Carmel slow day - freediving - 5/26 - PK and John, how did you do?

I dove yesterday out of Carmel. Tried a couple new spots that I always was curious about and never dove before. The kelp was thick and the vis was poor. I swam and swam and ... swam some more... 3 hours of swimming took its toll, it's already next day and I'm still sore. Only invited home a 18" grassie which was hiding in its hole...
 

Secret spot eh?
Vis seemed like it was probably horrible over at Monastery. Although, I'm sure the permanent overcast skies had something to do with that.

Jeff and I went back to our reef and proceeded to catch a ton of nice rockfish. No lings though...again! Guess I'll have to find a different reef if I want to catch lings.

Thanks for the report, leon. I really need to get underwater and check out some of my favorite shore fishing spots...maybe retrieve a few of my sinkers.
PK

thanks for your report! i dove the north side of monastery and it was swelly with breakers over my head. i did this crap for an hour and a half and had at max 15 ft vis. it was good but lots of growth below and the lings i had seen earlier were hiding away from the surge channels i had seen them in before. i saw lots of kelp rf and lots of blues as well as a leopard shark. i did not fire my gun a single time. after a whgile my coffee and donuts were heading towards the door they entered from and i was headed out back to the beach. it was rough and i had enough: )

man, i should have just puked and attracted some blues, maybe the lings would follow?

sounds like you all did well! im sad that was my last time at monastery for fish, the rest is uw photos from now on at this location. time to hit garapatta!

john

John,
That was a rough day to dive Monastery. Too bad we are losing it...

PK,
My "spots" are not secret. Just some big washrocks near shore that I always wanted to check out. I like to check out the neighboring underwater terrains of those big rocks, because those places sometimes have pretty good structure and hold big fish. I think the rocks that don't break the surface (pinnacles) are usually a little better, but it's hard to see them from shore.

Leon