keezdiver
08-12-2007, 12:00 AM
WELLLLL....what a fantastic day.
met up with cindy and richie (keysdivers) for some spearing off of marathon this beautiful saturday morning. loaded the boat at the house and trailered up to the ramp. we then procedded to sit in line at the ramp for an hour while all the cones and conettes pulled and launched their boats.
finally we splashed the Cobia and roared our way out through vaca cut and out reef side towards the wreck to the Thunderbolt. with the south wind the seas were kicked up to a nicely annoying chop, but with the tides on our side we were greeted with nice vis on the top of the reef and only one boat on the wreck. we pulled up to the bouy and quickly hooked up while the other boat was drifting over some divers.
Cindy and richie geared up lickity split and rolled over ahead of us, and as we hit the wreck a minute later they were taking the port side of the ship, leaving us the starboard. we had darn close to 75ft of vis and you could see the wreck and the rubble well. and as i eased down i could see 4 jewfish on the sand, 3 smaller and one horse. then looking closer at some of the debris on the bottom i started to make out more grouper....black grouper. by the time i was 30ft off the bottom i had 4 legal blacks in view. two times i tried to drop down on them, but they knew EXACTLY what was goin' on and scooted over to the wreck. i persued one that was giving me some chance and as he approached the stern of the ship i almost lost him in a bait ball. i pulled the trigger and promptly gave him a very stylish haircut, before watching him zip under the bait and under the wreck. the bait was so thick you couldn't see the wreck or the bottom, and at one point 2 blacks came out from under the wreck trying to run...caught glimpse of me and stalled...then did a 180 and swam back under the wreck. i was reloading my 2nd shaft and working a bead on a 2nd blackie when i see jess ease over the top railing and put the hammer down in a fish...missing the very difficult "straight down" shot. as she grabbed her shaft i eased into the middle of the bait and up under the stern. as the bait cleared out of the way (had my gun in front to "plow" the way) a nice black was broadside and i was out of position, he mosied around the keel and disappeared. hoping he would stop on the other side i got belly to the sand and crept around the screws, low and behold spotting the fish on the other side of the wreck...through both props and the keel...i pulled the trigger. the fish went frantic and churned up the bottom as i threaded my way around the prop blades, through the keel and into the ensueing silt-storm. the fish bolted up the edge of the wreck and i lost him in the silt, untill suddenly he stuck his head out for split second and then disappeared into the engulfing silt cloud....with the shaft still in him.
i gave a quick look around but was seeing NOTHING through the silt. i signaled to jess to head back to the bouy line and surface, anticipating a 2nd dive to look for my shaft and my fish.
getting back to the boat we quickly exchanged stories of "grouper everywhere!!" and i requested the chance to do a search and recovery dive, to which there were no complaints.
jess and i waited for about 40 mins and rolled in with our partial tanks...1500lbs each...figuring if the fish wasn't within the area i lost him...i would never find him. we hit th wreck and the vis had dropped due to the tide change, but i quickly bolted down to the sand. looking up under the wreck the first thing i see is a nice grouper...with an odd white patch on its head....kindda like a haircut!!! it was the grouper i had hit with my first shot. i took aim but was only looking at his tail and ass...so i hesitated. then out of the corner of my eye i spot something long, straight and thin under the wreck....kindda like a shaft! low and behold there was my shaft laying on the gravel under the wreck....and HOLY SHIT...theres a grouper on the end of it!!!
i abandon the chase for the "captain hair-do" and crawl under the wreck. with my belly on the sand and tank hitting the hull...my hand was at least 6" away from touching the shaft. CRAP!!
sooo....what do you do when your shaft and fish are buried up under a wreck in 125ft of water with 1000lbs of air in your tank?????......
DUH!!...you pull your BC off, lay it on the sand, and just keep the reg in your mouth as you crawl FARTHER under the wreck to reteive your prize.
YEAH...luckily he didn't have much fight left in him, and even less after a blade to the cranium.
we circled the stern and spotted some more fish but made our way back up the bouy line....with my shaft...and with my fish.
then we moved off to the reef line and dropped the hook on some ledge structure. since jess and i were loaded on the nitrogen we let cindy and richie take this turn and they came up with stories of "the one that got away".
we moved a bit down the reef and pitched the hook again and it was our turn to unleash hell on the fish population. we swam for what seemed like a mile on some fantastic structure without seeing much to shoot. i watched jess line up on something off in the distance but she never got a chance to pull the trigger. then a few minutes later she was swimming off into the haze and i heard the hammer drop on the seahornet...and then a grouper dart from the sand under her up to the reef below me. the fish stopped and turned, and knowing i had a fish in the cooler i waited for jess to reload and try to get a redemption shot. but by the time she came over i had lost sight of the fish. we decided to work down the ledge and hope to find the grouper on the return trip.
we swam another 50yrds or so and then turned around. still not seeing much i guess jess started to sight-see when we neared the area we lost the grouper. next thing i see is a grouper nose and fins checking me out from under a big coral overhang. i looked in my periphery but didn't see jess...so i lined up for the low percentage "head on shot" and touched off. turns out i ended up just piercing the groupers lips...both...and he shook off and darted up the reef. but 10ft later jess had a can of whoop-ass waiting and she pegged him in the rocks. after some rocking and rolling under the coral...and a cloud the size of texas...she pulls the fish out and has a grin so big she nearly lost her regulator.
the rest of the swim back to the anchor...and then UP the anchor line, all she could do was smile, clap, and celebrate (think...victory dance...under water). at one point i think she even tried to ride me like a cowgirl....i won't lie...i liked it
on the boat....sigh....i realized she did it again...her fish was bigger than mine (doesn't look it in the picture). but you know...we have this team work think down to a science!!!
thanks for a fantastic day guys.
oh yeah...we sat at the ramp for another hour while about 15 boats launched or pulled out before we could get our turn. ugh...CONES!!!!
so here's the proof:
met up with cindy and richie (keysdivers) for some spearing off of marathon this beautiful saturday morning. loaded the boat at the house and trailered up to the ramp. we then procedded to sit in line at the ramp for an hour while all the cones and conettes pulled and launched their boats.
finally we splashed the Cobia and roared our way out through vaca cut and out reef side towards the wreck to the Thunderbolt. with the south wind the seas were kicked up to a nicely annoying chop, but with the tides on our side we were greeted with nice vis on the top of the reef and only one boat on the wreck. we pulled up to the bouy and quickly hooked up while the other boat was drifting over some divers.
Cindy and richie geared up lickity split and rolled over ahead of us, and as we hit the wreck a minute later they were taking the port side of the ship, leaving us the starboard. we had darn close to 75ft of vis and you could see the wreck and the rubble well. and as i eased down i could see 4 jewfish on the sand, 3 smaller and one horse. then looking closer at some of the debris on the bottom i started to make out more grouper....black grouper. by the time i was 30ft off the bottom i had 4 legal blacks in view. two times i tried to drop down on them, but they knew EXACTLY what was goin' on and scooted over to the wreck. i persued one that was giving me some chance and as he approached the stern of the ship i almost lost him in a bait ball. i pulled the trigger and promptly gave him a very stylish haircut, before watching him zip under the bait and under the wreck. the bait was so thick you couldn't see the wreck or the bottom, and at one point 2 blacks came out from under the wreck trying to run...caught glimpse of me and stalled...then did a 180 and swam back under the wreck. i was reloading my 2nd shaft and working a bead on a 2nd blackie when i see jess ease over the top railing and put the hammer down in a fish...missing the very difficult "straight down" shot. as she grabbed her shaft i eased into the middle of the bait and up under the stern. as the bait cleared out of the way (had my gun in front to "plow" the way) a nice black was broadside and i was out of position, he mosied around the keel and disappeared. hoping he would stop on the other side i got belly to the sand and crept around the screws, low and behold spotting the fish on the other side of the wreck...through both props and the keel...i pulled the trigger. the fish went frantic and churned up the bottom as i threaded my way around the prop blades, through the keel and into the ensueing silt-storm. the fish bolted up the edge of the wreck and i lost him in the silt, untill suddenly he stuck his head out for split second and then disappeared into the engulfing silt cloud....with the shaft still in him.
i gave a quick look around but was seeing NOTHING through the silt. i signaled to jess to head back to the bouy line and surface, anticipating a 2nd dive to look for my shaft and my fish.
getting back to the boat we quickly exchanged stories of "grouper everywhere!!" and i requested the chance to do a search and recovery dive, to which there were no complaints.
jess and i waited for about 40 mins and rolled in with our partial tanks...1500lbs each...figuring if the fish wasn't within the area i lost him...i would never find him. we hit th wreck and the vis had dropped due to the tide change, but i quickly bolted down to the sand. looking up under the wreck the first thing i see is a nice grouper...with an odd white patch on its head....kindda like a haircut!!! it was the grouper i had hit with my first shot. i took aim but was only looking at his tail and ass...so i hesitated. then out of the corner of my eye i spot something long, straight and thin under the wreck....kindda like a shaft! low and behold there was my shaft laying on the gravel under the wreck....and HOLY SHIT...theres a grouper on the end of it!!!
i abandon the chase for the "captain hair-do" and crawl under the wreck. with my belly on the sand and tank hitting the hull...my hand was at least 6" away from touching the shaft. CRAP!!
sooo....what do you do when your shaft and fish are buried up under a wreck in 125ft of water with 1000lbs of air in your tank?????......
DUH!!...you pull your BC off, lay it on the sand, and just keep the reg in your mouth as you crawl FARTHER under the wreck to reteive your prize.
YEAH...luckily he didn't have much fight left in him, and even less after a blade to the cranium.
we circled the stern and spotted some more fish but made our way back up the bouy line....with my shaft...and with my fish.
then we moved off to the reef line and dropped the hook on some ledge structure. since jess and i were loaded on the nitrogen we let cindy and richie take this turn and they came up with stories of "the one that got away".
we moved a bit down the reef and pitched the hook again and it was our turn to unleash hell on the fish population. we swam for what seemed like a mile on some fantastic structure without seeing much to shoot. i watched jess line up on something off in the distance but she never got a chance to pull the trigger. then a few minutes later she was swimming off into the haze and i heard the hammer drop on the seahornet...and then a grouper dart from the sand under her up to the reef below me. the fish stopped and turned, and knowing i had a fish in the cooler i waited for jess to reload and try to get a redemption shot. but by the time she came over i had lost sight of the fish. we decided to work down the ledge and hope to find the grouper on the return trip.
we swam another 50yrds or so and then turned around. still not seeing much i guess jess started to sight-see when we neared the area we lost the grouper. next thing i see is a grouper nose and fins checking me out from under a big coral overhang. i looked in my periphery but didn't see jess...so i lined up for the low percentage "head on shot" and touched off. turns out i ended up just piercing the groupers lips...both...and he shook off and darted up the reef. but 10ft later jess had a can of whoop-ass waiting and she pegged him in the rocks. after some rocking and rolling under the coral...and a cloud the size of texas...she pulls the fish out and has a grin so big she nearly lost her regulator.
the rest of the swim back to the anchor...and then UP the anchor line, all she could do was smile, clap, and celebrate (think...victory dance...under water). at one point i think she even tried to ride me like a cowgirl....i won't lie...i liked it
on the boat....sigh....i realized she did it again...her fish was bigger than mine (doesn't look it in the picture). but you know...we have this team work think down to a science!!!
thanks for a fantastic day guys.
oh yeah...we sat at the ramp for another hour while about 15 boats launched or pulled out before we could get our turn. ugh...CONES!!!!
so here's the proof: