Guests
Reef Raider, Jaxreefsounder, zds3488, Bottom Dweller, and pinch hitting
for our injured steelslinger Biggsy is none other than Biggsy Sr., AKA
Seashooter. Bottom Dweller came on this trip courtesy of RabiSpear as a
reward for finding his stolen boat a few months back.
Sea Conditions
Arrghhh mateys!! Rough they forecasted, and rougher it was. Friday
going out was 2'-4' laying down for a few hours at night before picking
up once again. Saturday and Sunday we dove in solid 4's with larger
rollers thrown in with only a brief period Sat. night where it laid down
a little. Vis was top to bottom in the MG with water temps in the low
70's.
Staying Sucker-Free In The MG!!
The gumbo inshore will not let go. Our first round of dives were in
80-100 fsw 50 mi. off Steinhatchee, and although the fish were there,
the gumbo "snowstorm" suspended in the water column made shooting
difficult. We did collect some good fish including some nice red
snapper.
Hook and lining has picked up somewhat in the MG's with mangos and AR's
firing off, but nowhere near like they should for this time of the year.
Looks like the all night mango madness will have to wait for just a few
more weeks of warm weather to kick in. Finally some tuna! Reef Raider
landed one (sort of) each night. Like in the famous adult film "Riding
the Skin-Bus Through Tuna Town", Reef Raider was crowned King George the
tuna hound.
Feeshaft did an admirable job working hard to find fish in tough
conditions. It was only until Saturday afternoon that we found an area
holding big gags, and hogfish. The steelslinging then began in earnest,
and we pulled out a fair trip.
On my last dive this morning I was determined to get Bottom Dweller,
fellow Jesuit alumni that he is, onto some fish so I told him to follow
me. After a couple minutes swim down the ledge I shot a large female
hogfish, and had another swim up in the midst of stringing the first
one. BD let's fly, and the hogfish went racing down the ledge faster
than a redneck biker to a free Molly Hatchet concert, after which
throwing the shaft. I then went spelunking in the cave it holed up in to
see if I could retrieve it, and instead got a nice slipper lobster, but
negatory on the hog. The ledge petered out so we flipped around, and
swam in the other direction. A red grouper swam up, BD lets fly again,
and misses. I can only be so polite, so I ushered it onto the H.O.D.
much to it's dismay. After another couple of minutes, BD went after a
huge mango (no, he didn't get it ), and while watching the scenario, a
nice size sandbar shark swims up. I could have sworn the shark did a
double take as he saw me load up the powerhead because at the moment I
did, it rocketed away defecating the whole way out. Yeah, I felt like a
badass for making a shark sh*t his pants ( do sharks wear pants?) in
fear... for about ten minutes, read on.
The dive continued, and I spotted a nice gag (that BD missed, I'm so
SORRY dude ). A freeshaft from me sent it into a cave holed up so I
casually loaded up the lineshaft of my Rhino for the coup-de-grace as a
toad 20# red grouper swims right up to me. I signalled to BD to take
care of business as I was busy, and he....I can't do it any more, he'll
have to tell you. Anyway, I wailed the gag with the lineshaft, and
pulling both spears with all my might on the wedged grouper, was able to
pull the beast out in a tangled mess. Sure enough the "scared sh*tless"
sandbar comes in on me hard several times as I scrambled to get my
unloaded gun back together, and take care of the grouper all the while
trying not to imitate what I supposedly made the shark do a few minutes
before. Finally having my "sh*t" together I was able swim at it
aggressively, gun loaded which made it swim away before I could blast it
to take one of those shark hugging photo-ops that is all the rage these
days . Don't feel bad Bottom Dweller, there's only one way to get
better, keep spearfishing! I had a great time diving with you, and all
the other guys this weekend. A memorable end to a memorable trip,
standing by.
Slaytistics
Grouper=19
Grovers=63
Red Scalies=16
Reef Donkeys=6
Snouters=21
Blackfin Tuna=2
King Mack=1
AJ Suarez
__________________
"Rolling down the ledge, slinging stainless, sipping on nitrox juice,
laid back, I got my mind on my mangos, and my mangos on my mind"
Snoop Dogg "Gin and Juice" Middle Grounds remix
