Making the best of bad conditions!! Monterey 3/26/11

Been jonesing all week to get back in the water and try and shoot some more video with the GoPro!!

Also, just got a new shaft for my little Riffe...the other one worked great but the Hawaiian flopper needed to go 6 inches through the fish to flop and in tight holes I was losing some fish that were right against the rock.

Wanted to try a threaded shaft with a flopper closer to the tip. Ordered it up from Austins Diving Center online....these guys have GREAT customer service and have helped me out several times....explained what I was looking for and that I was hoping they could rig it with line and crimps to match my gun....did an excellent job and the package arrived a day earlier than expected.  If you can't find what you are looking for at your local dealer, you should give these guys a chance to help you out!!

http://www.austinsdiving.com/

Anyway, conditions have been horrible all week, but the forecast was slightly smaller swell and lower winds for Saturday....

It still was miserable out and the wind made paddling out a real PITA!! 

Getting ready to start diving, put my mask on and the f'ing strap breaks!!   

Have just enough strap left to barely make it work, but it comes loose several times while diving and I have to swim back to the yak to redo it...after the second time doing this I decide to leave the GoPro in the yak to make one less thing to worry about on my head!!!

Vis was minimal and surge was high....worked the shallows for a small MFPB and Black and Yellow and a decent Grassy.

Then found a hole with a fat old MFPB head in it!!   

Shot him once and even with the shorter flopper the spear did not stick....let the dust settle in his hole and am eventually able to see him back in there...shoot him again and once again I can't pull him out....

While I am cursing and reloading, he snakes his way out of his hole all dazed and confused looking!!  No time for the spear so just tackle him underwater and start wrestling him into submission!!   

Get my legs wrapped around him and pull out my knife and manage to skewer him right through the head!! 

Call it quits for the day and paddle back in and head over to Moss Landing to meet up with Andy and the fellas who were gonna be poke poling over there. They had the pop ups, beer and BBQ going to combat the conditions...good times with these guys are always in the forecast and today was no exception!!!
 


DFG comes by and they say they think the eel (measured out at 27 inches and weighed close to 5 pounds on their scale) may be a state diving record?!? One of the DFG guys says the current record is 4 pounds 12 ounces...

They had me go over to Phil's Fish Market to get it weighed on a certified scale, and when I did it weighed out the same as the existing record taken back in 2007!

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/sportsdivingrecords.pdf


I shot a 28 incher in Carmel a month or so ago and I know HotPlate has pulled out a 28 incher as well, but I never even new there was a record for diving for these guys....Kirk Lombard (of the intertidal!  ) holds the hook and line record at over 6 pounds, but apparently they have seperate records for diving and hook and line...

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/anglingrecords.pdf

I think a lot of guys have gotten bigger ones diving and just have not reported it. The grass rockfish record is 6 pounds...I think some of the lunkers that Andy and I have pulled out this winter would have been right there...anyway, got a crap load of meat off that eel and the wife was very happy with the amount of goodies we have for the ceviche she wanted!!

For the conditions we had today I am just happy to have brought home dinner!   

Here is a vid I threw together...wanted to make a vid showing off my amazing bottom time and great aim ( ) but ended up with this instead!!

Looks best in 720p!



 

Sincerely,

Jim

I referred to such activities as "Conquests" at one point, and was rebuffed by a critic! 

Way to flat out kick ass in conditions that would turn away the vast majority, Jim.  Way to put the extra effort in to document it.  Way to go, My Bro.   

Thank you for bringing one more conquest back here to share with all of us.   

You're an ANIMAL!!!!

Great video Jim.  Really liked the music choice. 

While I'll admit that I know nothing about the MFPB, but the fact that it was still flapping it's tale after you got home and put him on the fillet table blows my mind.

You're an ANIMAL!!!!

LOL + 1

I like your fish wresting style    Thanks for the great report and video Jim.

Thanks fellas!!

Andy took the patent pending money shot pic, and Kris came with me to Phils to take some pics of the eel on the scale...post em up bro!!
 
Sincerely,

Jim

Jim,

totally ripping video and report. Love that you are willing and addicted enough to go out in nasty conditons and get after it. Hey, I'm thinking about buying a GOpro camera and wondering how yours is working out for you? Was thinking about the Naked HD version. Guess you have to buy a special replacement lens to shoot underwater. LEt me know.

Shannon

Jim,

totally ripping video and report. Love that you are willing and addicted enough to go out in nasty conditons and get after it. Hey, I'm thinking about buying a GOpro camera and wondering how yours is working out for you? Was thinking about the Naked HD version. Guess you have to buy a special replacement lens to shoot underwater. LEt me know.

Shannon

Thanks Shannon!

I got the GoPro Hero 960 and am just using the housing/lens that it came with....the flat lens you can buy will make the quality of the underwater footage clearer, but it is not totally necessary....

I am still figuring out the best way to make sure I don't lose it off my head....wore it under my hood yesterday and that worked nicely....except for when I went to take my mask off over the camera and broke the mask strap!! 

Looking forward to seeing your videos of giant Northern abs!!!!
 
Sincerely,

Jim

Jim, the flat lense definitely makes a HUGE difference in vid quality.   

The last 2 records for MFE have been held by buddies of mine... Art Li & Chris Saxl.
I've specifically targeted & shot bigger ones with intentions of stealing the record from them, but the process was such a pain to submit (including needing a DFG biologist to verify catch in person), that I just ended up eating em instead.   

hey fuzz when i chnage out the standard lense with the flat one does the flat one still work well out of water or do i need to change it back when im doing out of water videos. if i do im just gonna buy 2 housings , 1 for diving & 1 for fishing.

BTW you should of got more footage of the chick in the store behind the counter

Jim, the flat lense definitely makes a HUGE difference in vid quality.   

The last 2 records for MFE have been held by buddies of mine... Art Li & Chris Saxl.
I've specifically targeted & shot bigger ones with intentions of stealing the record from them, but the process was such a pain to submit (including needing a DFG biologist to verify catch in person), that I just ended up eating em instead.   

Yeah, I need to get one...maybe next month/paycheck!   

The DFG guys who were at Moss Landing verified the catch and told me to just fill out the form and submit it with the pics of the weighing at Phils....yeah if they hadn't been there it would be a complete PITA to track one down to verify it!!

We'll see what they say since mine weighed the same as the current one on their list shot by your buddy Chris Saxl...

No matter what though, it was a pretty cool interaction with the DFG guys and they encouraged me to submit it so I will.

I really wanted to film skinning the eel, but I left the camera recording when I left Phil's and it drained the battery and it died right when I was ready to get my skin on!!
 
 
Sincerely,

Jim

BTW you should of got more footage of the chick in the store behind the counter

LOL!!!! 

You're a bad man Gomez...that's why I like you.
 

I could tell she was really impressed with the size of my eel.   
 
Sincerely,

Jim