kjflyfish
08-06-2007, 12:29 AM
Well, myself, SeaRen, and three buddies left Masonboro Inlet Saturday riding across gentle seas awaiting the sunrise. Unfortunately, we had about 30 minutes of bliss followed by an hour of ground and pound. Soaking wet and 15 miles from our destination, we decided to quickly check out a blip on the bottom finder. SeaRen came back with a nice flounder and a report of good bottom structure but no fish, so we tucked tail and ran back towards home.
Our next stop was a well-known AR. Luckily, there was an open spot to anchor up and we jumped in. At 63' to the top of the structure, it was a good workout. I stoned the mess out of a nice AJ and spent the next hour chasing a 20 pound gag that didn't want to venture far from the sand at 75-80. I got one shot off, but the shaft stopped short and the grouper got the best of me. I saw two kingfish, and made chase on one, but couldn't close the gap. Our scuba divers reported of lots of smart gags that were hip to the scene, so we moved on to a different spot nearby.
At the last stop, I swam down to the deck and as I grabbed hold of the wreck, a nice gag swam up and gave me the stare down. He started to turn and I let a long shot fly. He was able to get turned around pretty good before the shaft hit, so I caught him right in the side. He went nuts and got hung in the wreck, so I had to deploy the reel and get a fresh breath. After a good tug-o-war, he finally worked his way out and I got him up.
When we first got in, there were several little rainbow runners around and I was yelling for SeaRen to get one for some sashimi. He finally gave in to peer pressure and stoned one.
After some unsuccessful attempts at a pair of African pompanos, a really curious sandbar encounter, and about 100 dives later, we were pretty tired and called it a day. We met up with some friends at the inlet and had some sashimi. All in all a fun day even though we had to go with plan B.:toast:
Our next stop was a well-known AR. Luckily, there was an open spot to anchor up and we jumped in. At 63' to the top of the structure, it was a good workout. I stoned the mess out of a nice AJ and spent the next hour chasing a 20 pound gag that didn't want to venture far from the sand at 75-80. I got one shot off, but the shaft stopped short and the grouper got the best of me. I saw two kingfish, and made chase on one, but couldn't close the gap. Our scuba divers reported of lots of smart gags that were hip to the scene, so we moved on to a different spot nearby.
At the last stop, I swam down to the deck and as I grabbed hold of the wreck, a nice gag swam up and gave me the stare down. He started to turn and I let a long shot fly. He was able to get turned around pretty good before the shaft hit, so I caught him right in the side. He went nuts and got hung in the wreck, so I had to deploy the reel and get a fresh breath. After a good tug-o-war, he finally worked his way out and I got him up.
When we first got in, there were several little rainbow runners around and I was yelling for SeaRen to get one for some sashimi. He finally gave in to peer pressure and stoned one.
After some unsuccessful attempts at a pair of African pompanos, a really curious sandbar encounter, and about 100 dives later, we were pretty tired and called it a day. We met up with some friends at the inlet and had some sashimi. All in all a fun day even though we had to go with plan B.:toast: