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Old 05-30-2020, 10:38 PM   #3436
Spear One
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

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Out of St Pete Bunces pass 5/30/2020. Hit some wrecks to fish for AJ in 90-100'. No luck. Hooked this shark on first drop down. Can't believe it stayed buckled up. Took about 20 minutes to get it up. 60# leader and line. 5/0 hook. Could see it on the bottom from the boat. Made the call to run another 20 miles deeper. Hit a ledge in 140'. It was teeming with AJ. First drop, AJ in boat. Next drop, AJ pulled hook off. Next drop, 2nd AJ in boat so done with them fishing in 5 minutes or so. I geared up and dropped down. Lot of life. Big AJ swimming up at me, shark, Cuda, then ARS, big mangos. Get to bottom and lot of fish. Picked off a few mangos. Big Goliath and little one were interested and not skittish. Nabbed a true black (only my second) and headed up to avoid the deco. Colder deep. Thermocline at 100'. 72 down there. 85 on top. We could see AJ swimming along ledge from boat. No gumbo.Did a shallower dive in 80' and packed with gumbo so headed home. We were focused on AJ before they close tomorrow. Going for gags Monday.
Glad to hear you got a couple AJ’s before they closed on Monday. Fire up the smoker!
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Last edited by Spear One; 05-31-2020 at 05:59 AM.
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Old 06-02-2020, 08:40 PM   #3437
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

Headed out 6/1/2020 out of Clearwater pass. Ran around 20 miles or so. Dove mainly in 60'. Some gumbo on bottom. Not bad. Viz was about 30' or better. Temp 80. Got my 2 gags, 7 mango and a Hog by 12:30. Back early before the front. Sharky though. Dealing with sandbars that are way more bold than what I see typically. Not sure if algae bloom if affecting their usual game, but they have been interested in me and my stringer.
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Old 06-03-2020, 06:21 AM   #3438
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

We dove Monday NW of New Port Richey. We started in 40’ depth, the water was 82 degrees and I could easily see the bottom from the surface (no gumbo). Horizontal vis was about 30’. We got a few small Go’s, 2 Hogs, and 2 Gags with the largest weighing just under 16 lbs. We moved into 28’ and the vis was about 20’ horizontal and a small amount of gumbo. We got a few more Go’s and Hogs and 2 more Gags. We then moved into 10’ depth to try and freedive 4 more Gags to get our limit. We got 3 more Gags (for a total of 7) and headed back to the dock about 5:30. Overall a very good day......I forgot how much fun it is to dive in that shallow water as we seem to always run to that 90/100’ depth.
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Old 06-12-2020, 12:02 PM   #3439
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

Anyone been out in the last few days?
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Old 06-13-2020, 10:54 PM   #3440
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

Went out Friday on the Pickled Pelican - thanks for the ride, Eric! Great day being on the water.

At 70', fairly straight off Anclote, the vis was iffy early in the morning. Didn't notice any snot but lots of particulate. Long enough vis to shoot gags but they were wary and most of the ones seen were short.

Lots of short hogs seen. Some nice mangroves out there but was patrolling for hogs and gags and didn't play around as much with the mangroves.

Few decent sherpa seen while wrangling a big lionfish, and shot a smaller sherpa.

Came in to 57' a bit farther south to divert away from a t-storm, and hit a very nice ledge but less fishy than the deeper stuff.

I'd guess vis was 10' to 20' but it did improve when the sun got high and the seas laid down. Very smooth ride in.

Mangoes were bigger out deep. Only 1 hog shot, I think in 65' - 75'. Saw more gags out deep. Good luck!

One of the guys on the trip owns a BBQ company called Smokin J's Signature Sauces - their website is https://smokinjssignaturesauces.com/

He hooked me up with some dry rub and with their special Blackberry BBQ Sauce!

I used both to grill my lionfish and a mangrove, and it was nuts delicious. You guys should hit up his website and order some of his stuff. He has stock in some local stores, but the website would be an easy way to try it out. He just won a Scovie award for his Blackberry Ghost Pepper hot sauce, too... Good stuff, thanks Justin!

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Old 06-14-2020, 06:23 AM   #3441
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

TB, thanks for the detailed report. Looks like the rain and high winds have cut down on your vis up north of St. Pete too.
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Old 06-14-2020, 07:40 AM   #3442
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

Tyson Brown,
Nice report, Thanks.
And
Nice Plug for your buddies business, and thanks for that.
I went to his site and put in an order for a pile of stuff to try.
Hopefully others will do the same.
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Old 06-14-2020, 09:33 AM   #3443
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

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Tyson Brown,
Nice report, Thanks.
And
Nice Plug for your buddies business, and thanks for that.
I went to his site and put in an order for a pile of stuff to try.
Hopefully others will do the same.
Justin makes some amazing sauces and rubs. Former Marine, too, and all-around great American. Thank you for supporting him. And you will love his products.
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Old 06-14-2020, 02:56 PM   #3444
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

We dove Friday 6-12-20 50 miles NW of Clearwater targeting ARS in 85 to 90’. Temp was 79 degrees with no thermo and vis about 30’. Struggled to find any ARS and saw no Gags or Go’s. Ran 15 miles south to 100’ and found a nice 4 degree thermo and found the ARS. Got 12 really nice ARS with the biggest being about 15lbs. Ended up with 12 ARS, 5 Gags, 30 Go’s, and a few Almaco’s and Lionfish. Overall a great day.
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Old 06-14-2020, 07:23 PM   #3445
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

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Justin makes some amazing sauces and rubs. Former Marine, too, and all-around great American. Thank you for supporting him. And you will love his products.
You've been holding out on me lol, blackberry BBQ sauce sounds amazing. Just placed an order to give a few things a try.
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Old 06-14-2020, 08:23 PM   #3446
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

Slow day in Middlegrounds. Bottom temp 71. Viz 0-65' was very bright and clear. Thermocline is significant at 65'. I stayed in skin and hood, but some divers went up to 5 mil. Under thermocline viz was 30'.
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Old 06-14-2020, 08:59 PM   #3447
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

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You've been holding out on me lol, blackberry BBQ sauce sounds amazing. Just placed an order to give a few things a try.
LOL - sorry, Matt. Hell, after the day YOU had on Thursday, you should be happy with just salt and pepper.

Guys, Matt had a 3-fer. His first Gag, first flounder, and first ARS - and yeah, he got the only gag, flounder, and ARS on the boat.
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Old 06-14-2020, 11:14 PM   #3448
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

Ran out today 50 miles off St. Joseph Sound on a 23 bay boat. The east wind and all the tRopical activity seems to be giving everyone a run for their money the past few days. Meh, f'ing send it! We ran out early to avoid the afternoon unpredictability.

Seas were 2-3 ft and the bean bag chair saved my ass. Fortunately all of those magnificent storms we saw building stayed away. At 100 fsw I cleaned up on ARS on a cargo container. Cool dive as it was just a rectangle box in the middle of a sandy desert with a big resident turtle. A small opening underneath revealed the fish were held up inside, but their curiosity turned them into fillets as steel rained down from above. Chumming hook and line likely would have produced a boat limit, but after I started banging away on their buddies, everything began to get the picture, except the lionfish of course.

No thermocline, viz was a clean 50 ft. Working our way back we hit spots in 80 ft. and 65 ft. Gags, Scamps, Hogs, and Mangos hit the deck. Viz held throughout the day. I did get dropped in the sand once, not a damn thing there, but what I believe was a small dusky right under me. I gave chase hoping it would lead me to some structure, seemed to be working until it turned around and headed back toward me. One of our crew got an arms length encounter with a fearless lemon. A poke in the eye wasn't enough to send it off, fish still came over the rail.

Great day, cool new spots. Heading down to Marco Island in a few weeks, hoping to get a trip in out of Naples to slay. Meanwhile, hopefully the winds shift here soon. Looking forward to a fun summer.

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Old 06-15-2020, 06:13 AM   #3449
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

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Slow day in Middlegrounds. Bottom temp 71. Viz 0-65' was very bright and clear. Thermocline is significant at 65'. I stayed in skin and hood, but some divers went up to 5 mil. Under thermocline viz was 30'.
Thanks for the report. Did you leave a first number out on the Vis 0-65'?
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Old 06-15-2020, 12:25 PM   #3450
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Re: Current Vis - Tampa Bay Region (Homosassa to Sarasota)

From 0 - 65', viz was perfect. Water blue. Viz above the thermocline was 65' I would say. Once you hit the thermocline at 65', temp dropped 15 degrees. Viz decreased. Once through thermocline, viz clear 30'. Not so bright down there though.
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