SWS 1-23-11 Spearing

Met up with Hotplate, BaitnBeer and BigJim this morning at SWS for some good old spear fishing fun.  Unloaded our stuff and parked in the bushes. 


Observed the area, I thought it was big out there today, but I'm a rookie when it comes to this kinda stuff so thats just my opinion.  Here is BaitnBeer checking stuff out.


Here he is goin to work.


I dont know if you guys will be able to see this, but I believe this is BigJim, possibly BaitnBeer out there.


So Hotplate and I go and meet up with BaitnBeer and after hearing about not so great visibility in the area we decide to go and anchor up on the leeward side of island.  I anchor up, and off we go.  Well, visibility was around 6-10' I'd say and the surge of the ocean, mixed with the limited visibility, made the day a challenge, at least for this amateur it did.  So I bought this collapsable grappling hook style anchor from West Marine and used that on my last trip as well as today.  It has a "U" bolt that is held in by a pin and thats where you tie your anchor line to.  After being anchored up for 15 minutes or so, the U-bolt pin thing failed and the yaks were free.  Fortunately Darrel was with them so he kept them in the area.  The hero of the day was BaitnBeer who managed to find the lost anchor.  That was great!  Thanks for that dude!  Just to reiterate, it was not my knot that failed, it was the anchor.  HA.  After that, I managed one 14" Greenling.


And After that, I called it quits.  Darell and I headed in while BNB and BigJim stayed out and played.  For me, the work required in those conditions outweighed the fun.  So that was it!  On the paddle in Hotplate and I discussed beach landing techniques.  I landed without problems.  Hotplate on the other hand...


At least he didnt lose any equipment this time!  It was a good day out there for us.  I learned my comfort zone and how to deal with swell.  I could have stayed out longer but why not just wait till conditions improve.  I hope you guys who stayed out longer than us did great!  Looking forward to hearing all about it!

Jeff

Trophy shot, nice. Thanks for the report and pics.

Nice shot!      That place is usually pretty mellow and fun.

As for the anchor, you have to wrap the bolt with a wire or something to be sure it doesn't come undone like that.  Glad someone was there watching over the yaks.

Sweet shot of the only person ever getting bitch slamed in still water! I mean beach slammed!    Wish I was there for that shot!...thanks for the report!

F*ck dude!! I had a blast out there BUT....my back is JACKED up!!!!

Messed it up last weekend moving furniture and felt it twinge getting into the yak this AM...when I went to call it quits had to have baitnbeer take my fins off cuz I couldn't reach them!!
 
When I landed (I did better than Darrel!  ) I couldnt bend down to pull the yak out of the waves and ANdy had to help me!!
 

We stayed out longer and checked out a few spots where the vis was even worse than on the lee of the island...went outside in the deep blue for a bit and pushed our limits dving down to 45 or so...deepest I have ever been for sure!!   

After a test dive or two I managed to nail a 13 inch greenling and on the next dive down a chunky Kelpie!!
 

When I landed I couldn't stand up and couldn't pull my yak up the beach....

Luckily baitNbeer is AWESOME and helped me out, gave me beer, and helped load my gear in my car.

Hopefully after seeing the doc tomorrow I will get my back better soon?!?!?!
 

Good day on the water with great guys though....I got your anchor Jeff, AND happy birthday GOMEZ!!!
 
 
Sincerely,

Jim

PS...Nice pic of Darrel on the landing!!!   
 
 

awsome! love the surf shot

Good times guys, nice fish jim, i too love the surf shot!

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHA, sweet report.  Wow, never saw a beach landing like that, awesome. (thank god it wasn't me) 

Take care of that back Jim, those things just reoccur after you injury once.

jeez Jim, I dont think i've ever seen a 13" rockfish made to look so small than that one in your hand! nice fish and hope your back feels better soon!

after a few fish shot due to mistaken identity(perch) i decided to just have fun playing in the water , my though of going into deeper water was that i figured we would have better viz and can find some schols of blues chillin near the kelp stalks , didnt happen today though so while jim was still in the hunt i was just diving down to check things out getting water exp & downtime. jims a sav! came up from the depths with 2 fish , water was dark n murky too , i get nervous when its dark so i come back up but not out of breath , just need some hours practice. ill get there.

so conditions wernt so great today but i still had fun, i was getting spoiled with 20 fot viz that last few times out so i was due for a rough day , gets me tuned up for how conditions can be up north.

i was getting spoiled with 20 fot viz that last few times out so i was due for a rough day , gets me tuned up for how conditions can be up north.

Practice extra on those days so Shelter Cove's normal conditions will seem good. 

Nice work on the fish and hookup.   

Agreed, nice job on the hookup and wtg all on braving the swells/conditions I've been watching the swells the past week to try and get some rockfishing off the rocks, but decided to fish freshwater instead.

Jim, very cool of ya to find the anchor. Last time I had to have Bloodbath find my fin lol. It's great to have awesome friends like y'all to help one another. Andy, you're a prime example brother! Still, gotta hookup for some dive with ya and the Dr

Hope next time, the conditions will be better. Either way, looks like y'all had a blast. Thanks for sharing with us all!