"I've decided there is some real interesting diving out here" MM.Toughing it out before lobster season, 9/23
Mike....good to hear from you. I've been freediving a lot but the fish have been scarce this year. I went to Mexico 3 weeks ago. We saw tuna but none were taken. They were down too deep. We brought them up with chum but they moved too fast for us. I shot and missed once in 3 days. Oh well. Now it's bug season a gain. I got my lobster card, we'll see how that works out. Not much will really change for me just the paperwork. Hope to have you out soon...call when you're ready.....Mel You have to start it out right or the whole season will be a dud.
Since I sold the Raider and bought the Rapture I haven't visited 8 lb Bug reef. I tried a couple of times but couldn't find it. I thought I lost the correct GPS fix. Last Saturday I decided to try again. Coming at the spot from a different angle the ledge exploded off of the bottom on my sounder. After 5 years I was back. The bugs were there too. The visibility was 45 ft. I ended up with a 4.5 lb, a 5 lb and one that was 8 lbs 7oz among the limit. Here is the picture. Hope to have you on the Rapture 
Mike...We went out on Tom's boat, "Dream Maker" on Saturday and visited some deep reefs off of the mainland. We all got some Big Bugs. Here are some pictures of Del's 9.2 lbs and mine at 11.2 lbs. Tom also got one over 8 lbs. I had some scary moments getting my bug. He was backed up deep into a ledge so I had to take my tank off and slide in to get him. I had to squeeze and push myself in to get far enough to grab one of his horns. Once I did I tried to back out but found myself stuck. First I had to dislodge my head from being pinned without losing my mask. Then I found that I still couldn't back out. I was stuck and my body wouldn't move. I was at 80 ft deep and had 2000 lbs of air when I went in the ledge. I knew I had some time but it was scary because the clock was ticking and my life was at stake. I had to get free. I tried to wiggle to dislodge but notice that the area around my hip was stuck. I reached down with my left hand (my right hand still held the Bug's horn) and felt that my weight belt was caught in the top of the ledge. I couldn't move to dislodge it so I reach down and unbuckled my weight belt. I was able to pull it off of my back to the side. When it came off I was free to slide back out of the hole. Before backing out free of the hole, I reached in and pulled my weight belt out and slid it over my back so I wouldn't shoot to the surface. I left it draped there, unbuckled, while I put the bug in the bag. Then I buckled my belt, grabbed my light and continued the hunt. I got a couple more bugs and headed up. On the boat we took pictures and then I scratched a big "M" on his carapace before letting him go back home. Now if anyone catches him before his next molt we'll know it was him. Hope to see you soon......Take care.....Mel
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