Lemon Sharks EVERYwhere
Huntinfish came over from Tampa to dive w/Petra, my boy and me. We wanted to show him as good a time as he showed us during the 'First Annual Pink Dress Open'. Fortunately the JDC was offering their annual Lemon Shark Dive encounter
Johnoly, Chuckitall and a host of others welcomed us as we arrived. With a cooler full of chilled Coronas, we set sail on the Republic IV - full of aniticpation for what lay ahead.
The first drop on the Tunnels yeilded top to bottom viz, a gentle current and millions of fish while we basked in the 75 degree 'cuzzi. But the carefree collection of a 20# yellowjack in front of 4 hungry reef sharks belied what would happen on our next drop.
"When you see the Lemon sharks on this next drop, PLEASE don't scare them off" our DMaster cautioned. "They're afraid of bubbles, so try to breathe calmly so they'll stick around" she further admonished. Yeah... RIGHT!?
"She hasn't hunted in Jupiter much" I thought to myself.
Dropping on the MGIII barge, Huntinfish immediately fired off a shot as his target dashed forward. Instantly Johnoly sprang into action, following the fish that Huntin' had missed and launching a shaft of his own. The fish darted into the wreck, a respectable gag with a John's freeshaft in him. U can imagine what a fish with a hole in him does when he holes up? That's right! It bleeds. More about that in a minute...
Focusing my attention beyond the fray, I came to the end of the wreck where I spotted a 23# gag 50'+ off in the sand. Adjusting my course, I sauntered over until I had closed the gap enuff to peel off a shot - BOOYEAH!
oops! stuck him in the gut 
(Hate when that happens.) Cuz if there was ever a dive when a kill shot was important, it was TODAY!
Not wanting to pull too hard and have him rip off my shaft, I began the game of playing this fish in and out of my 20' line. This gag ran and stopped 5x as I pulled in and let out line - kicking up sand and struggling like a MOTHER until he finally came to rest at the foot of Chuckitall. Chuck was good enuff to pump a shot into him, enabling me to FINALLY get a grip on his gills. Two slipped tips later, I had the fish on my stringer! I also had a new audience - countless 8'-12' lemon sharks were swarming like bees on a nest.
Straight up I went with my bleeding fish, hoping to avoid any pesky lemons on the way. Fortunately, all of the sharks didn't follow - only eight of them followed me up to the surface.
Rotating at about 6 rpms on the way, I kept an eye on all of those bastards until hitting the surface. Once I established contact with the boat and saw it heading towards me, I looked back down in time to see what every spearo dreads. A 10 footer was charging up at me from the bottom. Turning my legs to protect the jewels and put the grouper behind me, I managed to jamm the butt of my gun in his face - or rather - I managed to hold the gun stock still while he rammed it. The funny thing is that my shark shield was turned on?? Whatever the case, i turned into a SharkShiela as I yelled at the boat to HURRY!!!
Capt'n Mike saw the dorsal fin of another 10' shadow peeling through the water straight at me from behind, so he gunned the boat, spun out and pointed his ass straight at me. And a sweeter ass i have never seen (with no offense to Petra). Tossing the fish on board, I flew up the ladder, my SS shocking me on every step.
With my grouper in the cooler Capt'n Mike took me back over the wreck and I dropped back down into Lemoncentral. Remember Johnoly's fish holed up in the wreck and PUMPING blood into the water? That PLUS my own little jump on the grouper trampoline made the Lemon Sharks forget about spawning. Instead hey were SWARMING the wreck, and I never saw so many electrified divers in my life.
Perhaps the most electrified was Huntinfish - glued to the end of the wreck.
With his two respectable sheepsheads shoved into a hole he was hanging on to the stern for dear life with Petra beside him and lemons all OVER the place!
Motioning that he wanted to catch a ride up with me and my sharksheild, I nodded and turned to take in the surreal surroundings. Ten and twelve foot lemon sharks were everywhere we looked - impossible to count, as Huntinfish let go of the wreck and joined me for the ascent. I'm not gonna say he was crowding my personal space or anything, but the last time my leg got that much attention was when Granny's poodle met me at the front door.
Once on board, I let Huntin take my SS and go back down while I devoted myself to celebrating with a beer and a Partagas.
The air was thick with adrenelin as each diver got back on board, their eyes lit up shock and wonderment at what they had seen. 'Few people will ever encouter a shark dive like this one, and even fewer will understand the rush' I mused as I took a long pull on my well deserved cigar.
Some days are better than others, but I will never forget this one...
Pictures to follow soon.
Johnoly, Chuckitall and a host of others welcomed us as we arrived. With a cooler full of chilled Coronas, we set sail on the Republic IV - full of aniticpation for what lay ahead.
The first drop on the Tunnels yeilded top to bottom viz, a gentle current and millions of fish while we basked in the 75 degree 'cuzzi. But the carefree collection of a 20# yellowjack in front of 4 hungry reef sharks belied what would happen on our next drop.
"When you see the Lemon sharks on this next drop, PLEASE don't scare them off" our DMaster cautioned. "They're afraid of bubbles, so try to breathe calmly so they'll stick around" she further admonished. Yeah... RIGHT!?
"She hasn't hunted in Jupiter much" I thought to myself.Dropping on the MGIII barge, Huntinfish immediately fired off a shot as his target dashed forward. Instantly Johnoly sprang into action, following the fish that Huntin' had missed and launching a shaft of his own. The fish darted into the wreck, a respectable gag with a John's freeshaft in him. U can imagine what a fish with a hole in him does when he holes up? That's right! It bleeds. More about that in a minute...
Focusing my attention beyond the fray, I came to the end of the wreck where I spotted a 23# gag 50'+ off in the sand. Adjusting my course, I sauntered over until I had closed the gap enuff to peel off a shot - BOOYEAH!
oops! stuck him in the gut (Hate when that happens.) Cuz if there was ever a dive when a kill shot was important, it was TODAY!Not wanting to pull too hard and have him rip off my shaft, I began the game of playing this fish in and out of my 20' line. This gag ran and stopped 5x as I pulled in and let out line - kicking up sand and struggling like a MOTHER until he finally came to rest at the foot of Chuckitall. Chuck was good enuff to pump a shot into him, enabling me to FINALLY get a grip on his gills. Two slipped tips later, I had the fish on my stringer! I also had a new audience - countless 8'-12' lemon sharks were swarming like bees on a nest.
Straight up I went with my bleeding fish, hoping to avoid any pesky lemons on the way. Fortunately, all of the sharks didn't follow - only eight of them followed me up to the surface.
Rotating at about 6 rpms on the way, I kept an eye on all of those bastards until hitting the surface. Once I established contact with the boat and saw it heading towards me, I looked back down in time to see what every spearo dreads. A 10 footer was charging up at me from the bottom. Turning my legs to protect the jewels and put the grouper behind me, I managed to jamm the butt of my gun in his face - or rather - I managed to hold the gun stock still while he rammed it. The funny thing is that my shark shield was turned on?? Whatever the case, i turned into a SharkShiela as I yelled at the boat to HURRY!!!
Capt'n Mike saw the dorsal fin of another 10' shadow peeling through the water straight at me from behind, so he gunned the boat, spun out and pointed his ass straight at me. And a sweeter ass i have never seen (with no offense to Petra). Tossing the fish on board, I flew up the ladder, my SS shocking me on every step.
With my grouper in the cooler Capt'n Mike took me back over the wreck and I dropped back down into Lemoncentral. Remember Johnoly's fish holed up in the wreck and PUMPING blood into the water? That PLUS my own little jump on the grouper trampoline made the Lemon Sharks forget about spawning. Instead hey were SWARMING the wreck, and I never saw so many electrified divers in my life.
Perhaps the most electrified was Huntinfish - glued to the end of the wreck.
With his two respectable sheepsheads shoved into a hole he was hanging on to the stern for dear life with Petra beside him and lemons all OVER the place!
Motioning that he wanted to catch a ride up with me and my sharksheild, I nodded and turned to take in the surreal surroundings. Ten and twelve foot lemon sharks were everywhere we looked - impossible to count, as Huntinfish let go of the wreck and joined me for the ascent. I'm not gonna say he was crowding my personal space or anything, but the last time my leg got that much attention was when Granny's poodle met me at the front door.
Once on board, I let Huntin take my SS and go back down while I devoted myself to celebrating with a beer and a Partagas.
The air was thick with adrenelin as each diver got back on board, their eyes lit up shock and wonderment at what they had seen. 'Few people will ever encouter a shark dive like this one, and even fewer will understand the rush' I mused as I took a long pull on my well deserved cigar.
Some days are better than others, but I will never forget this one...
Pictures to follow soon.
Last edited by StabbinBoy : 01-14-2007 at 08:58 PM.
O problema é que estes meninos podem prejudicar o nosso trabalho, uma vez que ao levarem para lá os "caddle boats" = barcos cheios de mergulhadores amadores, turistas, podem assustar e afastar os nossos "bichinhos"; esperemos que não!
/
This might be a problem since "caddle boats" filled with amateur divers can actually have some impact on the aggregations that we want to study... let´s hope not!
3 comments:
Uma duvida, não existe sinalização de que existe um trabalho a decorrer? tipo uma area restrita?
Nope; area de estudo envolve varios pontos geograficamente afastados; neste caso, a reserva teria de ser feita ao longo de centenas de kilometros nesta costa.
Ah! Capixe. Mas... e volto à minha como boa teimosa que sou, deve haver algo que assinale essa situação. Os próprios centros devem saber o que está a acontecer... digo eu...
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