Wil, Jon, Sean and myself met Capt. Tom at Pirates Landing and proceeded to test the weight limits on the 25' contender. I don't think Capt. Tom had any idea how much gear 4 divers can bring with them.
After loading we were quickly on our way out to the Captain's "spot" he wanted us to look at in 68 feet. Wil and Sean did a quick look around dive to see what was there. Wil can tell you best since he saw it, but needless to say there wasn't a whole lot there. Sean put a big hole in a red snapper only to have it come off the spear.
Back on the boat the Capt. said he a had a close number called "caves" that might be good. When we arrived we saw that there was a nice 4-5 foot ledge. Jon, Sean and myself went down the anchor rope together, but the water was pretty bad. Green on top with about 7 foot vis all the way down. When we reached the end of the rope we swam another 5 feet to the ledge. This bottom was very impressive even in the pea soup vis we had. Lots of stair steps and undercuts that my light would not penatrate to the back of. I saw several triggers and hogs, but passed on them not knowing where my buddies were. You could just see tails of grouper as they booked the other way.
We came back to the boat after exploring for a while. Sean and Jon both had nice hogs.
Next stop was the bryson. Water clarity and color was 100 times better here. Wil and Sean dove it since they were on nitrox with shorter intervals. They both came back with AJ's, Sean got a 28 " gag and Wil a ##$%#$@% stinky ass baracuda about 5 feet long. After hearing about the fish and stuff at the bryson, Jon and I decided we wanted to do our dive on some natural bottom.
Capt. Tom stopped on a number in 60 feet that he had found just a couple of days earlier and caught fish on. After circling and watching for bottom we dropped anchor on the best looking stuff. As Jon and I got down the anchor and out about 30 feet, we just looked at each other. Nothing but sand as far as you could see. We turned around and I made a slow ascent back to the boat thinking the achor must have pulled while we were getting geared up. As I poke my head above the water I see Capt. Tom and Sean bowed up on good fish on hook and line and Wil is in the water. I get back to the boat and drop straight down. I shot a nice trigger that was chomping a bait and just for good measure give Sean's line a tug.
The bottom here was not impressive. Still mostly sand with a couple of sponges here and there, and one hole about the size of a basketball. That's it. But the fish were everywhere.
After I got reloaded, I turned around to see 8-10 nice gags just watching me. Pow, 1 down. String him up. Better check my air...800 pounds...DOH, just then I see the covey of gags again. Pow, 2 down. Check air... 500 pounds. Time to go. As I start my ascent I feel something grab the back of my leg and clamp down hard. I knew I'd been shark bit. As I grab my leg, I notice one of the gags has latched on and won't let go. I can't kick with my right leg. I finally pryed his jaws off my calf and got up to the surface. 200 pounds of air left
. Jon and Wil came up a bit later with some nice grouper and triggers too. Capt. Tom and Sean put 3-4 keepers in the box as well.
We loaded up and headed in on flat seas. Good day all around. I'm hooked for sure now. Damn you Wil.
Thanks to Capt. Tom for the trip. It was a blast. I think he liked not having to do anything but drive the boat. He seemed very intrigued about what he was fishing over in these spots. So if any one out there wants a good picture of what they are fishing over let us know.
We ended the day with over 100 pounds of fish. Coastal Seafood in Panacea cooked up about 15 pounds of throats, back bones and triggerfish for us and it was mighty fine.
