Monster Hunters - July 16

Based on a tip provided by club members Bill Scharf and Bob Barter from the WCC#3 tournament -- Alan Buchanan and I went out to a spot 25 miles offshore or so to hunt for the grandaddy of all grouper (cuberra?) they supposedly saw. Anyway, per the report it was to be well over 100 pounds and didn't have a round tail...

Needless to say, we found nothing of that size (other than the ever present jewfish -- and it was way bigger than that). But we had a beautiful couple of dives in 75ft...over 40 feet of vis...and shot a few fish. Flat seas, good vis and cold celebratory libations...can't beat that! Vis has been improving the further you get past 60 feet.

Another report from the tournament was that the gags are holding on bait schools over hardbottom NW in 75-80'...hundreds of them. No wonder we haven't seen many on the usual structure and spots.

For those of you that don't know it, as a club we actually took second out of seven clubs in the WCC#2, beating out the SPUCs, the TBSC, and several others. Respectable showing for sure...no results out for #3 yet.

Memorial Day

Only got out on Monday. Hit some ledges about 16 miles west of Blind Pass. Seas were about 2 feet. Water is a few degrees cooler then last week. Vis was down a little also but not bad. In 50 feet we had 20 foot vis across the bottom. Shot 2 gags one 25" and the other 26", 4 decent hogs and a nice flounder. Shot a 3 foot cuda which promptly swam off with my shaft and most of my line after it broke. Made it back in by 2:30 so we beat the storms. A quick day but 2 good dives and a couple nice meals.

Two trips, Thurs 5/14 and Sat 5/16

Had some new shooters out with me both days and conditions were awesome. Visibility on some sites were 30-40 feet, water temps were great and a 3mm wetsuit was just fine.

Didn't see too many keeper gags (we were out as far and 75 feet and as shallow as 45 feet), but there were lots of nice hogs and a couple of spots had some 4 lb plus mangos on them. Stopped on a little wreck in 45 feet and it had five jewfish on it...big ones! One tried to eat a gag I shot and I basically had to intimidate the dang thing away to save the fish. I rushed the fish on the shaft as the big boy was trying to eat it and shoved my gun (minus a shaft) right into the it's face to get him to back off.

Between fishing and diving we had a couple of pretty good days and flat seas...eight grouper (only three of them we shot - the rest were caught on poles -- biggest we caught was about 15 lb, 31 inches), ten mangrove snapper, and about nine hogs (all pretty nice ones), some triggers and . Managed to catch a dozen or so kingfish on hook and line also for some fun. Tell everybody to get out there now...it is as good for diving as we have seen it for a long time.

Hopefully can post some pictures soon, as one of the guys had a camera both days.

Sat 5/15 Off St Pete

Made it out Saturday. Seas were all of 3 feet so it was a slow damp ride out. During the day it layed down to 2 foot rollers so coming in was nice. Water was 80 on top 78 on the bottom. Shorty time is here. Vis was 25 to 30 feet in 50' of water. It dropped as the day went on to about 15 feet by 4:30. Between 3 of us we bought back 9 hogs, 8 mangrove,and 1 black. My buddys son first grouper. He has been shooting about a year. Now he says hes ready to win a trophy so maybe we'll get another tourney shooter.

We did our last drop on a double super secret ledge to look around for WCC #2 fish. It was hard but we left a number of 4 to 5 pound hogs and nice mangos there. I also left a gag about 15 pounds. That was not by choice, I missed.

May 3rd Report & Missing Diver Call

Went out on Friday and Sunday about 17 miles from Blind Pass. Hit 55 feet of water vis was about 30 feet. The water has lost its chill, now it feels good, 76 on the surface and 73 at the bottom. Shot several nice hogs each trip and some good mangrove Sunday. One grouper Sunday about 12 pounds.

Around 12:30 heard a call to the Coast Guard reporting a missing diver 20 miles off Johns Pass. Couldnt hear the boat's side of the call very well just the CG repeating info. Hopefully they found him. It was a solid 3 feet and sloppy not good conditions for a search.

Hi Hogs,
We were out in 45 feet Saturday, north of Anclote, and visibility was nearly top to bottom. It should be just as good this weekend.

WCC Tournaments

Set in my registration for all 4 events this morning. Who else is shooting?

Conditions in the Gulf for this weekend?

Anyone heard what conditions are likely to be this weekend? It is certainly getting warm enough, but reports are that the vis is pretty bad out to 60 feet or so. We need no wind for a while to let things settle down! Tides should be weaker now that the full moon is past...