Trip Report 6-11-05

[Hang Time]

This trip just seemed right from the very begining. It seems we were alot more optimistic than the NWS and based upon our belief that the wind and seas would lay down during the day, we decided to head out Saturday morning. The ride out was a little bumpy, 2-4's and straight into a headsea. At about 30 miles offshore it started to settle down and the water was turning a pretty blue. A little later we made it to our destination - a rig sitting in about 200' of water.

The first two divers in the water was Bill and Don. I wasn't long before I see Bill making his way to the surface and I could tell that he was dragging a large fish. (see pics 1 and 2) We bring the first fish onboard. A nice AJ that I estimate to be around 50 lbs. Soon after that, Don gets to the surface and he's also speared an AJ only this ones still fighting him. Almost immediately the fish pulls from the spear, but fortunately it doesn't have the strength to swim away and after about 3 attempts to grab the fish, Don finally get's it under control. (see pic 3 and 4) It was the largest fish of day and weighed 55+ lbs.

(because it's getting late here I'll finish this post tomorrow, but before I go I'll post up some underwater photos that Kerry aka TrophyFishn and I took)

[Hang Time]

first group

[Hang Time]

second group

[billy10103]

Great pics!!! Thanks!! 2 great AJ's as well!!!
Billy

[speckle-catcher]

awesome!

[Kauffballs]

Randal, looks like a great trip with great photos. I am ready for us to go fishing again.
Scott

[NavyNuke]

on the third pic from the bottom...what kind of fish are those? Great trip...neat to see the structure below the surface.

[michaelbaranowski]

Nice AJ. I am so ready to flip over the side.

[Hang Time]

Scott,

I intend to be in POC every weekend during the month of July. Pick a weekend (except POCO weekend) and let's go.

Randal
Randal, looks like a great trip with great photos. I am ready for us to go fishing again.
Scott

[Hang Time]

Navy,

Those fish are called Look Downs. There were approx. 500 - 1,000 of these fish swimming in a school near us. The cool thing is that they aren't afraid of divers and will swim within a few feet of you. The beauty of these fish is just incredible.

on the third pic from the bottom...what kind of fish are those? Great trip...neat to see the structure below the surface.

[TrophyFish'n]

Randal,

Nice post I have to say. I would have posted some pictures but I've just been too busy grilling and frying fish(besides work of course). I keep my cooler in my kitchen for easy access to the nice fillets we made on Saturday. In fact I'm fixing to cook up another mess of them tonight. Extremely good and frying them is excellent as well. All my guests agree the AJ's and snapper are excellent. Particularly since they are fresh.

Nice photos underwater. I'm sure this summer will be more of the same now that the wind is blowing from the south most of the time. Also the current this past saturday was so easy it makes you forget about the tough days where you have to claw your way to the rig. These are the good days and hopefully we can take the time to enjoy them. I have to admit though I think I enjoy shooting the snapper more than the AJ's only because they are tougher to shoot. They are so cautious in comparison.

Give Bill and Don my regards as they are some good guys to go out with. Had a great time and am looking forward to the next one too.

Got to go fry up some fish for some buddies at JSC.

Take it easy.
TrophyFish'n

[EchoDuck Jr.]

AWESOME PICS . nice fish to

[Hang Time]

To follow up and finish my original post: After Bill and Don get back in the boat, Kerry (TrophyFishn) and I suited up and got in the water. We dropped down about 20' and was immediately greeted by a single Ling. I couldn't determine it's size so I passed up on the shot and continued dropping down. At about 50' a couple more ling swam by and again I couldn't decide if these fish were legal so I continued on without taking a shot. About this time the AJ's began swimming around us and Kerry and I both lost fish on our first shot. His pulled off the spear and mine was lost when the tip of my gun was pulled against the rig and the line bungie was cut. With my spearshft lost all I could do at that point was to hang with Kerry while he reloaded and shot another AJ. After a 5 minute struggle, Kerry gets control of his fish and starts moving up the downline. At 30' I leave him and bolt to the surface and get another gun. With 1,500 psi of air left in my tank, I drop down to 60' and shoot the first AJ that I see. At the time I didn't think the fish was very big and was little surprised when he dragged me down 20 or 30'. As it turns out, the fish was about 45-50 lbs. (see pic #1)

On the next dive (2nd tank) we take photos and enjoy the dive and beauty of all the fish. There is almost no current and we swim the entire rig at leisurely pace. As a bonus, Kerry makes a nice shot on 3 lb snapper at a distance of about 12'.

The dive plan is to hunt a nearshore rig on our last tank, so we secure the gear and head inshore to a rig that is in 125' of water. The seas have laid down and we're able to make about 25 knts. We arrive at the rig, tie up, drop the downline and deco tank and Bill and Don get in the water. They return with a small grouper and a couple of snapper, one of which is about 8 lbs. (pic 2). Kerry and I then get in and drop down to about 110'. I've dove this rig before and this time was no different. There was a huge school of snapper at the bottom. Most of the fish were small to legal size fish with the occasional 5 - 10 lb'er. We both shoot two fish and with each fish shot, the school gets larger because of the activity. At this point, our air is getting low so Kerry signals that he is going up. I see on my computer that I have one minute left before I have to go into a decompresion dive, so I signal to him to go while I stay. As he's leaving, I look down and see a grouper swimming right at me and I aim right between his eyes. Pull the trigger make a clean miss. I laugh at myself (underwater if that's possible) and think about what a great day it's been and there's no point in forcing another shot and having to deco.

Back at house we drag the fish out of boxes for a quick group photo, clean the fish and head to Josie's for some grilled AJ tacos and fried grouper. Shown in the last photo is left to right - Kerry, Don, myself and Bill.

[Tall1fin]

All I can say is "PRETTY AWESOME"!

[Brady Bunch]

WOW!!! Whata report. Great pix.

[Kosta]

Great report, thanks for sharing. It's been a while since I dove the rigs. I always remember fighting the current. Looks like you guys had favorable conditions.

[FlatWater]

What type of camera do you have? I am looking for a good underwater camera.

[Hang Time]

FlatWater,

The camera is an old Canon Power Shot S200 (2 megapixel) with a underwater housing made by Canon. It works pretty well considering that it is not a true "underwater" camera.