4/17 PG dive, a very determined rockfish and electrocution

for those who dont know, my son Nathan aka shark_bait was tailed by a huge shark last summer.  Since then at the urging of his mom, sharkshields have been purchased and deployed.

Shark bait and I went spearing out of otter today.  We are still pretty green at this but have been getting more and more comfortable with being in the water, today seemed like everything was going well...until we got wet.  Nathan shoots an innocent kelp frond for practice and watches his spear fly away into the murky depths.  The line attaching it to the gun did not break, he thinks the clamp gave way.  Needs a bungie on that line I think.

He has a new camera so rather than use my gun or the polespear, goes Ansel Adams on me.  Determined to bring home some dinner, I keep looking.  Not much in the way of shot worthy fish.  Then I see him, a decent kelp rockfish swaying with the surge.  I drop down, slide next to him and line up a shot.  Right as I shoot, the fish moves and I leave a big white streak behind his head.  I feel awful.  Not only did I miss, but this fish is doomed.  I reload and keep looking for him.  Its easy as he has this big white streak on his neck now. 

I finally see him again, hiding in a hole.  He sees me and moves deeper in but I line up my shot and shoot.  I hit him, thats the good news.  The bad news is that the fish and the shaft are stuck in the hole.  As I work to remove both my white whale and shaft from the rock, my feet are straight up over my head and when I go to surface, my sharkshield wraps around my neck and snorkel.  I get this pulsating bzz, bzz.  Not painful but damned uncomfortable.  As I thrash around to unwind it I knock my snorkel off my mask, my mask off my face and surface just in time for Nathan to assume I am drowning.   

I let him know my spear is stuck and swim back to the yak to fix my mask strap.  In my haste I failed to mention the fish on the spear, so as he wrenches around the fish comes off, and he bends one of the floppers.  The poor fish now has a second wound, but mercifully Nathan was able to grab it and dispatch him.  After nearly drowing himself from laughing at me for my sharkshield neck tie, he gives me back my gun.  With the bent flopper shots are like unpredictable curve balls.  That was it, I called it a day. 

to top off the day, 3 young lady divers ask me to take their picture.  They call me SIR.  I am going to have dinner now at 4 pm, get some Ben Gay, then maybe look into artificial hips 

damn what a cool day!

LOL!

Great report Eugene!

Glad that the shark shield didn't zap you any worse and that sharkbait was able to get that rocky finally!!

Thanks for sharing and I hope your next trip goes a little smoother!!
 
Sincerely,

Jim

lol...theres always few rough dives inbetween the good ones , next time it will epic! thanks for the report.

 

Awesome report!

For what it's worth... several buddies & acquaintances have bought shark shields... and either sold them or have let them collect dust.  At a certain point, they all seemed to realize that the minuscule chance of getting attacked was not worth all the added aggravation.

Personally, I'd consider using a sharkshield if diving a known sharky spot like the mouth of Tomales Bay... but for general kelp diving, I've never thought much about it.  And this is coming from an almost incurable gear whore.   

 

This report was getting good until we didn't get a pic of the three diver chicks OR the shark shield scarf!   

thanks for the report eugene.  I know what you mean about feeling bad when you wound a fish but dont put it on the stringer.  but i am glad you guys got your fish and like bait n beer said the next dive will be epic. 
hotplate

Awesome report! At least you guys didn't get skunked. When I read the title I thought one of you guys got shocked by one of those torpedo rays.

This report was getting good until we didn't get a pic of the three diver chicks OR the shark shield scarf!   

+1 Great story

Thanks for a great report Eugene.  Would love to see your picture with the SS neck tie 

+1 on the story

Glad to hear everything worked out well Eugene. I would have swallowed tons of sea water if that would have
been me.

Jedmo