grey2112
Contributor
Wow - what a day! Met two new spearfishermen (Ryan and Mike) from the boards and along with a bubble watcher (Bill, an ex-charter captain) we headed out on my 25 foot Cobia WA (The Pickled Pelican) ready to get wet. Yes, we realized it was going to be 60 degrees in the water but we didn't care. We went out to the RJ Thompson and the Pelican performed wonderfully - I have it set up now with tank racks and we didn't lose any! Also got a speargun rack that worked out very well. So even with 3 divers, gear, 6 tanks, 4 spearguns, a bubble-watcher and 6 rods we had plenty of room. The Honda BF250 worked like a champ - 2.5mpg average at 28-30 mph - at one point got it up to over 3 mpg.
When we got to the RJ we were surrounded by dolphin! They wanted to play and were following us around, swimming in our wake, coming up to the boat - but luckily once we got in the water they were gone.
SWARMS of AJs at the wreck - I finally nailed one and KEPT it this time (two previous attempts I was not so lucky) - shot placement helped a lot
I had some trouble loading my gun (new bands, stronger) - I could get the first one but not the second one - I'm in pretty decent shape so either it was my technique or being somewhat restricted due to wearing two 3mil suits (a full and a shorty). My mask kept filling up with water and I eventually figured out it was caused by my hood - the next dive I ended up with the mask INSIDE the hood and everything was perfect.
Ryan nailed a slightly bigger one than me, and Mike got a monster as can be seen by the photo.
Water temp at 60 feet was 59 degrees - but honestly, I didn't really feel it - must be that Norwegian blood in me I only stayed down about 25 minutes due to using too much air dealing with the constantly flooded mask. I also nailed a hogfish.
Our last stop was a great ledge where we were in about 45 feet of water - again 59 degrees. HUGE turtle down there, tons of hogs, some smaller reds, decent gags, BIG sheepshead, mangos, grunt, etc. The guys did good with a nice mixed bag.
My recently modified AB Biller 48" with new Ocean Rhino muzzle, small yet powerful flashlight, and some new, shorter shafts (I had shafts that were WAY too long for my gun) worked like a charm - very accurate now, easy to reload, but again I was having problems with pulling the bands back - I ended up only using one band on the first notch all day - luckily it was enough for the AJ.
Here are some pics and hopefully we'll post some more and some video soon.
When we got to the RJ we were surrounded by dolphin! They wanted to play and were following us around, swimming in our wake, coming up to the boat - but luckily once we got in the water they were gone.
SWARMS of AJs at the wreck - I finally nailed one and KEPT it this time (two previous attempts I was not so lucky) - shot placement helped a lot
I had some trouble loading my gun (new bands, stronger) - I could get the first one but not the second one - I'm in pretty decent shape so either it was my technique or being somewhat restricted due to wearing two 3mil suits (a full and a shorty). My mask kept filling up with water and I eventually figured out it was caused by my hood - the next dive I ended up with the mask INSIDE the hood and everything was perfect.
Ryan nailed a slightly bigger one than me, and Mike got a monster as can be seen by the photo.
Water temp at 60 feet was 59 degrees - but honestly, I didn't really feel it - must be that Norwegian blood in me
I only stayed down about 25 minutes due to using too much air dealing with the constantly flooded mask. I also nailed a hogfish.Our last stop was a great ledge where we were in about 45 feet of water - again 59 degrees. HUGE turtle down there, tons of hogs, some smaller reds, decent gags, BIG sheepshead, mangos, grunt, etc. The guys did good with a nice mixed bag.
My recently modified AB Biller 48" with new Ocean Rhino muzzle, small yet powerful flashlight, and some new, shorter shafts (I had shafts that were WAY too long for my gun) worked like a charm - very accurate now, easy to reload, but again I was having problems with pulling the bands back - I ended up only using one band on the first notch all day - luckily it was enough for the AJ.
Here are some pics and hopefully we'll post some more and some video soon.
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