ROCK BOTTOM
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Disclaimer: Rig diving is dangerous! Don't do stupid things.
Opening weekend of Snapper season - the blow-by-blow story behind the grin on my face.
Fired up the boat and moved out of the marina at 6 a.m. for the run out to the Main Pass blocks for some rig diving. We skipped the traditional route through Baptiste Collette for a shorter route out of Dead Womans Pass. We traversed the Mississippi River and turned thru Cupids Gap into Octave Pass and into Dead Womans Pass. Throughout most of the run, DWP had up to 17 feet of water but we rapidly ran out of water in the middle of the channel not too far from the mouth of the pass. Fortunately, we were back underway in just minutes.
We arrived at the first rig in MP 299 and promptly tied up. The seas were a whopping 1-foot and the weather was absolutely fantastic. My two dive buddies (Matt Krutzfeldt and Jim Richard) and I suited up and hit the water. I pushed down to 197 fsw right to the top of the murk layer in 230 fsw. The pickings were slim but I was able to ambush a nice 18# Red Snapper. After getting him under control and on the stringer, I reloaded and started to make my way back up the water column, looking for my next target. I noticed a lack of mangroves on the dive and gave up my hunt after a short safety stop. Back on the boat, I found Matt and Jim slightly disappointed after a bone dive. Matt passed on some schoolie amberjack and Jim didnt see anything worth shooting.
We moved further east, still in 230 to 240 fsw and made our second dive. Again, I hit the water and pushed down as deep and fast as I could. I started to track a beautiful 25# Scamp grouper and will always second-guess my decision to attempt to close the gap on him. Yep, I just couldnt close on the fish and eventually pushed all the way down to 215 inside the murk layer before losing the fish. As I emerged from the murk layer I immediately found a 10# gag looking the other way and gave him a personal invitation to dinner. Back up on the surface, Matt was cursing his bad luck - he broke the plastic muzzle on his Riffe Metal Tech 3. Jim managed to get a nice 25# amberjack to the boat. At this point we decided to take a ride back to the northwest and start the hunt for the Red Snapper.
Dive three was in 138 fsw. Jim and Matt rolled out of the boat and I finned up ready to follow them. Damn, broken fin strap. I grabbed the duct tape and made a quick field mod on the offending fin. As I roll out of the boat, a pair of cobia comes up to greet me. I am using Cathleens 48 Wong Reef gun with only two bands and a 9/32nd shaft. I hit him mid-body, mid-mass. He froze on the end of the spear. I immediately started swimming to the boat with him like a dog on a leash. I threw him in the boat and grabbed my Riffe Hawaiian and jumped back in. The water was beautiful and full of red snapper. The only problem was they were all schoolies of the barely legal size. It was clear to the bottom and swarming with the barely legal snapper and grouper. I decided to head up and save air but at the last minute I had a nice 10# snapper cruise up for a look, turn sideways and then turn to swim away. Thats when I took my shot. Got him right thru the tail. He didnt put up much of a fight as I just swam up with him in tow. I got back to the boat and found Matt and Jim had picked up a pair of fish, one cobia and one snapper matching my take on the dive.
Saving the best for last. Dive Four was great despite my buddies Clint and T back diving the rig two days in a row before I even got to dive it once. This rig in 138 fsw was covered with big Red Snapper just before the opener but only had about 15% of the fish that were there before. Even still the slay fest was on. I missed my first shot on the biggest snapper in the area and quickly reloaded. Another 18# fish then moved into range and died almost instantly with the shaft jammed thru his head. I then spied a nice gag grouper and took him because you can never have enough grouper. I then finished off my stringer with two more red snapper approximately 15# each. Back at the boat, Matt and Jim had both picked up on two red snapper.
We decided that the day was too pretty to spend it sober so we headed the boat towards land and popped a few cool brews for the ride in. The ride north was great with some Belizean rum that Matt had drug along.
Tally for the group:
Red Snapper 9
Grouper 2
Cobia 3
Amberjack 1
All-in-all, it was a great trip with full boxes for everyone.
Zz
Opening weekend of Snapper season - the blow-by-blow story behind the grin on my face.
Fired up the boat and moved out of the marina at 6 a.m. for the run out to the Main Pass blocks for some rig diving. We skipped the traditional route through Baptiste Collette for a shorter route out of Dead Womans Pass. We traversed the Mississippi River and turned thru Cupids Gap into Octave Pass and into Dead Womans Pass. Throughout most of the run, DWP had up to 17 feet of water but we rapidly ran out of water in the middle of the channel not too far from the mouth of the pass. Fortunately, we were back underway in just minutes.
We arrived at the first rig in MP 299 and promptly tied up. The seas were a whopping 1-foot and the weather was absolutely fantastic. My two dive buddies (Matt Krutzfeldt and Jim Richard) and I suited up and hit the water. I pushed down to 197 fsw right to the top of the murk layer in 230 fsw. The pickings were slim but I was able to ambush a nice 18# Red Snapper. After getting him under control and on the stringer, I reloaded and started to make my way back up the water column, looking for my next target. I noticed a lack of mangroves on the dive and gave up my hunt after a short safety stop. Back on the boat, I found Matt and Jim slightly disappointed after a bone dive. Matt passed on some schoolie amberjack and Jim didnt see anything worth shooting.
We moved further east, still in 230 to 240 fsw and made our second dive. Again, I hit the water and pushed down as deep and fast as I could. I started to track a beautiful 25# Scamp grouper and will always second-guess my decision to attempt to close the gap on him. Yep, I just couldnt close on the fish and eventually pushed all the way down to 215 inside the murk layer before losing the fish. As I emerged from the murk layer I immediately found a 10# gag looking the other way and gave him a personal invitation to dinner. Back up on the surface, Matt was cursing his bad luck - he broke the plastic muzzle on his Riffe Metal Tech 3. Jim managed to get a nice 25# amberjack to the boat. At this point we decided to take a ride back to the northwest and start the hunt for the Red Snapper.
Dive three was in 138 fsw. Jim and Matt rolled out of the boat and I finned up ready to follow them. Damn, broken fin strap. I grabbed the duct tape and made a quick field mod on the offending fin. As I roll out of the boat, a pair of cobia comes up to greet me. I am using Cathleens 48 Wong Reef gun with only two bands and a 9/32nd shaft. I hit him mid-body, mid-mass. He froze on the end of the spear. I immediately started swimming to the boat with him like a dog on a leash. I threw him in the boat and grabbed my Riffe Hawaiian and jumped back in. The water was beautiful and full of red snapper. The only problem was they were all schoolies of the barely legal size. It was clear to the bottom and swarming with the barely legal snapper and grouper. I decided to head up and save air but at the last minute I had a nice 10# snapper cruise up for a look, turn sideways and then turn to swim away. Thats when I took my shot. Got him right thru the tail. He didnt put up much of a fight as I just swam up with him in tow. I got back to the boat and found Matt and Jim had picked up a pair of fish, one cobia and one snapper matching my take on the dive.
Saving the best for last. Dive Four was great despite my buddies Clint and T back diving the rig two days in a row before I even got to dive it once. This rig in 138 fsw was covered with big Red Snapper just before the opener but only had about 15% of the fish that were there before. Even still the slay fest was on. I missed my first shot on the biggest snapper in the area and quickly reloaded. Another 18# fish then moved into range and died almost instantly with the shaft jammed thru his head. I then spied a nice gag grouper and took him because you can never have enough grouper. I then finished off my stringer with two more red snapper approximately 15# each. Back at the boat, Matt and Jim had both picked up on two red snapper.
We decided that the day was too pretty to spend it sober so we headed the boat towards land and popped a few cool brews for the ride in. The ride north was great with some Belizean rum that Matt had drug along.
Tally for the group:
Red Snapper 9
Grouper 2
Cobia 3
Amberjack 1
All-in-all, it was a great trip with full boxes for everyone.
Zz
