Wayward Son
Contributor
I got to the marina to find Bil alone, Travis MIA. Unfortunately, with no way to reach him. On the drive down, Bil had set his cell phone down. The next time he went for a drink of coffee, he got a mouth full of sell phone. Oops! After a good soaking it wouldn't turn on & we didn't have his number anywhere else.
Waited a while, finally decided to head out. Ran into fog on the way to the pass & started feeling our way by radar, when Travis raised us on the radio so we turned back for pickup.
Finally cleared the fog out in the gulf for a clear cruise in pond-like conditions. Travis jumped in & chained us off, reporting decent viz & lots of fish. Hit water, found it clear & blue but with lots or particulate matter & many jellies new to me. Long, rope-like strings, little eyeball shapes, one thumb sized guy with no tentacles that looked like it belonged in a Star Trek show. I poked a gloved finger at it & it turned and came right at me, so I fanned it away.
Tons of AJ, all of them legal. Nice fat, fish. I dropped on down, saw no grouper when a fat AJ swam past so I nailed him. Appeared stoned, but as often happens with AJ's, he quickly came back to life when I grabbed him & things got a little sporty for a few minutes.
After getting him strung I made a circuit of the structure. No grouper. Saw plenty of huge red snappers, they always seem to know when the season is closed. But no other game fish so I started hunting shovels. Found two, so I made it back aboard happy to have a big fish & and 2 bugs.
Travis also bagged a nice AJ and while Bil spent most of his time experimenting with a new powerhead, he also found a bug.
Pulling in the downline, we quickly found the eyeball critters stung nicely, as many of them were on the line. Vinegar solved that problem instantly.
On the 2nd drop I hit bottom & made a full circuit. Lots of AJ again, this time many were shorts. But no other game fish, so I devoted my time to bugs. Had much better luck on this site & found 6 more, plus a cowrie. Bil also brought up a cowrie from one of his dives.
Water was about 60 degrees top to bottom of both drops (111 FSW and 109FSW), no thermocline.
I've been fighting off some sort of virus the past week, and while my congestion was mostly cleared up I'm still not back to 100%. After each dive I felt somewhat queasy. I recovered some after the 1st & went ahead to the 2nd dive, but after that one it got the better of me. Felt a lot better after that, though.
During the 2nd dive a fog bank settled in on us & during the ride in -again on instruments, we could only see about 50 yards- it seemed to me the temp dropped a bit. Forecast had called for a high of 70, I don't think we got it. We were in fog all the back in until the last approach to the marina.
Got our fish cleaned, gear packed up, boat cleaned & headed out. I left my house at 04:45 am, back to my driveway at 8:30pm. Long day, but great fun. Can't wait to get out & do it again.
Cooler full of shovels, and the cowries:
Waited a while, finally decided to head out. Ran into fog on the way to the pass & started feeling our way by radar, when Travis raised us on the radio so we turned back for pickup.
Finally cleared the fog out in the gulf for a clear cruise in pond-like conditions. Travis jumped in & chained us off, reporting decent viz & lots of fish. Hit water, found it clear & blue but with lots or particulate matter & many jellies new to me. Long, rope-like strings, little eyeball shapes, one thumb sized guy with no tentacles that looked like it belonged in a Star Trek show. I poked a gloved finger at it & it turned and came right at me, so I fanned it away.
Tons of AJ, all of them legal. Nice fat, fish. I dropped on down, saw no grouper when a fat AJ swam past so I nailed him. Appeared stoned, but as often happens with AJ's, he quickly came back to life when I grabbed him & things got a little sporty for a few minutes.
After getting him strung I made a circuit of the structure. No grouper. Saw plenty of huge red snappers, they always seem to know when the season is closed. But no other game fish so I started hunting shovels. Found two, so I made it back aboard happy to have a big fish & and 2 bugs.
Travis also bagged a nice AJ and while Bil spent most of his time experimenting with a new powerhead, he also found a bug.
Pulling in the downline, we quickly found the eyeball critters stung nicely, as many of them were on the line. Vinegar solved that problem instantly.
On the 2nd drop I hit bottom & made a full circuit. Lots of AJ again, this time many were shorts. But no other game fish, so I devoted my time to bugs. Had much better luck on this site & found 6 more, plus a cowrie. Bil also brought up a cowrie from one of his dives.
Water was about 60 degrees top to bottom of both drops (111 FSW and 109FSW), no thermocline.
I've been fighting off some sort of virus the past week, and while my congestion was mostly cleared up I'm still not back to 100%. After each dive I felt somewhat queasy. I recovered some after the 1st & went ahead to the 2nd dive, but after that one it got the better of me. Felt a lot better after that, though.
During the 2nd dive a fog bank settled in on us & during the ride in -again on instruments, we could only see about 50 yards- it seemed to me the temp dropped a bit. Forecast had called for a high of 70, I don't think we got it. We were in fog all the back in until the last approach to the marina.
Got our fish cleaned, gear packed up, boat cleaned & headed out. I left my house at 04:45 am, back to my driveway at 8:30pm. Long day, but great fun. Can't wait to get out & do it again.
Cooler full of shovels, and the cowries:
