Spearfishing Offshore on March 23, 2019© Photos Posted by Mark Primo Miller © Hi-Res Source
The weather finally broke over the weekend so we headed out on a spearfishing adventure. Onboard was Doug Fontaine, Chad Patti, Zac Cooper, and Jay Frasier. Doug and Jay were Scuba Diving while Chad and Zac were freediving. Morning temp was a chilly 42°F but forecasted to go up to 76. Three days earlier the forecasted winds went to 20 knots and I had cancelled the trip. But now they downgraded the forecast and the trip was on again. The seas stayed pretty calm all day as we ventured out to Platform Spirit where the Bluewater Chart showed the clean water line. However, upon arrival, the water was green with a strong current. We decided to go further out to Virgo in 1200 feet of water thinking it had to be clear there, but it wasn't much better. My crew went ahead and made a dive there thinking it would open up, but reported it wasn't all that great visibility wise. Doug picked up a Horse-Eye Jack and then we had to decide between the floaters Ram Powell, Marlin, and Netpune, which we could see on the horizon, or work back to the Northeast in hopes of getting past the bad water. I chose the latter and the first rig looked better but had workers busy on it prohibiting our dive there. We proceeded on and found a shrimp boat pulling on the way. No fish found here but the guy on the deck helped us out with about 10 pounds of 16-20 count Tails. The water looked much better and we stopped at nearby MP259. The water was gorgeous here with no current and we made another dive here. We also chummed up a bunch of Sharks and Chubs as well as some nice Almaco Jacks. The Freedivers had a great time bagging 5 Almacos, a Spanish Hog, a Rock Hind (Strawberry) Grouper, and a couple Mangrove Snapper. The Scuba Divers got a Triggerfish and passed on the Almacos because we already had 5 of them and that was plenty, despite the regulations that allowed 20 with no size limit. It doesn't make sense to have those kind of limits and to close Amberjack completely. It was finally a Great Day on the water after so much wind and rain. The trip encompassed 169 nautical miles, 116 gallons of fuel, and 14 hours.
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