Paid for this trip in 2019 with plans to go in summer of 2020…then covid happened and it got cancelled.

In 2021 there was an issue with the captain/boat and it got cancelled.

In 2022 I got covid right before the trip and was too sick to dive.

Finally this year I was able to make it happen.

Three days of diving off a siiiick 37 foot VH Freeman with quad 350s, staying at a sweet houseboat down at Venice Marina, home cooked meals each night from the houseboat owners.

Captain Brandon Hendrickson (amazing diver and all around great guy) and his crew went above and beyond to get us on fish and make sure we filled the coolers.

At least 70% of fish donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank in New Orleans. My family has benefited from their charity in the past after hurricanes so I know they do really good work.

Conditions were excellent, we had great viz and found fish super close to shore.

Highlights for me were my PB Cobia, Amberjack, Mangrove Snapper, Red Snapper, Dog Snapper and Tripletail.

At the end of the trip we drove up to the foodbank and donated almost 300 pounds of fillets.

Very happy to have finally been able to make this trip happen, and stoked that I got some good pics and video to help me remember all the good times.

If you are looking to shoot some fish for a good cause you should check out DFAC, if you want to go offshore in Venice I highly recommend Brandon, and for inshore and lodging right there I can’t say enough good things about Donny Duke and Tigers Den.

https://www.divingforacause.org/home.html

https://instagram.com/spearobrando?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.tigersdenvenice.com/

Here are pics and a little vid.



 

Sincerely,

Jim

Welcome to NCKA!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Quote from: JoeDubC on July 12, 2023, 05:20:41 PM

I often fish close to Mavericks when I go to HMB.
At our neighborhood lake in the Sierras a girl was attacked by otters last week with multiple wounds and had to be rushed to the hospital. Now they have warning signs.

Otters can dicks, river or sea.

If they aren't biting Scott Thornley's boots at Elk, they are clawing kids in the Sierras or biting surfer's boards in Santa Cruz...

X 100

Fuck otters.

https://www.vox.com/2014/4/24/5640890/otters-rape-baby-seals-monsters-bad

"But there comes a point at which rational people have to put adorable hijinks aside and recognize otters for what they are: disease-ridden, murderous, necrophilic aqua-weasels whose treachery knows few bounds. They are not "wonderful animals,"...They're merciless hellspawn who use their intellects for great evil."

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Funny that you ask. A diver just popped up when approaching the landing. He said visibility wasn’t good. He was at 23 FOW in front of MBK

Thank you!

I went anyway. It was good enough in patches here and there. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Welcome!!

Most of my family is still in Louisiana and I get back there once or twice a year.

Here's a few pics of some fish I've taken there in the last few years.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Here’s some more pics of it that were posted to the FishMoss FB group.

Lot easier to tell in these pics…

 

Sincerely,

Jim

2021 CoosaHD, only used once.

Really cool kayak, but it’s just not the kind of kayak I need for what I do these days.

Here’s a link with specs, price, description, walkthrough video etc…no warranty from JK anymore since it is being resold.

https://cfoutdoors.com/jackson-kayak-coosa-hd/

MSRP is $1,949. Asking $1,200 OBO, pick up in Watsonville.

Some pics attached from the one time I used it in the summer of 2021…it had good fish mojo and I got a butt on it while messing around with my girls.   

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I had a cryoablation for the afib/tachycardia at Stanford on 11/28.

No complications, they put in 5 catheters (2 in each femoral artery and 1 in the jugular) and fed those all the way inside the heart where they found the areas of concerns and ablated them...doc said he was able to trigger the arrythmia easily and that I had AVNRT and didn't even have to go across to left atrium to get the areas where most afib starts....said he is hopeful this will fix the issue and gives me about an 80% chance that won't come back. Also off the blood thinners and don't gotta take any meds at all, which makes me very happy.

https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/blood-heart-circulation/supraventricular-tachycardia/types/atrioventricular-node-reentrant-tachycardia-avnrt.html

Felt like death for first 2 weeks after (feverish, weak, short of breath, chest pain, pulse spikes up to 190 just walking around the house etc) but since then have been feeling stronger.

Got back in water for the first time in 84 days on Saturday and did a yak dive session with my buddy Matt.

Didn't push depths or bottom times...got a nice 21.5 inch cab, found 2 reds and took one and pointed out the other to Matt to take, and at the end of the day Matt finally found the fish we were looking for all day...a big old Ling holed up in only 30 FOW.

When he came up and told me there was a big ling in the hole right next to his gun I had to restrain myself from dropping down and shooting it myself 

After he breathed up he went down and shot it right in the face...I dropped after to see if needed a second shot but could see the shooting line going right through head and knew it wasn't going anywhere...monster of a fish that was scary big looking inside the hole...back at truck taped out to 39.5 inches and 28 pounds. 

I was pretty beat the next day, but by Monday was feeling better.

Felt amazing to finally get back in the water and paddle and dive and am looking forward to getting salty with fuzz in Oahu in 2 weeks. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim