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St. Marks 04-29-2007

Posted: April 30th, 2007, 8:28 pm
by Tom Keels
Left Shields at 7:45 with Andre, JoeK and Sean. The early morning sloppy seas kept us shallow. We did dives in 28, 32, and 35 feet. By 10 am the seas were flat and the water was so clear our last 2 dives went like this..."Hey, there's a dark spot over there. Yep I can see fish, let's dive". Good thing as we now have a couple of new spots for next time. Back at Shields at 4:30. Water temps were around 72°. Vis was top to bottom vertically, and around 25- 35 feet horizontal.

Sean was high gun for the day. I did ok with my best hog to date, a grouper and 3 sheeps. Andre and Joe slayed the triggers and sheeps.

As an FYI, the brown "whale snot" algae is growing on everything. If you go grouper digging stay up off the bottom or you will get slimed. Most of the grouper we saw and killed were well off the bottom.

Final tally:

8 grouper
10 sheeps
6 triggers
1 hog
1 grunt
2 rock bass

A few pics...

Sean with his HOD. You can see the structure underneath him. That is 35 feet.
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Posted: April 30th, 2007, 8:29 pm
by birddog
Awesome hogfish. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Posted: April 30th, 2007, 8:32 pm
by sundown
Anybody ever caught a hogfish on hook and line ? only one I ever saw was mounted hanging on a wall in a restaurant in Cairo...Recognized it from pictures I had seen Tom post on here...

Posted: April 30th, 2007, 8:32 pm
by Tom Keels
sundown wrote:Anybody ever caught a hogfish on hook and line ? only one I ever saw was mounted hanging on a wall in a restaurant in Cairo...Recognized it from pictures I had seen Tom post on here...
Very rare but it has been done.

Posted: April 30th, 2007, 8:35 pm
by birddog
I've caught a few offshore out of Carrabelle, but like Tom said its very rare.

Posted: April 30th, 2007, 8:46 pm
by Tom Keels
More pics from Sean's underwater camera.

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Posted: April 30th, 2007, 9:01 pm
by Chalk
Nice dive :thumbup: :thumbup:

Posted: April 30th, 2007, 9:08 pm
by birddog
Cool pics :thumbup:

Posted: May 1st, 2007, 7:55 am
by devans850
Good job Tom :thumbup:

Posted: May 1st, 2007, 8:15 am
by Reel Cowboy
Those are some nice fish and some great pics. :thumbup:

Posted: May 1st, 2007, 8:30 am
by CATCH 22
Good dive, cool pics. Whale snot was'nt where I was Sunday,after bite shut down we went snorkling in 30 ft.,free dove down and did'nt see any at all :thumbup: It is cool how clear the water is as I watched fish swim up to my bait and take it

Posted: May 1st, 2007, 8:40 am
by Sir reel
Nice pictures.... exciting when it's Florida Keys Clear right here in the Big Bend :thumbup:

Posted: May 1st, 2007, 8:54 am
by caseycook
sweet pics and a quality report! :thumbup:

Posted: May 1st, 2007, 9:47 am
by Reel Fun
Great report......very much enjoyed the pics...thanks :thumbup: