BigJim:
TLDR: After some health shit I finally shot another WSB.
It was a pretty tough winter for me in a lot of ways...
Back in September I started having a recurrence of my arrythmia problems...this time it wasn't A-Fib, but rather V-tach which can apparently be much more dangerous.
Stanford recommended I get an Insertable Cardiac Monitor, and start on an anti-arrythmia med called Tikosyn.
I was fine with the monitor but very hesitant about the meds...didn't want to risk not being able to do the things I love doing like diving and kayaking and running and hiking etc...
Got the monitor implanted in November, and in December checked into Stanford for 5 days to start on the meds while they monitored me to make sure I could tolerate them...super boring and uneventful hospital stay and I felt fine lol.
After that I got back in the water and into the gym and running etc as much as I could...was very pleased that I seemed to be able to do all the things while taking the med, no bad side effects, and the monitor was also working well and alerting the docs to any weirdness or dangerous arrythmias.
By spring time I had run a 10k, had been diving a fair amount and getting some local flatfish etc, and was feeling reasonably confident that I was up for a solo WSB mission....so I started making plans to get after one as soon as I thought there might be a chance of finding a fish...the internet and some friends let me know that there were fish being taken so figured it was worth trying....
First two attempts were just a lot of driving and hiking and diving and lurking in pretty bad viz for no fish seen and long rides home with melting ice in the cooler and the killbag still rolled up.
Third trip down started off with more of the same....5 hours or so in and no sightings...was working my way along a kelp edge when finally a dark shape appeared from the murky haze...I took aim and pulled the trigger and it took off.
I felt pretty confident it was a good shot so put decent pressure on and prevented her from heading out deeper...after following the line around for a bit she popped out into open water and I was able to gently bring her into view and get my hands in her throat.
Shot had gone in right above pec fin and out under opposite side of throat. Perfect holding shot, and when I showed fuzz he asked me who had shot the fish since it was too good of shot placement to be me :smt012 :smt010 :smt044
Bled her and admired her in the water on the long swim back in. Once back on shore I loaded her and my dive gear into the backpack and hiked her out. Hike was hard, but heart behaved and even though it got up to 188 bpm it slowed down fine once back to the truck.
Fish taped out to 55 inches and right about 45 pounds. Not very heavy for the length but still a beautiful fish.
I took her straight to my inlaws house and cut her up and we spent the weekend feasting on the deliciousness.
Very grateful that despite all the cardiac BS these past two years I have still been able to get out there and hunt underwater, and occasionally bring home a tasty fish.
Here's a bunch of pics.
:smt006
Sincerely,
Jim
Ps. Didn’t get the shot on film but here’s a little clip of what it looked like when I got my hands on her, and when I first got back to shore:
https://youtu.be/MhGtuQceQZE?si=_e3ArLKo0oy_SkZ8
ThreemoneyJ:
Love it! Amazing!
tedski:
Glad you're in good health! Pics are mouth watering.
ex-kayaker:
Glad to hear you’re still able to scale cliffs, swim for miles and get off a lucky shot every now and then. :smt001
Sailfish:
Glad you got your health and spirit back. Congrats and thanks for the awesome report + pictures Jim.