SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
I met up with Dnos and Paulwall Saturday morning at 8AM(Ok, a bit after 8, but I brought donuts!) at Boggy Point in Orange Beach where we'd be loading up Dno's 22ft CC Bay boat for a trip into the gulf. The boat had more than enough room for the three of us, including Paul's new doubles rig. It was a cool morning with clear skies and fairly flat seas, maybe one footers and a slight chop.
Our first destination was the Gulf State Pier, the boat made it out there quickly and we ended up sharing the site with a few other fishermen. Visibility was a good 15-20' and a bit milky. Lots of fish schooling around the wreck, including spades, mangroves, scad, and very small jack crevelle. We didn't see many flounder, but the pilons were covered in blue crab once again - dnos wanted some crab, so we all put forth an effort to grab plenty. He ended up with two dozen and a couple of stone crab claws. Tropicals guarded their pilon homes and we saw a few southern rays and electric skates in the sand. Bluefish were chasing the schools of cravelle and scad around throughout the dive. I didn't take too many pictures, but I'll post a few of what I have... Water tempertures in the 80sF(low-mid, its cool a bit), with a max depth of 12' for a dive lasting a bit over an hour.
More pictures at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album105
We tried locating the Dredge next, using some numbers off Google Earth, but didn't find any relief on the sounder. So off to 3 Mile barge we went, seas were a bit choppier, maybe slightly bigger, but still a decent ride and we were there quick. There were a few fishing boats anchored on 3 Mile Barge and we could see dozens of larger moon jellies in the water being chased by schools of spadefish on the surface. After a few tries, we managed to get the anchor hooked into the sand and we were in the water again. Same water tempertures, but better visibility at 30-35' easily. Moon jellies were everywhere, made me wish I had brought my skin as I took several hits. They were fun to photograph though. Spades and ladyfish schooled the wreck and lots of litte(illegal) red snapper were around too. We saw one or two legal red snapper throughout the dive. The resident jewfish made a couple of appearances throughout the course of the dive. Atleast a half dozen queen angels schooled in and out the wreck as well as a few smaller(illegal) grouper. We saw a few scattered flounder, various schools of baitfish, an assortment of tropicals and I found a few arrow crab on some anenomes on the wreck. There were some large Toadfish hidden away and a few nudi's slugging about. I hit a max depth of 41' for another dive lasting a bit over an hour - really fun dive!
More pictures at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album153
We headed back in without any problems, seas seemed to calm a bit. Dnos suggested Pirates Cove for lunch so we headed up to Wolf Bay for some burgers(PW got a weiner). After lunch, we headed back to the launch to get the boat out of the water and thanked dnos for the day of diving
Paul and I had one dive left though, so we headed to his shrimpboat.
Water looked nice and clear from the surface, with lots of seaweed at the surfline(not much surf though - infact, pretty much anklesnappers). Water was warm and visibility was 10-15', great for being so close to Mobile Bay. It took us a little while to find the wreck, I think we nearly always overshoot it as the wreck is fairly close to the beach. Finally, after finding the wreck we were off to work. Made a bit of progress, then enjoyed the rest of the dive just swimming around the shrimpboat. The wreckage seems to be getting covered in sand again, algae covered alot of the relief so it was hard to judge from last time. Lots of fish schooling it, croaker, mangrove, spadefish, ect. We saw filefish, damsels, small triggers and a few little grouper. I saw a single blue crab and Paul found a couple stone crab. Flounder still scattered the bottom all over the area. I hit a max depth of 17' for a third dive lasting a bit over an hour. It was a great day of diving! No pics though - battery died on 3 Mile and my hands were full
Our first destination was the Gulf State Pier, the boat made it out there quickly and we ended up sharing the site with a few other fishermen. Visibility was a good 15-20' and a bit milky. Lots of fish schooling around the wreck, including spades, mangroves, scad, and very small jack crevelle. We didn't see many flounder, but the pilons were covered in blue crab once again - dnos wanted some crab, so we all put forth an effort to grab plenty. He ended up with two dozen and a couple of stone crab claws. Tropicals guarded their pilon homes and we saw a few southern rays and electric skates in the sand. Bluefish were chasing the schools of cravelle and scad around throughout the dive. I didn't take too many pictures, but I'll post a few of what I have... Water tempertures in the 80sF(low-mid, its cool a bit), with a max depth of 12' for a dive lasting a bit over an hour.
More pictures at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album105
We tried locating the Dredge next, using some numbers off Google Earth, but didn't find any relief on the sounder. So off to 3 Mile barge we went, seas were a bit choppier, maybe slightly bigger, but still a decent ride and we were there quick. There were a few fishing boats anchored on 3 Mile Barge and we could see dozens of larger moon jellies in the water being chased by schools of spadefish on the surface. After a few tries, we managed to get the anchor hooked into the sand and we were in the water again. Same water tempertures, but better visibility at 30-35' easily. Moon jellies were everywhere, made me wish I had brought my skin as I took several hits. They were fun to photograph though. Spades and ladyfish schooled the wreck and lots of litte(illegal) red snapper were around too. We saw one or two legal red snapper throughout the dive. The resident jewfish made a couple of appearances throughout the course of the dive. Atleast a half dozen queen angels schooled in and out the wreck as well as a few smaller(illegal) grouper. We saw a few scattered flounder, various schools of baitfish, an assortment of tropicals and I found a few arrow crab on some anenomes on the wreck. There were some large Toadfish hidden away and a few nudi's slugging about. I hit a max depth of 41' for another dive lasting a bit over an hour - really fun dive!
More pictures at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album153
We headed back in without any problems, seas seemed to calm a bit. Dnos suggested Pirates Cove for lunch so we headed up to Wolf Bay for some burgers(PW got a weiner). After lunch, we headed back to the launch to get the boat out of the water and thanked dnos for the day of diving
Paul and I had one dive left though, so we headed to his shrimpboat.Water looked nice and clear from the surface, with lots of seaweed at the surfline(not much surf though - infact, pretty much anklesnappers). Water was warm and visibility was 10-15', great for being so close to Mobile Bay. It took us a little while to find the wreck, I think we nearly always overshoot it as the wreck is fairly close to the beach. Finally, after finding the wreck we were off to work. Made a bit of progress, then enjoyed the rest of the dive just swimming around the shrimpboat. The wreckage seems to be getting covered in sand again, algae covered alot of the relief so it was hard to judge from last time. Lots of fish schooling it, croaker, mangrove, spadefish, ect. We saw filefish, damsels, small triggers and a few little grouper. I saw a single blue crab and Paul found a couple stone crab. Flounder still scattered the bottom all over the area. I hit a max depth of 17' for a third dive lasting a bit over an hour. It was a great day of diving! No pics though - battery died on 3 Mile and my hands were full
