Finally had a break in the weather and got out yesterday. Catherine was able to join us for the first time in awhile which was nice. We headed out a bit late because JP had to work in the morning. Also joining us was Stoner, and Julian.

The first couple spots we hit on the reef line were dead, nothing really going on. We tried out a little deader and it was dead too. Except for a grouper here and there, there wasn’t much going on. After that we dove a wreck in 80 feet. Stoner blew his shot on a Cubera. I shot a big hog on the deck but he was so close to the metal the shaft didn’t go all the way through and I left him on the deck. He wasn’t there when I dove again, He either went into the wreck or was sucked in by one of the three huge jewfish that were shadowing us.

After that we went deep and looked for wahoo, we didn’t see any. We did shot some small amber jacks for the smoker, a couple cudas and I shot a nice yellow tail.  After a short time, some people who will not be named, wanted to go shallow.

Then we went shallow inside the reef to some nice rocks they were covered in fish. Primarily groupers. Jon Paul shot a nice mutton that was probably around 12#, Stoner shot a couple smaller muttons and some hogs. I shot a couple hogs and a big porgy. Julian’s ear was bothering him from diving deep so he sat it out. We drifted around on the live bottom inside the reef and just saw grouper after grouper, and tons of baby hogs but not much else.

The water wasn’t really clear anywhere but the lack of current made it really fun to dive on the wreck. Wondering if this light current will be around once the wind stops again.

Been some great diving this past week. Was able to make it out one day with Cat so I got some photos. My friend Julian is visiting and we have gotten a bunch of diving in this week. The conditions have been great , clear water , light current not a lot wind.  Really just fantastic.

One day we Julian, Cat and I dove the reef to the west. It wasn’t really that fishy but we had a great time. The lack of wind and light current allowed us all to drift with boat. We got a mixed bag of a bunch of different types of fish. We did not really get anything outstanding though.  Cat had fun taking photos and practicing diving.

The next day Stoner, Julian and I went out. The conditions were still awesome. We hunted the reef close to Key West for bit. We did alright, getting a few snappers and other fish. We then went out deep and setup a chum slick. For like 3 hours we spent chumming and hanging out in the blue. We shot barracuda , amberjack and cero mackerel while we waited. Then while I was actually in the boat adjusting some stuff a school of wahoo came through. Stoner shot one but the shaft pulled free on it’s first run, and Julian shot his and broke its back.

I didn’t even get to see the school because they were gone once I got in the water. Pretty fantastic day either way. I stuck a photo in of a wahoo I got a little bit ago, just for the hell of it.

Well the weather and Cat’s day off collided again and we were able to go diving together again.  Stoner joined us as well and when we got out to the reef the water was blue all the way into hawk’s channel. We dove hawks channel for a bit but all the only thing I saw were grouper and little bitty snapper. So After a bit we left.

When we got out to the drop off the vis was even better. I should have probably gone for wahoo but we really wanted to actually shoot some fish and not get stuck drifting all day. this in hind site was probably a mistake. I have to check for wahoo every time I go out it seems if the conditions are decent, they are only here for a very , limited time in any real numbers.

Anyways we dove the reef, we got a bunch of fish but nothing that exciting. Stoner got a 9# margate, other then that nothing that stood out. Cat was able to take some photos in the clear vis which was great. The wind picked up to 20 knots by 3 o’clock so we called it early.