Not really a bait ball per se, but amazing

[scottbeach]

I just got back today from Grand Bahama, not exactly a mecca of diving by did have one amazing experience. Sunday afternoon we were diving West Ann Reef, a rarely visited mid-depth reef Southeast of Freeport. My buddy and I were following the surge channels in the reef structure, a continuous, rolling, trenched reef with regular 10-15 foot trenches.

Just as my wife and I were about to turn back, we noticed that all of the dips in the reef disappeared for most length of a football field. Instead, it appeared as though the entire reef had been levelled out by an undualting fog. As we got closer we realized that we were looking at a huge school of blue-grey baitfish, all squeezed down hiding in the trenches of the reef. Numerous grouper were darting vertically up and down feeding on the baitfish. We hovered over the scene attempting miserably to stay out of the way.

Then we noticed the barracuda.

A large school of barracuda was working the baitball horizontally, splitting up and each running one of the long north-south trenches faster than anything I've ever seen. And there we were right in the middle. It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen underwater... the sheer size of the baitball and the coordination with which these predators worked the fish was unbelievable.

 

[gfisher4792]

Haven't seen many amatuer shots of baitballs, ever since I saw them for the first time on that Discovery Channel documentary "Blue Planet," which of course showed enormous baitballs. Seeing your shot and reading your description, I definitely have to get down there and try to scope them out myself!