(FoodPorn added) Lings and Thieves

Met up with fuzz and headed to the spot we had decided on...we got a late start cuz fuzz isn't as much of an early riser as I am, and since Ana didn't want me home super late we decided to shore dive.

Hiked down and jumped in and were greeted by 30+ feet of visibility, calm seas and fishy waters. There were some HUGE baitballs around and we got to play around swimming under and through them...so pretty!!

Started dropping and exploring and covering ground with the primary target of verms or big sheep. Of course fuzz found some but the few sheep he saw darted away and the verms he didn't want to shoot didn't stay still for me to find after he saw them. 

Hunted between 45 and 55 feet for most of the day and I took a nice 23 inch cabbie, saw a tagged Ling that I let live cuz he wasn't that big, a solid 34+ inch Ling, a 30 inch Ling that fuzz pointed out, and a 29 inch Ling that swam right up to me on my last dive of the day. 

Highlight of the day for me was after fuzz pointed out the 30 inch Ling for me to shoot he said he found another right in the same area about the same size. Asked me if I wanted it and said it would be a good one to shoot with my little Pathos 60 that I brought out on the dive board as a back up gun...I said nah, I've got two and think I'm gonna take a break and drink some Gatorade...he says OK, come check out the hole at least.

I follow him down and watch him line up the shot in the small hole and pull out a MONSTER Ling! The head was gigantic and watching the fish thrash about  while fuzz swam him to the surface was so cool!! Of course GoPro was already out of batteries so no footage. 

The ling taped out to a hair under 40 inches and 26 pounds...probably the coolest fish I have ever seen in the water!! 

I also had to save fuzz from a seal...he calls out "come help!"...I respond "Whats's up?", he yells back  "Just come quick!" Ok...never heard fuzz be in a hurry so swim over real quick and there is a seal trying to steal a nice verm he just shot off his shaft!! I charge it screaming and give it a good poke to make it go away....furbags!! 

When we swam into shore it took team work to get the dive board with all the fish up out of the water, and then we discovered that some thieves had stolen our shoes, water and clif bar (energy to get back up cliff), and backpack straps for the dive board!!

 

Luckily fuzz had shoved his mesh backpack inside the goodie bag I brought out on dive board in case we found any scallops....shoved all fish in that back pack and I humped it out on my back in my dive socks, and we strapped all guns and fins etc to dive board and fuzz carried that in one hand while using the other to help climb back up in his dive socks!!

We got 3/4 of the way up to where it was less steep and dropped our weight belts and then fuzz went back to get em after we had made it back to the highway.

My feet and back are still hurting! 

Was an AWESOME day despite the fact that I didn't get the verms or big sheep that I wanted and the theft and death climb back out...always fun to dive with fuzz, felt great to be in such clear water, and I felt like I was diving really well...lot of good bottom times and depths for me, and even fuzz said I looked comfy down on bottom...may be the 10+ pounds I have lost from dieting recently, or the new Subcraft wetsuit I was trying out, or maybe just osmosis from diving next to fuzz. 

Here is a little vid and a ton of pics...you can see the tagged Ling between the cab and Ling that I shoot in the vid:



 

Sincerely,

Jim

More pics....

Truck pic is from "friends" who saw my rig parked at Safeway and decided to leave their calling card. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Gut nuggets:

Both big female lings were spawned out, but my bigger one had a whole fish of some kind partly digested in there...

When I cut my 30 incher open I saw a bunch of seaweed in there...like you would expect to see with a monkey not a Ling?

When I pulled the seaweed out there as a big tangled ball of fishing Line and a hook as well!! 

Glad I put the poor guy out of his misery... 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Nice report and catch as always!  One of these days I need to convince myself that the better fishing and viz outweigh the drive north to get abs and uni.

great report Jim, glad you & Fuzz are gettin out there while the getting is good.

WTF, who steals someones frikkin shoes?!

WTF, who steals someones frikkin shoes?!

Ummm .. Pablito, Triangle L, and FM1?   

-Allen

Man, that was a great report Jim!!!  Looks like an epic day for most, and a normal day for Fuzz.    Thanks for sharing!  Will check out the video during lunch! 

WTF, who steals someones frikkin shoes?!

Ummm .. Pablito, Triangle L, and FM1?   

-Allen

I know right Sean!! 

LOL!! Ana asked if I thought it was them or someone else playing a joke.....but pretty sure it was some shore fisherman or some other scumbag...not an A-Hull scumbag but a real scumbag.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Man, that was a great report Jim!!!  Looks like an epic day for most, and a normal day for Fuzz.    Thanks for sharing!  Will check out the video during lunch! 

Thanks Al!

Yeah I was freaking out about how big his Ling was and he was like...yeah, its a nice one. 

He DID have me take some pics of him with his fish with his phone so think he was actually secretly stoked on it.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Good report, sucks about the theives!   You shoulda stopped by to say Hi! I even had spare shoes for you guys haha

Good report, sucks about the theives!   You shoulda stopped by to say Hi! I even had spare shoes for you guys haha

LOL!! Yeah, we didn't get back to car until 4pm...and we weren't near you guys. 

Hope you guys had a great weekend!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Great report, looks like a great day. Bummer some d-bag stole your shiz.

Love the choice of beer in the BeerFish.jpg!

I HATE THIEVES.

Hi Jim, Glad you made another enjoyable dive trip. Nice report, nice pic and video as always.

Looked like your average underwater time is 1 minutes, packed with dive down, search, aim and shot, retrive, and swam back up. Wow!
I start to struggle after 30 seconds under. 

Why would they steal your shoes, Jim? May be a thief was mistaken them as 2 stinky sit-in kayak! 

Hate those seals while in the water.almost seems like there stalking your fish all the time