after talking about it for a year, went out with skeeter-G tokill a few fish. stayed close as the weather was iffy. hit some 65’ #s and the bottom was covered with sheeps and juvenile grouper. we ended up with 8 gags and scamps between 24" and 30", a flounder and some sheeps. fun day on the water with our expert boat handler auggie dog.
If it got any better I couldn’t stand it.
Glad we FINALLY got our schedules to match up! Fun to dive with you!
“Auggie Dog”??? I just called her by her real name, all day, yesterday… OOPS. 
Great dives, even in shallow waters. Found some new numbers that we can go back and hit some day. Nice to see that much life, so close in to shore. More medium size gags than I have ever seen before. Lots of spades & sheeps, everywhere. Wish I would have been able to keep (not drop) that slipper lobster! Also… One trigger on hook & line. He didn’t get a chance to bite at us (straight into the cooler).
What we didn’t see: spiny lobsters, hogs, cobia or ARS (we were a bit shallow for most of these).
You didn’t mention the new sport we invented! Gag “Gigging”. Anyone else ever take a big gag without taking a shot? If they are stuck in a hole, why shoot 'em? It was a fun double team, wrestling him out of that hole.
I’ll be working on my Garmin depth sounder this week. Should have 2 working units for our next trip.
Ate grouper last night until I was STUFFED!!! 
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PS: If a fly lost it’s wings, would it be called a walk?
How many Gags did y’all keep?
Marsha
35 Contender
Awesome! How was the vis? Can’t wait to get my Ocean Rhino wet!
“We don’t go fishing, we go catching!”
marshgrass, won’t catch me on that one. three gags and the rest scamps. we always see more gaqs that shallow and we saw dozens of keepers, many 15lbs or so, but we already had our limit on them. there were hundreds of scamps and gags on our two dives that were 16/20". when I dove wed much further south in 95" the ars were everywere! nice to see the closure working already!
If it got any better I couldn’t stand it.
quote:
Originally posted by marshgrassHow many Gags did y’all keep?
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>Turned down a shot on a BEAUTIFUL gag on our second dive. We were at the limit (3) already. We went down for Sheeps, hogs & Triggers, or anything not “grouper” related.
Ed… You couldn’t find a better pic of me???
BTW… Lemon Pepper grouper fingers tonight. Lets do this again, SOON!
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PS: If a fly lost it’s wings, would it be called a walk?
Yo Phin… 
Set the trap boys, we going to pass through them again!!
you’all are making me hungry!
those are 2 of the biggest legal gags i have ever seen
quote:
Originally posted by Scoutin 4 GoodiesYo Phin…
Set the trap boys, we going to pass through them again!!
Yeah?
I see the grouper and snapper are out there this week.
I’ve been saying there were lots out there for some time now…
congratz bug catcher
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Luke 8:22-25
The short term gag forecast looks pretty good over the next few years. The last few dives that I did in 70’ of water were filled with juvenile fish that will be legal over the next few years.
Beyond that, I can’t comment. The most important thing in the long term health gag fishery is the abundance of habitat for juveniles (oyster beds) and shrimp (which is their diet for the first year of their life). Also, inshore esturary temperatures in April\May greatly affect the survival rate of the spawn.
fishbarrels, I didn’t say a 24" gag is a big grouper, just a legal one’ I don’t set the limits I just abide by them! With only 2 dives planned,you shoot what you can the frist dive as you may not see a keeper on your last dive. also there are not that many 20lb grouper in water that shallow this time of year. With the cost of every thing anymore, a few legal grouper, any day is a great day! A day on the water is a great day with good friends. If you can tell the length of a fish by a pic, I’ll bet you are spot on with a ruler!
If it got any better I couldn’t stand it.
fishbarrels, I didn’t say a 24" gag is a big grouper, just a legal one’ I don’t set the limits I just abide by them! With only 2 dives planned,you shoot what you can the frist dive as you may not see a keeper on your last dive. also there are not that many 20lb grouper in water that shallow this time of year. With the cost of every thing anymore, a few legal grouper, any day is a great day! A day on the water is a great day with good friends. If you can tell the length of a fish by a pic, I’ll bet you are spot on with a ruler!
If it got any better I couldn’t stand it.
Nothing wrong with taking smaller gags, folks. If a fish is 24-28", I think they eat better anyway, and from a sustainability standpoint, it is arguably less impactful on stocks to take a younger fish than an older fish out of the population.
Remember these fish generally don’t become males until they’re older/bigger. Targeting smaller ones is just fine IMO, and we all kind of happen to do just that because we are recreationally fishing/diving and limited by sea conditions, current, depth, tackle, etc… Once or twice a year I will try and catch a trophy gag grouper, but it doesn’t make any sense to try more often than that considering that conditions rarely allow for it in the first place. Now that they’ve closed down grouper during the time of year that the bigger ones are most catchable/shootable, the short term forecast, as skinnee says, for big grouper coming to the docks on recreational boats is bleak. Long term, common sense will tell you that the shallow water groupers, which we all know were doing so much better even before the closure, are going to start showing up as lots of 10-15lb groupers being caught by most everyone that half way puts their time in for them.
Currently, the bigger ones are naturally very well protected from hook and/or spear by where they’re living. I’m talking about the crazy type structure, depths and currents they live in/under that only a few of us can dive or fish only when conditions are ideal. The government wants all the grouper in every depth to be huge though. Who can argue with that? That sounds great. Forget the fact that it could throw an ecosystem out of balance to have a bunch of very large groupers everywhere. What they’re going to eat is a mystery to me… Especially when overpopulated red snapper have taken over everything. Maybe grouper and snapper will learn to eat lionfish. (sarcasm)
I’m being serious about wondering where all the food for these fish stocks that they want to increase 33 fold, for example, is going to come from if they actually did
quote:
Originally posted by PhinForget finding any tomtates anywhere as well.
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Luke 8:22-25
GASP*
If the comedy channel on your XM goes out switch your VHF to 68.
quote:I have caught plenty of groupers in the 20lb. range,this time of year in those depths.
Originally posted by Bug Catcherfishbarrels, I didn’t say a 24" gag is a big grouper, just a legal one’ I don’t set the limits I just abide by them! With only 2 dives planned,you shoot what you can the frist dive as you may not see a keeper on your last dive. also there are not that many 20lb grouper in water that shallow this time of year. With the cost of every thing anymore, a few legal grouper, any day is a great day! A day on the water is a great day with good friends. If you can tell the length of a fish by a pic, I’ll bet you are spot on with a ruler!
If it got any better I couldn’t stand it.
limit or not,those around legal size are tossed back,not enough meat for me.
I am sure the “Amy Marie” tosses back all the 24" gags they catch on bandits.
.
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
bandit fishing in 65ft.?
how weak.
He was out there Sunday…
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NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
jeez