NorCal Kayak Anglers
Dive Zone => Kayak Diving and Spearfishing => Topic started by: BigJim on October 16, 2017, 10:32:29 AM
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Forecast and free time finally lined up so made a plan to go dive on Sunday at an exposed area with my long time friend Bryan, and new friend Matt who just moved here from Florida to go to NPS.
During the week I got a PM from Daniel aka Lionsden asking me for some tips on hunting halibut in the #831 cuz he had been evacuated from his home in Calistoga and was staying with family in Santa Cruz.
Shared what info I could, and told him if he was in town Sunday and wanted to dive he was welcome to join.
Hit up Kris Cortez cuz I knew they were bow hunting buddies and Kris said he would come down and bring a yak for Daniel and would also bring his friend Dan M.
We all met at the beach and I briefed everyone on the area, and told em to follow me to a reef I knew where I have had good luck, and where I also dropped an ab grab iron back in June and if we all started there maybe one of us would find it.
Once we were through the surf and offshore it was obvious we were gonna have a good day...could see the structure down below while we paddled over it and the wind and swell were cooperating.
As usual, there was a lot of nice blues with some olives mixed in chilling between the pinnacles and I started dropping down and picking off some nice olives (up to 18 inches) and blues (up to 16 inches).
On one drop I saw a Ling head into a cave, and while it wasn't huge I could tell it was legal so called Bryan over to see if he could shoot his first Ling ever.
I explained to him where the Ling was in relation to the marker weight/floatline and he breathed up and dropped down...
I watched him dive down to the bottom at 40 feet, aim into the cave where the Ling was hiding and take his shot!!
I met him at the surface to make sure he was all good and then I dropped down to retrieve the Ling for him...
When I got to the cave I saw the shaft sticking into the back, and the Ling sitting calmly right next to it. :smt005 :smt044
At the surface Bryan couldn't believe had missed but with only having one eye he's got a pretty good excuse. :smt002
Bryan dropped again and I followed him but could see that he was looking to the left side of the cave and not to the right where the fish was hiding...
Back on top I told him to try looking into the cave from the left side since he is missing his right eye...
Followed him down again and lit up the Ling with my light and was stoked when I saw his shaft go straight through the Ling's eyes!!!
High fives and whoops all around back at the surface as Bryan pulled up his very first ever speared Ling!!
:smt007 :smt007
Back at the yak, Matt swims up with a nice female sheephead on his pole spear...his first sheep ever up here!
And then Dan M. comes up and shows me that he has found my ab grab iron!! Has a little growth on it now from being underwater for 4/5 months!! Stoked to have it back!
Now that we all had some fish for dinner we decided to move and explore a different spot...
At the new spot Matt scores a nice fat bright blue Lingcod right away!
I'm not finding a lot but am still hunting and exploring...
While laying on the surface I see a nice sized fish cruising along the bottom and I can tell that it's a sheep....
I drop and glide down slowly behind her...wait for her to turn enough to give me a clean head shot and take her.
Quick instavid of the sheep here:
https://instagram.com/p/BaTAGViHVjb/
By now we are all getting a little tired so paddle back in, no one yard sales on the beach, have a few beers and chill and then head home.
Kris, Dan M and Daniel all had full stringers of chunky rockfish, Bryan had his Ling and a handful of rockfish, and Matt had a sheep, two Lings, a cab and a few blues!
Super fun day made even better by the great conditions and excellent company!!
:smt006
Sincerely,
Jim
ps...will work on vid of my olives/blues and Bryan's ling tonight or tomorrow :smt001
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Great haul and video!! Thanks for sharing!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Thanks for the great report Jim.
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Awesome!!!👍👍
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Sounds like a fabulous day and probably a relief from all the tough news coming.fro. the wine country. Thanks for.the post, pics, and vid!
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Sounds like an awesome time! Good work!
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Great job! hoping to be out next weekend!
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Wow! Thats cool! Thanks for sharing the story.
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:smt007
good times!
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Thanks guys!!
Here's a vid showing my fishies and Bryan getting his first Ling!!
Even though my fish weren't very big I was super happy with how I dove and my shot placement...best I have felt in a long time...
:smt003 :smt004 :smt003
https://youtu.be/sdaE2i7c5nk
:smt006
Sincerely,
Jim