Another vis report: Gulf of Mexico off Tampa/Clearwater

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SM Diver

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Tampa Bay
Well, I know I need a break from spearfishing when my right thigh is swollen and bruised from reloading. It looks like Gilooli used his Kerrigan stick on it. With that said, another awesome day out on the Gulf Saturday, Oct. 12. Vis was excellent. We decided to stay closer to shore (30 miles), so our deepest dive was in 75 feet.

Here are a couple of photos:

This photo show the great vis. Divers descending, and you can see them from the surface.

This photo shows how slick the water is. Man, if we could only get a couple of days a week with water like this.

I had several photos of fish taken, but don't want to offend the people horrified by the idea of harvesting fish (the same hypocrites that are the first one to order a grouper sandwich when dining out).

The highlight of the trip for me was was sticking a 50# AJ. I thought I had stoned him, but he swam up the ledge, and I was in hot pursuit After a while of that, I got that shaft and horsed him back down to the bottom of the ledge, along the sand bottom. I had him trapped with the shaft, but fumbled momentarily with my stinger, giving him one opportunity to shake the shaft and swim away. During all of this, three cudas are watching real close. Mistake: Always dispath a big fish like that with your knife while you got the chance.

My mistake was a meal ticket for the cudas.

P.S.: Oh, what the hell. Here is one photo of some fish after a dive. Just don't click here if you don't want to see some harvested fish. I think this shot has two AJs, a scamp, and a cobia.
 
tampascott once bubbled...
Always dispath a big fish like that with your knife while you got the chance.
Truer words were never spoken.
-----------
What a remarkable day you had for the Gulf. She's an amazing piece of water... people are forever asking "what are conditions like? What's the visibility? Where will we dive?" And I have to answer "Well....... we'll know when we get there... we must be flexible, responsive and enthusiastic!"
Too bad about the AJ.. would have made some nice steaks on the grill.
Rick
 
Hey, Rick. I just edited and included a photo of the fish taken.

By the way, as a side note, we stayed WELL within the recreational limit on everything. I generally like to target hogs, as I don't know of a better tasting fish, but I did want that AJ for the grill.

By the way, I'll never use single barbed shafts again. I know some guys swear by them, but I had a couple of fish shake my shaft yesterday. (Both literally and figurativly):D
 

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