Haven't contributed too much on here yet so figured I'd at least post up a story from one of last year's fishing trips.
Copied and pasted from another board. Apologies if any of the smileys/emoticons don't work.
All diving was done with no tanks. Basically snorkeling with a gun
Going again Memorial day for my first trip of the year so hopefully have another good story soon.
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Last week someone posted up on another fishing forum that they had one more spot open for a wahoo trip with Keith Love on the Southern Cross. With a wahoo being at the top of my "fish bucket list" and the forecast for the weekend being fantastic I managed to get ahold of Keith and secure my spot on Friday morning. I bailed out of work early on Friday and after a little miscommunication about the departure time and a small debacle at wal-mart while trying to get a replacement fishing license I was on my way.
We ended up leaving the dock around 7PM Friday evening and with the full moon we hauled ass out to the last set of rigs before our spot and tied up for the night around 1AM. The conditions were beautiful with no wind or waves and we all slept great. It should be noted that sleeping great is a relative term on the Southern Cross though. Anyone who's been out with Keith knows that the primary focus is on finding fish and that no emphasis is placed on comfort, or luxury accommodations like the long range boats out of San Diego or some of the well known dive charters in CA. I slept on a tiny ass bean bag on the back deck along with 2 other divers who were on slightly less tiny bean bags.
At sunrise Carlos woke up first and promptly started shouting at Keith to get up and "lets go shoot some wahoo." After everyone was up and had completed their morning routine (much easier to do when conditions were as flat as they were!) we put on our wetsuits and motored another 15-20 miles to the high spot. We jumped in and while conditions were great we didn't see any wahoo. After 45 minutes we decided to move about a mile to another part of the reef and jumped back in.
Carlos and I were first in and started slowly swimming away from the boat. About 2 minutes later Tony and Alex jumped in and we hear a shout of "WAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOO" By the time we swam back over there they were pulling it over the side and I could hear Keith talking about it possibly being a state record. Not a bad start to the trip.
We continued diving and while the wahoo weren't thick everyone got a few shot opportunities throughout the day. It ended up that Carlos, Tony, and Alex would each go on to boat one while I never got one on the line. I'd been using my 3 band 60" midhandle the whole day and after my first shot feel short and I watched a fish duck my second shot I never got close enough to take another one with that gun. On the last drift I borrowed Keiths bluewater gun and got off another shot but the fish must have been much bigget than I'd thought as I watched it hit just above and behind the eye and then the fish continued to swim on with a small hole in the side of it's head!!! :angry-cussingblack:
At that point it was 3:30 and we decided to stop at a rig near where we'd slept and see if I couldn't land a consolation amberjack. I was first in the water and quickly greeted by a whole herd of decent sized AJs. I was lined up on one when I noticed a bigger one coming in. I quickly adjusted and he kept coming closer until finally turning broadside. I pulled the trigger and put the shaft into him from 10' away hitting him between the stomach and the spine on my side and exiting through the stomach on the far side. For a second he stopped and I thought I'd stoned him but he quickly came to life and tried to tear my arms off while making a run for the rig. I managed to surface and slowly drag him away from the rig but it was another 15 minutes along with some help from Keith before I got him to the surface and got my hands on him. After bleeding him out a few minutes we dragged him over the side and got back on the boat. Back at the dock he went 82lbs on the marina scale. Not a record or anything but by far the biggest fish I've ever shot.
Everyone else also jumped in and landed an AJ with the smallest probably being 60lbs or so. Around 11PM we finally made it back to Surfside and got to cleaning the boat. The guy who normally fillets fish had already left and wouldn't come back so we ended up cleaning our own fish. Normally I enjoy this but at that point I was ready to get on the road and head home. It ended up being 2 before I got on the road and 3:30AM when I finally rolled up at my house. I spent a few hours yesterday cutting up the fillets and still have the collars and a section of spine in the cooler as well as a significant amount of vacuum bagging to do! Still a great trip though so I can't complain too muchbscene-drinkingcheers:
Sorry for the crappy/lack of pictures. I'm not the author that some of you guys are however hopefully living closer to the gulf I'll get a chance to practice my report writing skillz a bit more now
Turns out the "deckhand" is a horrible photographer so you can't see the other AJs laying on the deck at our feet. I was exhausted from getting my ass beat by that thing and could barely lift it off the ground at this point.
Look behind me and you can see how incredible the conditions were.
Copied and pasted from another board. Apologies if any of the smileys/emoticons don't work.
All diving was done with no tanks. Basically snorkeling with a gun
Going again Memorial day for my first trip of the year so hopefully have another good story soon.
--
Last week someone posted up on another fishing forum that they had one more spot open for a wahoo trip with Keith Love on the Southern Cross. With a wahoo being at the top of my "fish bucket list" and the forecast for the weekend being fantastic I managed to get ahold of Keith and secure my spot on Friday morning. I bailed out of work early on Friday and after a little miscommunication about the departure time and a small debacle at wal-mart while trying to get a replacement fishing license I was on my way.
We ended up leaving the dock around 7PM Friday evening and with the full moon we hauled ass out to the last set of rigs before our spot and tied up for the night around 1AM. The conditions were beautiful with no wind or waves and we all slept great. It should be noted that sleeping great is a relative term on the Southern Cross though. Anyone who's been out with Keith knows that the primary focus is on finding fish and that no emphasis is placed on comfort, or luxury accommodations like the long range boats out of San Diego or some of the well known dive charters in CA. I slept on a tiny ass bean bag on the back deck along with 2 other divers who were on slightly less tiny bean bags.
At sunrise Carlos woke up first and promptly started shouting at Keith to get up and "lets go shoot some wahoo." After everyone was up and had completed their morning routine (much easier to do when conditions were as flat as they were!) we put on our wetsuits and motored another 15-20 miles to the high spot. We jumped in and while conditions were great we didn't see any wahoo. After 45 minutes we decided to move about a mile to another part of the reef and jumped back in.
Carlos and I were first in and started slowly swimming away from the boat. About 2 minutes later Tony and Alex jumped in and we hear a shout of "WAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOO" By the time we swam back over there they were pulling it over the side and I could hear Keith talking about it possibly being a state record. Not a bad start to the trip.
We continued diving and while the wahoo weren't thick everyone got a few shot opportunities throughout the day. It ended up that Carlos, Tony, and Alex would each go on to boat one while I never got one on the line. I'd been using my 3 band 60" midhandle the whole day and after my first shot feel short and I watched a fish duck my second shot I never got close enough to take another one with that gun. On the last drift I borrowed Keiths bluewater gun and got off another shot but the fish must have been much bigget than I'd thought as I watched it hit just above and behind the eye and then the fish continued to swim on with a small hole in the side of it's head!!! :angry-cussingblack:
At that point it was 3:30 and we decided to stop at a rig near where we'd slept and see if I couldn't land a consolation amberjack. I was first in the water and quickly greeted by a whole herd of decent sized AJs. I was lined up on one when I noticed a bigger one coming in. I quickly adjusted and he kept coming closer until finally turning broadside. I pulled the trigger and put the shaft into him from 10' away hitting him between the stomach and the spine on my side and exiting through the stomach on the far side. For a second he stopped and I thought I'd stoned him but he quickly came to life and tried to tear my arms off while making a run for the rig. I managed to surface and slowly drag him away from the rig but it was another 15 minutes along with some help from Keith before I got him to the surface and got my hands on him. After bleeding him out a few minutes we dragged him over the side and got back on the boat. Back at the dock he went 82lbs on the marina scale. Not a record or anything but by far the biggest fish I've ever shot.
Everyone else also jumped in and landed an AJ with the smallest probably being 60lbs or so. Around 11PM we finally made it back to Surfside and got to cleaning the boat. The guy who normally fillets fish had already left and wouldn't come back so we ended up cleaning our own fish. Normally I enjoy this but at that point I was ready to get on the road and head home. It ended up being 2 before I got on the road and 3:30AM when I finally rolled up at my house. I spent a few hours yesterday cutting up the fillets and still have the collars and a section of spine in the cooler as well as a significant amount of vacuum bagging to do! Still a great trip though so I can't complain too much
bscene-drinkingcheers: Sorry for the crappy/lack of pictures. I'm not the author that some of you guys are however hopefully living closer to the gulf I'll get a chance to practice my report writing skillz a bit more now
Turns out the "deckhand" is a horrible photographer so you can't see the other AJs laying on the deck at our feet. I was exhausted from getting my ass beat by that thing and could barely lift it off the ground at this point.
Look behind me and you can see how incredible the conditions were.
