Hello All Seahunters,
We checked the weather, and decided to get out and see what was happening on
the reefs. The swells were diminishing, and the seas were supposed to be
laying down. but.. the seas were angry, like an old man returning soup at a
deli. We were heading towards some patch reefs 40 miles north east of the
inlet, and after two miles of pounding we decided to find alternative sites
in a direction of easier travel. I opened the black book and made the
decision to hit some ledges I haven't seen in years.
We were diving deep today, with mixed gas and high volume bottles. The
recorder showed no signs of bait, and the big seas made it tough to find the
two foot tall ledges we were looking for. Andy and Dave made the first dive.
They were down for thirty minutes and never moved an inch. I thought they
would pop up with a bag of lobster, but amazingly, Andy arrives with two
20lb grouper (gag and red). Andy and I have been hunting these reefs for
eight years together so it was no surprise that he had the only fish. Dave
was skunked.
My first dive was a little north on a chunk I found one day trolling around
on a surface interval. It was the first time I have seen this ledge, and it
won't be the last. There were swarms of little red snapper, more than I
could count. They all appeared to be around 20 inches so I ignored them and
started hunting something for the stringer. I had a couple gags looking at
me from a distance, but they were just out of range. Lucky for them as they
easily looked to be around thirty pounds each, and I had visions of them on
my grill. I shot a nice fat mango snapper around ten pounds, and three more
like him for a four snapper stringer over forty pounds. I added a twelve
pound grouper before ascending to the surface.
Andy and Dave decided to do another deep dive, so they went down again. This
dive was less productive, and they only managed a single snapper around ten
pounds. I wanted to move inshore for a shallow dive, so we hit a small patch
reef in 90ft of water. I pulled seven bugs out of two rocks, and never saw a
fish worth shooting. When I made it to the surface I noticed a commercial
dive vessel due south working a ledge I used to dive. These guys don't have
limits on the number of fish they can kill, and they were using powerheads.
They can wipe out a fish population on a small ledge, and judging by the
number of explosions I heard, they were giving it all they had.
Andy and Dave decided to try once more, and away they went. A turning point
in Dave's diving career happened on this dive. He finally broke his cherry
and boated a fish over five pounds. It was a beautiful 30 lb cobia. I told
him they tasted like soap, so he let me have it for one of my lobster tails.
Sucker! I hope he doesn't read this newsletter. The day ended with a long
ride in, and cleaning fish till midnight.
The Moose
www.SeahunterS.com
USCG Master
NAUI Instructor
407-831-5667
Andy's Report
It was a morning when only the diehard seahunter would dare venture out of port. The thought of the long ride ahead was not a pleasant one. After less than half the ride it was apparent it was going to be a very long and trying day. Once we reached the waypoint I realized moose had plugged in one of his special spots since nothing was showing on the depth recorder except the occasional blip of bait. Moose and I have been diving together for 8 years so we know when one of us says this is a good spot, we trust each other.
Suiting up for the first dive was not a pleasant experience in 3-4 choppy seas, this was a day I wish I had my aluminum 80’s, my steel 120’s were just a bit too heavy for the conditions. Once Dave and I hit the water I was in my element and I was headed towards the bottom like I had a jet pack on. Once on the bottom I looked around to get my bearings and waited for Dave. I noticed the jug weight had been dragging and bouncing across the sand and since this was not the first time I was not worried about it but I think Dave had other Ideas. Not wanting to surface from 100’+ and then climb in to the boat just to rejug I convinced Dave to follow me in search of the reef. At first this was easy I just consisted of following a line in the sand made by the sash weight but as we neared the reef the ground gets harder and the signs become difficult to follow. Once all signs of the line in the sand were gone I used a trick only true seahunters know about and in no time we found the first rock it was no more than 10’ wide and 3’ tall but it had a cave that was deep all I know it was deeper then my flash light would reach and had no fish that I could see. This rock was the beginning of a 1-2’ break in the sand we followed it for about another 50’ and came across a patch reef that was swarming with life. My first shot just plain missed the grouper, I waited for Dave to get the grouper that was now looking at my shaft lying in the sand but Dave was being nice and was waiting for me to reload, he ended up seeing a big snapper and choose to swim after it instead. I ended up scaring away the grouper when I got my shaft. As I reloaded anther big grouper was hovering out in the distance and I did my best to sneak up on it and I landed a perfect shot that hit the spine and it dropped to the dirt dead as can be. I got the grouper on my stringer and swam back over to Dave just in time to see him take a shot. The shaft penetrated the snapper and hit the reef before the butterflies opened and after a few spirals the snapper got off and swam away. As Dave was reloading I saw another big grouper and took a quick shot and it struck just behind his eye and knocked him out just long enough for me to get him strung up. We both checked our air and we both had plenty but at the depth we were at we did not have long till deco. We both started our accent and right on cue every fish came out from hiding and circled around below us tempting us to return but we left them for another day.
On our second dive I decided to just follow Dave and give him first crack at anything that came our way. On the way down I followed in his bubbles and enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded buy a million tiny bubbles caressing me as they rose to the surface. We hit bottom in the middle of a reef that looked like a crescent moon about 100’ across and the top of the reef was even with the surrounding sand and the center was depressed about 5 foot. We both looked at a giant red snapper that would have easily tipped the scales at over 40 pounds. I swam in its direction and it promptly disappeared into the haze out in the distance. Still amazed at how big the fish was and it took a moment to regain my composure and begin to work the reef. I looked into the first cave and saw a leather back turtle sleeping and not wanting to be between him and his escape I moved along. As I looked down the reef Dave pointed behind me and it was the big red snapped again. This time we both followed hoping one of us could corral it towards one of us, it swam up about 15’ and slid into the haze again. After a few minutes of rooting around looking for something I bagged a nice 10lb gray snapper and unsuccessfully chased a few lobsters it looked like that was going to be it for this dive. About the time I was thinking of coming up the big snapper had reappeared like a silver ghost in the distance and I just sat there an awe over how well red is the perfect camouflage under water and how smart this giant fish was, he would just stay at the edge of my sight and I probably stood out like a giant sore thumb under water. Realizing I would ever get close enough to this giant we came up from the second dive.
The third dive was a fun dive. I did not get much, it was just fun. I let Dave descend first hoping he would get the first fish. About 20’ above the bottom I could see a swarm of large gray snappers and I stopped and just watched Dave hit the bottom and spin circles trying to decide which fish to shoot, he finally picked out a large snapper and took the shot it was a good hit and the snapper started his death spiral and somehow managed to get off. I dropped down and chased the snapper in to a crack and I could not find it behind the screen of muddy water coming out of its hiding place. I want back to where Dave was but could not find him so I slowly worked along the edge of the reef hoping he would catch up. I seemed like almost every hole and crack I looked into I saw lobsters, lots of lobsters. Since Dave had the tickle stick I could do nothing but sight see. I started to back track assuming Dave had gone the other way down the reef about the time I made it to the jug line I just stopped and looked around at all the life and diversity on the reef. I spent the rest of the dive watching damsels defending there turf, moray eels opening there mouths as they breathe, vast schools of bait pods swarming up and down the reef snappers darting out of the hiding places just long enough for them to realize I was still there. I finally ended up playing with a lobster. I would back up an inch every time he would walk towards me, after awhile the lobster had chased me out of his lair and had confidence in himself, he became bold and had walked a good 10 feet from his cave and before he knew it I was between him and his cave and you guessed it he came to the surface with me in my goody bag. Once on the boat I saw Dave with a big smile he bagged his first big fish and the funny part was moose kept insisting that cobia taste like soap.
I was not happy with the fact that the wind was blowing 15-20 kts I figured it was going to be a very long ride home but after a mile the wind just up and died the seas went flat and Dave tacked up the twin engines and we rode home at 35 kts. During the ride I spotted a rope floating just under the surface we circled around and took a look. Moose got excited and said a shrimp boat had snagged a rock and sank a few days earlier in rough seas. We circled around and saw structure coming 30 ‘ off the bottom. I have a good feeling where one of our future trips will be.
Andy