# USS Massachusets



## softbutchharley

Made our first shiny boat trip up to Pensacola pass, and found the Mass buoy and the wreck. Question now is.......where is 3 barges from there ? No gps on board yet but the Mass was easy to see. WOW !! a fool speeding thru there could quite easily SLAM that thing. Good luck at night with that...anywho, it took about 30-40 min to get there from Oriole beach ramp in sound. Got a general go over for the boat at shop. GPS install..general seaworthinesschecks and all equipment, then will be doing the Pensacola to Navarre trolling dance


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## Splittine

You won't find the Three Barges or any other wreck in the gulf without electronics.


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## MrFish

Splittine said:


> You won't find the Three Barges or any other wreck in the gulf without electronics.


Flippers and a mask?

You can find 3 Barges without electronics. Just go to the other 40 boats anchored up on the East side of the pass.


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## MrFish

And be aware. The Mass Buoy isn't on the wreck.


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## Boardfeet

And Yes it has been hit before. By experienced captains


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## softbutchharley

*great feedback..ty all *

Of course we will not find an underwater structure just by driving around looking in the water  I was just curious how far from USS Mass and what general direction. Yes, I know the gps point for 3 barges, and I can read a map and know the location in the gulf. I can understand a mileage scale on the map and can even draw a line on google maps that gives the distance  was being lazy and hoping to hear from others about their experience driving there...time it took....etc . GPS will be installed soon and I would not even try the "look for boats" option, unless the boats were obvious on the water. We saw the buoy and yes it is off to the east I believe it is from the wreck. A very wide berth and idle speed in that area for me. NOT experienced obviously  I'm excited about being able to get to a place that is visible from the water to fish for some fairly deep water fish. Neither of us kayak, but for the new reef here in Navarre kayak is going to be a great option for anglers  Jealous  my profile has a pic of our boat. This is plenty of boat for close in gulf fishing in good weather. I use the smaller boat for sound and river. TY again for your feedback peeps. Always appreciated.


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## Boat-Dude

Spade fish, some times. You cant beat a gamin though.


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## delta dooler

It's been 20 years since I've been to the 3 barges, there wasn't a buoy on it then.... and it's about 7-8 miles ESE from the pass, I don't think you could see the boats on it from the Mass.


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## flappininthebreeze

It's around 4 miles east of the pass, about20 or so minutes at a good cruise. Lots of boats, but lots of reef.


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## softbutchharley

*Ty !!!!*

Again, ty to all for your feedback. I was speaking of the buoy over by the Mass. We gonna chill close to home for a while....watching Irma....got into a redfish mad house on the pier this morning. Spanish, mangroves, and redfish all over. Pier rat for me for a lil while then we hit the flats for trout again. ahhhh....so many fish and so lil time  btw...my partner and I got the reds...hence the 2 slots


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## sealark

The Mass buoy is about 150 yards south of the Mass. The 3 barges is about 7 miles east south east from the pass. There's also the gilcrest reef to the west of the barges. Just get the public numbers and a GPS put the nimbers in and drive the boat to the numbers and watch the fathometer. When you get a mark on fathometer anchor up and fish. Keep my name handy. You will need it sooner than later.


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## Burnt Drag

I've never tried it, but I've been told that captains without loran or other instruments were able to align the light house perfectly between the 2 water towers on the base and drag a 1/4" chain .... when the chain hits the wreck, click click clic there it is...


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## CaptGene

East East and slightly south. Like the other person said...look for all the other boats. It’s 4 miles or so off the beach.


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## sealark

Burnt Drag said:


> I've never tried it, but I've been told that captains without loran or other instruments were able to align the light house perfectly between the 2 water towers on the base and drag a 1/4" chain .... when the chain hits the wreck, click click clic there it is...


Thats the cuts Jim. Ran them a lot back in the 70s. Liberty ship is on just about the same angle as barges.


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## captken

*As far as I know, there has never been a buoy right on the Mass.*

I can certainly see how you could hit the Mass, especially in fog. A buoy wouldn't help much in heavy fog. I don't think RADAR would help much seeing the Mass unless it was slick calm.

Duffers shouldn't be out in the fog. If you are totally relying on electronics, one day you are gonna be bit on the ass by something you aren't gonna like.

In this area (Yankeetown) you can hit rocks 5 or miles off the beach. Before LORAN C, nobody went fishing when fog was in the forecast. There weren't a lot of pressure (people) back then and our fishing was fantastic. I place the blame for all of our short limits and closed seasons squarely on the advances made in marine electronics. Without good electronics, lots of folks wouldn't venture offshore, even in good weather. Great electronics are making folks more adventurous. Lots of folks don't even look at their compass or even know how to use it if they did. It would surprise me if there more than a dozen or so folks on this site who know how to swing a compass or even know what the term means. I'll bet there are even a few boats in P'cola with fishing pliers or a knife laying within an inch of the compass. 

I'm sure we caught at least 300 hundred billfish out of Destin and P'cola between 1963 and 1975 and seldom even turned the LORAN A on except to plot our course back to the hill. I didn't even have LORAN A most of the time. I started out with an old APN9 then graduated to a Nelco. We also caught lots of Snapper but I never liked Snapper fishing much.

Down here we are blessed with murky water with viz seldom good enough for the reef rapers. We also have a healthy population of big sharks that I would not want to meet in 3' viz.


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## softbutchharley

Captken
TY for the report. Do you know capt Dave Krunkle down there ? Did you ever know my brother, Mike (mouse) Moyse...owner of Mouse Trap and local VFW commander ? Touching base with Ingliss area folks makes me feel good, like I'm somehow closer to my bro. TY sir and stay salty..


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## captken

*Keep my name handy. You will need it sooner than later. 09-05-2017 05:37 PM*

I love this!

As best I can recall, The Casino rubble reef was the only artificial reef around in 1970. I had shoreline ranges on lots of stuff east of the pass. I didn't fish west too much back then. I docked at Rusty's from 69 to early 75. I moved down here on Valentine's Day in 1975 and I haven't fished up there since.

My range book had about 20 Pensacola numbers in it. I'm sure most of the range Markers (for lack of a better word) are either gone or unrecognizable these days. With a hand bearing compass, good binoculars, and a stop watch, I could put my boat right on top of a single car body or bundle of tires without too much circling. 

The new side scan sonars make it too dang easy to find new bottom. Chart paper for an old paper machine was expensive so most folks didn't run their sonar full time like we do now.


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## JaYoung

*GPS Locations or GPS Listing of wrecks*

New to the area, would like a list of GPS locations to wrecks and good fishing holes in the Pensacola area. 
Thank you so much


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## H2OMARK

JaYoung said:


> New to the area, would like a list of GPS locations to wrecks and good fishing holes in the Pensacola area.
> Thank you so much


MBT Divers site. These will put you close but some of the smaller things have moved around some.

https://www.mbtdivers.com/divesitespensacola.html


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## Hustler II

Down load the Navionics app to your phone. I think it's under $20. It is dead on and has all the public numbers and will tell what you need to know. It's a portable gps without the sonar. I have a nice machine and I still pull out my phone and use the app from time to time.


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## AndyS

Splittine said:


> You won't find the Three Barges or any other wreck in the gulf without electronics.


Sure you will .... just look for all the other boats.


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## JaYoung

Thanks for everything guys. I opened up the link to the mbt divers site. looks very promising H2OMark. I will also check out the App Hustler II.
Thanks again


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