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Telum Pisces · 03-01-2010, 07:57 AM

Well, Steve (Bohunter1) met me at the house in Milton around 0830. I wanted to get a later than normal start to let it warm up a bit to get the ice off the boat and to let the seas calm down a bit from the night before.

So off to Sherman Cove we go. Heading over the I-10 Escambia Bay bridge looked real promising. Not a ripple on the water. We make it out on the water and we are met with some great glass 1 foot rollers. So we cruise out 24 miles from the pass to our first drop of the day. I start to drop down and the current is getting worse and worse as I head down the anchor rope. By the time I get down to the bottom, I can barely swim against the current.:banghead But I manage to swim around and see a ton of endangered illegal fish everywhere. Tons of 20-25 lb red snapper. They were so thick I could hardly make out thespot I was on. And a curious 70-80 lb goliath grouper followed me around the whole dive. I would swim in one direction and look back to see him on my tail of my fins. Saw about 6 keeper gag grouper as well. Those will have to wait till I can get back in a few weeks when the season opens up.:banghead I shoot a decent mangrove snapper and then the AJ's start swarming in. I pick out a good one and it proceeds to whoop me good. I am hanging onto the anchor rope just so I do not get carried away by the current.:doh All while trying to fight this AJ. He eventually ties himself to some structure for me and on the stringer he went. Then it's time to head up.

At this point I get back to the boat and see Steve hanging onto the back of the boat. Apparently the current decided to take him off the spot. So he had to do a free accent and he came up a good ways from the boat. He was exhausted to put it mildly. A long swim on the surface will whoop even the most in shape person. Thank goodness for a tag line right Steve.

We get back on the boat and start to head to our next dive. But on the way there, the weather man decided to screw with us. In a short 20-30 time frame we went from 1' glass rollers to 3-4' walls of water coming into the boat. We called the day after only getting that one dive in. It was not safe for us to anchor and dive again. It was a long boat ride in at 12-13 mph. Waves were going over the cabin, up the splash curtain and over the bimini top.:doh The bilge pumps got a work out. Dry land was such a welcome part of the day after that ride in. So much for the seas laying down as the weatherman predicted.:banghead

So I got my mangrove and one AJ for the trouble. The AJ was 34". No pictures of the fish. I was just glad to get home, clean my gear and fish and get in a nice warm shower.:banghead:banghead

Oh yeah, surface temp was 58 degrees with a bottom temp of 60. There was a muck layer about 40 feet down but it opened up very nicely with 45+ feet of viz. But the current on the bottom made the dive very difficult. We were a ways off to the east. So if you want to get some better viz, head east if you can.

03-01-2010, 07:57 AM	#1
Telum Pisces Senior Member Blue Marlin Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,737	Spearfishing report Sunday 2/28 Well, Steve (Bohunter1) met me at the house in Milton around 0830. I wanted to get a later than normal start to let it warm up a bit to get the ice off the boat and to let the seas calm down a bit from the night before. So off to Sherman Cove we go. Heading over the I-10 Escambia Bay bridge looked real promising. Not a ripple on the water. We make it out on the water and we are met with some great glass 1 foot rollers. So we cruise out 24 miles from the pass to our first drop of the day. I start to drop down and the current is getting worse and worse as I head down the anchor rope. By the time I get down to the bottom, I can barely swim against the current.:banghead But I manage to swim around and see a ton of endangered illegal fish everywhere. Tons of 20-25 lb red snapper. They were so thick I could hardly make out thespot I was on. And a curious 70-80 lb goliath grouper followed me around the whole dive. I would swim in one direction and look back to see him on my tail of my fins. Saw about 6 keeper gag grouper as well. Those will have to wait till I can get back in a few weeks when the season opens up.:banghead I shoot a decent mangrove snapper and then the AJ's start swarming in. I pick out a good one and it proceeds to whoop me good. I am hanging onto the anchor rope just so I do not get carried away by the current.:doh All while trying to fight this AJ. He eventually ties himself to some structure for me and on the stringer he went. Then it's time to head up. At this point I get back to the boat and see Steve hanging onto the back of the boat. Apparently the current decided to take him off the spot. So he had to do a free accent and he came up a good ways from the boat. He was exhausted to put it mildly. A long swim on the surface will whoop even the most in shape person. Thank goodness for a tag line right Steve. We get back on the boat and start to head to our next dive. But on the way there, the weather man decided to screw with us. In a short 20-30 time frame we went from 1' glass rollers to 3-4' walls of water coming into the boat. We called the day after only getting that one dive in. It was not safe for us to anchor and dive again. It was a long boat ride in at 12-13 mph. Waves were going over the cabin, up the splash curtain and over the bimini top.:doh The bilge pumps got a work out. Dry land was such a welcome part of the day after that ride in. So much for the seas laying down as the weatherman predicted.:banghead So I got my mangrove and one AJ for the trouble. The AJ was 34". No pictures of the fish. I was just glad to get home, clean my gear and fish and get in a nice warm shower.:banghead:banghead Oh yeah, surface temp was 58 degrees with a bottom temp of 60. There was a muck layer about 40 feet down but it opened up very nicely with 45+ feet of viz. But the current on the bottom made the dive very difficult. We were a ways off to the east. So if you want to get some better viz, head east if you can.