entire way en route to the Middle Grounds. Speagun, Kite, and I were dropped on a great piece of cheese bottom interspersed with many potholes for our last dive on Friday that lead to a grouper and red snapper shootout. The hook and line bite was very strong with mangos going off, and the kingfish just tearing up the flatlines. It was impossible to keep a bait in the water more than five minutes without your drag going into overdrive from the blistering initial strike. After many multiple hookups and breakoffs, we nearly had the boat limit by the time we turned into.

Saturday and Sunday were spent working some different areas that we normally don't visit, and it seemed like it paid off with more grouper as well as as big male hogs than on the previous couple of trips. Topshotta came up from his best dive with three males hogs, three grouper, and some snapper while Conspearasea steadily amassed a pile with good stringers on every dive. Our team's best dive on Saturday was a ledge electric with a wahoo checking us out on descent, thousand of beeliners schooled up in the structure, and a very large dusky shark. Speargun shot his personal best hog to date, and I was left "holding wood" within the first couple of minutes with all three shafts out of the gun in red and gag groupers.

Sunday was more of the same with the cherry on this steelslinging sundae being our last monster dive, and one of Kite's all time personal bests. I'm sure he wants to tell the story, but I came within a minute of calling the bone, and signalling the guys to head for the roof. Jimmy Z minutes ealier had told us to check out a piece of a hard bottom below, but to come up if nothing was happening to get re-dropped down the way. We were down to the wire as far as needing to head back to the dock so it was necessary for everyone to come up at the same time if we had to. I had the guys follow me through a scattered hard bottom ghost town for a few minutes until I saw a nice female hog. After I stoned it, chaos ensued, and I'll let Kite take it from there.

We were able to stop at wreck on the way in, and get some more red snappers before the baby amberjacks showed up, and ruined the party. Steinhatchee was packed with the first weekend of scallop season, and a wall to wall crowd assembled at the dock to watch us unload our catch. Another great trip with a great crew of JR2 regulars. The 500# gorilla of weekend spearfishing charters cannot be stopped !!!

Slaytistics
Mango Snapper=125
Red Snapper=35
Red Grouper=28
Gag Grouper=27
Hogfish=47
Amberjack=2
King Mackerel=19

AJ Suarez
 

A SPECIAL narration from 'KITEFISHERMAN' about his stringer of a life time!!