Tank Diving Mendo and Fishing Russian Gulch 5/15-5/16

My son was finishing his last open water dives for his NAUI certification on Sunday, so I did a brief yak fish out of Rusky Gulch on Saturday, then dove with his class on Sunday.

Fishing on Saturday was a complete skunk.  For about 2.5 hours we fished and didn't even mark any fish to speak of.  No blues, nothing.  We went out to about 100 feet after trying all my normal inshore haunts and finally marked some fish.  I dropped a small fish trap down and, finally, fish-on.  I get it to the top, and it's a canary......and it's dead.  That's it.

So then on Sunday we dive at the Arch Rock in front of Mendocino and follow the pipeline down to about 65-70 feet......twice.  Huge cliffs, tons of big abalone, cool walls of strawberry anemones, friggin freezing water, but few fish seen.....especially rock cod. It was weird.  I mean usually you see some blues and blacks around, or some gophers and black and yellows, but I saw no sebastes (rock cod) at all.  I had a light and was inspecting every hole...nothing.  We (the group of five) saw 1 cab and 2 underlings (like about 12 inches).  I don't know what it means, but this is the first time ever that I've been skunked around here.

I've got to say that I've been a boat and kayak based SCUBA diver for many years (I don't tank dive that much), and it's been a while since I did the climb up and down the cliff with full SCUBA gear on thing.  I've got to say that that sucks.....I'm getting way too old for it.  By the second climb up those rocks (2 dives) at the arch rock I was thinking f**k this.   For tank dives, my future is boat and yak diving only....or easy beach entries.  I will never pack that s**t up and down a cliff again.

Sucks getting old, but man, that takes the fun out of it.  You want your time off to be fun, not some death march.

My son was finishing his last open water dives for his NAUI certification on Sunday, so I did a brief yak fish out of Rusky Gulch on Saturday, then dove with his class on Sunday.

Fishing on Saturday was a complete skunk.  For about 2.5 hours we fished and didn't even mark any fish to speak of.  No blues, nothing.  We went out to about 100 feet after trying all my normal inshore haunts and finally marked some fish.  I dropped a small fish trap down and, finally, fish-on.  I get it to the top, and it's a canary......and it's dead.  That's it.

So then on Sunday we dive at the Arch Rock in front of Mendocino and follow the pipeline down to about 65-70 feet......twice.  Huge cliffs, tons of big abalone, cool walls of strawberry anemones, friggin freezing water, but few fish seen.....especially rock cod. It was weird.  I mean usually you see some blues and blacks around, or some gophers and black and yellows, but I saw no sebastes (rock cod) at all.  I had a light and was inspecting every hole...nothing.  We (the group of five) saw 1 cab and 2 underlings (like about 12 inches).  I don't know what it means, but this is the first time ever that I've been skunked around here.

I've got to say that I've been a boat and kayak based SCUBA diver for many years (I don't tank dive that much), and it's been a while since I did the climb up and down the cliff with full SCUBA gear on thing.  I've got to say that that sucks.....I'm getting way too old for it.  By the second climb up those rocks (2 dives) at the arch rock I was thinking f**k this.   For tank dives, my future is boat and yak diving only....or easy beach entries.  I will never pack that s**t up and down a cliff again.

Sucks getting old, but man, that takes the fun out of it.  You want your time off to be fun, not some death march.

thanks for the report, fish were totally in hiding mode in carmel where i was diving, nothing in the open and all in holes. the weather turned bad today so i think thats a good indicator of changing from good > bad weather.

did you try tapping on some rocks to get some curious fish to come out by chance?

Thanks again,
john

did you try tapping on some rocks to get some curious fish to come out by chance?

no, but i should have....next time.

Thanks for the report Dave. Sounds like the rf knew you were coming in advance! Any scallops around?

Except for the death march an lack of fish it sounds like it was fun. Always wanted to know what was under me other than what you see on the finder or pull up.

Thanks for the report. My dive club is going to RG on Mem day weekend. I was hoping to pop my ling cherry. Maybe I will try Van Damme for some fishing, RG for abs. I have never fished or dove there so maybe I will have some beginners luck.

Thanks for the memories, I spent quite a bit of time on the bottom between Noyo and a few miles south, beautiful structure and marine life anywhere between 30 and 70 feet.

Back then it was out of a variety of boats that my group went thru,

Haven't had a tank on in at least 10 yrs though.  It is beautiful down there.

We did occasionally have dives where the fishes were absent even in the 80's

Now it's just free diving, SCUBA just seems to have gotten away from me.

I love that place, it's always been fishy for me...Lost a monster cab striat out front, when a stringer clip failed me...easy in and out with a yak also...

sound like u got caught up on some salt time!!!   Hell Yeah!!!  Way to be in the water!!!

got my 1'st ab right out front headlands 06  15' FOW, what a feeling...

How olds Old???  I've been thinking of doing scuba nxt...but last yr I was abing/crabbing from the rocks....packing way to much gear...and a 30 yr old was lapping me on carring gear...by the time I got to the parking lot...felt sort of funny...not good funny...out of shape and getting old...know the feeling...felt close to a death march....

but put in a bunch of days OTW sure fire recipe for good health...


Thx for the report Dale L

Sucks getting old, but man, that takes the fun out of it.  You want your time off to be fun, not some death march.

 
Right there with ya brother!!!!!!
And right now that water seems extra cold too.

Sucks getting old, but man, that takes the fun out of it.  You want your time off to be fun, not some death march.

Right there with ya brother!!!!!!
And right now that water seems extra cold too.

Yes,  I need  a thicker wetsuit than my 3mm!