The DFW is hoping to put out the FMP survey by this Friday.  We had a call in Last Friday with the departments lead biologist to suggest changes to their first draft.  In addition to several other changes, (basically we rewrote the whole thing), we asked that they start out by saying this is a fishery management plan, not a species protection plan that we are creating.  The species is in no danger, we are just discussing how easy divers want it to be to find abalone and the trade of is opportunity vs. accessibility.  Another suggestion was that they put a line for comments below each question so if there's any ambiguity or uncertainty you can clarify the intent of your answer.

It is important that as many divers as possible fill out and return the survey.  I'll post the link when it goes out but this is definitely one of those times that if you don't vote, don't complain later.

The subject has come up several times in conversations about the benefits and possible down side of the MPA's, that with no pressure these areas might just be over run by urchin.  I'm wondering if there are a few divers that would be interested in diving in the MPA's with cameras to monitor the process.  The benefit of having these closed areas full of abalone is that when we work on the FMP in the coming months we can count those abs as protected and secure.  The downfall would be if the areas become urchin farms the remaining abalone may be seen as needing more protection.

Another opportunity to get involved is by volunteering to help the department with monitoring.  The issue of manpower and a lack of volunteers is coming up more and more often with the discussions of more and more monitoring.  You probably wouldn't start out as a diver but as you get more familiar with the process and the people, the opportunities and the jobs should get more interesting.

A couple of my friends are starting a dive gear company.  They're selling carbon fiber fins with foot pockets for $350 if anyone is interested.  They gave me a pair to demo and I've been diving these fins since last August and they're still in great shape even though I've been shore diving and crawling across rocks in them for nine months now.  I wore these fins on a freedive to 103' last October wearing 18lbs of lead.  I was wearing these fins last month in Panama when I landed that tuna.  They're great fins at a reasonable price if you're in the market for CF's.  I'd be happy to let you try mine if your foot size is 11-13 and I'm trying to get my buddies to lend me a smaller pair just to let guys try them before they buy them.

Here's a link to their website
http://www.abyss-diver.com/

I was talking with Glenn down at Glenn's Aquarius II in monterey on the break water. He's got a nomad fiberglass kayak he only wants $200 for. A bc and tank fit in the front hatch with fins, etc and a spare tank fits in the back hatch.  Call him at the shop or I can put you in touch with him.

Forest green Mini X is in great condition. Comes with a paddle and wheels. $400

Yellow Tandem is faded but otherwise fine. Comes with two paddles and two seats. $400.

It's dark so no pics. I can do pics tomorrow afternoon if needed.

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This years Rookie of the Year comp was an excellent event with 11 rookies registered. There were 3 rookies registered in the "first year diver" category and 8 in their 2nd and 3rd year.

Heath Blackwell took first place in the first year diver division with a 10.015" ab
Dustin Fulmer took second with a 9"+

Tony Perry took first place in the 3 year or less category with a 9.68" ab.

Heath Blackwell won the fish category with a 30" ling.

In totally unrelated news, one of Adam415's friends kayak'd out Saturday and shot a 23" monster of a vermilion.

Thank you to Vanessa at the Freediveshop, Ian Elstrom and Peter Satitpunwaycha of FII for donating the prizes. Each winner got either a level one FII freedive course or a $250 gift certificate at the Freediveshop, just in time for the year end sale on December 7th, 8th and 9th from 10 am to 4pm. Sale applies to phone orders and in store sales only.

Also, Thank you to Dennis Haussler for donating a guided dive for the mentor of the winner to work on his skills as well.

This was a great event and it's really growing. My greatest satisfaction from putting this event on is that every year more rookies on the north coast are finding mentors and that more mentors are looking for rookies to train. Congratulations to all that participated in this year long event. The experience and experiences shared over the year are truly priceless. The campfire stories are pretty good too.

Wednesday I confirmed with Sacramento Regional Parks director Jeff Leatherman, and the CDFW warden in charge of the American River Parkway that spears and spearfishing are allowed on the river just not in the parkway which is the land on both sides of the river from the Hazel street bridge to the Sacramento River.  Met with a couple buddies Friday morning in Vacaville at 6 and by 7am we were suited up and ready to launch on the Sacramento River near old town.  We paddled up the Sacramento to the American and about 3.5 miles more to the business 80 overpass.  The purpose of this mission for me was to scout and to lay some rumors to rest about how easy it will be to spear in the river and that you don't even need a wet suit so with temperatures supposed to be in the 100's I decided to bring a gun but to focus on video and go without a wetsuit.  I'm just going to say there's no chance of anyone spearing a striper without a wet suit.  There's no way someone is going to be able to be still and hunt for any length of time.  It's fine if you're just going to jump in to cool off but not for what we do.

Our first stop was under the bridge for highway 160.  This is where we saw the most fish, Greg spotted 3 on his third or fourth dive all in the 12-18 inch range.  None that were obviously over 18 so he didn't shoot.  A little while later he saw another one about 15 inches or so.  I spent most of my time with my sidescan sonar looking for structure and fish while they dove and I would call them over to investigate if I found anything with potential but those would be the only fish close to legal that we would see today.  Greg did see another school of babies up near the business 80 bridge but they were nowhere near legal, just cute.  MIke got to work on some skills, stalking and hunting.  How to use the dead spots to rest up for diving in the current, etc.  Greg's skills are considerably further along than Mike's.  I believe that Mikes noisy style may have scared the fish away which proves that these fish are not going to be easy and not everyone is going to be able to spear them.

The fish seemed to be swimming across the current so the most success they had was finding structure at about 20 feet on the edge of the current behind or next to the pilons of the bridges, diving up current and drifting on the bottom with the current.  Structure is the key.  Another rumor was how easy it was going to be to shoot stripers from the kayak, or that they would just swim right up to you.  We covered allot of river today and I was looking intently the whole time and I never saw anything from the kayak that made me even wonder if it was a striper.  The fish that Greg saw while diving spooked after one encounter of only a few seconds.

I was impressed that both Mike and Greg asked what size they should target knowing that I'm trying to promote an attitude of conservation and that some are worried about the big hens being targeted.  I told them 24 inches should be fine with a little wiggle room either way but I wouldn't target anything over 30".  We had discussions about the mercury and compared experience with the meat of larger fish vs. smaller fish.  I don't have much experience with striped bass but Greg said he preffers the 10-15 pounders anyway.  Next trip I'll be trying to get my first and I'll also be trying to get video of some big ones to see how they'll behave next to divers. 

Here are the boundaries of the closure.