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Old 05-03-2004, 09:34 AM   #1
kmoose
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The Hatch...Big Fish And New Friends

Last minute decision to try noaa out on Sundays forecast didn’t look like a good one at first but soon paid off for Danny, Mark Dwayne and Myself. We bumped the Rocket up to the Hatch and scored some nice fish and made a new friend to boot.

The day started off well when Headhunter scored another trophy Reef Rocket cobia we believe to probably go 65 to 70lbs. Danny saw at least 5 more with 2 that would have probably gone close to 90lbs.(the Rocket doesn’t have 5000lb fish boxes so we had to end anymore cobe harvesting). Next we decided to check the “barge” and see what was going on there. (Probably the same barge Financial Advisor and crew had cleaned the day before.) This is where things changed for, oh lets just say exciting. We anchored the boat and all decided to roll and maybe take an AJ and a couple of snaps. I wanted to take an AJ with my polespear and thought this would be as good a place as any to accomplish this without missing any big gag opportunities. So that’s how it started, everybody rolled in and I headed down with my polespear and a 48 line gun so I could take some snaps after the AJ. The vis sucked with gumbo and it looked like a spooky dive from the start.(mind you this is the same barge that an 800+ goliath tried to tow me inside 3 weeks ago.). I stuck a nice AJ with my polespear and wrestled him onto my stringer. I was so proud of myself I decided to shoot with the spear for the rest of the dive so I clipped my stringer to the spare band of the loaded 48 hornet and then looped it over a cleat on top of the barge. Circling the barge I ran into Danny and Mark. Danny had a nice 12lb gag and signaled that he was going up, Mark shortly followed. I decided to make a pass through the large openings at the rear of the barge and maybe nab a nice mango in the 40’ swim through. Not seeing any decent snaps I swam to the opening on the other side of the barge. What I saw at the opening was not good. 5!!!! Yes 5, very large sharks (7 to 9 footers) charging up to entrance. 5 foot outside the entrance lie my 48 hornet and the popped open stringer with an AJ head on it. Hmmmmm….that explains the reason for, but now what to do!?! Obviously the small AJ was just enough to start a frenzy and my big buddies where starting to try to work their way into the wreck! Needless to say I was rapidly considering my options. After poking 3 of them in the side and snout to keep them out of the barge with the seemingly ever shrinking pole spear, I decided the 48 hornet would give me a little more protection. Between passes I was able to snatch my 48 line hornet and retreat back to cover. Not properly armed to dance with 5 big sharks I had to make a decision on my next course of action, A:fight my way out or B: stay pinned in the wreck hoping things get better. Considering that plan “B” would eventually end up encompassing plan “A”, Surprise! I went with plan “A”. Unfortunately my line gun was not equipped with a PH holder but I did have enough sense to keep a spare in my wet suit sleeve. My plan was this: in typical Dunnellon bar room fashion I would single out the biggest M-Fer and plow him right between the eyes with one of my little Russian friends, and make a break for the door! As I waited for the largest to take a pass within range, one of his buddies made a solid attempt to enter my shrinking personal space so it became the moment for some “detonation and penetration”. He rolled and spun out on to the sand and the other 4 took notice and fled the scene. NOTHIN SAYS LOVIN LIKE A 7-6-2 RUSSIAN!!!

Now you would think that I would seize this opportunity to ascend quickly and never return……But what good is a story without a pic to go with it? So I swam up my newly acquired friend and escorted him back to the boat for some photo opps.

At the end it seemed all my new buddy needed was is a little hug!
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Last edited by kmoose; 05-03-2004 at 09:48 AM.
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Old 05-03-2004, 09:37 AM   #2
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Maybe a nap on the deck would improve a nasty disposition!
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Old 05-03-2004, 09:39 AM   #3
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We also did very well on gags and hogs. Here is Mark with the 20lb "Gag O Da Day"
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Old 05-03-2004, 09:41 AM   #4
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Headhunter's trophy Cobe
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Old 05-03-2004, 09:42 AM   #5
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A little lovin' goes a long way! Love the story.
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Old 05-03-2004, 09:54 AM   #6
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Moose...that story was awesome and great pics to boot. Is that a bull?

Nice trophy headhunter and nice gag too.

Awesome report Moose, you must have a steel balls, I just might have messed myself had I been in that situation!

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Old 05-03-2004, 10:32 AM   #7
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I just started laughing when he dragged that pointy up. Shot through the head with a one wrap linegun 48 hornet. Probably only 6 feet away from his fins the whole way up and a loooonnnngggg way from being dead. You know how to tell when a pointys truly dead? When you're frying up pieces of him......up to that point, treat them as still being alive. I think my exact comment was "#$@%$*&, we've been swimming around bone wreck for 15 minutes, I go up to the boat and you pick a fight with 5 big duskys"? I could only imagine someone swimming around that wreck yesterday with an AJ clipped to their body and a pack of 5 of those after it. Not pretty. Thanks for the trip Kenny, lots of fish in close up there.
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Old 05-03-2004, 10:36 AM   #8
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LMAO! That ROCKS!

Great story, Moose. Keep 'em coming.
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Old 05-03-2004, 10:42 AM   #9
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Kick ass!!! Thanks for keeping the Hatch shark population in check. Jimmy Z laid out a monster dusky on that very same wreck in March 2003. I'm surprised you guys went despite FA's claim that Steinhatchee has no more fish . After getting golfed out from Team Headhunter's Deep Gulf trip, and blown out of the LA rig trip, I'm jonesing so hard that I could go dive the forty fathom break in a Ranger Bass Boat during small craft advisories.

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Old 05-03-2004, 10:52 AM   #10
WreckDiver
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Kenny it looks like it time for a new avatar.
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Old 05-03-2004, 11:06 AM   #11
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Kmoose,

You are not right. (I love it) Great job in a bad situation. Let's see, you got towed by a jewfish and cornered by 5 big, actively feeding, duskys in the span of 1 month on the same barge. You might want to find a different barge to dive. On the other hand, based on your handling of the situations, I'd say you're the biggest, baddest thing on the barge and the other predators need to find another barge.
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Old 05-03-2004, 11:18 AM   #12
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Photo of the week?
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Old 05-03-2004, 11:33 AM   #13
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Originally posted by kmoose
Photo of the week?
It seems that the clock just sped up on my 15 minutes of fame.

Great photos Kenny!
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Old 05-03-2004, 11:36 AM   #14
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Five Stars on that report and photo. Great job, Kmoose, glad you're still around to tell it. Very interesting do know the other 4 took off. Looks like your strategy worked perfectly.

Nice cobia, Dan. I am glad to see they are back on the wrecks. Time for me to look for that trophy!
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Old 05-03-2004, 11:40 AM   #15
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You need to photoshop that picture with the shark screaming "UNCLE!"
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