St. Marks 7/3 Scalloping....Yeah Right
Posted: July 6th, 2004, 8:25 am
Myself, my pawinlaw and Wil hit the light house about 7 am. Seas were slick calm and we were going scallop hunting. Wil was kind enough to bring along his pole spears and spearguns so we'd have a backup plan.
We ran to a small group of rocks near the second stake in 9 feet of water and hopped overboard. I was first in the water and immediately saw a nice keeper gag. I tried to catch up to him but he ran into a crack into the rock. I messed around some of the rocks seeing the occasional short gag, porgies and rock bass. I shot 1 porgie, but he was a little short.
I had gone south and Wil went north. I was back in the boat and noticed Wil shooting. Apparently the rocks north were full of grouper and sheephead. Wil got one sheephead and released a 21.99" gag that he got a tail shot on.
Now that the sun was up we went looking for scallops around the area that I head seen some in June. Wil was better than me and got twice as many as I did on the first stop. BTW, I got one (1) scallop.
We hit 2 or 3 more places and found zip, zilch, zero, nada. So it was time to spearfish some more.
We headed over to my favorite rock that I like to chum over in 8 feet. The tide was near slack and the vis was awesome. Once again I was in the water first. We anchored a good 100 feet away from the rocks to sneak up on the fish. When I got to the rock pile the first thing I saw was 8-10 mangrove snappers all in the 3-4 pound range. I took off after them and barely missed one with the spear. I found the rock though and rolled the point over pretty good on the shaft. As I was swimming up to the rock I look down to see a keeper gag laying in a valley. I quickly reloaded but he booked it down the rock into a hole on the other end.
There was bait and fish everywhere on these rocks. I took shots at everything I could and hit quite a few fish, but the spear was dull as a pencil eraser. I shot big flounder that pulled off the spear, and for the record a pole spear with a dull tip will bounce off a 8 pound sheephead like a superball on asphalt. All in all a bust for me and for everyone else, but what a beautiful dive. I'll be back with a freeshaft and those fish better watch out.
The last place was a little deeper (10 feet) but also was covered in fish. The vis however had gone to hell with the tide, and the jellyfish were awful. I got in an speared a nice spanish only to have the flopper not open and he swam off with a quarter size hole in him. Wil shot a nice sheephead, but paid the price with a facefull of jellyfish.
We called it a day about 11:15 and were off the water at noon to beat the storms and the crowds. Nice day IN the water though. Seas never got above a ripple and vis was very good. Also added a new spot to the GPS.
No scallops though. Looks like keaton or steinhatchee if you want them. Plenty of keeper grouper shallow though.
We ran to a small group of rocks near the second stake in 9 feet of water and hopped overboard. I was first in the water and immediately saw a nice keeper gag. I tried to catch up to him but he ran into a crack into the rock. I messed around some of the rocks seeing the occasional short gag, porgies and rock bass. I shot 1 porgie, but he was a little short.
I had gone south and Wil went north. I was back in the boat and noticed Wil shooting. Apparently the rocks north were full of grouper and sheephead. Wil got one sheephead and released a 21.99" gag that he got a tail shot on.
Now that the sun was up we went looking for scallops around the area that I head seen some in June. Wil was better than me and got twice as many as I did on the first stop. BTW, I got one (1) scallop.
We hit 2 or 3 more places and found zip, zilch, zero, nada. So it was time to spearfish some more.
We headed over to my favorite rock that I like to chum over in 8 feet. The tide was near slack and the vis was awesome. Once again I was in the water first. We anchored a good 100 feet away from the rocks to sneak up on the fish. When I got to the rock pile the first thing I saw was 8-10 mangrove snappers all in the 3-4 pound range. I took off after them and barely missed one with the spear. I found the rock though and rolled the point over pretty good on the shaft. As I was swimming up to the rock I look down to see a keeper gag laying in a valley. I quickly reloaded but he booked it down the rock into a hole on the other end.
There was bait and fish everywhere on these rocks. I took shots at everything I could and hit quite a few fish, but the spear was dull as a pencil eraser. I shot big flounder that pulled off the spear, and for the record a pole spear with a dull tip will bounce off a 8 pound sheephead like a superball on asphalt. All in all a bust for me and for everyone else, but what a beautiful dive. I'll be back with a freeshaft and those fish better watch out.
The last place was a little deeper (10 feet) but also was covered in fish. The vis however had gone to hell with the tide, and the jellyfish were awful. I got in an speared a nice spanish only to have the flopper not open and he swam off with a quarter size hole in him. Wil shot a nice sheephead, but paid the price with a facefull of jellyfish.
We called it a day about 11:15 and were off the water at noon to beat the storms and the crowds. Nice day IN the water though. Seas never got above a ripple and vis was very good. Also added a new spot to the GPS.
No scallops though. Looks like keaton or steinhatchee if you want them. Plenty of keeper grouper shallow though.
