Sorry for the delayed report but I typed it already and my computer deleted it so here we are at square 1.
I have enjoyed reading and experiencing everyone else?s reports for the last few months as my boat has been landlocked due to trailer and mechanical issues. I have been dying to get out there and glad this sun-mon weather window worked out. My crew for this trip was my girlfriend and 2 greenhorn surf buddys.
We arrived to a spot in 155? Sunday around noon for me to dive before fishing. I had remembered this spot as a long pile of rocks/rubble I wanted to check out. Strong thermocline at 100 ft down water went from blue to grey and then I could see the bottom at 120?. This structure was the distinct outline of a shipwreck. It must have carried the same cargo as the Freddie Day wreck, which seems like cement bags or something similar. There was a separation between the bow and main body of the ship and the giant anchor at the bow was still intact. I had my gun rigged to shoot and land 1 fish per dive and I go into each dive being content with not pulling the trigger before the dive begins. I saw 2 scamps around 10 lbs as I got to the bottom but I was in no rush to pull the trigger. Sadly, those would be the only 2 grouper I saw on this spot. AJs, beeliners, some triggers and many lionfish were the main residents there. Cool yet safe dive and it was time to go up.
I didn?t bring any ballyhoo on this trip and had 3 different lure spreads to experiment with. I trolled between 8-17 knots and we caught fish at all speeds. We fished the 400-600 line with no other boats around. By late afternoon we were 2 for 2 on wahoo with my buddy Cory catching a 25lb wahoo as his first offshore fish on this virgin offshore trip for him. I found a decent weedline trying to form before dark and we decided to stay the night in the area hoping for a nice weedline to start Monday morning.
Awesome report! Almost forgot I was sitting behind a computer for a moment. I too am an offshore virgin, and hope my first trip follows suit. Nice job!
I normally dive nitrox but on these deeper dive i dove air. 145’ is deepest i will do nitrox. The ? mark was some sort of glitch between microsoft word and chasfishing. I have to type the report on Word now b/c i have lost too many reports after typing the whole thing and then my computer manages to delete it. The people on the boat were competent in an emergency situation even though they were green.
I’m curious also.
My dive planner will not recognize air past 135’ and only allows 9 minutes of bottom time at 135’(safety stop required) using straight air.
It seems from fisherman and diver reports that this year has far fewer fish than any previous years. ChasFishing police may say that this spawn year was different and blah blah, but trying to deny the severe decline in snapper/grouper complex fishes off the Carolinas is just ridiculous.
Charles, look around you. There are environmental changes all over the US in the past few years. Last year was one of the poorest seasons that NC had for white marlin (not harvested). Some boats caught 20% of what they caught previously, meanwhile commercial longliners were reporting seeing them in the 100's swimming in the lights just 300 miles offshore. In California, there are places catching wahoo that they have never caught before. In Hawaii, they are setting a record in the number of granders caught. We had a robust sailfish fishery for a few seasons in the fall here. Boats were catching 15 a day. It's not like that anymore... Did all of those get killed off too? Things change. Some years are hotter than others, currents and fish move. Fishing pressure has declined more than ever. If you ask any old timers like Natureboy, Mark Brown, Thunderstar crew, they will ALL tell you that grouper fishing is cyclical. They can tell you exact year spans when grouper fishing sucked and years that it was red hot. If you do your homework, you will understand that spawning for grouper is ultra sensitive to water temperatures in our estuaries. Just a few degrees difference in April in breach inlet (for example) can kill off most of the larvae which won't be noticed until grouper reach harvestable size 4-9 years later.
Don’t make these assumptions. You are just as guilty as NOAA assuming that fisherman are the only variable in the equation. You know better than that. The envi
This is one of the hottest summers on record?? In the SE region or northern hemisphere as a whole??? I don’t know that I have seen that metric released by noaa yet… Seems average to me
This is one of the hottest summers on record?? In the SE region or northern hemisphere as a whole??? I don’t know that I have seen that metric released by noaa yet… Seems average to me
Wasn't really my main point, but oh well... Not sure... My point was that environmental conditions change. Sometimes for the good of fishermen, sometimes for the bad...
But please elaborate on the 165’ dive with air. I’m sort of a rookie, only been diving for the last 6 years and I know I wouldn’t attempt it.
2 weeks ago I talked with a guy who was preparing a mixed air dive for the next day to 300’. That kind of stuff scares the crap out of me.
