A bit belated, but here goes:
Salty_dog (Andre), Tom, and I met at PCH Saturday morning, loaded the gear into Andre's boat, and headed out. First stop was on a number we found a while back in approx 37 fsw. (Named FishinFool on the GPS, since he was with us that day.) It's always been good for hook-and-line, so we wanted to check it out.
I volunteered to stay topside for the first dive. Tom didn't take a speargun down with him since he was going to try to retrieve a rod and reel he'd lost the week before. After about 10 minutes I see Tom surface off to the front of the boat. No rod, but he said the fish were nearly tame. A while later Andre came back with some hogs on his stringer, and Tom and I went back down.
Tom wasn't kidding. I know hogfish can be fearless, but I could have started killing them with my dive knife. Unfortunately, most of them were right at 12". I ended up killing a few good sized hogs, and then just started hunting for a keeper grouper. None to be had. I did have an encounter with an overly friendly nurse shark, though. Biggest one I've ever seen, and it wanted the hogs on my stringer. I was about to reach for my powerhead when it finally decided to leave me alone. I finally gave up on finding a decent sized grouper and surfaced.
Our next stop was a number we call Horseshoe, since it's shaped like one. Tom and Andre went down for the first drop. When they came back up Tom had a nice 25" gag, and Andre had a few big hogs. Since it's only in about 30 fsw, I went down by myself for a dive after that. I killed a 23-24" gag. I didn't stay down too long, though, because I wanted to save some gas for another dive.
Our third stop of the day was the Marker 24 barge, again roughly 30 fsw. We never found the barge, but we did find some culverts and some aggressive cudas. It was a neat dive, but the batteries on my dive light had died so I didn't really spend much time hunting grouper in the culverts. It looks like it could be promising though.
All in all, it was a great day. We made it back to the dock with respectable amount of fish, and had a blast diving and shooting them. It was my first time diving my new steel 120s and computer, and I was in heaven with that as well. Lots of gas, and the buoyancy characteristics can't be beat.
Wil
Panacea Harbor Marina 8/21/04
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Wil
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It was the first time I've ever put in there to go offshore, although I've gone inshore with Captain Vic plenty of times from there. Since his boat only drafts a few inches, I'd never seen the actual channel all the way out. It's a pretty decent channel, so I'll probably be putting in there instead of Mashes Sands now. I love the convenience of ice/bait/fish cleaning facilities all in one place.Eerman wrote:Wil,
I saw you back at the Marina; but, wasn't sure it was you until you just said something. I was down there working on my boat. I was sitting over on the porch when you guys came in. I though I recognized you from the social. Next time I'll say hey. Sounds like you guys had a good time.
Although, when it comes to bait, I like Andre's approach: "I'll shoot a grunt on my first dive." Very pragmatic.