Another great weekend under the water, you should have been there! On Friday, we did attempt to go out of the Perdido Pass. After getting our butts kicked with roller after roller for 5 miles, we decided to turn it around and head for the bay. Part of our crew went back to the house to watch Sea Hunt to help with techniques and tactics, while the other half boarded Captain Dennis's FMF inshore boat. We cant tell about you our secret places, but I can tell you that the vis was about 1 foot. After spending an hour in the water, Joe, Martin and I came up empty handed. But Forrest saves the day with a beautiful 6.2 lb floor mat flounder, Taking first place in the tournament and winning the Flounder Jackpot.
That night we celebrated Forrest's awesome flounder kill with MartinRitas and a variety of drinks plus Nancy's Gumbo and Pasta as we presented Seamon Seale with his Old Man of the Sea Plaque.
Day 2 - waking up with the usual night before drinking and eating adventure hangover - Captain Russ suggests it might be a little rougher today, though the beach looked calmer. As we drove to the marina, the boats were already coming back into the Perdido Pass. Captain Davy Jones was on the radio urging us not to come out - that the seas were defiantly worse than the day before, confirming Captain Russ's prediction.
So we decided to head towards Pensacola Bay staying inner coastal hoping for better vis. We stopped at every rock, jetty, wreck and spot we could find. The vis was about 10 feet - and we were diving in about 30 feet of water - shooting mostly small triggers and sheepheads - which made an excellent Martin civiche. Joe Quattlebaum surfaces from a depth of 9 feet with a poor little black snapper that got caught between his paralyzer barbs. After tossing the little fish like a football into the boat, Martin attempts to cut it up for the civiche. Joe hollers NO NO NO - it could be a winning fish - so shamefully, we put it in the fish box. As the day went on, the only thing we could get was a couple of stone crabs.
Boat Drink time and decompression beers! Joe wanted to pull up to tacky jacks to weigh his fish, but the team refused. The Ashley Marie was not about to pull up to weigh a 13.5" snapper. So we docked at Zeke's and Joe and Forrest made their way by car to weigh the fish.
While back at the house, we get a phone call from Forrest saying Joe was in 3rd place! We could not believe it. We headed towards Tacky Jacks.
Joe has to be the luckiest man on earth! Not only did he win 3rd place snapper category, he also won the snapper jackpot because first and second place did not enter! If you want to play, you need to pay! Eventually, it pays off.
Thanks for the great time and great food!
