Pebble Beach 12/12/2010

I was able to drag my ugly ass out of bed by 5am, on the road by 5:30, at BigJims new pad by 6am. Loaded up and hit the road for SWS at Pebble Beach. Ariived at 7am to outstanding conditions. Warm, sunny and as flat as the campbell perc ponds. We were diving by 7:45 or so and the waters were crystal clear, 20 or more feet viz. Bloodbath showed up for the dive too, and we had a fantastic day in the water. Got my first rock fish today! Infact I got a full limit to feast on, including 2 greenlings and No F'ing perch finally! Underwater, it was beautiful, like visiting another planet down there. The weather was warm, waters calm. Had a great time with Joe and Jim. I knew the fishing was good cause we were all so spread out. Saw 3 lings, a cabby i missed, and even saw some live AB's. Really just worked on relaxing out there today and it paid off. Thanks Joe, Jim for sharing a memorable day for me.

I encourage anyone considering getting into diving to go now while the gettins good.

right on, glad you had a good dive

What a day!!!!!!
 

Conditions were KILLER and my heart was pounding as we paddled out and I could see alllll the way down through the crystal clear water to the bottom!!

My goal today was to help Brent find and shoot his first rockfish!! As soon as we anchored up I jumped in and promptly found a few black and yellows hanging in a hole and called Brent over....pointed a nice plump one out to him and watched him swim down, take aim, pull the trigger and...the safety was on and the fish darted away!!  

I went back down and spotted another black and yellow in a different hole on the same boulder...pointed it out to Brent and this time he nailed him!!!!!  

WTG Bro!!!!!!!!
 

I keep hunting and exploring and am just AMAZED at how AWESOME the conditions are...felt like I could have just swam and played in the water all day and it wouldn't have mattered if I shot a single fish!!

I swim up next to Brent and it becomes obvious he doesn't need any more help cuz he has a nice GreenLing thrashing on the end of his spear!!  

He goes to string up the GreenLing and I spot a Ling chilling and go swim down and just nudge him with my spear!!  

Come up and hear Brent curse...his GreenLing escaped off the board before he could string it up!!  

I dive and look around for a bit and see it hiding behind a rock, and pull out my knife and go down and stab him and bring him up!!  

Later on I see a nice Blue and miss a shot at him, but he doesn't swim very far and I reload and follow him...he goes under a rock right under Brent and I go down and nail him!!  

When I shoot him, a NICE cabbie comes out of hiding and swims into a hole...I ask Brent if he saw him and he says yeah and while I am taking the blue off the shaft the Cabbie comes back out and posts up right out in the open...Brent dives down, gets close, closer, closer, shaft almost touching the fish and then it spooks and goes in the hole!!! Brent follows, shoots, pulls the spear out...no Cabbie!!!  

I take off for awhile on my own and start putting together a decent stringer of kelpies and grassies...find my first real school of nice size blues!!! SO COOL!!!!!  

Joe shows up in the BigYak and loans me his Pole Spear and I miss 4 or 5 Blues, but finally nail a chunky Kelpie...first fish on a Pole Spear!!  

Swim back to the yak, and see Brent has a FAT stringer, actually a whole GD limit, including TWO GreenLings!!  

WTFG bro!!!!! What a way to get the RF shooting monkey off your back!!!!  

On the paddle back in meet Fuzz and SpinalTap on their way out...I got family stuff so can't hang out any longer, but Joe takes off with them...wish I could've joined you all...next time!!

Back at my pad we clean the fish and fry up two real quick...yummy!!!

Super fun day in an amazing place with great friends...looking forward to the next time already!!
 
Sincerely,

Jim

Sweet!!!!!! Way to go boys!!! It's only gonna get better fom here!! Sincerly.. Me

More pics!! Brent's fish are the 10 on the top half of the table, and mine are on the bottom...the other mess of fish on the table are Joe BloodBath's!!
 
Sincerely,

Jim

Looks like a repeat of the previous day. WTG guys! I look forward to spending more time honing my diving skill this winter. Have lots to learn. Thanks for the report.

ernest

Like always.  You guys sure know how to do it.  I can't wait to try spear fishing there myself especially after I heard about all the perch getting in the way.  Great report Jim and good shooting Porky!!

Rey

It was a gift of a day.  The above and below conditions were hard to beat.  My lower lip got sunburned. 

It was so nice Fuzz and I went exploring and jumping into spots that are new or seldom dove.  After three months of being out of the water, I was diving conservative, but had a tremendous time.  Thanks to Fuzz, I stayed warm the whole time. 

After all these years, I finally got a red, so it was a personal best day for me yesterday. 

Nice meeting you guys.  Looks like you guys scored big too.

Nate

Nate,

Didnt get to chat with you much, had to get home, but nice meeting you, and thanks for the tips on stalking fish you gave me by email a while back, it paid off. And thanks to Fuzz on his tips a while back on learning to relax, both made a huge difference.

Rey, lets get out there. Gonna be hard to beat that weather though

Its gonna get better...

What a day! Got to spend the day with good friends and perfect ocean conditions. Everyone pretty much slayed the rockfish out there. Smiles on everyone's faces is a good sign. Got down to about 35-40 ft while hanging with fuzz and spinaltap, clear water makes a big difference in the confidence level. Or maybe, just pushing it cause hanging with the bigdogs. Saw Jim's new beautiful home today too. Go get em!

Awesome job in the water brothers!! And Brent, wtF'ng on shooting your stringer of rockies, greenlings!!

Wish I coulda been there with y'all But seeing your reports, as well as Andy's, has made me feel good for y'all. Looking forward to hitting the waters with you all in visibility like that!!

Brief vid of the stellar conditions!!

Andy's and Alameda's vids of the weekend were way better, but I had to try!!
 



Sincerely,

Jim

NICE, two spectacular days at Da Cove    Way to slay em' guys    Makes me want to jump in the water for the heck of it and swim around with ya    Great job on the fish, Brent    You finally got your wings it looks like   

Al lets get you out there man, for me its the swimming around, checking things out that really counts. Learning to slow it down, relax even in the kelp. Great experience down there. The fish are a bonus. Hope to see ya soon.