You know my favorite saying is that its "better to
be lucky". Well today was a good luck day. With all the hot weather Margaret and I decided to head east to the inlet.
When
we got there it looked relatively good enough to dive but not as good as the last few times out. Glad I decided to go in.
Water visibility was poor right up to the point where I got no more than 6 feet. However, as soon
as I got out to the north edge of the bowl things changed dramatically. It started to clear up to 12 to 15 feet and I began
to see schools of stripers moving through. First some schoolies then the big ones showed up.
I picked the first one off at around 10
feet away. I knew he was a keeper right away and I sensed by his size underwater he would be a trophy. Guessed right as he
came to 41 inches (23 pounds). Without measuring him underwater I slowly dispatched him, put him on the stringer and reloaded
the gun. Glad I did. That gave the school time to come back and I was able to pick off the smaller of the two, 34 inches less
than ten feet away with a spine sheet that basically paralyzed him where he just settled into the sand in the bowl. Boy, wasn't
sure that the trophy would hold up but I had two, my first double header. Regulations let you take a second less than 40 as
long as you have one greater than 40 inches.
All of this in less than a half an hour. Cut the dive short as I certainly couldn't shoot
any more and headed back to the beach. Surge had picked up but what a feeling. Raoul who was not diving met me at the shorline
and helped with fins, the gun and the fish. Glad he was there. The weight of these two fish easily came to 40 pounds extra
as we both got tired carrying them back to the car.
Water temp close to 60 degrees. Half an hour later the winds changed and thick blanket of
fog rolled in.
Still,
one of the best spearfishing days ever. There are big ones trolling the inlet right now.
May go back tomorrow if I get a good nights
rest.