Spent the weekend in Port Aransas with by brother and some dive buddies from Austin
Got there too late Saturday night, rigged up my gun and slept 2 hours before getting up.
The seas were some of the roughest I've seen up there, Got to the rig and 2 of the 5 divers pussed out Didn't see much down there. There was a little bit of current, but the visibilty was good. There were some nice red snapper at 170' in the murk layer, but they were skittish, and it had been a year since my last rig dive so I was still getting back in the swing of things and didn't feel confident in a shot.
I finish the dive and a few of the guys on the boat were having good luck with pulling up the reds (I saw one come up while I was at 15' doing my safety stop ). I pick up a rod and drop a spanish sardine down to the bottom and crank it back up a few feet. Second piece of bait and I manage to hook up. Catch a nice snap for the fish box! Its a lot of work bringing those guys up to the top!
We finish off our limits in no time and head for another rig. At this point, it's just me and another guy diving. This rig had no current and the visibility was less. Man, it was crawling with red snapper! Big schools hanging in mid-water column ~80' or so. They weren't very skittish at all. I kind of wish we had held off keeping so many reds earlier so we could cherry-pick the nice ones (the beauty of spearguns) for our limits, but how were we supposed to know that before? There weren't any 25lb braggers, but plenty of very good ones (like the one I reeled in, and a little bigger). I miss a keeper-sized ling I dive down to the murk layer at 100' or so, and see a good fish off to my left. Take a quick shot on him, and he sounds. He's pulling hard as my shock cord is bottomed out most of the time. I make the mistake of not horsing him enough and he gets to the bottom. I feel him contact a piling, so I dive down to get him out. Find that he already put a bend in my shaft, but the fish is a nice warsaw! I bring him up and end the dive.
The fish weighed in at 48lbs. Nothing to crow about, but not bad for my first warsaw! Yes, I know my shot placement sucked, it was a hasty shot.
We call it a day at this point and take the much-easier ride back to port. Hang out and bbq and drink beers the rest of the day.
I did find a eurasian collared dove sittin' on some eggs by our balcony. She let me get pretty close for a shot (camera ).
Brought back plenty of fish and had a good time.
Got there too late Saturday night, rigged up my gun and slept 2 hours before getting up.
The seas were some of the roughest I've seen up there, Got to the rig and 2 of the 5 divers pussed out Didn't see much down there. There was a little bit of current, but the visibilty was good. There were some nice red snapper at 170' in the murk layer, but they were skittish, and it had been a year since my last rig dive so I was still getting back in the swing of things and didn't feel confident in a shot.
I finish the dive and a few of the guys on the boat were having good luck with pulling up the reds (I saw one come up while I was at 15' doing my safety stop ). I pick up a rod and drop a spanish sardine down to the bottom and crank it back up a few feet. Second piece of bait and I manage to hook up. Catch a nice snap for the fish box! Its a lot of work bringing those guys up to the top!
We finish off our limits in no time and head for another rig. At this point, it's just me and another guy diving. This rig had no current and the visibility was less. Man, it was crawling with red snapper! Big schools hanging in mid-water column ~80' or so. They weren't very skittish at all. I kind of wish we had held off keeping so many reds earlier so we could cherry-pick the nice ones (the beauty of spearguns) for our limits, but how were we supposed to know that before? There weren't any 25lb braggers, but plenty of very good ones (like the one I reeled in, and a little bigger). I miss a keeper-sized ling I dive down to the murk layer at 100' or so, and see a good fish off to my left. Take a quick shot on him, and he sounds. He's pulling hard as my shock cord is bottomed out most of the time. I make the mistake of not horsing him enough and he gets to the bottom. I feel him contact a piling, so I dive down to get him out. Find that he already put a bend in my shaft, but the fish is a nice warsaw! I bring him up and end the dive.
The fish weighed in at 48lbs. Nothing to crow about, but not bad for my first warsaw! Yes, I know my shot placement sucked, it was a hasty shot.
We call it a day at this point and take the much-easier ride back to port. Hang out and bbq and drink beers the rest of the day.
I did find a eurasian collared dove sittin' on some eggs by our balcony. She let me get pretty close for a shot (camera ).
Brought back plenty of fish and had a good time.
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