BreathlessSight
06-29-2008, 12:55 AM
The story goes...
About a couple of months ago I was notified of a donor bone being availible to replace the damage tailus bone in one of my ankles. I decided they should fix the right ankle since the last procedure didnt come out 100%. Being bummed I decided a dive was in order.
I called around and no one was able to dive. Most my dive buds were off in distant lands learning how to jam out on guitar hero, building sand castles, and browsing the internet. I finally got a hold of a dive bud that I have not went out with since he first started. I was very interested to see how he progressed. I find myself very intrigued with things like that.
I asked Zach where we should go. "Well I never shot a dogtooth," he said. Shoooot! "Lets go get one!" I yelled over the phone. We met up at one of the local McDonalds and from there we rushed up North where there has been reports of many record size fish, some of which I have seen myself. The last time I was up here I took one home, was visited by a massive hammerhead, and the other guys scored some nice fish as well.
So the quest began! Once we made it past all the miserably slow traffic, we finally hit sand in our 4WD vehicles. Our trucks were burried in sand and we decided this was far enough down the beach. We unloaded our kayaks as the humid morning punished us for our efforts. Its like inhaling through a wet paper bag. Humidity here has to set records every year! After battling the elements out of the water we headed in to paddle a little less than half a mile out to the point where it drops off to roughly 100ft. The water was murky today and the current was weak. I already knew that there was probably nothing here but trouble... Tax collectors.
We fell in and began to call in some fish from on top of the pinnacle. Nothing... Eventually we became bored and tried going out in open water and still nothing came around. Then we decided to go back in the bay area and search that reef and drop off. By this time my ears have gave out and it took a lot of effort to clear my ears and going past 30ft was no option. If I remember correctly I think I was on this sloping drop off picking my finger nails or something. Maybe I was thinking about taking a dump. Either way I wasnt paying attention. Then from under flew a grey object. "What the hell?"
I couldnt see Zach but he was further up in front of me. After I found him I put my head back in the water. A mouth full of sharp teeth and inquisitive eyes were watching me. I yelled to Zach and the beast took notice and headed deeper. Zach wasnt going to make it so I took it apon myself to try and get this dog. I dove and laid motionless in the middle water colum. I grunted and flashed my hand. It was like the dog had a shock collar on and immediate hit the bakes and came back to see if there was a fish for food.
He passed in front of me and I remember saying to myself "You better get a good shot!" At first he looked small and then as I lined up he was in fact a big one. I aimed for the eye but the shaft flew into his head behind the left gill and came out the right gill plate causing it close everytime the fish took off. So here we go for a good 15 minutes. I only had my Omer Palegic reel so the dog took me all over the ocean. He even crossed paths with a fishermans line :scratch: Good thing that didnt get tangled :thumps: I was finally able to bring the fish up after it was tired of draging me around on the surface. Good thing the flopper was holding his one gill closed, I think this tired him out rather quickly cuz normaly they dont give up that easy.
Instead of stabbing him the head I just bled him out and later got a few pictures to boot. Bad thing is I was using a 18-200mm lens in a port that was made for a 18-35mm lens. So the longer lens couldnt auto focus underwater but could above water in the housing :scratch: So all the pics were out of focus but some came out ok.
About a couple of months ago I was notified of a donor bone being availible to replace the damage tailus bone in one of my ankles. I decided they should fix the right ankle since the last procedure didnt come out 100%. Being bummed I decided a dive was in order.
I called around and no one was able to dive. Most my dive buds were off in distant lands learning how to jam out on guitar hero, building sand castles, and browsing the internet. I finally got a hold of a dive bud that I have not went out with since he first started. I was very interested to see how he progressed. I find myself very intrigued with things like that.
I asked Zach where we should go. "Well I never shot a dogtooth," he said. Shoooot! "Lets go get one!" I yelled over the phone. We met up at one of the local McDonalds and from there we rushed up North where there has been reports of many record size fish, some of which I have seen myself. The last time I was up here I took one home, was visited by a massive hammerhead, and the other guys scored some nice fish as well.
So the quest began! Once we made it past all the miserably slow traffic, we finally hit sand in our 4WD vehicles. Our trucks were burried in sand and we decided this was far enough down the beach. We unloaded our kayaks as the humid morning punished us for our efforts. Its like inhaling through a wet paper bag. Humidity here has to set records every year! After battling the elements out of the water we headed in to paddle a little less than half a mile out to the point where it drops off to roughly 100ft. The water was murky today and the current was weak. I already knew that there was probably nothing here but trouble... Tax collectors.
We fell in and began to call in some fish from on top of the pinnacle. Nothing... Eventually we became bored and tried going out in open water and still nothing came around. Then we decided to go back in the bay area and search that reef and drop off. By this time my ears have gave out and it took a lot of effort to clear my ears and going past 30ft was no option. If I remember correctly I think I was on this sloping drop off picking my finger nails or something. Maybe I was thinking about taking a dump. Either way I wasnt paying attention. Then from under flew a grey object. "What the hell?"
I couldnt see Zach but he was further up in front of me. After I found him I put my head back in the water. A mouth full of sharp teeth and inquisitive eyes were watching me. I yelled to Zach and the beast took notice and headed deeper. Zach wasnt going to make it so I took it apon myself to try and get this dog. I dove and laid motionless in the middle water colum. I grunted and flashed my hand. It was like the dog had a shock collar on and immediate hit the bakes and came back to see if there was a fish for food.
He passed in front of me and I remember saying to myself "You better get a good shot!" At first he looked small and then as I lined up he was in fact a big one. I aimed for the eye but the shaft flew into his head behind the left gill and came out the right gill plate causing it close everytime the fish took off. So here we go for a good 15 minutes. I only had my Omer Palegic reel so the dog took me all over the ocean. He even crossed paths with a fishermans line :scratch: Good thing that didnt get tangled :thumps: I was finally able to bring the fish up after it was tired of draging me around on the surface. Good thing the flopper was holding his one gill closed, I think this tired him out rather quickly cuz normaly they dont give up that easy.
Instead of stabbing him the head I just bled him out and later got a few pictures to boot. Bad thing is I was using a 18-200mm lens in a port that was made for a 18-35mm lens. So the longer lens couldnt auto focus underwater but could above water in the housing :scratch: So all the pics were out of focus but some came out ok.