Diving St. Marks 24/25

Post by RC » June 26th, 2006, 9:20 am

Well we hit the water this weekend. First dive Sat. was a acclimation dive for a friend that hadn't been diving in several years. Hit the OAR reef near the K tower. Vis was good probably 20 to 30 ft. Big Jew Fish waiting at the bottom. Lots of short grouper big cobia came swimming by. Nice dive didn't shoot anything. Been wondering what the bottom looked like there. Lots of people fishing but no one really catching anything. Makes you wonder if all those fish are swimming around your bait and not biting all the time. I am thinking about getting several people in the boat fishing while I sit on the bottom and let them try different baits and see what the fish do.

Next dive went to one of my natural bottom grouper spots about 25 miles on a 165 degree heading from the tripod. Been wondering what it looked like. Marks like a good ledge on the bottom machine. Yep about a 5' ledge. Broke the last band on my speargun on the way down. Had bought replacement bands but left them in Albany. Needless to say the spot was covered up with grouper of all sizes. Another Jewfish just a little smaller. Lots of hogfish and snapper. Nice nurse shark and a big old turtle came swimming by. Needless to say without a weapon the grouper were fearless and would just swim up and look at you.

Hit the dive shop in crawfordville for more air and speargun bands.

Hit it again Sunday and with the proper equipment we did a little better puttin meat in the box.

Great weather. A little bumpy in the morning but by noon slicked off nice. visibility top to bottom.

Hope it holds. Going again next weekend.

Post by **Frank Bradfield** » June 26th, 2006, 9:43 am

Nice report ! Glad to hear the vis is good ! Lots of hogs huh, great ! Broke band huh, well when you bring backups for everything , then you have a boatload of stuff, you hardly even have room for the rods !

Post by RC » June 26th, 2006, 2:41 pm

Yes this is the first time I have dove off St. Marks. Last year was a disaster. I am really impressed and that's from someone who ran dive boats in Grand Cayman for 5 years. Really neat to see what those grouper spots look like and I have a lot more of them to look at. Going to have a blast while the conditions last.

by the way do you still have that 48" spear gun? I want it. check your PM's.

Post by **Frank Bradfield** » June 26th, 2006, 2:51 pm

I still have it, haven't really tried to sell it . Just letting it collect dust being a back-up. I can email you a pic if you want it. I checked my messages and don't have any from you, don't know who's isn't working. frank