Shoredive Lings and FRV test

Had a small window Sunday AM so kicked out from a local beach to an area I have had luck at before...

Dark under the kelp and hazy viz, but cleaned up as tide came in...lot of the boulders were overgrown, but still found some nice structure to explore.

My first time using my new Freedive Recovery Vest (FRV) and had no problems with it in kelp (and kelp was very thick in a lot of spots), riding on banks board, or hole hunting.

Had it set on SURF mode where you have to push a button after 15 seconds on the surface to let it know you are conscious...otherwise after 30 seconds it will inflate...15 seconds was plenty of time for me to do my recovery breaths, look down at watch and FRV remote and see when it started blinking telling me I had 15 seconds to let it know that I was ok.

Eventually I looked in a hole and saw what I had been looking for...a large mottled ling head.   

Was in about 20 feet of water and the surge was strong so took my time steadying my gun and lining up the shot....and the Ling bolted out a side door!   

Was hoping I would find her again but didn't, and ended up taking two twin 26/27 inchers...bled and gutted them both right away.

One of the Lings had a nasty bite on her back...maybe from the big one I spooked??

After I strung up my two Lings I decided to look for cabs/grassies/monkeys in shallow.

By now I had pretty much forgot I was wearing the FRV...came up from a dive...forgot to check watch and remote....and next thing I know it is inflating!

 

Well, at least I know it works like it's meant to!!!    

No biggie, deflated it and repacked it and put it on banks board.

Decided I would keep diving, but a few dives later I stuck my head way back in an eel grass choked hole and my snorkel got pulled off and I couldn't find it.

 

Figured that was a sign so got up on banks board and swam back to the beach where my car was parked.

Had a few beers back at beach and took some pics before heading home.

Back at home I made sure I cleaned the FRV well, filleted up the Lings and invited some good friends over for dinner.

Not very big fish but we grilled the meaty heads/collars and served them with a ponzu dipping sauce, left the skin on the belly meat and did that lightly breaded and fried with a Sriracha Mayo sauce, and made tacos out of the boneless fillets.

Served 6 adults and 4 kids and still had leftovers to gift to our guests to take home.

All in all a nice morning, some yummy fish, and a good test of my new FRV!

Quick IG edit of the Lings...first one was short but it let me pet him with my spear tip. 

https://instagram.com/p/BYCDwS5HGfY/

 

Sincerely,

Jim

This is the FRV for those not familiar with it:

http://oceanicss.com/Freedivers%20Recovery%20Vest%20FRV.htm

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I was looking at those FRVs the other day on this same website. The story behind the creation of the device is pretty sad.