kayak spear fishing report - secret spot - January 17, 2008

 ArtG,Mike, Angel and I headed to Still Water, Monterey (da so called secret spot ). Got our feet wet at around 10:45AM. This was my first trip and was nervous about the cold conditions....thankfully, the wetsuit did it's job keeping me warm....

Here's Angel and Art prepping-up for a short paddle to the hole....

We headed to the Island up front and anchored down. At my first dive, I found two smallish abalone and swam through some kelp...lookng for more sea life. I was without a weight belt at first but quickly put one on cause I was getting pushed all over the place. Got 22 pounds on my belt and was ready to do some exploring. Angel quickly handed me a pole spear just in case I needed "to defend myself"  Got to a shelf that quickly dropped off to about 15 feet. Saw something shinning down below and only to find out that it was a brand new game clip that some other diver must have dropped. I also noticed 5 to 6 rockfish circling the shinny object.....I just could not resist... I dove half way down and went for a killl shot.....missed...tried again...spooked the fish...tried again and a kelp strand wrapped around my mask....lost sight on the fish...abort Getting frustrated...I found the spot again (thanks to the shinny gameclip) Went down, got close enough and swooosh!!!! My first pole speared fish - a nice black and yellow RF. I screamed for joy but realized I was still underwater...big mistake...took a mouth full of sea water....choked as I surfaced and kept screaming like a 12 year old girl Angel took some pics and on we went....

Here's Angel with one of his gun speared RF....

...went to another spot....deeper water, about 20 feet. Not  alot of kelp but plenty of structure. Water vis was pretty good - don't really know the quality since it was a "virgin tour" for me Mike spears his first fish, then Art and Angel started getting their own with the guns....

Here's Art....

 I was snorkling on the surface. Saw a few big perch hovering below, right next to a rock. Found a RF in the mix and went for him. Swoosh....missed...surfaced...went down again and chased the fish in and around the reef....surfaced...got back in the game and lost sight of the RF Kept at it and saw it again...dove down...swoosh! Bingo! Second RF on the pole spear. Got smart this time and waited to get to the surface to do the victory scream 

We took a short break...while topside, I tried to do a "Fish Hunter pic" but failed...but at least you can clearly see Art doing the Fish Hunter thing

Saw a potential NCKA club house while basking in the sun, enjoying the weather, the kill and the camaraderie. Will I do this again?

ABSOLUTELY 

Thanks to Art and Angel for inviting me Also wanna thank Fuzz for the hand me down fins. Art - thanks for gifting me the pole spear - I enjoyed using "da killl stick" for the first time Can't wait do it again

I'm sure the others will chime in with their stories and pics....

Wow, that seems like quite an adventure!!!  Such awesome pics, and a nice play by play story line!   

Is it time to sell all your fishing rods now?   

Is it time to sell all your fishing rods now?   

Funny you mentioned that I may have to drop out of the AOTY contest and spend the rest of the year spearfishing instead THere's just nothing like being "there" with the fish - in their own environment. It sure brought back memories my growing up days in the Phil Islands.....water was much warmer though

"The Year of the Spear" and the madness goes to another level 

very kool  Mooch....WTG...

 I'm looking into getting my dive thing going,  have a friend who is a dive master,

  says he can get me going......... looks really fun!!!!

Congratulations Joel on finally taking the plunge! It is a completely different world down there. It will give you more perspective on what your jig is doing when it is down there now that you got to see where it goes.
Gotta say no on that clubhouse. Water access looks to be a tad bit difficult from there.
So if you saw a sturgeon down there would ya spear it or are you still never going after sturgeon again???
One last thing. How tired/sore were you afterwards?? The more you go the easier it gets.

Fantastic. You fiinally took the plunge (pun intended). No pictures of Mike with fish? Funny how you all look alike when you're wearing the mask. Are those the 1.5 mm O'Neill gloves you were wearing?

Howard

Cool report - way to go on the spearfishing.  Wait til you see a big ling!   

Awesome job!

I'm stoked about tommorrow.

-Brian G

Way to go!  No more screaming underwater Mooch, its bad for the mammals...