posted by admin on Jun 10

Went out diving the past couple days with a few people. All and all we just really haven’t been doing that great on fish recently.   The water has been warm although kind of dirty. Went out with Jason, Andy, Eddie and Catherine one day. We tried to go west but the water got real dirty. We dove the bar for a bit but the fish just didn’t really seem to be there. We got some yellow jacks, Andy shot a grouper. Eddy had to save my yellow jack from a couple of big nurse sharks that were trying to eat it. The goat fish seem to be spawning again, mangroves are starting to stack up in large numbers on the reef.

Fishing was kind of slow, but it was an ok day anyway. I shot two yellow jacks at the same time by accident which was pretty sweet. Catherine got to spend some time in the shallows taking photos of hogfish. Andy has been obsessed with diving in the shallows lately. I don’t really like it, there are tons of fish but they tend to be small and the water is dirty.

The next day I went out with a boat load of people , Andy, Kevin from Hawaii, Romaine from France, and Josh and Brian from West Palm. We hit the wrecks out in front of Key West and did some diving along the reef line. The wrecks were pretty much deserted: the amberjacks have pretty much moved out, it seems.  Vis was 30-50 feet so it was decent. All the new guys who came were excellent divers and could dive much deeper then I am used to diving. I tried following Romaine down to video tape him shooting something off the deck of a wreck at around 75 feet and quickly realized he can hold his breath much longer then I can.

We had a lot of fun with some reef sharks that were very interested in our catch. One bumped into Andy while he was gutting a mackerel out. We shot a lot of fish but nothing out of the ordinary. Big mangroves were all over.  I saw one that had to be over 10# which is large for here but could not get him. Grouper were scarce. I only saw two legal fish all day both of which bolted when they saw me. I think the whole boat only shot a couple grouper. We shot yellow jacks , margates, mangrove snapper, cero mackerel, permit, mutton snapper, and grouper.

Fishing just seems kind of slow lately, although I had one friend say they crushed them in gulf but then another said they went to the gulf and there was a ton of algae and it sucked.

posted by admin on May 30

Well the visibility has been terrible even though there is almost no winds. There has been a strong southbound current covering everything south and west of Key West. Vis has been less the 15 feet at some spots, less the 25 at others. Not really that fun to dive in once you have become used to clear water. Went out earlier in the week with Cal and Luis and didn’t really catch much. Cal put on a tank and shot a grouper and a mutton, Lou and I shot a couple small fish but nothing to brag about. We drove around all over from the Sambos to Western Dry Rocks and the vis was terrible everywhere.

Then yesterday I went out with Jason, Andy and one of Andy’s friends from the fire department. We went east and found some clear water. We did OK on fish, I got a black grouper and a mutton. Everyone else got red groupers and muttons. It was ok, maybe 35 feet of vis. I also shot a large squid. Which I was pretty excited about. Andy’s friend shot all his fish with a Hawaiian sling. We also found some clear water in really shallow and inshore. Like 20 foot of vis in 10-15 feet of water. We picked up some hogs in the shallows and called it a day.

The mutton spawn is happening right now and we were hoping to dive it, but with less the 20 foot of vis deep diving hasn’t been that appealing. The bad visibility extended out to at least 240 feet of water and probably much further.

posted by admin on May 22

Well finally the winds died back down and I was able to go out on the water. Catherine, Luis and I went out the past couple days.  Catherine finally had a day off when the wind wasn’t howling so she was able to come too. The first day we went out in front of Key West and I had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong. Gear malfunctions, backup gear malfunctioning, stormy weather, dirty water, too many other boats, problems equalizing, everything seem to be off. We still had a pretty good day though, Luis shot a 14# mutton. I dove some new spots which is always good. We had to be in early to get Cat to work.

One thing I thought was interesting is we went to dive a real public wreck and just as we got there a scuba boat got there. I was able to do two quick dives before the scuba divers got down to it. When I first dove there were permit, bar jacks, big schools of yellowtail all over it. As soon as the scuba tanks hit the water the place turned into a ghost town. It’s amazing how much the bubbles repel the fish.

The next day we went out, I resolved all my gear issues, and headed west so no issues with crowds but really could not find fish. We  picked up some little snapper, and Luis shot a big cero mackerel. I shot a little permit, I usually skip on the permit but it was a slow day so he got it. Vis was less then 30 feet and green, in the shallows the 18-20 knot winds kept us from going deep. We worked a whole bunch of areas which normally are pretty good and they were empty. The most telling sign was the lack of yellowtails. I think yellowtails might be spawning now, so they have moved, but I am not sure.

I had a good day even if the fishing was slow.  Catherine was able to practice diving, and I got all my gear kinks out. I have had some really excellent catches the past month or so, not every day can be awesome.

posted by admin on May 7

Our friend Albie was visiting this week from NJ and we went out for a half day and then a full day. The first day we went out in the afternoon, the wind was blowing like crazy but it was supposed to die down, Catherine made the mistake of coming with us. The winds did not die for awhile and the seas where rough but the visibility was good so it was ok. Albie and Luis went with me along with Catherine and me. Due to the high winds we just went out in front of Key West. As expected the ledges that were filled with grouper last week where barren. It took a little bit of looking around before we found some fish, and then it was on. Albie shot a nice mutton and Lou picked up a black. I shot some big mangroves. I messed up the sear on my railgun gun and the line release has been giving me issues, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t want to. After we that spot we hit one of the public wrecks but the current was too much. There was a scuba boat about to drop on it, I tried getting down to the deck but swimming in current ate up all my time, and I gave up. There was a ton of permit mating over top the wreck and some spade fish under them. It was fun to see the fish but after a minute we were out of there.

We hit another spot that was dead, then on to another. I missed a really nice cobia that was sleeping on the bottom. I don’t know how I missed him I was right down on him. Albie got a triggerfish and Lou got a couple more large mangrove snapper. I shot a black grouper, not a big one. I also shot him in the tail so albie had to put a safety shot in him. The only thing that was kind of noteworthy about the fish, is the amount of current I had to swim against to get him. He wasn’t super deep or anything, 60 feet down but man the current was ripping, I was kind of amazed I was able to do it, honestly. After that we checked the vandenburg and there was nothing visible on it. Some small amberjacks, and the usual school of cudas. After that we headed in.

The next day we got on Andy and Jason’s boat and went out. Catherine had to work so it was Albie, Luis and I along with Andy and Jason. We headed out west and ended up out past Marquesas Rock. We hit a lot of big ledges in that vicinity and didn’t get a lot of fish. The big black grouper that were there  before had all disappeared. In their place there were a few commercial spearfishing boats, I don’t see commercial boats diving very often, and this was the first time I saw 3 in one day. I kind of think a lot of the big, well known ledges out there where the first spots that where cleaned out. Maybe it was just the warmer water, who knows. We got some nice fish, a black grouper here, a red grouper there, keys sized hogs and small muttons but nothing major. I shot a big mangrove it might have beat the last big one I got but didn’t have a scale. Maybe I should get a new scale.

We drifted for awhile trying to find where I saw the lane snappers were spawning, and the huge hog fish from the other day but couldn’t find it. I am going to go back and put more time in looking for it on my boat. The next spot we hit was covered with fish.  Albie shot a black, then Jason shot a black, I missed a black – they were all over. After the first drift we shot some ajs and barracuda and chopped them up for chum. We anchored up current from where the fish were and just start chopping up mass fish and chumming like crazy. Behind the boat became a feeding frenzy, 2 big lemon sharks and 5 reef sharks were zipping around fighting over pieces of fish on the bottom. A huge jewfish came out and tried to push up on the sharks. Yellow jacks and Amber jacks swimming around all over. It was great, in time red groupers and some short blacks showed up. We were having a blast watching the sharks and shooting fish. Then  I turned around and 4-5 huge fish were swimming up to me. For a second my brain didn’t recognize what they were, not king fish or barracuda. I yelled “wahoo” in case there was anyone else in their path, and shot the one the closest to me. I broke his spine and he was done. First wahoo and a pretty good sized one at that.

Next we checked jewfish rock and there was one black on it but he got away. There was bunch of Ajs and big cero mackerel circling it but I wasn’t really hungry for smoked fish so I passed.

I finally got a new mask that works, a couple weeks ago someone who will remain nameless threw my cressi occhio over board. I was able to try three replacement masks, the spetton(looks the same as the omer bandit) and the mares liquid skin, both fit me terrible. I also used an atomic frameless for a bit, that mask fit great but was too high volume for diving past 40-45 feet in my opinion, it would take way too much to clear the mask and it would suck my eyes out. I was about to order a new cressi but I tried Catherine’s omer aries 39. Wow, that mask fits great and it has the bigger lens like the cressi occhio. It’s a breeze to clear the mask and it seems to never leak, once in awhile my cressi ochio would leak, usually when I was 60 or more feet down. It’s a bad time to leak, it ruins the whole dive, so perhaps I am fortunate the occhio was lost.