Report submitted by 'Gabe'
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Honduras Offshore Report
Honduran Coast, Honduras
August 17th, 2005
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Just got back from a dive trip to an island off the coast of Honduras.
The island is a part of the seccond largest barrier reef in the world.
The diving was great with large vertical walls and assorted
fish life, mostly small aquarium fish. We saw lots of small strawberry grouper
as well as some huge dog and cubera snapper.
The highlight of the trip was diving with a dozen bull and grey
reef sharks. When I get those pictures I will post them as well. The sharks
were actually pretty docile, swimming along the bottom in 70 feet of water.
We were actually able to hold on to a couple of the reef sharks, some making
it over 8feet. For some reason, not sure why, but all the sharks that we
were swimming with were large females, not a male in sight. I went fishing
with my cousin Charlie one day and have to say that it was the worst operation
ever. The guy didn't know what he was doing, he looked like Hemingway's "Old
Man in the Sea" character. The boat made 12 knots topped out. We trolled
the reef but the locals have destroyed the fisheries, leaving us nothing
but a cuda and a couple of bonita.
Finally after drifting a couple of "grouper" spots with nothing
to show we begged the guy to let us put down a live bait. Within minutes
we hook up something big but pull the hook. Rigged up another and sent it
down, same thing, big fish and we locked down the drag on my Avet.
A few minutes later we pulled a 7 foot Nurse shark up to the boat.
The true fight was trying to keep the boat captain from stabbing
a flying gaff through it. He finally got the idea and cut the #125 mono leader
at the hook. She swam away healthy and we headed in, I think the guy was
shocked by the large fish us Texas boys were hooking up on live bait. I don't
think this guy ever thought about using live bait.
The most interesting thing about the fishing trip was the guy's
monster hand line he had tied around his seat. He was trolling a large billfish
lure tied off to his seat.
I asked about his handline and what you do when you do when
you hook up. He said that you drag it right behind the props until it dies.
Unfortunately people in other countries are still gaffing nurse sharks and
drowning billfish, but it was a fun trip.
- Gabe
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