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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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Old 04-27-2003, 09:20 PM   #1
fernandezh
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26 APR. Alabama Fish Report. . .

26 April Orange beach AL fishing Report and Deeper Peeper dive charters boat review.

Total fish I speared: 22# Amberjack, 26” Grouper, 22 lb. Red Snapper, and 10 lb mangrove snapper. I could have gotten a lot more but I had only 1 tank of NITROX and the rest were air and my bottom times were very limited at 120’ depths.

I wanted to dive this weekend but because of work I would not have the time to drive down to my usual stomping grounds in the Tampa Bay area. I thought I would give some Northern Gulfcoast diving a chance and gave Gulfdiver (Gary) a call. This is my summary of things:

Sat. A.M. Met Gary at his dive shop and paid for my trip. Gary’s shop is an outstanding facility that caters almost specifically to Spearfishermen. As it is a new shop he is still filling some of the displays and is getting more stuff in every day. Nonetheless, I recommend it to everybody and you should stop in for a look if you are ever in the area.

The marina is about a mile away from Gary’s shop and we loaded the boat. Gary had told me to bring only 1 tank along although it would be a 4 tank trip. He said that the boat had an onboard dive - air compressor and after my first dive the boat captain would fill my tank during the surface interval. The boat was so small that no way they could fit 6 divers with 4 tanks each. The main benefit which I found about having to bring along 1 tank is that I wouldn’t have to go through the problem of taking my reg and BC on and off several tanks. It was great by the fact that I just had to unscrew my reg and the capt. would bring a fill hose over and fill the tank in a few minutes. It also made the deck less cluttered than other boats I have been on as there were less tanks in the way. The problem was that he only does air fills and no NITROX. This became even a bigger problem as all 4 of the dives were in the 100 – 120 ft depth ranges.

First Dive: Army Tank
Depth: 120 fsw.
Temp:67
Horiz Viz: 30 ft.
Vert. Viz: 20 ft. from 0-70 and 30 ft. from 70 to the bottom (120’)

I got into the water down the jug line and followed it down to the bottom. About 30 ft. from the bottom I saw this Army tank laying upside down with it’s tracks upward. Working around tanks for most of my career it was surreal to see one laying on the bottom of the ocean like this. On the way down there were at least 100 Amberjacks swimming around me in a circle. I decided against shooting one of them as they all were just barely legal size and I wanted to wait in case a big one came along. As I neared the bottom I saw a large 22# Red Snapper swimming next to the Tank and I was coming down right on top of him. Since I was descending I let out all the air out of my lungs and didn’t inhale as I didn’t want my bubbles to scare him away. At about 10 ft. he saw me coming at him and he tried to get away. I shot him through just behind his gill plate. I stuck my knife through his gills and bled him open and strung him up. I turned around and saw a huge 40# Red Snapper looking right at me from about 3 feet away. It was so big I almost crapped my suit thinking about the last time I was surprised by a large fish coming so close to me (the shark). As I was re-loading my gun, the 40# snapper turned around and swam into the tank. It swam into the driver’s escape hatch located on the bottom of the tank (now on the top with the tank upside-down). The fish was so big, it actually had to squeeze and wiggle it’s way into the hatch. I shone my light into the hatch and could see the fish’s head partially showing as he was looking at me. I aimed my gun into the hatch and he ducked back in. It was going to be a cat and mouse game so I shone my light into the hole and waited with my gun pointing straight into the hatch with my finger on my trigger. He stuck his massive head out and I squeezed the trigger and instantly my spear disappeared into the tank. A cloud of silt shot out and all of a sudden I was being pulled into the tank. As I slammed onto the hull I heard something like metal snapping. I pulled back my line and realized my screw-on spearhead had snapped off by the fish twisting inside the hull. I looked in and again this fish stuck its head out with my spear-tip sticking out of his head like a Unicorn. Without a spare shaft on the bottom I was up the creek and wasn’t going to have another chance at him. I swam to my dive buddy and showed him the hole. He looked in, saw the fish in there and motioned that the fish was too big for him to spear. I was so frustrated. I couldn’t believe he was going to pass that one up.

On my subsequent dives I got a larger AJ, a legal gag, and a 10# mango snapper. I would have gotten a lot more fish but because the rest of my dives were on air instead of NITROX I only had 5 minutes or so of bottom time. That meant that I had enough time to see the first fish I saw, shoot, string, reload and surface. On each dive I was pushing the limits of the dive tables and on my 3rd dive I had a very long deco-safety stop so that I wouldn’t get bent. I thought I could put the whole shark thing behind me but it was very nerve wracking to be sitting in mid-water safety stop with an AJ that would not stop bleeding or thrashing around no matter how often and deep I stabbed his brain. I kept finding myself looking around expecting a shark to come out of the darkness with its jaws agape again. I even kept my knife in hand just in case. I won’t let it prevent me from diving but it did make me a more careful diver. I decided to pass on the 4th dive because I was pushing my limits on my nitrogen levels as I didn’t want to chance getting bent in the name of getting fish.
Getting back to the trip. That Captain knows how to put you right on top of the fish. On one of my dives the AJ’s were so thick I couldn’t see anything other than the hundreds of AJ’s around me. At the end of the trip I told the Captain that I was willing to come back for another trip as long as he would allow me to bring my NITROX tanks. He said that to keep my business he would agree to that. Even on 3 dives: 1 NITROX and 2 air, I was still able to bring back 70# of fish. Not bad for a day. Pics will follow as soon as I get them developed.

Last edited by fernandezh; 07-10-2003 at 05:46 PM.
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Old 04-27-2003, 09:54 PM   #2
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Good report Hector, Thanks for the Compliment on Our Operation.

Hope to see a lot more Divers from the board in the future.

I am going to get down to the Tampa area this Summer, and hopefully get some of you guys to take me to the Middle Grounds.

We will have the 36' Newton in about 2-3 weeks, then no worry about what tanks we take.

BTW The Alabama Open is May 30, 31. June 1.
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Old 04-28-2003, 12:53 PM   #3
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I forgot to mention how I was almost lost out in the deep blue this weekend. On my 3rd dive of the day myself and the divemaster went down to shoot some fish. I came up first to do my safety stop. I let my gun float to the surface with my spear line 15' down holding on to my shaft. I saw the boat circle my gun and bubbles and then drive off.

On the surface they did see my gun and then they drove over to the other diver who had already surfaced to pick him up. Afterwards, I didn't hear the boat again. When I was done with my safety stop I reached the surface and saw that the boat had driven about a half a mile away from me and was looking for me in the wrong spot. I was waving my gun in the air and was swimming towards the boat. I was blowing my whistle/horn but they were so far away I am sure they could not hear me over the noise of the on board air compressor.

This is what happened. The wind was blowing one direction but the current was dragging me totally the opposite direction. The boat said that they could not locate the spot where they had first seen my gun and decided to look downwind.

For at least 20 minutes I was swimming for dear life towards the boat with my gun waving in the air before they spotted me. I was getting pretty nervous with 40lbs of fish strapped to me thinking I was becoming a new chum slick for a shark. When I got onboard, I joked that of the 8 guys on the boat they happened to leave the minority in the water. Just like in the movies.

I am going to get a flourescant lift bag and am thinking about getting a strobe lite for it as well.

Hector
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Old 04-28-2003, 01:52 PM   #4
IyaDiver
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Good story Hector. I bet you got your teeth fixed good or else it will leak air there....

If your fin is of any bright color, hook that to the end of your spearshaft and hold the gun high up, it will help a lot.

After that shark encounter, I probably will take longer time to hide on land. Good one Soldier, I am proud of you.

Can't wait to see those photos.

IYA
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Old 04-28-2003, 02:08 PM   #5
Dive4Blood
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Hector-good report, NICE red snapper, and yes being on the surface when the boat is a small speck on the horizon sucks a**!

Gulfdiver (Gary)- Middlegrounds? Hmmmmm, I might be able to help you out. Taking the Jolly Rogers 2 out of Steinhatchee is going to be alot closer if you're coming from Alabama. Why not set up a trip through your shop? That's a pile of nitrox fills, extra shafts, bands etc that you will sell to the guys prepping up for the trip. PM me if you want to set up a date in August or Sept, and we can talk details. Standing by.

AJ Suarez
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Old 04-28-2003, 07:43 PM   #6
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D4B, That sounds like a winner.
I come up with a date soon.
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Old 04-28-2003, 07:54 PM   #7
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A cobia from a week ago. About 38-40lb.
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Old 04-28-2003, 08:48 PM   #8
Dive4Blood
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Gary, check out the website if you haven't already done so www.jollyrogersii.com. The JR2 does a number of dive store sponsored trips annually, and hopefully we'll see you and some of your customers this summer.
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Old 05-10-2003, 04:46 PM   #9
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here is the 22# true red snapper I caught.
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Old 05-10-2003, 05:45 PM   #10
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Nice catch, and great story, Hector!!
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Old 05-10-2003, 10:01 PM   #11
kitefisherman
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What a fatty! But where are the now famous teeth?
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Old 05-11-2003, 11:56 AM   #12
fernandezh
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Seriously about the teef,

Until that trip, I never got seasick, naeuseaus (sp) maybe but never puked. But on this trip the seas were rolling with these big swells and on the first stop, everybody (all 8 of us) were puking over the side. When I vomited my temporary partials, that I had at the time, also went overboard with the entire contents of my stomache. For the photo, I didn't want to smile as I didn't want to divert attention away from the fish I was holding

On that same dive, there was a red snapper there that was about twice that size (about 40 lbs). It was so big that it had to sqeeze into the hatch of the tank to get away from me. It looked like a record sized snapper with somebody's name all over it.

Hector
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