Found a new spot for local bluewater freedivers

[Ed Walker]

We fished at the weather bouy 225 miles from Dunedin in over 11,500 feet of water for the past couple days, well one day there, one at the "steps" in 1400 feet and at least one traveling. . We didnt do much but it was covered up with big baits such as blue runners. They say the big yellowfins love it there and the commercial guys say we were just a little early. I looked it over pretty good but didnt have gear (or the balls) swim it. The loop current could be a problem, slammin' like 4 or 5 knots and pushing a wave up one side of the bouy. No way you could swim against it. If the boat developed trouble you would never be seen again. The bouy is like 20 feet wide and must have one hell of an anchor chain. You could probably hang a rope off the bouy and hang on to it downstream while you waited for a shot. A hardcore bluewater guy could probably shoot some monster fish out there wahoo, tunas, ect... The tunas there are usually in the 150 pound class and one of the guys I was with caught a 208 pounder out that way a few years back. Ive got the number when you're ready Webers.....

[mushkee]

if that was in miami, i would hit it up...

while im here in the keys, we went dolphin fishing, and when they stopped biting, i jumped in to spear a 15lber, he was jumping with a spear in him...

[Straightup]

Capt. Ed I am ready Show me the numbers

[joel mcqueen]

what are numbers all i need is some one to pick me up in that current to fat to swim against when i was little boy and started diving the same time the movie jaws came out my dad told me god gave us dominion over the animals and ask me if i knew what that ment i said no he told me we get eat the fishes and animals they dont eat us so far he has been right you just have to dive with the idea in mind that you will kill and eat any fish that looks at you cross ways and the fish can sense that seen it happen in my 30years of scuba diving so send number s and get in boat lets go need tuna for sandwich got mayo and bread

[Straightup]

O.K

[Dive4Blood]

Dude!!! Looks like you got your hands on some good crystal meth!

[Ed Walker]

uhhhh...OK

[Sheri]

Hey Ed! I wanna go. We don't need no balls......I've got the perfect gear setup for big tuna. I know you as a captain and trust you completely. We could all take turns with the big gun if you want to try it too. Maybe Chad would want to come? I know a couple bluewater freedivers from this coast that would love to come also. You just give the word, and we're there!

As Joel says, we've got dominion over the animals....yeah.

[Chad Carney]

Sheri & Ed,

Yeah I'm there!
And with the new Yanmar I should be able to reach that buoy too. Might help the "balls/no balls factor" to have two boats.

I tank dove the 42036 Grounds Buoy years ago and was surpised it had no pelagics, not even cudas. But that was only in 165'. It had about 300 ft of chain anchored to a concrete block out in nothing but sand. Damn clear blue water though. I thought about attaching mesh fencing to it, but never went back.

Larry Hoffman talks about the 50 mile USf Buoy straight out of St Pete having wahoo and blackfin tuna. That needs checking out too.

Sheri, I'm going to need some advice on the bluewater rigging for my Wong gun.

Chad

[JCACTION]

Chad, I have a few ideas on rigging that may interest you. Bluewater is special and everything that involves rigging as you well know is critical.

[joel mcqueen]

is it getting to late in year to go blue water free diving if not im ready ill buy the gas i buy the food i clean the fish i clean the boat best swabee on west coast also fair shot with spear gun women want me fish run away

[jgullick]

this is great i read in monotone when i read joel mcqueens postings i write fish swim in gulf i will talk to friends who go get gas clean best man on coast

huh ?

[Marcus]

Me Tarzan. You sane?

[Ed Walker]

I dont really have the boat. I dont think my 31 footer would do it. A 225 mile, one way, run is not a light undertaking. Requires unreasonable amounts of fuel, usually drums of extra diesel on the deck, meticulous planning, sat phone (no VHF out there)...and of course a pretty good sized boat. Anchoring is not possible (11,000 feet of water) although tying off to the bouy would be an option. It could be done. If I end up running this new boat for a client of mine I will have the range. (47 Cabo) Would make a great story. I would definitely shoot with you. I bet no one has ever done it......did you say you'd buy the gas???

[FredT]

10 meter discus hull, 10meter instrument platform.
26.01 N 85.91 W (26°00'32"N 85°54'50"W)


Mooring will be 3 to 5 90' shots (depending o the buoy battery and ballast load) of 1" open link chain, an inverse catenary mooring of 2 1/8" nylon 8 braid, spliced to enough about 3" polypro for a flotation section, then back to nylon. Flotaton will be enough to pick a half shot of 2" stud link chain off the bottom in the scour zone, generally another shot of 2" and up to 3 shots of 1.5" stud link for storm ballast tied to a shot of 1" open link terminating in either a 20,000 pound clump weight or 10,000 pound Navy stockless anchor. total mooring length will generally be about 1.3 to 1.5 x water depth.

Figure overall mooring cost at about $15 x water depth in feet for a deep moor, use $25 as the multiplier for a shallow one.

The accelerometers that give the wave data depend on the dynamics of the bare hull with a constant mooring load responding to the sea state. Please do not tie up to it with a short stiff leash or you may impact data quality. Not to mention the potential fines if the USCG sees you tied up to it. BTW they do still use over the horizon radar out there. Tying up to and/or boarding those is considered trespassing on government property, and all penalties for that apply to the weather buoys as well.

I spent 13 years designing and installing those weather stations.

They do create a deepwater marine life oasis, with the basis being the criters growng on the mooring (roughly a 6 year life cycle on those) and the protection bait gets from the mooring and adjacent mooring stubbles.

FT

[Sheri]

Oh! So it turns out we're missing MORE stuff now!! Hmmm, yeah, I guess a boat would be important. We do need a boat. :p

Well, if you do get ahold of that one with the range, I would be happy to pay for the gas. Or if you were answering Joel, he said he'd pay too....I think. Maybe he's a better deal....I clean fish, but I'm not a good swabee.

BTW, you don't want to anchor or tie off anyway when you're out there....doing bluewater, specially with a current. You just need a reliable boat and a good captain. Things can happen quick out there, and it's better if the boat follows you.

[rigdvr]

thats the ticket. Get dropped off 200-300 yrd upcurrent and picked up that distance downcurrent. Just remember to discuss signals with the boat crew before hand. Good luck.

[Ed Walker]

I meant tying off for the night. Its a two day trip minimum, maybe three. Definitely woulndt put anyone in the water without the boat in motion nearby. Someday maybe we'll put it all together. Sure would be cool to have someone shoot a 200 lb yellowfin.

[rigdvr]

a better idea than getting caught tied up to the bouy(that can get you in a load of trouble) is to put out a good sea anchor. Make sure you are out of major shipping lanes and you will drift 5 or so miles in a night. Thats common practice far offshore with the canyon runners as well as here in the gulf.

[Dive4Blood]

If you guys are serious, I can possibly get you guys set up on the Jolly Rogers 2. It definitely has the range, and the creature comforts. Let me know.

AJ Suarez

[webers]

I will give my right nut to be on the trip.

Webers

[IyaDiver]

Damn, 225 miles, I am assuming n.miles one way, out to a place in the middle of nowhere is VERY far....:(

Ed, I think the Cabo 47 can't do that range ( 2 way run ) unless you want to do the 8 knots routine 1/2 of the total run to have decent reserve or refueling spot exist somewhere. I think her fuel tank is approx 900 gallons, huge for a 47'. In my rough calculation she probably can do best maximum 380-400 n.miles maximum when cruised medium at +-24 knots.

The diesel fuel consumed here including gen-set for a possibly 3 days trip is most likely 1,000 gl. Depending how long you guys are willing to do the economical displacement speed mode, but than it is not healthy for those MAN engines. Usually Cabo 47 uses MAN. You will be firing only half of the cylinders at displacement speed, a typical MAN feature at below +-1,200RPM.

Now Fred said by law you can't tie to the buoy, even with the sea anchor it's going to be tough drifting all night long without sleep if the area has big ships traffic.

If you guys ever going out there, the preparation to me is already the big adventure in itself, I would like to hear about it from the boating point of view, please.

And 200 lbs tuna..............YUM YUM all day long.

Hope all the best for the trip, and don't forget the stories....:D

[Ed Walker]

When we went out there we had 4 drums of fuel in the cockpit plus the max the boat held. Upon our arrival to the steps (140 miles) we pumped as much fuel into the boats tanks as we could and tied the empty drums to the bow rail. (Used to used the metal ones and shoot em' and sink em' at sea.) You are right there arent a lot of boats with that kind of fuel capacity. We did "cruise" at 7 kts all night to get out there to conserve fuel and did a lot of math each day to know exactly what we could and could not do and how fast we could go for how far. I think we burned just over 600 gallons in the three days we were out. 45 foot custom Ronin with 650 MANs. They said August and Sept are the peak season but then again we struck out trolling in mid Aug. Could be a huge flop too. Im sure you could shoot some wahoo and maybe blackfins even on an off day. If they big YFs came by though....wow, I can only imagine it. Seen em so thick you couldnt see thru them off Costa Rica, was on a fishing charter though.They were jumping and busting for at least an acre 75 to over 200 pounds. We caught 8 and left them biting since there was no more room in the box. They were swiping at the teasers that we had lifted out of the water on the outriggers. I could have shot one from the deck of the boat. I did catch one over a hundred on a spinning rod and a topwater plug that I cast out. Out came the soy and wasabi. You know its fresh when its still quivering in your mouth.

[webers]

I know the Hotfish over on John's pass has the range. I', not sure wheo is running it now. It used to be Rusty. But he and his partner Mark may have parted ways on the boat. BwanaR know them.

[straight shaft]

Can you repeat that? I didn't get the last five paragraghs.

[Sheri]

Well, Ed, I think I was willling to jump into this one a bit too fast. You know....I hear the word "tuna", and I completely lose my mind.

Now I'm imagining myself on a sloooow boat to the Middle-of-Nowhere, loaded with gasoline drums, accompanied by Monotone Joel and One Nut Webers, and I'm paying for all the gas.....there better be some damn tunas out there....:rolleyes:

Maybe I've just gotta go back to the Lump with the infamous Al Walker. Hmmmmm......Ed, are you related or something?

AJ, do you know of any closer places that might have tuna? This is Florida. We're surrouned by water. Why do we have to go to Louisiana or Costa Rica for tuna?

[Chad Carney]

Sheri,

That's quite a colorful picture you painted there girl!

Not far off from that early morning memory of Captain Al stumbling out on the deck of the Kingfish in his backwater Reeboks, aspirating Budweiser, scratching himself profusely and looking for a place to pee...then looking up through the fog clouding his pickled brain with his squinty eyes and seeing you... he didn't know if he was in the presence of a real angel in Venice, Louisiana or if it was just a flashback from a Victorias Secrets commercial?

Little did he know just seconds before you finished doing your best "Capt. Al Walker impersonation" lifting one of his YF carcasses and as many crumpled Bud cans as you could hold on the back of his stink wagon, while mumbling "If it's an ass-kicking ya want, I'll take ya to it!"

Damn, I should have gotten out the video camera!

But seriously, there are some deep wrecks out by the steps Ed talked about and they're not too far south of the Elbow so we could try a combo trip, scuba / freedive and see if anything turns up with a lot of chum. If not just wack some big stuff on the Elbow.

Chad

[kitefisherman]

Originally posted by Sheri
do you know of any closer places that might have tuna? This is Florida. We're surrouned by water. Why do we have to go to Louisiana or Costa Rica for tuna?

Have any of you guys freedived the weather buoy 120 miles East of Canaveral? It's known as a great spot for yellowfins. Maybe you could combine it with a rod and reel tuna trip?

[webers]

There's lots of blackfin in this area starting this month. Of course, the is that shrimp boat problem. . . .

Actually, Dan C found fought and lost a nice Yellofin Tuna last winter at the mexican pride. What a surprise! We've suspected that some of our breakoffs fishing by the shrimp boats in 145+ feet may have been yellowfin.

As for all tht jokes about me diving the shrimp boats, I stand by my position they will provide some great freedivng/scuba action--- particularly late in the day. Tuna feed at high and low light intervals. While the shrimpers may cull their nets in the morning, those tuna are not far away later in the day. I've had some of my best tuna trips when after 4 in the afternoon--well after many of the sharks have moved on. On these days, we chunked up on a drift @ 75-100yds off the boat. Only takes a few passses and the blackfin come looking for a late afternoon snack. On calm days their backs are easy to spot rolling between the pods of tunny. This provides a great opportunity to bing a school of blackfin to the transom, but not be right up next to the boats and nets, where perhaps more sharks remain.

BTW, I'm not sure its legal to havest Yellofin Tuna by spear anywhere other than in the pacific.

And how did I become "one nut" Webers? I've got both, just ask my wife. they are often in her purse for safekeeping.

Webers

[rigdvr]

that would have been great video Chad...make sure you get the close up on his name on the window of his truck. If yall keep this up Sheri, you wont have to worry about coming back to Louisiana or did yall forget he RUNS those docks:eek:

[Sheri]

Webers, I thought that was you offering to barter one in order to go on the trip. Apparently, you've already given them away. And yes, it is legal to spear tuna in Florida, but I haven't heard of many people doing it....just one guy near Key West. I tried when I happened to see a huge one off Key West, but fat chance when you're freeshafting. It swam off with my shaft as I watched in shock of just seeing one.

Chad, Rig, you guys trying to get me in trouble with Capt Al? I was trying not to respond, cause I want this thread to die off! You know if Capt Al is reading this, I'm dead meat.....he'll throw me to the makos.

Capt Al....if you read this stupid stuff, I was NOT imitating you. I swear. I was doing a very respectful rendition of a coonass captain. I will worship the ground you walk on if you put me on a tuna. Please do not listen to those guys. Sincerely and respectfully yours....Sheri.

[webers]

Damn,
You're tough. Didn't know you's actually take one as price for the ride. I think it was Au-mike on another thread who argued that yellowfin tuna were off limits. As for my wive, no barter there, she just took em.

Webers

[rigdvr]

nuthin but love. I need to quit being so damn funny...still supposed to go out with Bill D(one of Al's guys) this winter.

For all the talk, Capt. Al has done some great stuff lately. He actually addresed congress about making the rigs into EFH's(essential fish habitats) as many, many of them are scheduled for removal in the next few years. Check out some of his work on towersoflife.com (www.towersoflife.com) pretty interesting.

[Ed Walker]

Got my pics workin' now. Heres the 225 mile bouy and its current.

[Ed Walker]

Heres how much fuel to get there and back..besides the boats two 300 gallon tanks.

[mushkee]

the bouy looks sweet...
it would be pretty cool to do some hunting around it, but it looks like the gas bill will be to high...