# St. Patty's Day Diving/Fishing



## MillerTime (Jul 6, 2011)

Heads up...This is a long post.
So we had a couple things that we needed to accomplish on this trip. My dad came back to visit and I really needed to put him on some fish. I took him out when he was here back in January and all he got were some small porgies. He has been dying to reel in some big fish after fishing for bass for all his life. This was also going to be the first time that I have dove since last August I think. We had myself Troy (Cajun Spearit), Jeremy (coolbluestreak) and Brian diving while my dad was going to be the bubble watcher and fishing. We left the house around 0715, stopped for a few supplies and headed to Brooks Bridge where the boat was already in the water waiting for us. We loaded up and proceeded to SLOWLY make our way to the Destin pass. I don't remember how long it actually took but I was going extremely slow and having to use my GPS to figure out where I was going. The fog didn't break up until we hit the Destin bridge and from there until the first couple miles was pretty good. At one point while we were running we started to smell this really sweet smell that was almost like green tea. Well right after that we passed through this slime/sludge looking stuff on the surface which every claimed was BP oil but who knows what it was. The fog was really weird the entire day. It would get really sunny at times and you could see pretty far but then 5 minutes later you couldn't see 100 feet away. 
As soon as we pulled up to the spot the fish finder was lighting up with fish all through the water column. I dropped down a red/white jig just to see what was biting. It was a little bit as I felt a hit and then went slack and then it hit again. I handed the rod off to my dad and he wasn't quite prepared for the strength of these fish so I had to get him a fighting belt. Once we got the fish to the surface we knew why. It was too short AJs that had been each hooked on to one of the assist hooks on the jig.
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The next drop down, I hooked up on to a really fat snapper on the jig. 
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We spent a few more minutes fishing but at this point it was time to get wet. 
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The plan was to do 1-2 dives out at the TimberHoles and then maybe another one at a wreck in hopes of some AJs.
Each time we had all four of us diving but sticking in pairs of two to cover more ground. The first dive we chased a bunch of Cubrera out of their holes and Troy and I ended up shooting one a piece while Jeremy still wasn't sure of what we were shooting at. Troy shot one at the end that ended up escaping through the rocks. I think Jeremy and Brian ended getting one lobster though. 
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We spent the next 2 hours fishing while we were waiting to go back down and caught a bunch of fat Red Snapper (oh wait there aren't any of them, nevermind) triggers and baby AJs. Our second dive I gave up on searching for lobster as there weren't that may down there (or I was too lazy to look real hard). I shot a decent sized Cubrera right away and it took me forever to get it out of the rocks. I had to do a little bit or rearranging of the rocks to be able to get him after thinking I might be losing a shaft. We I got him and at this point Troy had shot another one as well. As I was paying attention to what he was doing I saw a couple big Cubreras out of the corner of my eye. I spotted him under the rocks and blasted him. He was struggling pretty hard and as I forgot my knife, brought him over to Troy to put an end to him. When we got to the surface we found out that Jeremy got the Cubrera that Troy had shot earlier. We started fishing again as we weren't sure where we were going to dive yet. I dropped down a pink 100g jig and it got hit on the first jerk and whatever hit it took off like a freight train. I initially thought it was a really good AJ but this just started stripping line off and running straight away from the boat. I figured it was a shark at this point because after that long initial run it was basically like pulling dead weight up from the bottom. No one else seemed to think it was a shark. We we got it to the surface and depending on the species planned to bring it home. I am not that good at identifying sharks but as best as we could determined it was a sandbar and my ID books says that it is illegal to harvest sandbars. 
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Oh well. Jeremy decided to become fish food and get in the water to film it. After one more strong run I got him back to the boat and the line snapped right behind the jig on the leader. At this point it was getting pretty late and Jeremy and Brians computers were telling them not to dive so we decided to head in and Troy and I were going to dive one of the Army tanks on the way in. After a lot of maneuvering around to get on the spot we dropped down and only had to swim a little bit to get to one. There wasn't that much activity on there. A few decent sized triggers, some angelfish, a few grouper, lots of big sheepshead and then we spotted the biggest two snappers that we have ever seen hiding out in the tank. Checked out the tank a little more and I shot one sheepie and we headed back up. I was wearing a 5 mil out at the TimberHoles and wasn't cold until the latter part of the second dive but at the tanks Troy and I both went up early because we were so cold. Headed back and were treated to a nice dolphin/sunset cruise while plenty of people riding in the head boats next to us were paying for that privilege. 
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Got back to the house at about 2000 divided up the fish and everyone headed home. 
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It was a great day and I can't wait for more good weather days to be able to get out more. On a side note I bought a Pro Angler recently and have been out in it all the time (and still love going out in it) but that doesn't compare to the fun of being out in the boat and diving/fishing all day long.


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## Cajun Spearit (Jun 3, 2011)

Looks like we posted around the same time...Your post is much better...go figure. Thanx for the trip Brandon!!! Great time.


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## MillerTime (Jul 6, 2011)

Cajun Spearit said:


> Looks like we posted around the same time...Your post is much better...go figure. Thanx for the trip Brandon!!! Great time.


I looked at the times and we both posted at 0918. No problem on the trip. Glad you had fun and remember you are welcome anytime. We hope to be there on Saturday.


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## Cajun Spearit (Jun 3, 2011)

Cool man...you should have my address...


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## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

Great post. Thanks!


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## coolbluestreak (Jun 27, 2011)

Wow, Dude! talk about play by play, I'm having flash backs right now!

Thanks again for the ride!:thumbsup:


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## Cajun Spearit (Jun 3, 2011)

You know, I hear folks say that you should replace your speargun bands every year...I always thought, "yeah right". Well, what happens on the first dive? Two bands pop on the first load!!! Sometimes Cajuns only learn through experience...


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## coolbluestreak (Jun 27, 2011)

I know yours broke but, I could swear that mine lost power/speed since last fall, because I missed everything that was moving fwd. 
Maybe I’m just out of practice???


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## MillerTime (Jul 6, 2011)

coolbluestreak said:


> I know yours broke but, I could swear that mine lost power/speed since last fall, because I missed everything that was moving fwd.
> Maybe I&#146;m just out of practice???


I am going to go with you being out of practice as the reason why.


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## coolbluestreak (Jun 27, 2011)

Brandon, what kind of rod and reel were you using when you hooked that shark?


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## MillerTime (Jul 6, 2011)

coolbluestreak said:


> Brandon, what kind of rod and reel were you using when you hooked that shark?


Shimano Saragosa 10000 on a Shimano Trevala jigging rod. I had 65lb power pro with an 80lb mono leader and a 100g jig. Got everything except the jig from outcast.


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## ButlerCoOwner (Oct 10, 2008)

Great Post on what sounds like a phenomenal day on the water!


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