paulwall
Contributor
got invited to visit a couple of rigs for a fishing/diving excursion on Saturday.
Having to be at the dock in Venice at 5am had me up at 3 for a 3:30am departure. On the way down Hwy 23, I could see flashes of lightning on either side of me in the distance. Forecast called for 1 ft or less seas, so I wasn't that concerned.
the boat's owner was hoping to catch a yellow fin tuna on Saturday, so we hit the closest rig to jig for Hardtail as bait before heading out to the Cognac rig for some fishing before the dive. With the rising sun behind a layer of clouds, we postponed the dive until it got a little brighter. Also, we were able to judge the currents a bit better with lines in the water being pulled toward the rig, although the boat didn't drift much.
After a couple of hours, three of us geared up to splash. My friend and the host were to spearfish amberjack, while I was going to look around for lobsters and sightsee. After rolling in and making it through gentle surface current to the nearest leg, we descended together through the 15' or so of murk, where we encountered a pretty strong current into the rig until about 30' or so, where it seemed to disappear down to 100'. I saw no lobsters, but a school of Almaco Jack followed me around as I searched. The rig was covered in yellow cup coral and teeming with life - grouper, angels, triggerfish, jacks, grunts, and mangrove snapper. All too soon, my turn pressure came up, and I made a pass by the spearfishermen on my way back to the ascent leg.
Regrouping on the boat, we unsuccessfully tried to drift for Tuna, and headed to another rig for more jigging. After a few hours, we moved to another rig for fishing and the second dive. Seas were still flat, the surface current had picked up, but was manageable. However this rig had short cages around each of the legs, requiring us to find the actual leg before descent. Still, a 15-20 ft murk layer, but the current was ripping into my face down to 57'. I hung on to the first cross-bracing in pretty clear water, with the sun in front of us and a scary-strong current. Below me 20-30' was a huge school of jacks facing into the current. Tropicals were all around me, and I watched my spearfishing buddies make a couple of shots.
At the end of the day (early evening) we came back with 2 almaco (speared), one hooked, 2 banded rudderfish, hooked, a scamp grouper, hooked, and an amberjack. it was a long, exhausting fun day.
Having to be at the dock in Venice at 5am had me up at 3 for a 3:30am departure. On the way down Hwy 23, I could see flashes of lightning on either side of me in the distance. Forecast called for 1 ft or less seas, so I wasn't that concerned.
the boat's owner was hoping to catch a yellow fin tuna on Saturday, so we hit the closest rig to jig for Hardtail as bait before heading out to the Cognac rig for some fishing before the dive. With the rising sun behind a layer of clouds, we postponed the dive until it got a little brighter. Also, we were able to judge the currents a bit better with lines in the water being pulled toward the rig, although the boat didn't drift much.
After a couple of hours, three of us geared up to splash. My friend and the host were to spearfish amberjack, while I was going to look around for lobsters and sightsee. After rolling in and making it through gentle surface current to the nearest leg, we descended together through the 15' or so of murk, where we encountered a pretty strong current into the rig until about 30' or so, where it seemed to disappear down to 100'. I saw no lobsters, but a school of Almaco Jack followed me around as I searched. The rig was covered in yellow cup coral and teeming with life - grouper, angels, triggerfish, jacks, grunts, and mangrove snapper. All too soon, my turn pressure came up, and I made a pass by the spearfishermen on my way back to the ascent leg.
Regrouping on the boat, we unsuccessfully tried to drift for Tuna, and headed to another rig for more jigging. After a few hours, we moved to another rig for fishing and the second dive. Seas were still flat, the surface current had picked up, but was manageable. However this rig had short cages around each of the legs, requiring us to find the actual leg before descent. Still, a 15-20 ft murk layer, but the current was ripping into my face down to 57'. I hung on to the first cross-bracing in pretty clear water, with the sun in front of us and a scary-strong current. Below me 20-30' was a huge school of jacks facing into the current. Tropicals were all around me, and I watched my spearfishing buddies make a couple of shots.
At the end of the day (early evening) we came back with 2 almaco (speared), one hooked, 2 banded rudderfish, hooked, a scamp grouper, hooked, and an amberjack. it was a long, exhausting fun day.
