# Chunky Love Rides Again



## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

After a long hiatus...however you spell that funny latin word....We got out and wet out gear.

My wetsuit had mildew on it..no joke. I was worried when I took the first puff thru my regulator I might suck in a giant spider and a whole nest of eggs.

Was Brandy, Steve(Bo-Hunter), MArk, (Mudbug, but no forum affiliation) and Stephie (Aqua-Huntress).

Yes, she is an official member of Chunky Love...poor girl had no idea what she was into.

Well... first off, I got to say, Steph is a true hardcore passionate fisherwoamn. She pulled a huge king and tried to keep a 4' cuda off that gave us such a good show I could not tear myself away to get the video camera. The cuda massacred her big king like a prison riot..., and kept bringing the remains to the surface right to the boat over the next few minutes, as he devoured it piece by piece. Was a spectacular show.

Later in the day, she hooked up with a monster something righ as we where climbing the ladder at the end of our dive. She was on 12# test, and delicately fought for about an hour, give and take. I could never have the patience for that, thats why my shark rods are spooled with 180# braided test.

After a valiant fight, including water brought to her, it broke her off. Was a great sight to see though.

For the record, Steph holds her own on the boat. Have had guys on the boat that don't take care of there own gear, never pull or drop anchor, make a mess, never help out, etc. Not Steph. She not only took care of her own, but helped everyone else on the boat with there issues too. Great fisheperson to have along. Thanx Steph.

So, to the diving. Good 50 foot viz on all 3 dives. 60 some degree thermocline that will pucker yer stones. Be advised to where at least a full 3 mill suit.

Legal fish were surprisingly sparse after all these long closures. I was expecting to be overwhelmed with 50 pound and better jacks. Not so. I don't know why, but we jus couldn't find the big fish we hoped for and load up.

Flying fish were everywhere on the way from one spot to the next. As we sat in the front of the boat while underway, schools of 20 or so would spread out to there sides of us, skipping a god 50 yards or more. Was beautiful. Along with a behemoth turtle at one point in the day.

Didn't see a single shark, which was pleasing, but surprising. 

Well...fish killin.

This was the first time I got to shoot my new custom made DeeathStick Enclosed track gun I ordered a while back.

OMG. Yes, I'm a grown man and I just typed OMG. Brandy was 15 feet away one time, and didn't even know I shot, compared to my Riffe I had before. 3 brand new 22" (2" shorter than stock) and 5/8" (compared to 9/16" stock bands), and the gun does not even flinch with any recoil. My old was halfway between a 12 and 20 gauge.

I shot 4 fish yesterday, and all 4 shots were 1-2" behind the eye...it shoots like a laser. I love it. And I got it rigged up with a kill spike and ridin' rig.

Final talley for me and Brandy? Brandy got 2 nice JAcks...wich I just could not seem to find...in the 30 pound range.

I was a lil pissed, but managed to nab a lone 5 pound trigger, and then on my way up at about 30 feet to do my safety stop...it all came together...

A school of cudas came in, and then I saw one with this big stupid Pac-Man lookin smile on his face.

Bitch Please.

Swung my gun up and around, he jetted behind me and came in over my shoulder. He lined up for a split second, and that was all I needed.

48" of steel thru his skull. He rolled right over. Beautiful.

The he opened his eyes, and came to life. I immediately clipped the ridin' rig to the anchor line (make fun of us yankees...some of the crazy stuff we do has advantages!) and he shot away and down (in a 137'...thank you ridin rig). Cudas surrounding him came to life, and I crapped myself thinking of Stephs fish earlier and please for the love of god don't let my cobe get ate!!!

Well...guess there was a nuff commotion and jerkin on the anchor rope..cuz Brandy realized what was goin done, and sunk another shaft straight down thru the top of his head to put him to sleep to make the cudas disinterested..
It worked perfect.

To the back of the boat we go, cobe with 2 shafts tossed up on the dive platform, and BAM!!!! It was on. He came to life one more time, itched and rolled, and tried to take everyone on the boat out with the shafts he was slingin around! Few clubs to the head from Mark, and he was in the cooler. Sweeeeeeet. Cobia ended up being 44"

Well...heres the pics. And nevermind I only got 2 fish in the pics, and said the gun shot perfect 4 times. I did say we were gonna eat...right?

By the way...best thing I have ever heard said on the boat....

Clay: Hey Steph..sorry it's 8:30pm and we're just rollin into the dock...hope we didn't wreck any plans you had this evening.

Stephanie: Oh no...I'm just happy I made it back alive.

Chunky Love Rides Again. We Don't Die...We Just Multiply.


































We took so many pics cuz it has been forever since we killed fish. We were scared to dive...thinkin we forgot how.

Time for bed. Brandy and Wendy just left a bit ago, and I am stuffed full of obia on the grill, with a smoked paprika and secret marinade grilled over mesquite chunks, with a spicy dragon dipping sauce. When I grill up the otehr fillet, You gott make it over Stephanie for all your help on the boat.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Couple more pics


Stephanie learning the finer points of incorrectly reading a GPS.










Remorawhat? Looks like a coia to me. Sure we can't eat it?









Steph with her hour long valient fight. Still wish I woulda seen what it was.








Perfect sun commin down as we just start to head back in,


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Bohunter holdin down the back of the bus.
View attachment 10480



AK-47 Mark. Don't even ask why we call the East Coast commercial sperfisherman that.
View attachment 10481


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Bohunter holdin down the back of the bus.








AK-47 Mark. Don't even ask why we call the East Coast commercial sperfisherman that.


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## Breeze Fabricators (Oct 2, 2007)

Nice kill spike! Did you make it yourself?


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## markhsaltz (Aug 2, 2010)

We were on our out to shoot some flounder and saw ya'll in the bay chatting with another boat. Ya'll had a late start but it still seems to have worked out. nice pics...


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## TONER (Mar 25, 2008)

Great report / pics sounds like a great day . How far out ?


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Clay, I believe the biggest reason for the lack of big fish in numbers is the bait was directly affected by the oil and dispersant so the fish have to swim elsewhere to look for food enough to sustain them.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

By the Navy Base Mark? We were stopped talking to Litecatch, was a lil late..we thought we'de let the fish sleep in to on the day they would die...haa haa.

Bout 25 miles from the pass Chad.

Tim...Didn't even need weldin yet from how hard I had beat it into that hinge. Worked like a champ.

as far as the fish go, I heard all sorts of great reports a couple weeks ago before the storm, so I was really surprised we didn't see what we were expecting


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

Awesome! wish I didnt have that 3:30 appt. good talking to you the other day clay, seem it's been a while. Thaks for posting the pics!


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## BOHUNTER1 (Feb 18, 2008)

It was like vietnam brother!!!

Man the day was weird for me... 70ft dive and i was spent for 2-3 hours...unreal.. cant say thats ever happened to me... but finally rolled around to swim again. Top 35feet was very warm and high in particulate, below was clearer and few degrees cooler then a thermocline that was freezing back to about 20 ft off thebottom was warm and inthe sand it was chilly again! 

I tried to follow Clay around with the camera. I finally quit flinching... LOL But wasnt a lot of action. Saw some awesome angel fish, and other tropicals. Cuda everywhere and small AJs. Saw some of the illusive endangered Red Snapper too. Overall it was a killer day, gulf was slick as glass all day and it was just beautiful. Great people to be around, if you ever get a chance to go with Mark, bring some Ridilyn for him. I swore the guy was an auctioneer!! LOL ....

Great fun on the Chunky Love!


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## markhsaltz (Aug 2, 2010)

Clay, I heard you were a nice guy. Sweet of you to let the fish sleep in before putting them to sleep permanently. Remind me not to piss you off..hahaha


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## markhsaltz (Aug 2, 2010)

what kind of housing/camera do you use? I have a great housing but the camera is broken and obsolete. Need to figure how to adapt it for another camera or just seel the dang thing..I'd like to see the video. I still have my Nik. IV with Nikkor 15mm and an old Oceanis 150 strobe. Guess I'm having to relearn the formulas for shooting film underwater...


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Using a bonica HDD underwater video with 180' depth housing. I have a new computer that will be delivered this week to open the files, and I have abunch of manatee footage I will be making a movie out of, and I will get it posted. Will be selling the camera soon, maybe for about $400.


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## Florabama (Oct 19, 2007)

Nice shootin, Clay, Brandy, Steph and all. Sweet cobe and AJs.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Just glad I remebered how to dive still Rich! Ready to rock now.


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