fisherman's spots and Shrimper's Hangups

[aquanut]

Think about it!
This is a well known source of information for us treasure hunters. If anyone out there knows of some coordinates where some fisherman has a rock pile or some shrimper has coordinates on a hang-up ( particularly in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast), I'd surely like to hear about them. I had a friend once who fished off Crystal River who gave me a "X" on my chart where he once came across a rock pile he fished. Being curious because of the extreme change in depth, he jumped in and took a look. At the time he didn't think much of it, but after talking to me,,, well, it seems, since the pile of rocks was about 60' long and about 25' wide, with smooth round rocks, in the shape of a football, he started to get the picture. I have tried unsuccessfully several times to find this anomaly. The Gulf is a very big place, even with an X on the chart. However, it would tickle me to death if somebody knew of some numbers belonging to a fisherman with a pile of rocks SW of the Crystal River that went from the depth of 15 feet to 3 feet in a matter of 60 feet. My friend died last year, so we never had a chance to go out together to find this place which so far has alluded me. I've got a boat, and I'd be willing to dive.
Anybody got some places to try?
Aquanut

[Darren in NC]

I don't see anything on my hangpoints list for that area, but AWOIS lists an obstruction reported in 1966 SW of Crystal Springs. No details.

28-46.24N
82-47.30W

[pcolaboy]

These guys are by far some of the best resources for information. There's a very famous local commercial fisherman that has put me on a couple of interesting sites - all of which he found while shrimping. He has told me the story of his father dragging up an old bronze ship's bell back in the 1930's. Believe it or not his father sold the bell for scrap since it was at the height of the depression.

Another good resource believe it or not are the NOAA obstruction databases. I look for those that have a description of "Pile of rocks" or "Concrete Rubble" . Since I know there are no natural rock outcroppings in my area, I immediately dove a few of these obstruction sites and sure enough they were ballast stones laying in the classic oval pattern. There are many ballast 'dumps' that I've found and they were simply places the ships dumped their ballast to take on cargo or get unstuck from a shoal.

I hope you find the mark you're looking for!

Pcola

[sabre15]

I recently went to Homosassa, local shrimpers ther told me of several locations right there and all the way up to Steinhatchee. The best way is to go visit the local docks and talk to these guys, these guys were cool enough to bring my buddy and me on board and turned on there fishfinder gps to show us how they mark snag sites on every trip for reference. This spring I plan on looking at a few myself.

[ivan salis]

bringing a case of beer never hurts either.

[Salvor6]

Most of the shrimpers and sponge divers in my area are tight lipped about their hang spots. They want to sell the numbers, not give them away.

[JoeSWFla]

If it goes from 15' to 3' in a short distance,you may be able to spot it from a plane
when the gulf clears up a bit.Occasionally it gets very clear,usaually about May/June,
and a lot can be seen from aerial views.I may have to look up some old commercial
fisherman friends and ask them for info.Good luck on that project.HH Joe

[ivan salis]

thats what the beer is for "jaw looser" they drink they talk nature of the beast .

[aquanut]

Thank you all for your replies. I'll definitely take the advice given and see what I can do with it!
Aquanut

[signumops]

I have more than a thousand (I think there are 1830 if I remember correctly) such points gathered by a shrimper. They range from the North Brevard County latitude to the St. Lucie mid-county latitude. These include the CORRECT gps fixes for many of the wrecks off the Bulls and southward to Indiatlantic. The majority are beyond Florida's jurisdiction and are, therefore, open to Admiralty.

I have these set to shapefiles and ENC data in both State Plane Coordinates and typical degree/decimal minute Longs and Lats so that I can use my own software to setup mag runs (I use State Plane first and report in Long/Lat afterward).

I've been sitting on them for a year. How many of you would buy a :

Waterproof chart
or
Book
or
Plastic lookup table

with these fixes?

What would they be worth to you?

I am not going to post them on my website(s). I share interest in them with another diver.

[aquanut]

Well Signumops,
With out a doubt your coordinates are valuable. But in my particular case I've only got a pontoon boat which isn't suitable for the Atlantic offshore. I don't have too much of a problem in the Gulf however and have been as much as 10 miles out so far. It's not so much the distance as negotiating the inlets on the Atlantic side particularly with an outgoing tide. Believe me I have a bit of experience with small craft in these inlets and I know better than messing with them in a pontoon boat.
I've had boats up to 36' in the past that would have suited for offshore diving and salvage expeditions and of course, i wish I would have kept one around for use now. But sadly that's not the case.
I hope someone can make use of your information.
Why don't you partner up with some of the guys here. I'll bet they would love to dive on your coordinates just to see whats there!
Aquanut

[aquanut]

Not that I don't appreciate the responses so far... but I wanted to keep this topic near the top of the list at least a bit longer.
Are there any non-diver/fisherman types out there that think they are sitting on a pile of rocks holding fish? Heck, that pile of rocks could be ballast stones, a reef of silver (as was the case with Mel Fisher's Atocha), how about a pile of old cannons or an actual wreck itself? Out on the Gulf, it's pretty much pancake smooth. There are no real rocks naturally out there, just limestone and some coral. Anything that sticks out really needs to be looked at.
I would be happy to discuss diving theses spots with anybody willing to share their information.
By the way Darren, I see the coordinates you mentioned were right off the Homossasa River. I'll be scalloping out front of there in August so that will be a piece of cake to check out. I won't have to make a special trip of a hundred miles for that one.
Aquanut

[Darren in NC]

I hope you find exactly what you're looking for, Aquanut. Keep in mind, those are lat-longs from pre-GPS days.

[aquanut]

Thanks Darren,
and I'll keep what you said in mind. I'll run a sled in the area and if Salvor 6 wants to take a look with me he can bring along the sidescan. I figured getting there is a "piece of cake", finding the spot is another story altogether! LOL
Aquanut

[aquanut]

Hi Darren,
I just got off the phone with Pete, and he also want to check out your coordinates with me. We agreed that if anything comes of it that we'll share it with you. Maybe we'll all get lucky!
Aquanut

[Darren in NC]

You guys are too kind. Just have fun and keep us posted on your results...or not

[signumops]

Hey Aquanut:
You've been inspirational and I thank you! I lined up a boat, crew and fuel. Now all I need is a sonar and ROV camera. Anybody out there got a ROV to rent? Something like a Manta for example(?) I have the boat for four days at least. Will also mag the spots if anything good pops up on the sonar. I might be able to get sonar myself, but, I don't want to lowball and spend money that won't do me enough good on the project. The camera and sonar are key elements. Anybody have advice on the optimal sonar? I'll be in 30 to 120 feet of water.

[FISHEYE]

terry,

I have a drop cam,can put any length of cable on it for any depth.

[Darren in NC]

Terry, the Hummingbird would suffice for sonar at those depths. Good luck.

[aquanut]

Terry,
Wish I could help with your wish list, but those are two items I have to count on other people for myself.
Good luck and be sure to let us know how it turns out!
Aquanut