WestEndAngler
July 11th, 2010, 08:55 PM
Well Saturday I took the Robalo over to Harbor Walk. Put the throttle down to get out of the channel in Pirates Cove and a bunch of noise later I ended up spinning a hub . I can only thank God that it didn't happen anywhere else but right at the start of the channel. I turned around and came back to the house. A nice lady & her husband passed me in their kayak my head was hanging. On the way back in I called Texas Marine on Nasa Rd 1 & 146. They had a spare prop, great! Pulled prop off raced up to Texas Marine to get it matched etc. Ended up buying a new kit paid the guy there $20 to put the new one on the prop and all I had to do was put it on and tighten up the nut. Ran across the bay to Harbor Walk no problems & filled up.
This morning came pretty early. I was excited to get out there checked the forecast and it was calling for 2-3's... I guess I was still asleep or was dreaming about the ice cream conditions that I saw driving down Seawall on Saturday... We ran out to HI 119A rig where there were 2 boats present when we pulled up. One was hooked up both boats tied up to the rig down current within whispering distance it looked like.
On the way we found a bunch of weed lines and managed 3 triple tail and a chicken dorado so he we are arriving at HI 119A (I think I glanced at it quickly upon leaving the area) We were at a rig just South of the Picnic Rocks. Maybe 45 miles off? I didn't pay much attention with the sporting conditions.
So we pull up see people fishing down current. I begin to put my gear on, mind you I am going to scuba dive the rig with my spear gun along with a buddy, my other friend will remain on board to watch and stay on boat during our dive he plans to just stay in the same spot until we surface.
I put the dive flag up to let people know that their are divers in the water. I enter the water he drops me off up current so I can float down current to the up current rig leg, my buddy was maybe 2 min behind me. I'm in the water and I hear yelling I can't see anything and glanced back at the boat I see my buddy enter water and ask him what he was yelling about he said it was another boat yelling at us.. We decided to drop and dropped down up current and swam into the interior of the rig structure.
30 min dive if that, visibility poor managed a snapper and had shots on a nice sow but my darn safety was on
Oh well... Got a decent snapper and decided to end my dive early because my buddy had moved to another leg and I didn't like that I wanted to stay in visual range, we later had a discussion about this but also because I heard a lot of boat traffic. Surfaced next to the rig leg 45' from one of the boats that was tied up when we went in. I kicked back and signaled my buddy on the boat to pick me up who was near the other boat that was tied up but was now real close to my boat.
I get on and he was pretty upset he's like you need to deal with that jerk over there... Apparently this boat that I saw near mine was exchanging unpleasant remarks towards my buddy as he's operating the boat. So I ask him what happened? He said the guy was yelling something about 300' some rule. My buddy said he just acknowledged the guy and didn't say anything in return other than "yeah I can hear you".
I started thinking, sure you have to give 300' to a vessel that has dive operations going. But that would be if your the first person there... I've had numerous dives with anglers fishing near me. I am knowingly putting myself in that position not the other way around. If your the first one there (diving) other vessels should respect 300', I just make sure people know that I have divers down and am being safe.
My buddy went on to say that this twin engine sea hunt, 3 people on boat, mid 40's or 50's, started circling the boat with the camera phones out calling my buddy spear fishing an a-hole saying "We're going to report you etc". I asked him if he go the TX numbers? No... (They had moved off by this point).
To me they caused more of a scene, hazard & interfered with my buddy who was driving the boat trying to stay in the same position, he said they were cutting him off all while we were in the water. I surfaced and he didn't see me cause the guy was obviously still jacking with him. Once I yelled and signaled he moved over and picked us both up. Dive Flag down.
This guy was clearly having a bad day I'm assuming. It was a ROUGH day, bad fishing and there and god forbid I come in a shoot a 20" snapper.
Mangrove Snapper, Red Snapper & a Chicken Dorado was our catch it was a tough day we had 3 break offs on sharks my buddy really wanted one.
I don't think I/WE did anything wrong, I thought it silly that someone would get that upset at two guys getting in the water and shooting a fish each.
Now if I'm in the wrong by jumping in & diving while another boat is there, then let me know because I've never had an issue with it in Port A or my previous Galveston trips. When I surfaced I talked to a guy in a Scarab with trips on it had a bunch of people on it he was curious what was down there so I told him. I mean respect on the water goes a long way!
What do you all think?
This morning came pretty early. I was excited to get out there checked the forecast and it was calling for 2-3's... I guess I was still asleep or was dreaming about the ice cream conditions that I saw driving down Seawall on Saturday... We ran out to HI 119A rig where there were 2 boats present when we pulled up. One was hooked up both boats tied up to the rig down current within whispering distance it looked like.
On the way we found a bunch of weed lines and managed 3 triple tail and a chicken dorado so he we are arriving at HI 119A (I think I glanced at it quickly upon leaving the area) We were at a rig just South of the Picnic Rocks. Maybe 45 miles off? I didn't pay much attention with the sporting conditions.
So we pull up see people fishing down current. I begin to put my gear on, mind you I am going to scuba dive the rig with my spear gun along with a buddy, my other friend will remain on board to watch and stay on boat during our dive he plans to just stay in the same spot until we surface.
I put the dive flag up to let people know that their are divers in the water. I enter the water he drops me off up current so I can float down current to the up current rig leg, my buddy was maybe 2 min behind me. I'm in the water and I hear yelling I can't see anything and glanced back at the boat I see my buddy enter water and ask him what he was yelling about he said it was another boat yelling at us.. We decided to drop and dropped down up current and swam into the interior of the rig structure.
30 min dive if that, visibility poor managed a snapper and had shots on a nice sow but my darn safety was on
Oh well... Got a decent snapper and decided to end my dive early because my buddy had moved to another leg and I didn't like that I wanted to stay in visual range, we later had a discussion about this but also because I heard a lot of boat traffic. Surfaced next to the rig leg 45' from one of the boats that was tied up when we went in. I kicked back and signaled my buddy on the boat to pick me up who was near the other boat that was tied up but was now real close to my boat.
I get on and he was pretty upset he's like you need to deal with that jerk over there... Apparently this boat that I saw near mine was exchanging unpleasant remarks towards my buddy as he's operating the boat. So I ask him what happened? He said the guy was yelling something about 300' some rule. My buddy said he just acknowledged the guy and didn't say anything in return other than "yeah I can hear you".
I started thinking, sure you have to give 300' to a vessel that has dive operations going. But that would be if your the first person there... I've had numerous dives with anglers fishing near me. I am knowingly putting myself in that position not the other way around. If your the first one there (diving) other vessels should respect 300', I just make sure people know that I have divers down and am being safe.
My buddy went on to say that this twin engine sea hunt, 3 people on boat, mid 40's or 50's, started circling the boat with the camera phones out calling my buddy spear fishing an a-hole saying "We're going to report you etc". I asked him if he go the TX numbers? No... (They had moved off by this point).
To me they caused more of a scene, hazard & interfered with my buddy who was driving the boat trying to stay in the same position, he said they were cutting him off all while we were in the water. I surfaced and he didn't see me cause the guy was obviously still jacking with him. Once I yelled and signaled he moved over and picked us both up. Dive Flag down.
This guy was clearly having a bad day I'm assuming. It was a ROUGH day, bad fishing and there and god forbid I come in a shoot a 20" snapper.
Mangrove Snapper, Red Snapper & a Chicken Dorado was our catch it was a tough day we had 3 break offs on sharks my buddy really wanted one.
I don't think I/WE did anything wrong, I thought it silly that someone would get that upset at two guys getting in the water and shooting a fish each.
Now if I'm in the wrong by jumping in & diving while another boat is there, then let me know because I've never had an issue with it in Port A or my previous Galveston trips. When I surfaced I talked to a guy in a Scarab with trips on it had a bunch of people on it he was curious what was down there so I told him. I mean respect on the water goes a long way!
What do you all think?