Playing "hookey" off!

    That should have been "pays off":rolleyes1:


    I have been waiting for a break in the weather and time to take off to go do some diving with a new friend from work. The stars finanlly aligned and we made our way this morning, after telling the boss that three of us weren't going to be at work today...


    We were hoping to get into the Red Snapper as our Government graciously took pity upon our poor souls for the oil spill disaster and allowed a late red snapper season for the one we missed on this summer.


    Our expections were high for the snapper but what actually happened was one of the best displays of cobia anyone had ever seen in the area we dove today. They were on every rig we dove and they were in big numbers:@


    We easily filled our alloted numbers with fish in the 25-45 range. I managed a new personal best cobia which also happened to be the biggest one of the day:D


    We did find a few Red Snapper, We thought we would have seen a lot more, but the lack of quantity was made up for in quality. The fish that were around were nice ones, but very skittish. 2 divers managed a limit. The big one went about 18-19 lbs.


    The abundance and diversity of species we saw today was simply awesome. I also managed a couple of rainbow runner, a very nice Spanish and very nice Florida Pompano. My buddy also got a nice gag.


    Took a few pics. I'll post when I get them.

    Quote from fuzz

    Holy hell John, did you use a powerhead on that ARS? :D


    Great work - beautiful haul! :thumbsup2:


    :laughing3:
    The ARS were being EXTREMELY skittish that day. Very hard to close the gap and when I saw the tail "winding up" I had to take the shot. I got a bad shot and hit that fish high. I can't believe that it didn't tear off. There was only a piece of skin about 1/4" wide holding on the shaft when I finally got it in my hands.

    Definately not a bad trip. I love those days where the species keep stacking up and when you look down you have more species than you remember shooting. Half the fun for me is seeing a number of different species and then having the variety to work with in the kitchen. Out of curiousity what kind of gun are you shooting and with what setup? I have a new 48" riffe padauk series, but have yet to have the oppurtunity to shoot anything with it. Im also trying to decide rather to run reel or float line and I figured youd be someone good to ask seeing as how you're shootng alot of fish under the same circumstances I will be.

    Ben, for shooting around the rigs, I use a railgun connected directly to a floatline.


    I used to use reels almost exclusively until I got a few trips in the GOM under my belt and quickly realized the potential for getting into serious trouble with them. There is just too many things than can go wrong.


    As much as a pain in the ass it is to use a floatline on the rigs, I never have to worry about dropping my gun, running out of reel line before I make the surface after shooting a big fish, having my reel lock up, etc...With a floatline, I can simply let go of everything if I get in trouble and most likely will recover at least my gun, if not everything; including the fish.


    As for the guns, a good quality railgun will do the job on most our local species. I used to have a bunch of custom wood guns, but after losing one the first time I fired it and having a couple of others get trashed in the rigs, I came to the conclusion that spending all that money just wasn't very prudent.


    I have become quite utilitarian in my gear selection since moving to the Gulf. My biggest concerns with a gun would be that it have a quality trigger mech (nothing should be palstic or cast), be well balanced and have minimal felt recoil. Riffe makes a great gun that will last for years as long as it is properly maintained. I shot them for almost 10 years before venturing out and trying other guns.

    Ben,
    Glad to see another freediver in the area. I use both reels and floatlines, but I probably use the floatline more. For me, it is easier to control the fish with the floatline, and I have no hesitaton with letting my gun go. As far as guns, 48" will do most of what you want to do. I have many guns, both wood and metal, but after 25 years, i have become most comfortable with rear handle euro style rail guns such as the Roballen. I mostly use 2 guns, a 100cm Picasso Carbon and a 130cm Roballen. Its all what you lprefer, and the gun that you have will certainly do the job. I killed a lot of fish with a voit swim master when I first started.


    Keith

    Thanks for the info both Keith and John. I was leaning more towards the float line for the safety aspect already so its nice to see my concerns were relevant. I've bird's nested a few too many baitcasters in my years and can only imagaine what a mess a heavy fish doing that at 50ft would do to my nerve. I was concerned about durability around those legs, but better to be concerned for the gear than the other route I guess.

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