Epic Conditions (Report w Pic) 9.29.18

Saturday was an absolute blast (and utterly exhausting). Couldn't ask for better conditions to launch a kayak out of a typically heavy shore break area. We took advantage of the 2 ft swells and launched at a usually hard to get to spot. Initially, Joe Flores and I were going out, but I didn't hear back a confirmation from him so I invited Andrew, who I didn't hear back from, then I invited Brian, who said yes. Thinking it was just the 2 of us, Friday night had 3 other people get back to me and say they wanted to come. Soooo we had a bit of a crew heading out. Even bumped into Sean_Otter, Cabeza de Martillo (Antonio) and his son Silent Hunter. Ended up being super fun. We paddled way out and dropped over pinnacles in 50' water. My goal was to find a big ling and some scallops. I just got Mattisons pathos 60 laser open pro and Wood Herranen 80 (super legit gun! but a little nose heavy in the water).

I started with the 80. My first dive I find a great crack, come back to to breath, and dive again to explore. There was a HUGE ling in it. Took my sweet time to line up a perfect shot in the back of the head out the throat, fired. It was my first time firing this gun and its on a reel, not a float line. I let line out as I ascend. Get to the top to reel in my monster, and I come up with an empty shaft. WHAAAAAAAAA??? Turns out the double flopper ring stay was a bit stuck over the floppers so they never engaged.... I dove down to find a huge cloud from the ling struggle. Couldn't see in the crack. Dove 6 more times to search all over the pinnacle. Dove 3 more times searching for it at the end of the day after exploring elsewhere. Unfortunately there is a big dead ling somewhere out there. That sucks.  :'(

The rest of the day was epic. We dove for 6 hours straight and skipped lunch. I could see the structure on the bottom from 40 feet above it. Couldn't ask for better vis. We kind of failed at the dive buddy system since we were all stoked on exploring the various areas. I kept my dives in the mid 50' range and didn't stay on the bottom for longer than a minute to try to be "safe" haha. We all ended up in a huge school of big blues.

David shot 10 blues quickly and called it a day. Andrew got a couple nice BYs, a few urchins and a good Greenling and called it a day. Brian and Giray pushed through with me to keep on looking for nice fish. I was starving by 2p so we all called it. Brian got his first MFE. As a vet, he definitely employed the no eel left behind mindset. He shot the eel in the shallows and it came off. He must have dove for 20 minutes trying to get it out of the cave! haha. Finally did - we could hear him hollaring with joy from like 100 yards away.

All in all, we got great fish and had an insanely fun day. swam with sea lions, otters, bait balls, and the stoke was big! I ended with a couple nice blues, a fairly big BY, a big cab, greenling, a smallish ling and a small scallop. It was fun to go for variety and be choosy with what got shot - even put a few additional points on the DOTY board. There were a ton of smaller lings out there that we left to get bigger. Even picked some ripe tomatoes from the garden to enjoy with the fish!

It's Monday and I'm still ready for a nap from the fishing trip!

QUESTION:
I see dudes getting huge scallops but I can't seem to find any bigger than 5"... any tips on where to look? Does deeper mean bigger? I know they are filter feeders that like surge and cracks but....?

Looks like a good day. Bigger scallops come from up north. There may be a few down there that reach 6.5" to 7", but a limit of 6.5" to 8"ers isnt too uncommon north of you.

QUESTION:
I see dudes getting huge scallops but I can't seem to find any bigger than 5"... any tips on where to look? Does deeper mean bigger? I know they are filter feeders that like surge and cracks but....?

otters,

Looks like a good day. Bigger scallops come from up north. There may be a few down there that reach 6.5" to 7", but a limit of 6.5" to 8"ers isnt too uncommon north of you.

Looks like I need to make a trip up there soon... anyone want to play tour guide?!

Sounds like an amazing day! Thanks for the details and pic! Hopefully someone (other than a seal) ended up with that ling!