BMETdiver
Registered
Glad it went well for you, So are you planning another trip?
Gulf of Mexico Maps?
- Thread starter TravisT
- Start date
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syrking
Guest
Hey man,
You probably know this already but I'd bring along a safety sausage and whistle in case you come up away from the boat. Get some info on the type of dive you'll be doing, i.e., drift diving probably wouldn't be wise. If you're using a buoy or anchor line just be sure you set your course and compass headings so that you'll get back to that line if you're using it to descend/ascend. Sounds like you're doing all the right things to prep. Attention to detail is important. Have a blast and don't forget the cooler and cold ones to celebrate after the trip.
You probably know this already but I'd bring along a safety sausage and whistle in case you come up away from the boat. Get some info on the type of dive you'll be doing, i.e., drift diving probably wouldn't be wise. If you're using a buoy or anchor line just be sure you set your course and compass headings so that you'll get back to that line if you're using it to descend/ascend. Sounds like you're doing all the right things to prep. Attention to detail is important. Have a blast and don't forget the cooler and cold ones to celebrate after the trip.
MichaelBaranows
Contributor
Travis I am sorry I had to call off going with yall Saturday. I will have to invite yall down some time to to do some spearfishing. I got to go out Sunday and make a few dives. The guy I was diving with ended up with two nice AJs, several snapper and a Ling.
The weather is going to be great so I think I am going to try spearfishing for the first time this weekend.
The weather is going to be great so I think I am going to try spearfishing for the first time this weekend.
It's not a big deal Michael. Thank you for going ahead and encouraging us to go forth with this trip. It was certainly very enjoyable. We'd love to go with you sometime for a spearfishing experience. After going down and seeing all the marine life it just makes me that much more interested in it.
The fishing was great, unfortunately it is so late in the summer that we got to do this my brother is headed back to college to finish up his phd, and it was probably the last chance we'll have to take a coupleo f days off work and make it down there. We will definitely be making a few more trips down there next year sometime.
The fishing was great, unfortunately it is so late in the summer that we got to do this my brother is headed back to college to finish up his phd, and it was probably the last chance we'll have to take a coupleo f days off work and make it down there. We will definitely be making a few more trips down there next year sometime.
syrking
Guest
So what was the dive like? Being up here in Upstate NY close to Canada we don't know much about "rig" diving. Actually I have no idea what that's like. Do you actually dive an oil rig? An abandoned one or one that's operational?
Bob3
Contributor
''Somewhere'' out on the internet there are GPS/navigational charts that are made for folks running Linux on a laptop, using the appropriate program and antenna.
I have that info back in CA though, and am not sure if the stuff will work on "regular" GPS units.
I'll write myself a note to try to look it up.
I have that info back in CA though, and am not sure if the stuff will work on "regular" GPS units.
I'll write myself a note to try to look it up.
captain
Contributor
syrking:
The oil rigs are operating, law requires that abandoned or non operational rigs be removed so as to not be a hazard to navigation. There is some movement to get the laws changed to allow some non operational rig to be used as artificial reefs.
The problem is what entity ( state, federal government, etc. )will assume responsibility for the rig once the oil company relinquishes it.
Texas Parks and Wildlife run the Rigs to Reef program here in Texas. Check out their website at http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/habitats/artificial_reef/artreef.phtmlcaptain:
We had one of their guys come and talk at our last club meeting - was interesting - they are planning a few more artificial reefs, mostly down near Corpus or South Padre. Just a shame we couldn't hang on to the Oriskeny.
The oil companies pay the TPWD to remove and cut down the rigs - they have various scenarios - either toppling or cutting and leaving one part standing. Their main criteria is that they must leave an 85' clearance between the top of the structure and the surface.
The website has downloadable maps of the coordinates of the artificial reefs offshore Texas.
syrking
Guest
Do you need permission from the company to dive? What do you do, motor up and tie off to a diving buoy? And then what? How deep do the rigs go? What's so interesting about diving a rig? Do lots of fish hang out around them? Do you just sort of float around the infrastructure or do you dive to the bottom? Are they totally safe or are there things you need to be cautious about? Just trying to get a sense of what it's all about. Sounds like a lot of fun to dive one of those things.
MichaelBaranows
Contributor
No to don't have to get permission on most rigs. There are a few that have "NO tie off" signs. And I have been ask to by people not to tie off but that was normally cause they were working and didn't want to drop stuff on us.
Yes we tie off as do many people fishing. I have a rig hook which is a 12' pipe that looks like a cane. So all I have to do is drive up and someone on the front of the boat will hook it on the rig and then let out as much rope as we feel with me comfortable to to keep the boat safely away from the rig.
Rigs can be as much as several hundred feet deep. Most of the ones I have dove are between 60' and 130'. They are basically a artifactal reef that reaches from the surface to the bottom so there are many different kind of fish.
Last weekend on one rig I saw Amberjack, snapper (reds, vermillion, lane), baracuda, Look down, angel fish, trigger fish, and many small that I don't even know the name.
And the way I dive them is hover at different depth depending on what fish I was looking at. Since I was with a guy that was spearfishing I would stay up about him about 20' and when he would get a fish I would drop down and that the fish off the spear and then put it on the stringer.
And yes like in any diving there are dangers. You have to watch out for fishing line as well as ropes and cables. And since there are horizontal framing out have to watch that you don't hit your head.
I hopes this help you learn a little more about rigs.
Here are a few pics.
Yes we tie off as do many people fishing. I have a rig hook which is a 12' pipe that looks like a cane. So all I have to do is drive up and someone on the front of the boat will hook it on the rig and then let out as much rope as we feel with me comfortable to to keep the boat safely away from the rig.
Rigs can be as much as several hundred feet deep. Most of the ones I have dove are between 60' and 130'. They are basically a artifactal reef that reaches from the surface to the bottom so there are many different kind of fish.
Last weekend on one rig I saw Amberjack, snapper (reds, vermillion, lane), baracuda, Look down, angel fish, trigger fish, and many small that I don't even know the name.
And the way I dive them is hover at different depth depending on what fish I was looking at. Since I was with a guy that was spearfishing I would stay up about him about 20' and when he would get a fish I would drop down and that the fish off the spear and then put it on the stringer.
And yes like in any diving there are dangers. You have to watch out for fishing line as well as ropes and cables. And since there are horizontal framing out have to watch that you don't hit your head.
I hopes this help you learn a little more about rigs.
Here are a few pics.
