# Today was a bust



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Went out today for a quickie and the water was incredible. Clearest blue I've seen in a long, long time. We hit some stuff in the 110' and 90' range around 17 miles out. Found plenty of fish...but seems like we couldn't get to them because they saw us coming a mile away. No bugs, 13" trigger everywhere, huge AJ's...but not looking for AJ. I hesitated a few seconds on a big snapper and it was enough for him to get just out of range. My Buddies had a few snapper pull off the shaft. Me and my dive partner had to abort our second dive because one of the other divers had a run in with a lionfish...and he lost. He was starting to really hurt so we came in. Total score...4 divers- zero fish and one really painful needle stick! But overall a great day off.


----------



## Turtlebait (Dec 3, 2008)

Please let us know how your buddy's lionfish "stick" comes out. - Ric


----------



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Normally very, very talkative...he was totally silent the whole way in. Sucked it up pretty good, but said it felt like a bee sting times 100. I knew he was hurting when he said to please take him to the dock.


----------



## aquatic argobull (Mar 2, 2009)

Sorry to hear about the bad luck. The nice part about spearfishing is that even if you don't get fish, it's still diving.


----------



## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Did yall try getting some hot water from the tell tale? Ive heard that it helps, I KNOW hot water helps with stingray stings.


----------



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

My engine doesn't produce hot enough water. He had to wait till we got back to the dock for relief. Fortunately, he ha a Lortab (for his arthritis) and it finally kicked in a little by the time we got to the dock.


----------



## SaltAddict (Jan 6, 2010)

Sorry you guys had a rough run. We managed to nail a few, but our day was a cluster also. Hope your buddy heals quick. Never had a lionfish jab, but my day is coming I'm sure.


----------



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Salt, did you find that there were times of small fish, but the big ones were few and far in between?


----------



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

I guess I am wondering if the Clear water really did make it harder to kill fish.


----------



## SaltAddict (Jan 6, 2010)

We had one run. Diver gave chase, to no avail. The rest took shelter in the structure... to no avail. They certainly saw us coming.


----------



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

SaltAddict said:


> We had one run. Diver gave chase, to no avail. The rest took shelter in the structure... to no avail. They certainly saw us coming.


That makes me feel better. Been a long time since I've been skunked.


----------



## countryjwh (Nov 20, 2007)

Not to poor salt in the wound but we dove today also. Clear as I have seen in a long time out of dauphin island. 50 ft maybe and blue. Dove two at 115 ft. Limit of 15 lb average snapper and limit of 6 lb average triggers. Saw some jacks but wasn't really wanting them.


----------



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

countryjwh said:


> Not to poor salt in the wound but we dove today also. Clear as I have seen in a long time out of dauphin island. 50 ft maybe and blue. Dove two at 115 ft. Limit of 15 lb average snapper and limit of 6 lb average triggers. Saw some jacks but wasn't really wanting them.


Lol...great job. I'm glad somebody got some slabs! Great job.


----------



## naclh2oDave (Apr 8, 2008)

Hey Jeff, for future reference, there may be another source of hot water on your outboard, I don't know about your motor but on some there ways to pull hot water right from the block. I used this on the Yamaha hose bib to fill a bucket and soak my hand, it was so hot I had to cool it down or get burnt. On my lion fish sting ..... http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f46/labor-day-2013-dive-report-lion-fish-sting-203074/ ...... I settled for second degree burns rather than wait to cool the water. Keep in mind that some Benedryl is also useful and was suggested to me by the DAN representative that I called when I got into cell signal...


----------



## Boondocks (Oct 6, 2007)

Are y'all swimming the whole time? A really good trick is to get off the wreck about to the edge of your viz and kneel in the sand. Reach down and throw up puffs of sand. The big boys can't stand it and come over to investigate. Another good trick is if you are swimming, stay low and look back every now and then. Big snapper and especially big grouper will hang off and come behind you to see what your fins kicked up. You gotta be sneaky and shoot them between your legs backwards because if you turn around they'll be gone quick. Last but not least. Get a big gun. I shoot a Riffe C3S and most days, if I can see him, he's dead. . Hope that helps next trip.


----------



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Boondocks said:


> Are y'all swimming the whole time? A really good trick is to get off the wreck about to the edge of your viz and kneel in the sand. Reach down and throw up puffs of sand. The big boys can't stand it and come over to investigate. Another good trick is if you are swimming, stay low and look back every now and then. Big snapper and especially big grouper will hang off and come behind you to see what your fins kicked up. You gotta be sneaky and shoot them between your legs backwards because if you turn around they'll be gone quick. Last but not least. Get a big gun. I shoot a Riffe C3S and most days, if I can see him, he's dead. . Hope that helps next trip.


You know, I actually thought of your advice from a few years ago and sat on the top of the wreck to wait it out...hoping the big one would come back. After a few minutes I gave up and started my ascent. I forgot to mention that when I hit the bottom I looked at my computer and it was gone. Apparently I felt like it needed to stay on my console instead of on the bottom with me. Since I was diving 31% I knew I was ok on depth but didn't want to push my limit. I shouldn't have hesitated when I had the shot. I guess I just didn't want to injure the fish. I'll try the sand idea next time...which is Saturday.


----------



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

naclh2oDave said:


> Hey Jeff, for future reference, there may be another source of hot water on your outboard, I don't know about your motor but on some there ways to pull hot water right from the block. I used this on the Yamaha hose bib to fill a bucket and soak my hand, it was so hot I had to cool it down or get burnt. On my lion fish sting ..... http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f46/labor-day-2013-dive-report-lion-fish-sting-203074/ ...... I settled for second degree burns rather than wait to cool the water. Keep in mind that some Benedryl is also useful and was suggested to me by the DAN representative that I called when I got into cell signal...


I was going to do that but was concerned about the engine overheating. I'm going to make a hose setup with a valve for the next time this happens.


----------



## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

jspooney said:


> I was going to do that but was concerned about the engine overheating. I'm going to make a hose setup with a valve for the next time this happens.


I ended up with 3 lionfish stings this year. Just a few seconds under hot water made a big difference.


----------

