# 8-8-10 Fishing and Diving



## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Our first trip offshore (Pensacola) since the oil spill and the reopening of state waters. We couldn't keep any of the red snapper we caught (closed) but for how little we actually fished the bite was hot. We never had a bait down longer than 30 seconds. We made 2 dives and the bottom was not oily, the wrecks were full of life as usual. Hopefully things are on the upside. We documented every fish minus 6 red snapper Stumpknocker caught and the ones we speared (Scamp, Lane, Magrove). Ianr also caught a 6 ft bull shark, but the camera was dead. All fish were caught in state waters at two very popular public spots. We saw two other boats all day, seas were nice. There was a big storm over land, but it never quite hit us. There is a massive thermocline at 35 ft, I froze on the first dive and actually wore a 3 mil for the second! Water was murky on top, but 30 to 40 ft of visibility on bottom. The thermocline made it very dark down there, the second dive we made about 630 and it was so dark (but clear) I wish I would have had a light. Stumpknocker also hooked a 100 lb or so sea turtle in the shell, it put up a heck of a fight before we realized it was a turtle! We were getting ready to cut the line close to the leader when the hook pulled off his shell and he swam away fine 




























The Turtle






























































































































Arm's length trick


----------



## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Update... just got an email from Nick (Stumpknocker) he cleaned the Lane Snapper, and found an icky oily spot in the flesh. He said the Mingo and Mangrove looked good... here are the pics


----------



## karma (Oct 26, 2007)

looking like fun.. Looks like a something iffy and i would assume just toss that fish haha! doubt it is related to the oil..


----------



## Fiver (Nov 6, 2008)

Did that black spot smell like oil? i wouldn't expect a contaminated fish to have thick globs of oil deposited into the flesh...


----------



## Mikvi (Mar 11, 2008)

Josh

Did Nick ever do anything with the AJ and the IGFA?


----------



## captainblack (Jul 4, 2010)

did that fish have any scarring or marks of any kind externally near where the flesh inside was like that? if so thats probably from some sort of infection, ive caught a few different types of fish and when ive cleaned them ive seen stuff kind of like that and usually there was a scar of some kind where it had been foul hooked before or had been attacked by another fish of some kind, i forgot the name but theres a couple types of parasites that can get in the flesh from infected wounds on fish that turn the white flesh nasty black and greenish colors

thumbs up on the rest though, looks like a blast, i am boatless, so i dont get much offshore snapper fun


----------



## baymotorsports (Feb 28, 2008)

looks like fun.....

Glad to see that pursuit is still truckin along.....

wish i would have kept that garmin


----------



## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Fiver said:


> Did that black spot smell like oil? i wouldn't expect a contaminated fish to have thick globs of oil deposited into the flesh...


 
It was my buddy who cleaned it, and he said he didn't smell it but it oozed out like oil would have. I guess it wasn't oil, thankfully.


----------



## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Mikvi said:


> Josh
> 
> Did Nick ever do anything with the AJ and the IGFA?


 
Hey Mike-

No, he has really been dragging his feet about it, I was just telling him today he needs to finish submitting the record stuff. We'll see...


----------



## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

adamc said:


> looks like fun.....
> 
> Glad to see that pursuit is still truckin along.....
> 
> wish i would have kept that garmin


 
Thanks Adam, yeah the Pursuit has been awesome! It looks alot different now than when you sold it to me, it's blue and white and is named Trigger Happy, plus I compounded it, waxed it, painted the outboards and got her looking good. She has been a proven warrior, been 90+ miles offshore to the rigs 3 times, all over Pcola diving and fishing, and to the Florida Keys in the gulf stream last month. Yeah, that Garmin is a great unit... do you have a boat now?


----------



## baymotorsports (Feb 28, 2008)

FenderBender said:


> Thanks Adam, yeah the Pursuit has been awesome! It looks alot different now than when you sold it to me, it's blue and white and is named Trigger Happy, plus I compounded it, waxed it, painted the outboards and got her looking good. She has been a proven warrior, been 90+ miles offshore to the rigs 3 times, all over Pcola diving and fishing, and to the Florida Keys in the gulf stream last month. Yeah, that Garmin is a great unit... do you have a boat now?


 
yea another pursuit, 25ft with twin 150's, good bit newer than yours but i have to admit the center/cuddy rides much better. glad to hear unlike most people your actually using the boat, I sure miss having that cabin to get out of the rain/bright sun.....

you still working offshore?


----------

