State Record Grassy 12/8/18

I enjoy doing write ups on the weekend and if you're like me, you enjoy reading about other people's weekends. It's like reliving the adventure and this past weekend was one heck of an adventure so I'll put a little extra effort into this one. While writing this I'm sunburned, exhausted and glad I made it back to a computer to tell the tales! 

SATURDAY: With only 2 weekends left to dive this year before travelling for the holidays, I got the green light to dive all weekend. Saturday we had 4 guys lined up to meet in southern big sur for some kayak diving. The conditions were not ideal (long point swells usually means the surge goes deep and is more powerful) and the whole drive down there was interesting as one cove would be pretty calm while the next had massive rollers smashing into the rocks. We were aiming to go to a spot that was super fishy when we dove it over our Labor Day extravaganza but upon arrival, I was watching waves with barrels big enough for a surfer to stand tall inside. No way we were yaking from here or shore diving for that matter. The water was brown and waves were way too heavy. I was starting to think we might need to utilize the rappelling gear I brought just in case we wanted to lower yaks down a different set of cliffs. Unfortunately 2 of our 4 guys bailed last minute so it ended up just being Nick and I. For as much as we're both in the water and run in the same circles, we've never actually dove together before. The dive spot we wanted to hit was pretty far beyond the breakers and looked blue so we decided to explore the next turn out to see if there was any way we could get to this spot from the backside of the point. Luck would have it that we found a tiny, unmarked trail that we almost overlooked. So we hiked down a few hundred yards to see if we could make it to the water. Good news, a small landslide had made it so we could leverage the soft newly exposed ground to make our trail down to the rocky shore below. There was no way we could use yaks, so we brought out the sleds, geared up and started descending. We studied several sets of heavy waves come in as we hiked down, but it seemed that we had about a 30 sec window of safe entry so we decided to go for it.

We got out to the first bit of kelp, did a depth check (~30') and determined the visibility was only about 10' but good enough to hunt. There was a ripping current toward the south and the surge was pushing us 15' in both directions which made hole hunting difficult but Nick managed a decent greenling right out of the gate. The structure was amazing though so we pushed through. There weren't as many fish as I hoped for on the back side of the original spot we wanted, so we swam up the current closer to where we wanted to get toward. The closer we got, the more midwater column fish we started to see. I was getting near the same area we hunted back in labor day and so I started to make some drops. The current pushed even harder here so I would grab a rock on the bottom while the surge passed and then check holes. I did one drop and found this tiny little horizontal hole no more than 8" in diameter, I have no idea why i thought I should shine a line in but I did. Nothing home at first glance. Still not sure why I kept looking but I shine it back to the other side and there I see a huge set of lips. Finally the ling I was looking for. I secured my gun to the ocean floor and followed my floatline back up to catch my breath. dive back down, grab gun, aim it in and see that its not a ling, its a huge Grassy. It saw me, flinched and I shot it through the gill. It took me 2 more dives just to get it out of the hole. BAM. It was a monster. The stoke was real and the fishing got fishier. We finally arrive at the spot we were going for. When I'm in a cloud of various fish, I like to dive down and lay on the bottom just to see whats around and so I can be super selective. I saw huge blues, but I wasn't going for blues. I saw giant perch and kelpies but werent going for those either, then off the peak of a large boulder a few yards away was a fish I definitely WAS going for. Bam, stoned a nice verm. We hunted for a couple hours at the spot and got another verm, a scallop, a small ling (I wanted to do the Bring the Ling tournament this time around since I was diving all weekend anyways so I needed the points) and a nice cab. We started to get a notion that we needed to head in when we were having swells breaking over our heads more frequently so a bit tired and hungry, we called it a day and started to swim back to our boogie sleds.

I'm certainly not a fill the stringer kind of guy but I did promise enough fish for the Bridge Culinary Program (a part of the Bridge Restoration Ministry for prison reintegration and addiction rehabilitation) to teach the guys how to fillet and cook high end fish meals. I ended up with 6 fish total for them. Here's where it get's dicey. The waves back in the cove that we launched from were twice as big as they were coming out. There was no way we could land there. Boulders that stuck out of the water by 15 feet now had huge waves pounding well over the top of them. At that moment, I recalled Matt Mattison telling a story about a buddy who got caught off guard and nearly died with his goggles and face smashing on rocks, gear breaking etc. Needless to say my anxiety levels were elevated. We floated and scanned the neighboring areas where we might be able to get out. We decided that there was a window of opportunity to go in if we weaved some boulders and swam hard and fast. We also agreed that I would take the heavy gear so Nick could fly in first, I would let the next set of waves pass and then I would come in so he could help me with the heavy stuff. Nick timed it well, rides a small swell in, weaves the rocks to the right and then disappears behind a boulder. I see a board get tossed up the side of the cliff a few feet and then he pops out unscathed. Now its my turn. Looking back the set seemed to have passed, I let one more swell go by just to be sure then I kicked hard. I tried to hit the same line he did, but I guess my window was not as calm because I had a wave push me to the left in a maneuver Nick called the tokyo drift (I basically bounced off a big rock and started to get thrown around). I was able to recover, swim closer and push my board to him while I tore off my fins. Too much time had passed and the next set started coming in. Nick used my board like a shield to brace against the large crash while I was catapulted. Its funny how our minds work in moments like this. I opted to use my hands to hold my carbon fins safe while my head was used to halt my momentum on a rock haha. I threw my fins to Nick and scrambled out before the next wave got me. We scampered up the cliff a good 15 feet before we thought it was safe to rest and recover. Nope, this set was even bigger than the last and the waves splashes were still getting us.

This was a funky spot to land in because we literally had to rock climb out. I went first with the heavy board and pushed it up to a ledge above my head, then climbed up to it, then pushed it up, grabbed nicks board and we conveyor belted like this till we got up to high ground. We did this all the way back over to the area where we came down the trail to. This part was the worst. I missed the trail we took on the way down by a good 150 yards and ended up in thick dead bushes that were waist high. Exhausted, I tried trampling over them unsuccessfully. Nick had to come down and smash them down a bit so I could heave the board over to him and trek back. It took us nearly 1.5 hours of billy goating to get back to the car. Bloody and bruised, we gave like 35 high fives for making it out! This was by far the most adventurous dive I've had to date. I'm stoked Nick and I dove - he is super positive, had a med kit to mend some wounds (I think he said he's a rescue diver), and overall just encouraged the stoke! Rad guy and really knowledgeable about fish. Anyways, it was already 3p and I had to be back for Bring the Ling by 5, which I barely made for weigh in. I also weighed the Grassy which came out to 6.8. My buddy Zeke at PigWizard hollered to me that I might have just got the state record but I was way too exhausted to think about the work involved to register it. It wasn't till I got home and Big Jim encouraged me to make the effort. He gave me Matt at DFG's # and got the process going. I passed out at like 9p.

SUNDAY (won't be as long): I woke up feeling like a 90 year old man that just got hit by a bus. I didn't even get out of bed till after 9a. I was lagging hard and since no one was down to dive on Sunday, I didn't have much accountability to get out on the water. The yak was still on my car so I decided to eat and lazily make my way down to one of my new favorite local spots that has been super fishy in the past few weekends. On the water by 11a and the waves were huge once I was out there. I played it safe and didn't go the full distance I thought I might need to go. Pleasantly surprised by 30+ foot visibility and thousands of blues below me once I hopped in. I started dropping to the bottom to hunt for lings. Found a decent Olive, so I took it. Again being more selective. Surge was even worse or I was just exhausted from the day before so I opted to try to come in shallower. Vis was less, but still not bad. I found some huge caves and cracks. No one home. Then I went into one deep crack, got myself all the way down to the bottom, shine my light under a ledge and found a PB monkey faced eel at 6# and 29". It was a slower day and I was super unmotivated but ended up with another ling and kelpie and called it a day. Headed back to Out to Sea for weigh in of the fish and another meal at Pig Wizard (the #4 with egg is my new fave). The award ceremony was at 530 and I was watching MONSTROUS lings coming in from the hook and line guys. As I was chatting with various fishermen and we were trading stories and photos, Jordan Lewis tapped me on the shoulder and said, hey, I'm the guy you just took the state record from. haha. It was great to meet him, really nice guy and now it looks like we're diving this weekend which will be fun. I was pleasantly surprised when Chris called my name for 1st place for Bring the Ling. I've never received money for a sport I really enjoy so that was neat. Got a couple shirts, a gift card and a nice ling lure (I don't hook and line... so Christmas gift to someone!). Definitely a weekend for the books!

I'd be surprised if you made it this far. I typed way more than I thought I would but it was quiet enjoyable recalling the events, so I hope you had some vicarious moments too. Now for the photos!

That's a sweet black sea bass.

Awesome read, awesome story thanks for sharing.


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That's a sweet black sea bass.

Dont scare me like that! We checked the first two rakers and everything.

That was an awesome write-up! Thanks for taking the time! You have gotten me itching to get back in the water.

fun read dude!

That's a sweet black sea bass.

Dont scare me like that! We checked the first two rakers and everything.

I couldn’t positively ID without the cutting board in pic. 

Nice fish. 

fun read dude!

+1

That's a sweet black sea bass.

Dont scare me like that! We checked the first two rakers and everything.

I couldn’t positively ID without the cutting board in pic. 

Nice fish.

hahah I should have put the cutting board in there.

Funniest line of that whole thread was whoever said "screwsfish"

I have ADHD .too many words w/o paragraphs      ...nice pics .Congrats !!!

I was clearly not typing with good grammar or proper writing syntax =P My bad. I has the dumb. I made it into more paragraphs now =P

no problem, my bad for being butt hurt . must be my time of the month I`ll delete lol ..its what i do

No prob bud! my fault for not making it more clear that I was making fun of myself. I fixed that now =P

Right ON! I dig your attitude. Thanks for taking the time to share your adventure(s) with us!

That's a sweet black sea bass.

Dont scare me like that! We checked the first two rakers and everything.

I couldn’t positively ID without the cutting board in pic. 

Nice fish.

hahah I should have put the cutting board in there.

Funniest line of that whole thread was whoever said "screwsfish"

Thank you thank you, I’ll be here all week. Dont forget to tip the wait staff.

Congrats !Thanks for the write up. Cool reading your experience. That grassy looks like a fat ass cabbie . 

Hey Spiff. You need to change your NCKA name to " The Deleter ".   

Alex

Awesome!  Way to go!