NorCal Kayak Anglers
Dive Zone => Kayak Diving and Spearfishing => Topic started by: TheKeeneroo on April 02, 2018, 12:07:08 PM
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Man... We had a great day diving off the yaks down in Big Sur on Saturday.
Got some decent footage (editing this week), although I tried my gopro under my hood for the first time - usually it's on my wrist- (Thanks Big Jim for the recommendation) but had the angle a little bit off. Live and learn. Still got a few photos/vid. Hardest part was knowing when it was recording or not.
I got a decent stringer of fish and my 2 lings BUT what I'm really KICKING MYSELF in the butt the most for is not taking that big Pacific Octopus. At the time of seeing it, I was very ignorant about regulations, how to kill it, how to clean it, how to cook it, etc. 2 days later I'm really wishing I had. It was BIG (pics below). I saw it from 25ish feet up (1st pic), dove down (2nd pic), touched it (turned white to blend it), hung with it for a bit and then left it be. Didn't want to kill it and ruin the meat then just have killed an awesome animal for no reason. Not sure how to measure one of these, but it was about 6ft from head to toe (if hung by hood).
For future reference, any "HOW TO" spearfish for octopus advice would be great (i.e. where to shoot? When/How to clean? How to store on stringer/bag? How to cook? etc)
Also, what kind of fish is the big one at the bottom? Gopher?
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Hard to tell what the bottom fish is since it's dead and dis-colored, but my guess is a grass rockfish.
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You can only take octopus by hand...so no shooting...just grab em and bring em up...
Can just cut hood and turn inside out and they die pretty quick...
Cooking is pretty easy and bunch of diff recipes out there...tastes great!!
Bottom fish is hard to tell from pic but looks like big kelpy to me...pec fins look too thin for grassy from the pic.
Sounds like a fun day!!
:smt006
Sincerely,
Jim
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I think octopus can only be taken by hand or hook and line. Could be wrong
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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You can only take octopus by hand...so no shooting...just grab em and bring em up...
Can just cut hood and turn inside out and they die pretty quick...
Sincerely,
Jim
Thanks Jim! Do they bite with that beak? I imagine that thing could do damage with pulling gear off or making it hard to get back to surface?
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You can only take octopus by hand...so no shooting...just grab em and bring em up...
Can just cut hood and turn inside out and they die pretty quick...
Sincerely,
Jim
Thanks Jim! Do they bite with that beak? I imagine that thing could do damage with pulling gear off or making it hard to get back to surface?
I've never been bitten by one...I have been bitten by two wolf eels though. :smt005
One time a big one did take off my dive buddy's weight belt so I grabbed belt while he swam puss to yak. :smt044
Here's a simple recipe for when you get one...
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=55553.0
Pic is of my dive buddy Charlie the day we tag teamed two beasts...
:smt006
Sincerely,
Jim
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You can only take octopus by hand...so no shooting...just grab em and bring em up...
Can just cut hood and turn inside out and they die pretty quick...
Sincerely,
Jim
Thanks Jim! Do they bite with that beak? I imagine that thing could do damage with pulling gear off or making it hard to get back to surface?
I've never been bitten by one...I have been bitten by two wolf eels though. :smt005
Pic is of my dive buddy Charlie the day we tag teamed two beasts...
Did i read somewhere that you can't bring them up in SWC? Or can you just not catch them in the cove?
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Carmel Bay is an SMCA and you can't take inverts...but once you are north of pescadero point/ghost trees you can take anything you want...
No rules about landing in an SMCA or SMR with prohibited take so can land at Stillwater with inverts as long as they weren't harvested in the SMCA...
:smt006
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Do they bite with that beak? I imagine that thing could do damage with pulling gear off or making it hard to get back to surface?
I am sure they can bite but can not think of anyone off Hand getting bit.
They are super strong and can definitely rip your mask off or grab you and keep you from surfacing.
Like others have said you can not spear or poke them in anyway. Hand grab or hook and line are the only legal ways in Ca.
I will not tackle a large one without a dive buddy standing by to lop off a tentacle if needed. Even small ones have grabbed rocks on me and it took a lot of effort to remove them.
The biggest one I ever saw was hiding in the kelp and I grabbed its tentacle thinking it was a kelp stalk and about crapped my pants. It could have wrapped around my whole body it was so big.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180402/28d6ed5905ff70114c25a64081158bfe.jpg)
A big one was enough to share with many and have extra for a whole year. I tend to stick with smaller ones now.
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Do they bite with that beak? I imagine that thing could do damage with pulling gear off or making it hard to get back to surface?
I am sure they can bite but can not think of anyone off Hand getting bit.
They are super strong and can definitely rip your mask off or grab you and keep you from surfacing.
Like others have said you can not spear or poke them in anyway. Hand grab or hook and line are the only legal ways in Ca.
I will not tackle a large one without a dive buddy standing by to lop off a tentacle if needed. Even small ones have grabbed rocks on me and it took a lot of effort to remove them.
The biggest one I ever saw was hiding in the kelp and I grabbed its tentacle thinking it was a kelp stalk and about crapped my pants. It could have wrapped around my whole body it was so big.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180402/28d6ed5905ff70114c25a64081158bfe.jpg)
A big one was enough to share with many and have extra for a whole year. I tend to stick with smaller ones now.
This was very helpful! Thank you!
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TLW said y’all be nuts :smt003 I defended you guys and said your just salty :smt044 nice looking octopuses guys but I know I’m not brave enough to go one on one with something that has 8 tentacles full of suckers. Let alone drop down to there level to shoot a fish. I’ll stick to the meat crane, hook, and braided line.
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No shame in leaving it alone either! GPO and wolf eels are protectors of the reef. Great pics & story. And nice fish! Bottom one looks like kelp or grass rf.
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No shame in leaving it alone either! GPO and wolf eels are protectors of the reef. Great pics & story. And nice fish! Bottom one looks like kelp or grass rf.
Thanks for the encouragement! Can't wait to get back down to Big Sur. I think next time I'll leave the Kayak and hit a few shore dive spots to learn the structure better, then venture out further to Lobos Rocks or further south.
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Lobos rocks is a spooky sharky spot (an ideal spot for a polaris attack). I wouldn’t get tooo close to those islands. Plus the sealions clean up most lings in that immediate area. Inshore from there is cool though.
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Yah there’s no way I’d tango with one that big. Cold day in hell before I did that. I was ab diving in mendo one day and found this nice hole with a bunch of big abs in it. The hole was only big enough to get my head and one arm in to measure and pull the ab. So I reached in and measured. +9”!! So I surface to catch my breath. Get back down and reach in to pull it. POPPED EASY !!! So stoked!! So I grab it and start pulling it out and my arm feels stuck. I thought it was the ab between two rocks in there. So I turn my wrist and I can feel something wrapped around my wrist and it gets tighter when I turned it. I get a bit startled and give a yank. Didn’t budge. It’s getting tighter!!! I shine my light in and I see a big tentacle coving my wrist and hand... oh sh!t... now I’m freaked. I start yanking more!! No good... I finally compose myself and drop the ab and pull my knife. Cut the tentacle off and shoot straight for the surface... I catch my breath and grab my speargun for some redemption. But all I find is my iron, ab, and the lone tentacle. Lesson learned, check the entire hole before reaching in.
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Yah there’s no way I’d tango with one that big. Cold day in hell before I did that. I was ab diving in mendo one day and found this nice hole with a bunch of big abs in it. The hole was only big enough to get my head and one arm in to measure and pull the ab. So I reached in and measured. +9”!! So I surface to catch my breath. Get back down and reach in to pull it. POPPED EASY !!! So stoked!! So I grab it and start pulling it out and my arm feels stuck. I thought it was the ab between two rocks in there. So I turn my wrist and I can feel something wrapped around my wrist and it gets tighter when I turned it. I get a bit startled and give a yank. Didn’t budge. It’s getting tighter!!! I shine my light in and I see a big tentacle coving my wrist and hand... oh sh!t... now I’m freaked. I start yanking more!! No good... I finally compose myself and drop the ab and pull my knife. Cut the tentacle off and shoot straight for the surface... I catch my breath and grab my speargun for some redemption. But all I find is my iron, ab, and the lone tentacle. Lesson learned, check the entire hole before reaching in.
Oh my word... that is so gnarly!!! +9" isn't bad! I miss ab diving. Too bad it's so far north of where I live now (Pacific Grove, Monterey area). I'd love to get more abs.
Your story reminds me of the time I was in Mexico, free diving through short cave systems with openings on each end. The main opening and exit on the far end were about 2' tall and 3' wide but once in, the caves opened up to about 5' tall and wide. I didn't have a light, but there was enough ambient through each opening that once your eyes adjusted, you could see well enough to navigate the ~30 foot horizontal long cave to the other opening. Let's take a moment to acknowledge how dumb of an idea this was in hindsight. So I make a few passes, each time seeing huge fish in different areas (didn't have any gear with me to get them - my wife and I were just out swimming for fun). Then, I notice a smaller opening on one side. It was just barely enough for me to get my shoulders through. So I go in head first, its way darker than the other areas, so I wait for a second with about 2/3 of my body in the hole for my eyes to adjust. With me starting to swim in, it kicked up a little debris so visibility was already bad. It was already slightly creepy, a bit uncomfortable not knowing where the cave went, or if it connected to the main system that was swimable. I wait for a few seconds for my eyes to adjust and silt to settle. Just then my eyes focus on something about 2" in front of my face... the biggest eel I've ever seen in my life. It's mouth could easily swallow a football. I freaked and went into full reverse. That was one of the most terrifying things I've ever had happen underwater.
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I've caught five huge ones in Alaska. To get them off the bottom is pure hell when they spread and suck down. Almost broke a halibut rod on one pulling with everything I had to pull it off the bottom. I won that battle like I won them all.