Shallow Cherry Smash

Snuck out before dawn with my buddy Luke who is a bartender at the Alvarado Street Beer garden.

http://www.alvaradostreetbrewery.com/monterey-beer-garden/

Luke is a super nice guy I have known for awhile, and he has been trying to get into spearing for about a year but has had issues getting his mask to seal around his facial hair and not puking his guts out when gets seasick. 

Kicked out to a nice area I know, but Luke was having mask issues so moved to a little shallower area.

Found a decent cabbie chilling on top of a pinnacle, but surge and whitewater came in and washed us out before I could get Luke on it...

He then swallowed some seawater and got sick so I explored around to see what else I could find...

Came across a cool undercut boulder and way back in the dark I could see a nice Ling head....came up and looked around to try and call Luke over to shoot it, but couldn't see him, wasn't sure if he had got his mask and puking under control, was afraid surge and whitewater might wash me out of area...so I shot her myself. 

Nice 31.5 inch, spawned out 11.6 pound blue beauty.

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/leader_board/3416/show

Swam back and found Luke and showed him the fish, and how to bleed it, and told him at least we had dinner for him and his GF now...

He said he was still feeling sick, but was gonna try and at least shoot some of the blue rockfish hanging in the shallows before giving up...

I strung the Ling on my belt and kept searching, and very shortly found a NICE Ling head in a little hole.

Came up and called for Luke, and he swam over and showed me had just shot a nice blue...his very first speared fish ever! 

I said F that noise, gimme your gun with that fish, take my gun and come blast this beast. 

Dove down and pointed out where the fish was hiding, Luke dropped down and nailed it right in the eye, shaft came out the belly and even went back through the tail, and the fish darted out of the hole double skewered. 

I dove down and grabbed it and brought it up for Luke and showed him how to get his hand in its throat to control it, how to bleed it, and how to brain it.

Beautiful golden fish that taped out to 36.5 inches, and weighed 16.9 pounds spawned out with totally empty belly...would have been close to 20 pounds with any belly contents or eggs.

Luke is younger than me so I made him hike the fish and banks board back out to the truck, and then we took some pics and had some beers, and I filleted mine to show him how to do the different cuts and how to get the collars off etc.

I've put a lot of folks on their first Lings, but pretty sure this is the biggest first I have found for anyone...so stoked it worked out and he finally got some fish and such a beautiful Ling!

Both Lings found under 15 feet of water....gotta love shallow hole hunting!!

 

Here's a rough Insta edit and some pics.

https://instagram.com/p/Bu02TgHg0N4/

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I was trying to figure out where I had seen Luke before! ASB... duh.

You seem to have a thing for helping out the noobies so any time you want to put me on a big ling, I'm game!  haha

Great pics and edit - that spot def had some decent fish!

Ps. Zeek says hi. Are you going to the 2 pig roast at Pig Wiz this weekend?

"I said F that noise, gimme your gun with that fish, take my gun and come blast this beast. "

Love your stories, Jim!

"I said F that noise, gimme your gun with that fish, take my gun and come blast this beast. "

Love your stories, Jim!

yeah, that's the money quote right there!
nice feesh dude!

Thanks guys...

Bonus points if you can see the Ling in this pic...

Cruddy screen grab, but best I could do after a day of diving and drinking beer before going out for more celebrating for my Bday.

Nice job, Jim.  You are an ambassador for not only kayaking, diving and fishing, but life too.   

Your narrative did make me think of (way back) when I guided for abalone diving.  I was careful about how my moves in the water might have been construed as 'assisting' someone get an abalone.  We know that abalone harvest is/was much more closely scrutinized than spear fishing, but I can see how there could be some of the same concerns, from a warden's POV, regarding assisting someone's harvest.  I'm interested in hearing more opinions about it, because I think I've heard at some point in the past that pointing out abalone to others would've been considered illegal - as ridiculous as I think that is.

When I took my son on his first dives I showed him some abs, but he told me to buzz off because he wanted to find his own.   

Nice job, Jim.  You are an ambassador for not only kayaking, diving and fishing, but life too.   

Your narrative did make me think of (way back) when I guided for abalone diving.  I was careful about how my moves in the water might have been construed as 'assisting' someone get an abalone.  We know that abalone harvest is/was much more closely scrutinized than spear fishing, but I can see how there could be some of the same concerns, from a warden's POV, regarding assisting someone's harvest.  I'm interested in hearing more opinions about it, because I think I've heard at some point in the past that pointing out abalone to others would've been considered illegal - as ridiculous as I think that is.

When I took my son on his first dives I showed him some abs, but he told me to buzz off because he wanted to find his own.   

Thanks Eric!!

Yeah, from a "competition" standpoint finding the fish and marking the hole or pointing it out etc would generally be considered as "assistance" and was the reason why we updated the DOTY rules after 2013 to spell out that each diver needs to find their own fish:

1.) All entries (fish/scallop) must be taken while freediving without any assistance from another diver. Assistance is defined as: Finding, marking the hole, luring, chumming or directing another diver to a fish or scallop. No other diver can load the gun, make a back-up shot, touch spear or iron or assist in the landing of fish or scallop. You may alert another diver to the possible presence of a fish in a general area, but not a specific area such as; next to my gun, at the end of my float line, right underneath me, in a hole under that big rock, etc.

I can't speak for other competitions, but that was the reasoning behind the rule change for DOTY at least...

However, I have zero problems with it ethically...one of the truly fun things I enjoy about diving with a partner is helping each other find the fishy sections (often few and far between especially if exploring a new area), and pointing out actual individual fish and letting your partner take them if they want.

When I was working on learning how to dive and hunt I was lucky enough to dive with some much better divers that pointed out fish for me to take...this to me really helps jumpstart the learning curve because you see not only what kind of features/habitat they like, but also allows you to focus on the physical mechanics of diving down, lining up and taking the shot etc...sometimes the fish is in a hole that requires you to look in it a certain way and takes a few tries to see it...my buddy Bryan only has one eye so for him I've had to really work on explaining to him what direction to look in the hole etc...I'd like to think this has really helped him get better at learning how to scan the whole hole and not just look in one section...

I've done my best over the years to repay the stoke that other divers have given me by pointing out fish to other newer divers, and even to more experienced and much better divers than me that may not have dove or shot a fish in awhile....last year I found a decent Ling and told fuzz to shoot it and I filmed him...he obviously doesn't need my help at all, but it was really fun to be diving with him and felt glad that we could share the experience....

I also can't see any problems with it from a DFW perspective either...I don't equate pointing out a fish with popping someone's abalone off the rocks, or actually shooting the fish for them...as long as the person dives down and pulls the trigger themselves (even if I am sitting right next to them shining a light on the fish) it is still their fish.

Thanks for bringing it up though...it is always good to think and talk about these issues and how our actions can be perceived by others....

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

ps...here's a few reports that highlight to me some of the fun that can be had by pointing out fish to your dive buddies. 

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=66330.0

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=44380.0

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=53656.0

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=66151.0

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=82630.0

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=82051.0

FWIW, I saw this today on another forum that has a WSB comp amongst it's members....they seem to have no ethical or "legal" concerns about having your dive partner assist with fish retrieval, and the focus is on safety after the trigger is pulled...which is something I agree with 100%...

For this competition the main rules are as follows. You must shoot your own fish. If you have to put a second shot in the fish, you have to do it, your friend cannot swim down and shoot the fish for you. You can wear a scuba tank if you need to in case you have to cut said fish out, you can even wear the tank to put a second shot into the fish yourself. If you can't get down to the fish you can have your buddy cut it out for you, this fish is still eligible. BUT if HE has to put a second shot into it that fish is not eligible for entry. You can shoot a fish from the surface, but you cannot shoot it from the safety of a boat (i.e. you have to be in the water).

Please realize most of these rules won't ever come up, but if they do you have to use these fair guidelines. If you do not agree with this, it is okay to withdraw your entry and we will refund your money and there will be no hard feelings on my part.

We just want you guys to dive safe, we didn't start this board to promote unsafe diving. We also don't want to get into any elitist bs about the purity of spearfishing and how your way is better than my way. Just dive safe and come home, no fish is worth risking your life for.

Bottom line for me is that I believe that if you pull the trigger the fish is yours, regardless of what kind of assistance/support/guidance etc you get before or after the shot.

 

Sincerely,

Jim