Wow! It's been quite some time since the last post in the is section:ashamed:
The weather has been brutal in the Upper GOM for the past few months and getting out for a dive has been difficult, if not down-right dangerous.
Between that and the hectic work schedule I did finally manage to make a trip this past weekend. It was desperately needed!
Conditions were a bit rough, but the weather was beautiful. Nice high 70s and plenty of sunshine. The water was a bit roughed up by the wind, but at least manageable.
Took a longer ride out than normal due to the amount of rainfall that we've had here recently. The rivers have been steadily dumping brown water into the Gulf for weeks.
Found some diveable water about 50 miles offshore and were greeted with AJs right under the boat as I jumped in. Put a nice 35ish pound fish on the boat not 2 minutes after jumping in:thumbsup2: The rest of the crew quickly filled our 1 fish per person limit and we were off to another rig.
Upon arriving, the water was boiling with hardtail around half the rig. The water was also much cleaner and we could easily see down at least 25-30' from the surface. I knew it was gonna be a good dive.
Upon making the first dive, it was almost nausiating seeing all those hardtail swarming and nothing else. I finally broke past them and there was abundant life all around. But nothing worth pulling the trigger on. After the 4th or 5th dive dive, I turn my head to find a decent cobe sneakng upon me. It was so close that it startled me and I flinched. The cobe veered off and I figured it was gone, but it stopped about 20' away and turned back in to have another look. BAD MISTAKE!:grin:
Hind sight is always 20/20 and I should have waited for it to clear the rig before pulling the trigger, and spinning 180 degrees to make the snap shot, but alas I didn't and got a poor shot on the fish. The fish went apey and commenced to tying a Cat's cradle around that rig in the worst possible spot; a corner leg with multiple support arms that extended at 45 degree angle up and 180 degree angles horizontally. I think that fish wrapped my gun, shooting line and floatline around every option available:frustrated2:
After making a couple of recon dives to figure out my plan for recovery, I finally made a grap for the fish. IN doing so, I had to swim under one obstacle and quickly come back up and dive down under another. I broke what I consder to be the cardinal rule of rig diving; always look up before ascending. Ironically, that is what I was doing when I felt the smack and heard the crushing of barnacles and that twang of hot pain as my head hit the structure...DOH!!!
After surfacing and "brushing it off" I finally came to my senses on how to approch the situation. The spear looked as if it was about to tear out. I got the boat over and got another gun. After placing a good holding shot on the fish, I went down and cut the shooting line of the first gun and hauled the fish back to the surface. While climbing back on the boat I was told that there was blood runnimg down my forehead. I had almost forgotten the incident at that moment as there was no lingering pain. I got in the boat and pulled my hood off, and the blood bath started:D Apparently it had pooled up under the hood and came running down my face. My Girlfriend was in the boat and it was her first time out with me. She almost freaked out!
I told her I was in no pain, but when the blood didnt stop gushing, I said "oh shit! Does it need stiches?!" My dive budy said it would be fine. As soon as I dried my head off and put some pressure in it for a minute, it stopped. Looked way worse than it was, but it could have been way worse...
Here's a couple pics. I Love fish pic with the matching set of holes in the head:D
