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March
Madness: Taking It To The Hoop (Of Death)! March 12-14 '04 |
Guests
SB members Joel McQueen, Speedshafter, Diving Dude/Doug Jones along with
their buddies Mark, and Brian. John Riddick (SB-Redneck) is an old buddy of
Joel's from back in the Keys days, so he also came along to help out, and
give Jimmy Z hell .
Sea Conditions
NOAA is off again. If the seas were any calmer going out Friday night, I'd
have sworn we were cruising on one of Lutz/Land O' Lakes' fine waterways.
Seas were 1'-2' on Saturday, and 2'-3' on Sunday dropping out for our ride
back to the Hatch. Water temps varied from 61-64 degrees, but felt much
colder with the low morning air temps. There was no current at all with the
half moon, and vis in the MG was a consistent 40'-50' the entire weekend. On
the way out we heard commercial hook and liners talking over the VHF about
how crystal clear the water was on the local rock piles, and how they were
able to see gag grouper take their bait in 80'. A local dive en route to the
MG may be in order for the next trip.
Spearfishing
Night time hook and lining was non-existent! Low water temps, coupled with a
very late rising moon, and no current meant lots of wheel spinning
socio-political debates between Jimmy Z, and all the charter crew. Next week
I will freedive down naked, and attach hooks to the mouths of fish if
necessary to avoid listening to the same arguments for the 10,000th time .
This was a very consistent trip again producing a good number of gags with a
solid 8#-12# average.
Highlights:
*Brian leaving four freeshafts, and a titanium dive knife in Davey Jones'
locker by trip's end. He answered the razzing from his buddies by shooting
the most grouper, and hogfish between all them.
*Joel McQueen getting his personal best (so far) hogfish of 19#. Twenty
years of diving in the Keys shooting hogs, and one trip on the Jolly Rogers
2 to get it. Congratulations!
*Joel and I were dropped on a pinnnacle for what turned out to be my last
dive of the day on Saturday. Imagine an inverted cone of limestome rock
having a top in 80 fsw with only a hundred foot diameter, and a base at 130
fsw as big around as the length of a football field sitting in the middle of
sand. Broken off spikes, and boulders of lime rock surround the entire
perimeter creating mini-canyons and caves. Picture the entire structure
festooned with branching corals, soft coral, sponges of every color,
gigantic schools of baitfish, tropical fish, and many amberjacks milling
about with their almaco brethren. Add big ass gags, and you get the picture
of what Joel and I witnessed. A couple misplaced shots had me violently
wrestling to subdue gags in 130 fsw, and a fifty yard dash to nab a nice
jack that was swimming away as I was stringing a fish with 500psi left me
huffing on my safety stop like Rosie O'Donnel going thru an Army Ranger
obstacle course. With mass quantities CO2 bubbling thru my system I surfaced
suffering from the most hellacious migraine I have ever had. Off with the
wetsuit, into the sleeping bag, and down for the count! I was more
incapacitated than a Mongoloid wearing a straightjacket going fifteen rounds
blindfolded with Mike Tyson. I ended my three hour time on the IR list by
succumbing to my headache induced nausea, and blasting out at least five
gallons of my intestinal tract contents over the gunnel as Mark watched in
keen interest while smoking a Swisher Sweet.
Other than that it was a great trip. Joel McQueen and Co. were a good group
to hang out with, and we'll be looking forward to their next trip this
upcoming July. Standing by to stand by.
Slaytistics
Grouper-62 (90% gag grouper over 10#)
Hogfish-16
Mango Snapper-62
Amberjack-1
AJ Suarez
