Dive4Blood
10-30-2002, 07:59 PM
The Jolly Rogers 2 left the dock at the Gulfstream Marina on the Steinhatchee River in the early morning fog Saturday. Our mission was to find new spots around the local waters, check out some hotspots not hit in over a year, and fill the box with fish that the commercial hook and liners had been slamming in good quantities recently. The crew consisted of Capt. Jim Zurbrick, Bud and Chuck, old friends and past 1st mates on the JR2, John Riddick, ex owner of the Tavenier Dive Center now semi-retired in Steinhatchee, and myself. Also along for the ride and a little hook and lining was Jeff, a local friend of Jim's. Here are the highlights of one of the more classic trips this year.
Saturday the plan was to do up a fishing/diving combo in 60'-80' and look for new spots. Ended up doing only a couple dives on ledges with just a few fish. Hook and line fishing was fair at best although I did manage to slam three gags all between 12#-15# in a span of ten minutes on a piece of hard bottom we were checking out. By late afternoon we took it offshore to the the fabled Devil's Ledge. Mango fishing was not as fast and furious as in the Middlegrounds, but the average size was much larger at 5# plus. Right as everyone was about to cash it in a school of blackfin tuna came through which led to a very chaotic 15 minutes, the end resut being hellacious line tangles, a blood soaked deck, and five tunas between 25#-30# ready for the box. Sunday morning John Riddick and I suited up with a little trepidation. Four years earlier Spear One had caught a 17' great white just a quarter mile from this spot. The Devil's Ledge is one of the coolest and most intimidating dives in the Gulf. It is a roughly 150' long semicircular "break" with a top in 95'. What makes it notable is that the entire ledge face the whole length of the break is a cave/spring opening that descends diagonally into the abyss. Seen from the low side it looks like a giant smiling devil mouth. We descended and proceeded to sling line shafts at the huge mangos and red snappers darting in and out of the mouth. Towards the end of the dive with only 1000psi left it began raining aj's, thousands of them swarming us. I went into full slay mode churning the water into an emerald green cloud of subsea blood, and managed to string up three box jacks before surfacing with a couple molecules of gas left in the tank. Capt. Jim backdove the spot with moderate results while Chuck and Bud descended into the mouth to almost 140' with high power lights, swam the entire length of the ledge, and had not even come close to seeing the bottom.
We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon heading north, and checking new spots. My highlight was giving four gags beween 10#-22# the opportunity to feel the power of my Rhino gun on a 1' ledge north of Devil's. By late afternoon we arrived at an Air Force navigational tower in a 100' water. We tied up to the tower, and John and I jumped in the water for some freediving, and discovered spearfishing heaven! Crystal clear water, multiple species of baitfish everywhere, THOUSANDS of mangos, barjacks, mackerel and aj's swimming among the supports and crossbeams. No need to swim far distances, and the boat is right above you! We proceeded to freedive some very nice mangos in 50'-60', and then the race was on to suit up into dive gear. The bottom was covered with gags and after shooting my second, a 22 pounder, a pod of three cobias, the smallest 40#, the biggest easily 100# swam by me. I desperately tried to string up my fish, reload, and get my line set up but they were gone before I was ready. Three years ago on this spot a monster cobia had spooled my reel gun, and pulled me down rapidly with a fully inflated BC. After the gags were either hanging from stringers or spooked off, I ascended to 50', sat on a crossbeam and commenced to blast mangos as if I was sitting on an u/w bus bench. Surfacing, I strapped on another tank of 36% still dripping wet, and blew a low pressure hose. I wasn't sitting out one of the best dives of the year so I jumped in, and filled up another stringer similar to the first with a couple nice aj's to boot, the whole time a huge trail of bubbles blowing from my first stage low pressure port.
We headed north further which gave us time to gut and ice the huge pile of game fish that lay on the deck. Sunday night we anchored up on Hatteras Ledge, one of the mack daddy red snapper spots in the Gulf. Had a nice bite of reds, and the next morning Chuck, Bud, John, and myself hit the ledge and scored red snapper to 15# and hogs up to 7#. The rest of the morning was spent heading southeast towards shore, and hitting rockpiles which produced some very nice size local hogs. Our very last dive of the trip was on the Panacea Barge which was lit up on the bottom machine. We descended and Capt. Jim proceeded to go into full medieval mode on the amberjack population also laying out a 50# bonus cobia. I chose to harass the bottom dwellers, and started to sling mad steel on many mangos (biggest 9#), and a 15# gag. Another huge cobia evaded me, swimming by as I strung up a fish. I did find a $100+ Shimano flats spinning rod/reel combo laying on the deck that some dumbass must have dropped only a couple days before by the condition of the rig. Back at the dock Monday afternoon, tired, sore, full of nitrogen, with swollen and cut up hands, a three hour ride home, a long day of work Tuesday, and ready to go again immediately if not sooner! Standing by.
Saturday the plan was to do up a fishing/diving combo in 60'-80' and look for new spots. Ended up doing only a couple dives on ledges with just a few fish. Hook and line fishing was fair at best although I did manage to slam three gags all between 12#-15# in a span of ten minutes on a piece of hard bottom we were checking out. By late afternoon we took it offshore to the the fabled Devil's Ledge. Mango fishing was not as fast and furious as in the Middlegrounds, but the average size was much larger at 5# plus. Right as everyone was about to cash it in a school of blackfin tuna came through which led to a very chaotic 15 minutes, the end resut being hellacious line tangles, a blood soaked deck, and five tunas between 25#-30# ready for the box. Sunday morning John Riddick and I suited up with a little trepidation. Four years earlier Spear One had caught a 17' great white just a quarter mile from this spot. The Devil's Ledge is one of the coolest and most intimidating dives in the Gulf. It is a roughly 150' long semicircular "break" with a top in 95'. What makes it notable is that the entire ledge face the whole length of the break is a cave/spring opening that descends diagonally into the abyss. Seen from the low side it looks like a giant smiling devil mouth. We descended and proceeded to sling line shafts at the huge mangos and red snappers darting in and out of the mouth. Towards the end of the dive with only 1000psi left it began raining aj's, thousands of them swarming us. I went into full slay mode churning the water into an emerald green cloud of subsea blood, and managed to string up three box jacks before surfacing with a couple molecules of gas left in the tank. Capt. Jim backdove the spot with moderate results while Chuck and Bud descended into the mouth to almost 140' with high power lights, swam the entire length of the ledge, and had not even come close to seeing the bottom.
We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon heading north, and checking new spots. My highlight was giving four gags beween 10#-22# the opportunity to feel the power of my Rhino gun on a 1' ledge north of Devil's. By late afternoon we arrived at an Air Force navigational tower in a 100' water. We tied up to the tower, and John and I jumped in the water for some freediving, and discovered spearfishing heaven! Crystal clear water, multiple species of baitfish everywhere, THOUSANDS of mangos, barjacks, mackerel and aj's swimming among the supports and crossbeams. No need to swim far distances, and the boat is right above you! We proceeded to freedive some very nice mangos in 50'-60', and then the race was on to suit up into dive gear. The bottom was covered with gags and after shooting my second, a 22 pounder, a pod of three cobias, the smallest 40#, the biggest easily 100# swam by me. I desperately tried to string up my fish, reload, and get my line set up but they were gone before I was ready. Three years ago on this spot a monster cobia had spooled my reel gun, and pulled me down rapidly with a fully inflated BC. After the gags were either hanging from stringers or spooked off, I ascended to 50', sat on a crossbeam and commenced to blast mangos as if I was sitting on an u/w bus bench. Surfacing, I strapped on another tank of 36% still dripping wet, and blew a low pressure hose. I wasn't sitting out one of the best dives of the year so I jumped in, and filled up another stringer similar to the first with a couple nice aj's to boot, the whole time a huge trail of bubbles blowing from my first stage low pressure port.
We headed north further which gave us time to gut and ice the huge pile of game fish that lay on the deck. Sunday night we anchored up on Hatteras Ledge, one of the mack daddy red snapper spots in the Gulf. Had a nice bite of reds, and the next morning Chuck, Bud, John, and myself hit the ledge and scored red snapper to 15# and hogs up to 7#. The rest of the morning was spent heading southeast towards shore, and hitting rockpiles which produced some very nice size local hogs. Our very last dive of the trip was on the Panacea Barge which was lit up on the bottom machine. We descended and Capt. Jim proceeded to go into full medieval mode on the amberjack population also laying out a 50# bonus cobia. I chose to harass the bottom dwellers, and started to sling mad steel on many mangos (biggest 9#), and a 15# gag. Another huge cobia evaded me, swimming by as I strung up a fish. I did find a $100+ Shimano flats spinning rod/reel combo laying on the deck that some dumbass must have dropped only a couple days before by the condition of the rig. Back at the dock Monday afternoon, tired, sore, full of nitrogen, with swollen and cut up hands, a three hour ride home, a long day of work Tuesday, and ready to go again immediately if not sooner! Standing by.