MikeJacobs
Guest
I really miss the fall up north, but we have our own change of season on the local reef. It's happening now - ahh, Fall is in the air...
Fishermen are catching dozens of pompano off the pier. The colder water has brought them and soon the bigger fish will appear, they gleefully inform me.
Shore divers around the Commercial Blvd Pier may run into swarming schools of mullett - we sometimes count THREE fairly large schools splashing at the surface and casting their shadow in view at once - they arent 25 FEET from shore. Divers who are lucky enough to find themselves within the school are treated to a unique site as the whirling mass of fish bodies creates a wall around them. Old timers tell me we should avoid these schools when visibility is low - we can get nipped by a shark or baracuda that would otherwise avoid us.
Big fish are returning... if anybody has missed nurse sharks during the end of the summer, I've counted three each dive since Thursday. There is a school of very, very large blue parrotfish cleaning the reef south of the pier, and a very very large ray makes the trip in and out to feed in the shallows each afternoon.
Our resident 7' moray eel has returned, as well, and the old timers tell me that he'll hang out for a few weeks until harrassed into deeper waters... I didn't see him Sunday, so maybe he's already off.
Ahh... Fall! Gotta love it.
Fishermen are catching dozens of pompano off the pier. The colder water has brought them and soon the bigger fish will appear, they gleefully inform me.
Shore divers around the Commercial Blvd Pier may run into swarming schools of mullett - we sometimes count THREE fairly large schools splashing at the surface and casting their shadow in view at once - they arent 25 FEET from shore. Divers who are lucky enough to find themselves within the school are treated to a unique site as the whirling mass of fish bodies creates a wall around them. Old timers tell me we should avoid these schools when visibility is low - we can get nipped by a shark or baracuda that would otherwise avoid us.
Big fish are returning... if anybody has missed nurse sharks during the end of the summer, I've counted three each dive since Thursday. There is a school of very, very large blue parrotfish cleaning the reef south of the pier, and a very very large ray makes the trip in and out to feed in the shallows each afternoon.
Our resident 7' moray eel has returned, as well, and the old timers tell me that he'll hang out for a few weeks until harrassed into deeper waters... I didn't see him Sunday, so maybe he's already off.
Ahh... Fall! Gotta love it.
