Wahoo whackng!

[Aquiles]

This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting some of the boyees' from DB. It was cool to meet Stephan, Paul, and Cliff. I told you guys that I was going out on the boat on Saturday and what of a hell of a day it was. I went out with two of the local boys and A couple from dental school.

The higher powers that be, must have been smiling upon me cause I had three PB's that day.. I bagged two wahoos and a mahi. I will post the pics as soon as I rip them off my camera. We also managed to put two grouper in the 10 to 15 pound range in the boat and of course a mack or 2. I will post the pics ASAP. I also hope to have a story for you as soon as school permits.

I will be back with the details..

Aquiles

 

[rigdvr]

How bout that! Keep it up and you might just find your wat to the lumps this winter buddy! Looks like I get get training now...
Congrats on the fish, you will be hooked on the blue forever now! Any size to em?

 

[Aquiles]

There we were, it was nine AM and the crew was just pulling up to the dock. The plan as per Thor and I was to hit a wreck the Duane or the Bibb and then travel out to the first shipping lane in search of some structure to dive. These two USCG cutters were sunk there in the late 80’s. They sometimes hold some pelagics even if there are no pelagics the dive there is always fun.
We were cruising at a steady 21 knots when all of a sudden WHAM! Followed by a WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT! Poor turtle I thought. There was a brownish stain in the water and I was sure that it was one of those hard backed buggers. Rogelio (AKA Roger) volunteered to get whatever it was that was in the prop out. He jumped in and abruptly popped to the surface. “You have a Houser in one of the screws” . A Houser, what the Hell is a houser? For those of us who don’t know a Houser is a large 4” diameter line to tie a ship to a cleat. No joke this thing weighed thirty or more pounds. Luckily nothing happened to the props and we continued to the Duane.
We got there to find the current was completely dead. This was perfect for deep dives to the deck of the boat. There were schools of monster permit and jack crevalle all over the boat but there was not much more to shoot there. Jered, an avid bubble blower asked if he could don his tank and take a SCUBA around the hulk and we said no prob. There were about ten or more other divers on the wreck and we suspected that anything of table value was gone. Jered took his computed twenty minutes on the bottom and popped like a cork to the surface with a crevalle in hand. By unanimous decision we left the cutter in search of debris in the gulfstream.
I started to motor offshore on a mission to find fish. We found small pieces of foam and things but nothing that was holding fish. There is was, just off in the distance, at first I thought it was seaweed, the seaweed morphed into a pallet and then into a makeshift raft that may have been from my beloved Cuba. I hailed to the boys, SUIT UP!
They did and were in the water fast as hell. Thor looked as if he were powered by and evinrude outboard. Rogelio was next and I was third. Jered was fourth. We all posted up on the raft and waited. We all started our dives and saw fish all over. There were triple tail and little jacks; but the most amazing thing was the abundance of rainbow runners. They were all throughout the water column. I would dive and hold my depth at 30 feet waiting for whatever came. On about my tenth dive I saw something out of the corner of my left eye. I thought it was a wahoo so I took a glance.
There they were, they were all over the water column. There was about five of them at first and then others materialized out of nowhere. I forced myself to ignore these cheetas of the sea. They were a flat grey and blended well with their surroundings. One of the wahoo’s made a deadly mistake and crossed the path in front of me to take a closer look. SSHHHKKK! I let the arrow fly and it hit home. The wahoo lit up! He showed all his stripes of neon blue. I thought I would loose this fish cause the flesh is so soft and I was about a half inch from the spine. I let him tire himself out and finally grabbed him by the tail. The whole thing took about five minutes and I tried to make the end quick out of respect for him.
As soon as I put him in the boat I heard someone say that there was dolphin. I started my stalking just as before. They finally showed and there was about 5 peanut dolphin swimming right at me. As I turned they also turned and started away from me. I broke all the rules and swam as fast as I could towards the fish and let the arrow fly. I managed to peg the guy right on the bottom near the anal fin, OUCH! He had an inch of flesh between him and freedom. He sounded and the others took off. There was a Barracuda that took interest in the commotion and tried to bust my fish in half. Luckily Thor was quick on the scene and discouraged the little thief from taking my fish.
I boated the dolphin and was back in the water this time with a chumbag and a trail of jacks.
We all started our dives hoping the fish would show again. We waited and waited and just when we thought that the fun was over they showed up. I was in the middle of my dive and I saw the nose of a wahoo. I held completely still and pointed the sharp end of me in the other direction of the fish. One of the school did the same thing as his cousin and took too close of a look SSSHHHKK! The shot was perfect! The fight was short and the finish, quick as before. We tried for another half our but the fish had seen enough.
We started our way south to try and find more structure with no luck. It looked like someone took a hoover to the ocean it just kept getting cleaner and cleaner. We made our way to the reef in front of Taverneer and jumped in. I dropped the boys off and waited. After all the guys were settled I jumped in. As soon as I loaded my bands I heard a gun go off. I swam over to take a look. Thor seemed to have something wedged up in a hole. Just then I saw something move on the bottom . It was a grouper and a good one. Hey wait! He has a hole in him. It must be the fish that Thor is looking for. I dove down and the fish slid up under a ledge. As soon as I could make out the snout of the fish I took the shot and landed him. We did not see much else there so we moved further north.
We jumped in on the deep reef and stared to spread out and dive. It started out at 55 feet and got progressively deeper. On one of the dives I happened to run across a grouper. It was sitting in between the spur and groove, right in the sand. I could not take my eyes off the spot cause all I could make out was the shadows on the bottom and this was at my very limits of vision. I started my dive and the gouper slowly rematerialized. As I closed the distance I patiently waited till I made the fish twitch. I knew that he would not let me any closer and squeezed the trigger. The grouper bolted to the bottom trying to hole up and I kept the pressure on. I popped to the surface with my grouper and tossed him in the boat.
We ended the day in front of the research station looking for that one big king that would not show. On one of the deep dives there I spotted a grouper over 30 pounds but he did not give me a chance and bolted to deeper water. We picked up our stuff and called it a day after that. Looking back the day started off rough with that houser but it got smoother as the day melted away. I had three personal bests that day. A wahoo a bigger wahoo and a dolphin. I can’t wait to visit the big blue again!

Aquiles

 

[Aquiles]

Here are some of the fish

 

[Aquiles]

2

 

[Rolando]

Great story and post. Just curious, what gun did you use on the wahoos and dolphins?

Also, is it ok to spear on the Duane?

 

[Aquiles]

3

 

[Aquiles]

Yes it is ok to spear there the park starts north of the light. The gun that was used was a rabitech 120 cm w 1x20mm band. sorry for the short post I have to goto class I will be back!

Aquiles

 

[Rolando]

Yes, you are right about the Duane. I got it confused with the Spiegal, which I believe spearing is not allowed. Nevertheless, looks like you had a good day. Congrats on the PBs!

Tranquilo Cubichon,

 

[Murat]

Nice fishes

 

[icarus pacific]

don't worry about returning to the blue...

'cause next week, you're gonna be in the green! Yo quero Ab Grab? Make a true Sultan outta ya! :king Or you'll be the wiser. :crutch

I'd have had that mahi on the coals before Ana Marie's first dockline was fast. Nice work!

 

[rigdvr]

save me one or two of those things Sven...lord knows it will be the only abs my stomach will ever see again

Soon as I am done with this school crap Im headed over...

 

[Aquiles]

No No No Anderson, don't spit that out! Hey you should see the new pics of the hoo andy and I shot on a school skippin session

Aq