Thanks again for the kind words guys. 

Oh Dang and you even took the otoliths out! You going to polish them and count how old the fish is? I used to do that in college, a long time ago...

I like the otoliths for sure…never tried to actually age them though…maybe one day!

 

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   
 
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.
 

 
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

So cool to see all the pics and read all the reports and stories!!

I wish I could've made it but just wasn't possible.

Miss you all and hope to see you up there next year or out OTW somewhere else before then...

Thank you Eric for all your work and for keeping GS alive.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Good stuff, Jim. One correction for the allwaters link is that the contents of the petitions won't actually be discussed at the March 19 Marine Resources Committee meeting in San Clemente, they will only be discussing the Department's process to review the petitions.

Quote

Marine protected area (MPA) regulation change petitions
Receive and discuss Department-proposed approach to the review and evaluation of
petitions for MPA regulation changes following the 2022 decadal management review of
the MPA network and management program.

The important discussion on the contents of the petitions will likely be on the agenda at the July 18 Marine Resources Committee meeting in Santa Rosa.

Thank you Rick!!

Hope you are doing well!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

As Rick talks about in his post below, there are a lot of proposals to expand MPAs and decrease our fishing opportunities.

https://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=101669.0

I know there are several threads related to this already, but wanted to try and make one in the public section so the info would be available to as wide an audience as possible…

In Santa Cruz, the Kelp Stalkers will be hosting a meeting for all on March 13th at 7pm at 251 Washinton Street, Santa Cruz with Fish and Game Commissioner Erika Zavaleta as KeyNote Speaker.

https://www.allwaters.org/events

"Join us at 251 Washington Street, Santa Cruz, California to hear from Fish and Game Commissioner Erika Zavaleta. Our goal from this meeting is to unite and educate our community as to the best methods for pushing back against these proposed closures."

I encourage all who can to attend the 3/13 meeting…I believe it will be available via Zoom as well and I will post details here when I see them.

Here are some additional links and resources on the topic:

Link to the recent Fish & Game Commission recording pertaining to MPAs. I HIGHLY recommend listening to what Commissioner Zavaleta has to say starting at 5:12:35.

https://cal-span.org/meeting/cfg_20240214/

BHA has a petition going with a very articulate statement about the issue.

https://www.backcountryhunters.org/take_action#/396

Here’s the schedule of meetings, agendas and links to videos of past meetings.

https://fgc.ca.gov/Meetings/2024

I hope some of the above info helps…I’m not an expert about this stuff and the process, but would like to try and help out where and when I can to preserve our access to our fisheries…

Sincerely,

Jim

Love that article....even as a diver I've learned so much from studying it....

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thanks for the kind words guys.

 

Here’s a little collage of some of the meals we made with the meat, and the stones…I got a new shadowbox from Amadeo to better display all my stones and other ocean treasures. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Sounds like a great adventure to me!

I had Valentina on my little BigYak at that age, and once I won the T15 up at GS4 we went out a fair amount together...she was 4 at that time.

This was probably our most memorable trip at that age, and of course the big one got away 

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=26842.0

Hope you all have a safe, fun time and look forward to seeing pics and the report!

 

Sincerely,

Jim