Seastalker, dabulltrouble, seastalker's friend (Ed), and I left for the Middle Grounds on Friday night at around 11:30PM. We started in the western part of the Grounds, working our way back towards the more eastern section. We were on my vessel, the Gag Reflex.
Here is the skinny:
Water: The temp was 74 at the top, with a thermocline that dropped the bottom temp down to 67. Visability was 80 ft.
Weather: Perfect. Clear skies. Seas 1 ft the whole trip.
Fish taken: The first couple of spots we hit were not the fishiest in the world. Some gos and and a couple of gags were taken, but not MG quality spots. I was in an area of the Grounds that I have not spent a lot of time, so I decided to try some new numbers that I had. I was concerned they were converted LAT/LON numbers, but they proved dead-on.
The spots for the rest of the day were pretty awesome. I dropped on one spot and was having trouble with my line, which I decided to use for the first time. Of course, as it turned out, it was the first spot that was clearly a "free shaft" spot, and here I am with my line gun screwing up, surrounded by the most fish that have ever had the courtesy of greeting me to the bottom. This was a major quality spot, and these fish had not seen divers. Even the large gags were coming up to check me out. I was getting so pissed off that I finally took my dive knife out to rid myself of the line shaft, which had become tangled on the way to the bottom. Of course, by the time my free shaft is on, the gags were done examining me and had decided that maybe they should seek shelter. I had a hail mary shot at a 15 pounder, hit him in the meat, he shook the shaft, and swam by me as if to give me the finger. I named the spot "linef**ked", because my damn line screwed me on the dive.
I sent dabulltrouble and seastalker down to backdive it. Although I knew the gags would be skittish now, there were still plenty of mangos. They came up with some gos and managed to get a couple of the gags on their stringer.
The next spot was absolutely friggen unbelieveable. It was another unconfirmed spot. It proved to be a two tiered ledge, about 90 fsw at top, and 130 at the bottom. I cannot recall a dive in recent memory where I have seen a ledge with so much life of it. Large gags, mangos, beeliners, hogs, triggers, bar jacks, amberjacks, and of course Mr. Sharky. I immediately put a shaft in a nice gag running away at the bottom. He swam into an awesome cave like structure, and I think I may have been a little narced because for a second I thought about trying to go in after him. Anyway, I saw seastalker working the ledge above me, and managed to get his attention because I knew he had a quality cave light, and he came down, and we could see that the cave was deep and there was no way we were getting that gag. I swithed out to my spare shaft, and quickly dispatched a respectable female hog that went screaming down the ledge (these MG hogs are frequently not as dumb as their smaller local relatives).
I am right on the edge of going to deco because I had been diving all day, and had been down awhile, so I'm trying to stay closer to the top, when I see a large AJ struggling down in the sand at 130. I see a shaft in him, but no one in sight. So, I race down, look at my computer, see I have one minute of no deco time left at 130, grab this bucking AJ, and move to the top of the ledge where I now have 2 minutes of no-deco. After a brief struggle he gets strung up, and I make my way to the surface. During the safety stop I have a large cuda hanging with me the whole time, and then the sharks show up, circling me. I thought about blowing my safety stop but said to hell with it and stayed due to my dive profile. I brought my fish up to my chest, grabbing them in bear hug fasion, to alleviate any ideas the shark or that cuda might get about a free lunch.
Speaking of sharks, we had multiple encounters. Most of them were just curious black tips, but there were also some larger ones, including those on my safety stop. I'm not sure we had a single dive without sharks, most of them staying above that thermocline, although I did have a very large shark come by me when stringing a fish on another drop.
Dabulltroubles last dive produced a heavy stringer of nice gos, a gag, and a 15 pound male hogfish. He was all smiles because he's made several MGs trips and had yet to get that first big male he wanted, so I was glad to see that happen for him. Seastalker brought up some nice fish all day, as well.
I had a great time diving with these guys. Each trip to the MGs makes the addiction worse. I can't even get back to port anymore without planning my next trip.
Seastalker and I after a drop.
Dabulltrouble with his nice male.
Amberjack and hogfish.
Here is the skinny:
Water: The temp was 74 at the top, with a thermocline that dropped the bottom temp down to 67. Visability was 80 ft.
Weather: Perfect. Clear skies. Seas 1 ft the whole trip.
Fish taken: The first couple of spots we hit were not the fishiest in the world. Some gos and and a couple of gags were taken, but not MG quality spots. I was in an area of the Grounds that I have not spent a lot of time, so I decided to try some new numbers that I had. I was concerned they were converted LAT/LON numbers, but they proved dead-on.
The spots for the rest of the day were pretty awesome. I dropped on one spot and was having trouble with my line, which I decided to use for the first time. Of course, as it turned out, it was the first spot that was clearly a "free shaft" spot, and here I am with my line gun screwing up, surrounded by the most fish that have ever had the courtesy of greeting me to the bottom. This was a major quality spot, and these fish had not seen divers. Even the large gags were coming up to check me out. I was getting so pissed off that I finally took my dive knife out to rid myself of the line shaft, which had become tangled on the way to the bottom. Of course, by the time my free shaft is on, the gags were done examining me and had decided that maybe they should seek shelter. I had a hail mary shot at a 15 pounder, hit him in the meat, he shook the shaft, and swam by me as if to give me the finger. I named the spot "linef**ked", because my damn line screwed me on the dive.
I sent dabulltrouble and seastalker down to backdive it. Although I knew the gags would be skittish now, there were still plenty of mangos. They came up with some gos and managed to get a couple of the gags on their stringer.
The next spot was absolutely friggen unbelieveable. It was another unconfirmed spot. It proved to be a two tiered ledge, about 90 fsw at top, and 130 at the bottom. I cannot recall a dive in recent memory where I have seen a ledge with so much life of it. Large gags, mangos, beeliners, hogs, triggers, bar jacks, amberjacks, and of course Mr. Sharky. I immediately put a shaft in a nice gag running away at the bottom. He swam into an awesome cave like structure, and I think I may have been a little narced because for a second I thought about trying to go in after him. Anyway, I saw seastalker working the ledge above me, and managed to get his attention because I knew he had a quality cave light, and he came down, and we could see that the cave was deep and there was no way we were getting that gag. I swithed out to my spare shaft, and quickly dispatched a respectable female hog that went screaming down the ledge (these MG hogs are frequently not as dumb as their smaller local relatives).
I am right on the edge of going to deco because I had been diving all day, and had been down awhile, so I'm trying to stay closer to the top, when I see a large AJ struggling down in the sand at 130. I see a shaft in him, but no one in sight. So, I race down, look at my computer, see I have one minute of no deco time left at 130, grab this bucking AJ, and move to the top of the ledge where I now have 2 minutes of no-deco. After a brief struggle he gets strung up, and I make my way to the surface. During the safety stop I have a large cuda hanging with me the whole time, and then the sharks show up, circling me. I thought about blowing my safety stop but said to hell with it and stayed due to my dive profile. I brought my fish up to my chest, grabbing them in bear hug fasion, to alleviate any ideas the shark or that cuda might get about a free lunch.
Speaking of sharks, we had multiple encounters. Most of them were just curious black tips, but there were also some larger ones, including those on my safety stop. I'm not sure we had a single dive without sharks, most of them staying above that thermocline, although I did have a very large shark come by me when stringing a fish on another drop.
Dabulltroubles last dive produced a heavy stringer of nice gos, a gag, and a 15 pound male hogfish. He was all smiles because he's made several MGs trips and had yet to get that first big male he wanted, so I was glad to see that happen for him. Seastalker brought up some nice fish all day, as well.
I had a great time diving with these guys. Each trip to the MGs makes the addiction worse. I can't even get back to port anymore without planning my next trip.
Seastalker and I after a drop.
Dabulltrouble with his nice male.
Amberjack and hogfish.
