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Upper Gulfcoast This is the area for spearfishermen in Panama City, Destin/Ft. Walton, Pensacola, Alabama, Miss., and Louisiana. |
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05-05-2003, 09:43 AM | #1 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Valparaiso, FL (Northwest Florida Gulf Coast)
Age: 68
Posts: 362
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Destin Report: 3-4 May 2003
3 May 03
We went out hoping for three dives, but got blown out after two. First Dive: Vis was about 15 ft, Temp around 72. Seas were not "Less than 2 ft" as forecast. Fishing boats were on Butler and Barrel barges so we dove one of the Reefex tanks. Lots of fish. I shot a red grouper, a couple of triggers, and sheepshead. I played cat and mouse with a big gag, but couldn't get a shot. On my last shot, the shaft slide got wedged in the bony part of a trigger about the time a small bull (5 ft) showed up. I couldn't reload, so I unclipped the shock cord from my gun, clipped my stringer to a loop in the shock cord (to get the fish off my body), and headed up. Second Dive: All of the small fishing boats had cleared out while we were on dive one, so we went to Butler Barge. Although it is only .5 miles from the tanks, the vis was much better (30 to 40 ft in midwater, less at the bottom). It was getting dark over the coast, but we figured we had time for one more dive. The wind had died, and the anchor chain was just laying in a pile on the bottom. We made a circuit around the barge and didn't see very many fish. When I got back to the anchor, the line had shifted 180 degrees and was hung up on a barge cleat (obviously, we dropped anchor in the middle of a wind shift). We called the dive, but my wife had found a bed of flounder, and was happily using her spear shaft as a pokey pole. My third buddy went to retrieve my wife about the time the anchor chain started up the side of the barge. I held the chain on the barge cleat until my buddies showed up. The rain and lightning started before we pulled the anchor, but the wind shift blew the 3 footers down and we had an uneventful return to the pass. By the time we got to Boggy Bayou, the sun was out. 4 May 03 The forecast said Saturday was going to be good and Sunday was marginal . . . they got it backwards. First Dive: Franjista. Vis: 20 ft. Temp 74. Seas were less than 2 ft and we drove through some fog to the barge. Almost no fish, although my wife saw a big gag that went into hiding and wouldn’t come out. Boring dive. Second Dive: Anniversary Reef. Vis: Couldn’t believe it, vis was the best I’ve ever seen in Destin, at least 50 ft, and maybe 80 ft in midwater. Usually you can barely see from one rock to the next, but I could see nearly the whole reef at one time. It was proverbial "fishtank" diving. My wife shot a Mangrove, and I snagged a lobster she found. I left my gun on the reef so I could move the anchor away from the rocks. I signed for my wife to get my gun, but she thought I was telling her to go back to the reef and shoot something. When she came back to the anchor without my gun, I sprinted back to the reef to get it. By now, my SAC is way up from filling my BC, swimming with an anchor, and retrieving my gun. When we got to the safety stop, I was down to about 200 psi. We hadn’t gone into the yellow, so I could have blown off the safety stop if necessary, but Candy always has 500 psi more than I do at the end of a dive, so I borrowed some air from her. Great Dive. Third Dive: Stopped at Reefex #8 on the way in. Once again, this small structure had more life on it than the 200 ft barges. Shot a nice gag and bagged a lobster. There were red snapper stopping by for a visit, but nothing remarkable. I called the dive and we started up the rope. About that time, a big red snapper (maybe 36 inches) cruised up to the front of the tank. I had about 1000 psi and some NDL left so headed back down. To make a long story short: Shot snapper, snapper holed up, shaft got wedged under tank, ran out of air and NDL, had to leave shaft and shock cord. Nice dive, nice bug and grouper, but expensive. Last edited by Stone; 05-05-2003 at 12:28 PM. |
05-05-2003, 11:32 AM | #2 |
Homicidal Brown Monkey
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Great report. Thanks.
Hector |
05-05-2003, 02:05 PM | #3 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Valparaiso, FL (Northwest Florida Gulf Coast)
Age: 68
Posts: 362
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I Forgot Part of the 4 May Dive Trip:
When we got to the no-wake zone in Destin pass, I throttled back and the engine stalled. It wouldn’t turn over after several tries. We are now adrift in the middle of the channel, with a 5 kt current pushing us back toward the jetties, and every fisherman from Destin, Niceville, Shalimar, and Ft Walton Beach is heading back to port through the pass. I open the engine compartment, take off the air filter, and we can see gas coming out of the carburetor. I’m debating who to call first, Tow Boat US, or the Coast Guard. My wife says “Let’s call Ray” (he’s our boat mechanic). Ray tells me to poke a Philips head screwdriver down a hole in the carburetor. Apparently I am about to push the “float” down enough to let any trash through (if that’s the problem).
The operation was a success and I was able to crank the engine without having to throw out the anchor (by this time, we were more than half way to the rocks). Not as good as Hector's story, but it's all I have. |
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