Rewarded with a Red

Snuck out this week to take advantage of the flat ocean conditions.

Decided to go explore a stretch of coast where I have never dove.

It is always fun exploring, but never guaranteed to be productive...and my first few hours of diving I was spending a lot of energy doing drops in the 55-65 foot range, and not finding anything promising. 

Finally found a fishy ravine at about 45 feet with large boulders on the bottom and tons of blue rockfish swimming around. Had high hopes for something exciting, but ended up just finding a 25 inch Ling that I took and moved on.

Started covering as much ground as possible, and just punching drops on nice looking kelp stalks.

Eventually I found a thick clump of giant kelp which stood out because most of the area was bull kelp.

Dropped and could tell right away that this was the spot I had been looking for…the braided giant kelp stalks were coming off one big boulder…good sized olives and blues milling around…palm kelp slowly swaying back and forth on the bottom…scattered gravel and rubble patches…a steep wall close by with some dark diagonal cracks at the base…a thick golden Ling that lazily got up and swam off as I landed on the bottom. 

Four or five more drops later as I laid on the bottom at 50 feet I finally saw what I was looking for…a big old grumpy stocky Red appearing like magic out of the palm kelp that I had stared at multiple times already…He slowly glided toward me and I watched his beautiful under bite and thick shoulders and big black eyes get closer and closer to my spear tip…he finally flinched and turned to the right and I pulled the trigger and the shaft went in his left cheek and through his head and he rolled over.

Grabbed him and swam up giggling and saying thank you to the fish, and saying to myself “I knew this spot would have a nice Red!!”

After I bled the fish and strung it up, I did another drop and saw the same golden 30 inch Ling and it glided off again out of range towards the wall and the cracks…

Did another drop closer to the wall and lo and behold there was the Ling hiding way back in one of the cracks…shot her right between the eyes, but she got stuck and took me 5 more drops to wiggle her out.

Once I had her on the surface bled/gilled/gutted I called it and headed home.

Very stoked on this day, and glad I put the effort in to explore and that I was rewarded with such a beautiful fish.

Of course my GoPro battery died before I found the Red, and fuzz says he doesn’t believe I shot it myself since it was such a nice clean headshot…. 

Here’s a few pics of the fishies, and you will just have to take my word for the story.   

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Ps...thanks to keeping track on DOTY I know this is the biggest Red I’ve taken in 3 years, and my 3rd biggest ever. 

Thanks for the great report and pictures Jim.  Miss your video 

Nice work, Jim!  Ya gotta love the unknowable of a new spot... especially when it produces and your gut was right.  Congrats, man!  Wish there was video, but oh well... next time!

Magic Red Fish! 


Good work as always 

Nice chunky red!
...great job doctoring his tail to make it over the 21.5" mark...hehehe

 Very nice Thnx for an awesome report and stoke

Nice Jim! Solid red right there. I love how reds just magically appear when you just sit on the bottom and wait. Congrats on a solid day! -Ryan

Go big red!

Thanks guys!

Slamson, my girls are convinced they are magic, and I definitely agree.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Absolutely awesome.  I've never seen a red spearfishing.  Ever. 

Another great story! thanks for sharing. Makes me wanne get my own red, it has been years since I had one, accidentally caught with a line in my pre-spearfishing era.

Excellent report...  Congrats! 

Magically Unbelievable 😉 j/k Awesomeness Brudda!!! 

Thanks guys.

I went back to the area the other day, and couldn’t find the exact spot, but found another nice reef with a ton of blue rockfish and finally one nice (little smaller at 19.5 inches but still nice) Red.

This guy took off when he saw me and made me follow him down and around for a bit before turning to give me a shot window.

Here’s a few pics and a little InstaVid.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHnlCDWAFDd/?igshid=uyojxgjt99mu

Also checked out a shallower zone and got a chunky Ling, a solid Cab and a decent Black.

Another fun day exploring underwater.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Beautiful fish and awesome IG clip! While watching it, I dont know how you manage to ID the big ones. I was too busy admiring how many fish were down there in general 😂