Went offshore with TRACR2 and Tomcat on Saturday morning. Ran 30mph out to the reef on a flat calm sea and anchored in 80 feet of water. Tom and I suited up for the first dive while Bill steadily cranked in BSB after BSB. We jumped into a brisk 48 degree water at the surface and dropped down to a slightly warmer 56 degree bottom temp. Water was green and murky with some medium size snow silt drifting in the current. Visibility around 25 feet.
Our purpose on this dive was two-fold. First to look for some lobsters and second to kill some Lionfish(invasive species). Once on the bottom there were fish everywhere and some were big 20 plus pound groupers which were somewhat sluggish or at least not as weary as they usually are. With grouper being out of season, Tom and I commenced looking for bugs and Lionfish in every hole we could find. The sand we kicked up seemed to attract the Black and Bank Sea Bass and there was a trail of dust 30 feet long and full of fish looking for something to eat.
This particular reef has a bunch of large shale rock coming out of the sand at a slight angle and has little relief or any large undercuts or holes to speak of…so it didn’t really appear to be great habitat for Lobster or Lionfish…and we didn’t see any…but we did see lots of fish and a good variety…we saw…Many Grouper (all Gags), numerous Black Sea Bass and Bank Sea Bass, a couple of Pigfish, some Porgys, Pinfish, Two Queen Angelfish, Catfish, a few Sheepshead ( only found in crevices…none out in the open as they are usually found), a few Vermillion Snapper, various Wrasses and a Coral Beauty. Every hole and crevice was stuffed to the max with some Sheepshead, a few Grouper, one or two Catfish and some very large BSBs all intermingled in the darkness…
What we didn’t see…Triggerfish, Sharks, Flounders and of course Lobsters and Lionfish.
In between dives we bottom fished and wore out the BSB’s…most were 14-15 inches and fat…
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