Telum Pisces

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.

clay00g

Great trip report ,at least you got one dive in before mother nature woke up.

BOHUNTER1

SCUBA stands for EXTREME SPORT!

:sick

I had on like 33MM of neoprene and after the free asccent I knew I was drifting but hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.... after I poped up the boat was WAAAAAAAAAAy over there.. GREAT! So fat boy flipped over like a seal and went to kicking. Finally made it back to the baot and I was whooped. totally exhausted. I guess the heat i created and the fact I didnt eat prior ...totaled upchuck... no not chuck , Upchuck.... I chummed. First ever on a boat in my life. LOL

I poked many fishies, but I didnt shoot any. All I saw were Ajs slot limit and Endangered Snappers, big ones!

Jon moved the anchor rope away from whre I Was for some reason so I have to revert to training. :banghead

THe gulf erupted within a half hour and beat us up more.

top 58 bottom 60 by my computer.

hit sand with2500psi, set compasswent down to basefrom where I droppedoff anchor line at, never saw the full wreck, flipped around and wentback and could feel the current. Hmmmmm never found my spot and had 1500psi, searched a little more with fish around me like in movies. If youwere starvin that was a good place! Hundreds ofajs and reds at one time. but with 1100psi I said...... what did Rich and Josh teach me. up we come. Makes a big ol difference when you have to do FOREAL! But actually easy to do if you dont blow and go.

I learned always go to the anchor if your alone. Eat before you dive (for me) and I didnt cramp up like I always do, Im contributing this to planning with nothing but 1 pepsi, and only mineral water the day prior to drink, apples, oranges, bananas and Vitiman C pill. Once I was on land I went back to Pepsi and Chocolate covered rasins! LOL :clap

NO CRAMPS!

Bohunter

HateCheese

Glad you got out and found some fish. Dang cold water temps.

Did you look like this when you came out? Still cold for me, but you guys sure did man up :bowdown

Telum Pisces

Actually, the sun was so warm that I was sweating on the boat both before and after the dive. If the seas had just cooperated for us, it would have been one of the best winter diving days in a long time. I brought thehotwater and did not use a single drop of it. I got a sunburn on my dang face too.:banghead

BOHUNTER1

Im red faced too! HAA

Florida!

Think its wind burn though! LOL We did come in at like 15mph!

cmufieldhockey8

Uuugh! I feel sick to my stomach because I passed up a chance to dive because I heard viz was horrible down to 75 feet. I think I'm gonna cry



Thanks for the report!

kodyb87

Glad to see somebody getting to shoot some fish. Good report.