DOTY 2016 Stories, Pics Thread

I think we are still expecting BigJim to come back and do an official wrap, but I wanted to hear stories and see pics of peoples' 2016 DOTY experience.

My year got off great when Smosh and I were shore diving with a newbie in a kiddie pool, about to paddle out on our own and I stumbled on a nice red ten inch ab, my first ab of the season.  I swam it back to the yak and headed back to the spot.  I'm checking out holes and see a giant ling head in an open topped cave in about 7 feet.  It went 38.25 and 22lb.  That dive also yielded a nice black.


Later, after a crappy dive near Carmel, I stumbled on a huge Grassy.  It got DQ'd but still a very nice fish:


Another moment was a shore dive in MONTEREY COUNTY with blOOdbath.  I shot a huge red and swam up, only to find my spear bare.  I was yelling the F-word at the top of my lungs.  I did find a nice 19 inch red shortly after.  Later, we did a Yak dive on the flattest day.  I was floating in 25 FOW, pretty much getting skunked, when I saw a red swim by 25 feet under me.  I kicked down and missed it, but stumbled on it or its 6.5lb cousin a little later.  Swimming back a very nice olive came by to investigate.

Then there was the insane scouting mission which yielded this dive report. 

http://norcalunderwaterhunters.com/forum/index.php?topic=9903.msg80287#msg80287

I had a big day on a random December Friday, finding a big monkey, perch, and kelpie.  At the end of the day, when I thought there was no chance, I managed to find a copper.  All that remained was sheep and I paddled out with a fellow DOTY diver a few days later, who proceeds to nail one on his first drop.  Then I found the one fish he was looking for.  I did go back and find a sheep, but it wasn't a big one.  I stumbled on a very fat 36" ling that day, and it looked like I was getting all the fish he needed and a little of what I needed.  Time was getting tight, and I left on vacation.  It seemed like there were only 8 foot days left in the year.  I was pretty much stuck, maxed out on species and needing a sheep or a scallop to upgrade.  That's not what you want on 8 foot days with 3.5 knot current.  So my fate was in the hands of Rob, Steve and DG, needing, apparently a grassy, a copper, and a B&Y.  I knew that the grassy and B&Y would be pretty sure things, so could I hang on to 3rd and what were Thomas Ttwwaattaaand SeanOtter up to?  Well, on 12/30, I knew that DG and CDM must have had luck when they started paddling in at 2:39 pm.  I was congratulating DG as if it were a done deal.  He had found a copper in green and surgy conditions after hours of diving.  Little did we know that Rob had a huge Sheep in his bag and designs on ling hunting the next day.  (I knew he had a grassy but not the sheep).

Rob goes out on New Year's Eve day, in a 10 foot swell forecast (it ended up nicer I think) and finds a 36+ inch ling to go ahead by 8 or so points.  He used great tactics and spearfishing to beat a halibut holder for first.  For those who weren't watching, it was a pretty insane finish.  Setve LOrikay2had already shot a fat B&Y to round out the podium. 

Then, late in the evening, DG announces on the group PM that he is going night diving for a  perch upgrade.  I thought this was a joke, and my reaction was:  what a great sport he is to be joking when this happened.  Turned out he was night diving (and still was a great sport about the whole affair).  No perch to be had.  What a crazy world DOTY is.  Cheers, congrats, and let's hear some of your highlights . . . .

It was a wild ride.   

I had a greenling upgrade I wasn't going to post unless I got a Copper, but finally got the Copper on Dec 30th and checked the date on the greenling and it was from Dec 14th.  Oops screwed that one up so lost out on some points.  I knew the best chance for a last minute upgrade would be with the small perch I entered.  After driving back and forth from Ft Bragg to Carmel and diving 6 hours my body was screwed up. 

I only got out 3 times in December but got all the fish I needed.  On the 31st when Rob bumped me my wife encouraged me to go get my upgrade at 9:00 at night.  I wasn't feeling it but she kept saying I should give it a try.  Then another member texted me saying if they lived that close to the ocean they would be diving.  So I grabbed the bare minimum amount of gear and two flashlights.  I wasn't sure but was pretty sure the beach at Noyo was either closed or closed at 10pm like other parks.  My wife sat in the truck and was prepared to explain this crazy to the police or fish and game when they showed up.  So I went out into the surf and visibility was crap.  I heard the sound of helicopters overhead and then saw spot lights from the coast guard search crew.  It appeared they were doing a grid search.  I kept diving and on a couple flybys gave them the diver okay signal.  I was sure someone called in and thought I was poaching or high on drugs.  It was New Year's Eve so you never know.  So I kept looking for my upgrade and saw a bunch of small ones.  The floor was covered with crabs but I didn't bring a gauge.  Then I see a Salmon in the surf.  It was weird as he looked beat up like a river Salmon that was about to die.  Later I saw a striper swimming by and that threw me way off. Never heard of them up in Ft Bragg and had the WTF expression.  The search crew was loud and annoying so I called the dive when I saw my wife on the beach thinking the coast guard was looking for me.  We got home and found out a boat capsized right where I was diving and one of the boaters was missing.  So my only explanation is they thought I was part of the rescue crew and no one messed with me.  Unfortunately they did recover the body the next day.

I did get a few PBs over the year and was happy for those achievements. 

The best one was the 26.26" Cabezon.  I can't get the image of the monster out of my head.  His head was bigger than the biggest ling I got this past year. 

 https://instagram.com/p/BLoTrWtBXrR/

Congrats to all and hope 2017 is a fruitful and safe year.

I was sure someone called in and thought I was poaching or high on drugs. 

No, just competing in DOTY !!!!!

Brought down by a perch AND a greenling.  That's ROUGH!

Sorry for lagging guys!!

Official results announcement here:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=76576.0

New 2017 board should be up and running soon.

I am working on making sure we get plaques/prints/prizes in time for awards which look like they will be on 2/11 at a central location to be announced.

For me it was a pretty cruddy DOTY performance to be honest...and my worst score and placement in the 5 years that we have been playing...

BUT, several moments do stand out...

In April I dove with my good buddy fuzz and found out on the way down to the spot that he was gonna be a daddy!! Was so excited for him, and was looking forward to an epic day of fish murder.

However, it was ROUGH when we got to spot and even fuzz "struggled"...I was ecstatic when I was able to drop down to 50+ feet and found my second biggest Verm ever hovering in an alcove.

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2136

After shooting my adrenaline load on the Verm I spotted fuzz chasing berms down at 70+ and after he got two we called it quits and made our way back to car.

Probably the only day ever that I got a bigger Verm than fuzz!   

Another great memory was diving on a FAC day with my good buddy Andrew and finding a school of BIG black Rockfish...while
bigger blacks are common up North they are usually much smaller down here in Monterey County.

My biggest of the day turned out to be a new PB for me, and my only 200 point fish of the year...I also got two nice Verms that day, one of which was my 3rd biggest ever at 20.75 inches:

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2341

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2340




My two most memorable fish of the year were not DOTY fish, but am excited about chasing them this year and seeing how myself and other DOTY divers like the new rules for 2017!!

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2310

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2316


 

Sincerely,

Jim