Went a bit out west the other day and had a great day diving. Cat came with us so I got some photos although she did not take many photos of the fish.
We finally had some clear water first time in over a month. We planned on going west to Cosgrove shoal but when we hit clear water halfway there we stopped and dove it. The day started slow- first I snapped one of my fins. I dropped off the side of the boat and the fin felt a little funny, then J had a grouper tangled in a rock and while I was untangling the fish I kicked a rock and that was that, no more fin.
I am beginning to think that the fancy fins are just not cut out for my type of diving. For one they seem to always come apart , I don’t think there is an actual glue that can really bond fiberglass or carbon fiber to rubber. So basically you are just waiting for the fins to fall apart. People glue them with super glue but that just breaks down in salt water. I have watched many pairs of fancy fins now either fall apart mid trip or break in half. I know I should probably be more careful with the fins but I can buy a cheap pair of cressi garas and beat the living crap out of them and they will last years. I don’t know what I will try next, people say the diveRs are unbreakable but I haven’t yet pulled the trigger on them.
Anyways the vis was good and the fish were plentiful. For once I out was out-shooting J, which has become pretty rare. I got two reds that were both over 10 pounds . We also shot numerous small blacks, mangroves, yellow jacks, cero mackerel, porgies, hogfish and muttons. There are huge schools or mangroves on pretty much every large piece of relief on the reef.
J did a tank dive at the end of the day and shot a 20# black and 12# cubera which was a pretty good way to end the day. We saw a decent sized hammer head but Cat did not get a any photos. She is getting burnt out on taking the same photo over and over again. Its like here is 3# mangrove, here is 12# black, here is a 2# hog. Its like the same fish over and over again. I really got to make sure we have an awesome trip next time she is with us.
My UHT shaft is working pretty awesome I have shot at least 3 or 4 small black groupers with it and it has not bent. Which isn’t bad for a 7.2 mm shaft. I have also shot through a couple yellow jacks and barracuda and gotten it stuck in the reef behind them. This is often is something that bends shafts. The fish takes off and since the shaft is stuck, that’s it.
I also connected this site to a facebook page, probably something I should have done years ago but finally got around to. Although I have not been really coming up with good photos for this site recently and now I will have to come up with even more.