Big Sur free-diving report - fish of a lifetime

With the good ocean condition the past weekend, I decided to make a long trip down south, trying out a remote spot I never dove before. I wasn't expecting much in terms of vis, as that place is very exposed. To my great surprise, after swimming thru the murky surf zone, the vis opened up. The water became light blue, vis ranged from 20 ft to up to 50 ft in places. Schools of big blue rockfish came to check me out, I could clearly see the details of their scales from 15 ft away. Among the schooling blue rockfish were some nice olives. It's like picking from a nicely stocked supermarket for the big fish of your choice. I stopped at Olive #4 because that's all I needed. Hovering among the reefs were some colorful sheepheads. Most probably were in 4-5 lb range with a brightly colored male reefmaster between 15-20 lb. I left them unmolested. With my recent trip to Socal, I will not eat sheepheads for a while. I swam to a giant kelpbed half mile off shore. Swarms of blues and olives followed my every move. At a reef 30 ft down, there was a movement caught my eye. A slightly reddish/purple fish but almost twice the length of the 16-inch olives that I had hanging from my stringer.  A female sheephead cannot be that large, only males, but I didn't see the typical sheephead pattern. Then I realized it's a vermillion, the largest red I have ever seen in my life. This trophy will look GREAT in a photo, I thought to myself. Dove down and my spear flew true to its target, then my floatline started to run. Not a problem, the floatline is long enough, I assured myself. Then the run stopped, I went down to retrieve my trophy... Yep it's on the spear, but the fish ran into the back of a deep cave, the type with an overhang which you cannot get out easily... then I found it had further squeezed itself and the spear into a long tight hole. Sort of like a cork in a winebottle. I had my bottle opener jammed inside the cork, but I was not in the right angle to pull it out. I went up and down and worked on the fish for a full hour, the sun was setting and I was not making any progress. What an irony would be if a rescuer finds me DEAD of Shallow Water Blackout in 30 ft of water in a cave with my spear still attached to a giant vermillion? Not a very good thought. I gave up, unclipped the spear from my gun. Goodbye my trophy and my spear. Sorry I had to leave you there but this is probably a fitting tribute to both of you in this beautiful place. 

Bummer, Leony.  Cool report.   

That was a fun read. Sorry you lost a big one and your spear but better than your life. Good on ya.

FF

glad you made it home to write us a report about the one that got away.  It was braver to say goodbye to the fish and spear after an hour than to keep trying in low light conditions.  good choice

Nice one Leony! What a read.
Z

How difficult would it be to return to the spot at a later date to recover the spear and the fish, assuming it's still alive and picked off by crabs?

Isn't Big Sur closed to all fishing now? I was just down there and was under the assumption that this area is closed now. Maybe I am reading something else but would love to know.
Thanks
jim

Great report Leon!
Man, I bet that red got your adrenaline going! Too bad he became "the one that got away"! Hope you get em next time!

Rockfish season is open south of Pigeon Pt until Nov 30. Just not allowed to fish within the newly-established Marine Reserves (and some do allow limited fishing). The portion of Big Sur that is most affected by the new MPAs is from Pt Sur south past Andrew Molera SP.
PK

Leon!
 Great to hear of your trip but not the red....
 You lost it cuz you went down there without me!
We woulda got him out cuz I always carry a scuba tank in my vehicle and probably woulda had it onboard the kayak!~
I have gone there too many times without someone to share gas and as soon as I quit...you go .
Now....lets do it again while the weather allows.
Steve

Steve,
I sent you an email. Sorry for not contacting you this time, the trip was a last-minute decision. The cave the red ran into had a narrow opening too, I don’t know if it will fit a tank, but certainly if you take off the tank and drag it behind you, it will work. Anyway, let's do it together. More fun sharing the in-the-water experience with someone, and safer too.

Hojoman,
I certainly will return later to look for the spear, but it will be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. There are lots of similar rocks in the vicinity. Chance is I will never find it. And it's a long drive and the sea is usually rough there.

Leon