All I saw was red....

[flounderpounder225]

Beautiful out there today, headed to the USS Oriskiny at 0530, 27 Miles south.  When we got there, only other boat was a commercial snapper boat, he was anchored near the island structure on the flight deck.  Apparently some divers have attached an anchor ball about 6' underwater, and attached to the island, so we attached some lead to the bow line, and took a few attempts but draped the line around the bouy, and secured ourselves to it, beats an anchor in 275 feet of water.  Then a bit later 2 dive boats pulled up, they were a little surprised, and unhappy, that a "fishing boat" was using "their" mooring device  :tongue: Kind of gets my hair up, they can pull up and anchor 30' off my boat and proceed to do their thing, but what happens when I pull up to them on anchor... how much clearance do I have to maintain  

So we left the "Big O" around 1030, and hit some rubble piles I know of, WOW... I have never seen the Red Snapper like this before... they were schooling around the surface, and big ones... 10-15 pounders, with a few nice big black snapper mixed in.  Well we started chumming the water and it became a feeding frenzy.  Hooked up several 12-15 lb red snapper, but had to release (1 June Season opens) but got one real nice black in the boat, about 4 pounds.  Boat ran like a champ, a little over 2 MPG, 5 guys, loaded down heavy with gear in 2-3 going out, average 28-30 MPH @ 4200 can't complain.  Here they are, 23 Mingos and one Black.. Great day.  

[pete]

Wow! Nice catch Marc!Those are good eats!too bad theyre illegal on tha atlantic side.way to go!

[slvrlng]

MMMMM!!!!  Mingo!!!  and a mango!

[flounderpounder225]

Wow! Nice catch Marc!Those are good eats!too bad theyre illegal on tha atlantic side.way to go!

Pete, you guys call them b-liners... those aren't illegal over on your side are they??

[Glock Diver]

Nice day, Marc!!!

I find myself on both sides of that little situation of "who was here first"... I know exactly what you mean!  When I'm fishing, the last thing I want is another boat pulling RIGHT up on my spot.  When I'm diving, same thing... but if I see that another boat has already staked out a dive location, I will find another.  Not worth risking somebody getting hurt.  

Regarding those mooring balls- there are 3 or 4 that are about 20' under the surface (at least they were a few years ago when I dived the Oriskany).  I think the local dive shops installed them, but I sure as hell would use one if I found it was unoccupied!  I wonder why the county doesn't just deploy surface buoys?  In Key Largo, the wreck of the USS Spiegel Grove (510' feet. Not quite as large as the Mighty O), has about 8 surface balls, and they're shared by everyone... divers and anglers.


*Also- if you ever DO need to anchor on the Oriskany, and it's safe to do so, the tower is only about 70' deep, which wouldn't be too bad.

[gran398]

WOW! What a nice catch...you guys tore'em up!

Glad you had a pretty day too....and sounds like the boat did great...now when you get to work this week, you can close your eyes....and get those warm fuzzy feelings.

Mike, know what you mean about offshore diplomacy...but most places, its first come first served, just as you said.

The guys that do it every day for a living... they chose to do it...and they aren't King Neptune, they have no more right to a spot as any of the rest of us.

You should see them around here...it can get nasty.

Great catching Marc....and a good week to all!

[pete]

Marc,guess the FWC calls those vermilion snapper,10" in the gulf 12" in the Atlantic,they sure look good!

[John Jones]

Nice haul Marc.  

[jdupree]