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Tue13Jul2010

July 10-11, 2010 - The end of the drought

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Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2010 | July 12, 2010 | Print
Seas: 1 foot Winds: 5-10 W/SW Viz: 25-40 feet Temp: 83F

This past weekend was great and horrible all at the same time. The winds were so calm that there were hardly any seas to speak of but the lack of any wind at all coupled with the extreme heat made it brutally hot when you weren't moving in a vehicle or in the water. Luckily for me, I try to spend as much time as possible in the latter. This weekend started out like any other so far this summer when the seas have let us fish. We wake up Saturday morning to discuss the agenda for the day while we load up on drinks, snacks and ice for the boat.

 

Saturday didn't hold any surprises either. We took off around 10a and headed to the reef line. We arrived to find semi clean water at the first couple of spots (#67 and #25). #25 is a spot that we found a couple of years ago with another dive buddy from Marathon. Since we found it, it has usually produced decent to very good sized mangroves on a regular basis. The problem is that soon after we found this spot a couple of local charter boats moved in on the spot and if we aren't the early bird to the mangroves' worm, we don't get to jump in because these charters have anchored up and are indiscriminately pulling up snappers for their customer (I guess for the tourists, quantity is always better then quality, especially when they're paying for it). Although the spot was not claimed when we arrived, we were a little disappointed to find that there were no significant numbers of mangroves. Regardless, we were able to hunt down a couple of decent ones and move on westward ho!

There were 5 of us on the boat today so we were hoping to bag a fair number of fish. We were moving from spot to spot as the big ones thinned out and scattered since we really didn't want to shoot marginal sized fish. Even being as picky as we were and while trying to circumnavigate a couple of storm systems that arose, we were able to close out our bag limit at the good old Horseshoe, when my brother in law informed me that the fish I had just shot (that subsequently tore off) and chased would be the last one for the day. So we loaded up and headed back pretty satisfied considering it had only taken us about 3 1/2 hours to close out. 

The tally for the day did include one red grouper that my brother in law shot. So far this summer, there has really been a grouper drought for us. I don't know if it's the extremely late and cold winter (and subsequent cooler summer surf temperatures)  that we experienced this year or what, but we just haven't been running into any large numbers of groupers (make that legal groupers) at any of our spots up to and including 45-50' of water. Luckily for me, we get to fish Sunday too!

Sunday we woke up and everyone had breakfast fairly early except for my son, but what can I say he's just not a morning person (in his defense neither was I until the past few years). The seas looked like glass as far as the eye could spot and the sky was crystal clear as well, so we decided today the whole family would join in on the dive trip. We loaded up the boat (remembering the kids' gear too) and headed out.

The tide was still coming in so our first stop was at the Glory Hole (the stories behind some of our spots' names are best left untold). Historically, the Glory Hole has been a high tide producer for us with plenty of hogfish and grouper to its credit. We jump in and start spotting hogfish so we bag a few of these delectable edible fish while we check out every ledge in the area hoping for some elusive (at least so far this summer) grouper. This area is very shallow so we tend to split up when we work it (I know, terrible safety habits). My brother in law calls me over very excitedly telling me he has just had the biggest Gag (Grey) grouper he's seen in that area for years tear off after an unfortunate series of events (including a second-shot gun he was given with only one sling and a loose spinner tip, but the memory is painful). So we unproductively go back to the beginning and search every hole we know to she if she holed up but we were unable to find our wounded prey. We really hate it when that happens, but my brother in law informed me the he did not think it was mortally wounded so that made the news a little easier to take. We hadn't consciously considered it yet, but that sighting was a sign of things to come!

We head offshore to #36. Upon our arrival, my brother in law spots a black and points her out wanting a second size opinion. Our assessment is that she is legal and he offers me the video shot on the grouper so I descend with camera recording. As I drop, I am mentally double checking her size and making sure I feel good about the shot when she is startled and takes off. I immediately pursue the  fish as I ascend and follow her to the end of the spot where there is a large flat rock with a ton of relief for her to hide in. Not just her, but 3 other black groupers and one of them looks huge. All 4 groupers disappear into the relief and we figure we're going to have a fish in a barrel shoot because after all, how could all of them hide in there (little did we know)?

I drop to the bottom and peer under the ledge where I'm greeted by a mouth agape green moray about 4-5' long. I shoo her out of the way, but am unable to really spot anything definitive. How could all those fish disappear in there? We call for the flashlight and I drop once more. This time, I am able to make out the shapes of 3 groupers in different positions along the back of the ledge (behind the moray).  Now that I know where they are, I want to make sure I take a good shot, so it's back to the surface to breathe up. This time I drop and put my body well inside the hole with the flashlight. All 3 look legal, but we knew there was one big one.

It was go-time, so I look to the left (the easiest shot) and pass. I looked to the right and couldn't see the whole body of that one, but behind these two I spot the bright markings of a black grouper in full mottled camoflauge. I take my chances, line up the shot as best I can and pull the trigger. My shaft goes clean through the fish and disappears under the ledge. The subsequent commotion dirties up the water considerably and having previously been bitten by a green moray, I wasn't too anxious to reach blindly into the hole for the fish or the shaft so I surface once again.

July 11, 2010 - The end of the Grouper drought
After waiting a considerable amount of time for the hole to clear up and after numerous dives by both of us to try and gather the actual position of the fish in the hole, we fortunately won the spearo-tug-of-war and the fish actually works itself out of the deep part of the ledge to a point where I can actually pull it out. As this fish comes out of the hole, the only thing I can think of is "I think I shot the big one!" As I surface, my brother in law concurs and I swim the fish over to the boat where we measure her out at 34".

After this we couldn't spot any of the other fish that had hidden in the hole, so my brother in law says we should hit another spot and return to see if they calm down and come out of their own accord. Long story short (I guess it's really a little late for that), we head over to the Horseshoe, shoot a few mangroves and return to #36 about 45 minutes later. I descend on the rock one more time to spot the scarred lower jaw of another black grouper staring straight at me from under the ledge, so I round my gun, line up the shot and just like that, we have another grouper in the cooler (this one was 26").

What a way to end the weekend! We actually spotted (and almost shot) more legal black grouper in this one day than we had to this point in the summer altogether. This was a great day, but we sincerely hope it's really a sign that the grouper have started to move in to shallower water so we can pick up the grouper pace. Only time and clean water will tell.

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