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

Good times fellas! Good times.

Joel took to it like a Mooch to water.  So much for just being content to look around and take pictures.  Something tells me he'll be out there picking abs once the season opens up.

It was a bit windy at the secret spot but not nearly as bad as the first time Art and I went out there.  We had decided to make a stop near the island, although there weren't many fish there the last time we had gone, so that Mooch could swim around in the shallow(ish) water and gain some confidence.  After a bit of time Mike, Art, and I wanted to make a move over to a different area so we waited for Mooch near the boats.  In the distance we could see Mooch dropping down in the same area a few times.  Sure enough a few minutes later, from about about 300' away, we could hear his "excitement".  Da Mooch had drawn first blood with the pole spear:



Once he was able to breath again we heard the vicious play by play of the battle that lead to the demise of the fish.  We then packed it up and headed to another spot.

The spot was quite a bit deeper and had plenty of structure with only a little bit of kelp. There were quite a few fish swimming around including a few small schools of baby blacks.  I shot a few fish but mostly swam around looking in the cracks and crevices in the rocks hoping to find something more exciting.

At one point I noticed a leopard shark about 4' long...he didn't seem to be bothered by me and even followed me around for some time but never got too close to me.  From the surface I noticed a smallish cave that I wanted to look into so I took in some air and made the drop...right as I was about to reach the bottom out of the corner of my eye (although you have limited visibility with the mask) I noticed a silverish streak coming at me at a pretty quick speed...a second later the leopard shark swam under me less than a foot away.  Seeing the streak come at me kind of freaked me out so I had to come up for air right away.  At the surface I told Mike about the shark and he wanted to check it out so I swam him over to where I had seen it and was able to quickly locate it again.  By this time the day was coming to an end. so we packed it up and headed for the beach.

Here's a pic of Mike before the launch:



After the dive we obviously had to make up for those 1200 calories you burn up per hour while diving by eating huge burritos at some Mexican joint in Sand City. Good stuff.

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.

Would not try to spear something that big...not for now at least

I actually quit diving about an hour earlier than the rest of the guys...I figured I was better off not pushing it till I'm more experienced and in better shape. I ended up paddling along with Art - as he was moving / diving  further and further away from the pack...I figured I'd be of service just in case he needed a hand.

Are those the 1.5 mm O'Neill gloves you were wearing?

Yes, and interestingly, they kept my hands warm enough the entire dive...I'd say I was in the water for about 2.5 hours. Don't know what the water temp was.

Looks like a ton of fun Mooch. And thanks for taking a bunch of pics too. Seeing a different perspective of the inshore reef habitat is awesome. And funny about the RF gathering around the gameclip. They are such bling whores!

Thanks again for the report and pics guys.. keep 'em coming. They just may get me off my ass and charge my card up to get a diving suit.

btw Mooch, how much did your suit run you?

Z

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

Yes I will.....once the weekend is over.  Until then NCKA will have to wait in suspense for the AGARCIA VERSION which will cover thursday, saturday (possibly sunday) but will include a picture description of your self-proclaimed 240lbs of sexy.   

Congrats on the first fish.  A few more sessions with that polespear and you're ready to mooch a gun off Fuzz. 

Stuart knows all about coming over to the "deep" side.  One day the fishing will be slow and you'll think "what the heck am I doing up here?" 

Or the water is crystal clear

Or after your first taste of rock scallop sashimi, or broiled scallops in a spicy mayo sauce.  Heck, I haven't had a bad meal of diver caught scallops yet.

or...

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 

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

Yes I will.....once the weekend is over.  Until then NCKA will have to wait in suspense for the AGARCIA VERSION which will cover thursday, saturday (possibly sunday) but will include a picture description of your self-proclaimed 240lbs of sexy.   

thanx for dat warning Art!    i'll be sure to check the "UN"subscribe option after I comment.

Congrats' to you Brudah' Mooch!  That takes a real pair of WARM FUZZIES   to go out in the middle of COLD WINTER to bust your Divers' Hyman and speared some ya did!  
GREAT pics and report FELLAS!  
your inspiering me to follow you around in my yak for PHOTO OPs' and HOOK-UP OPs...when RFopens of coarse!

....OHHH one more request boys?    I appreciate you guys thinkin of me when your out there..........
BUTyour DILUTING mySTYLE!!    NOWCUTITOUT!    nahh...keepitup!

ah man, now I have to go drag out my dive suit & see if it still fits .
If so then I gotta go shopping for a new gun because the one I have would blast a RF to just head & tail. I've got the gear, I just needed the motivation. I go tired of tank diving off the beach, but free diving has real appeal for me. I've been mulling it over since last season.
Thanks for the report guys, it looks like you all had fun.

Mooch, glad you finally got under the water.  Way to go. 
Jason

Mooch, are you going to be free-diving the bean this year? If so, I lost a few jigs and am hoping you can find them for me there this summer, 

Mooch, are you going to be free-diving the bean this year?

This was discussed. A 6 pack induced boat based hit and run, quick in quick out, mission along the coast did not seem out of the realm of possibility.  We shall see.

Cool.  I was wondering if Mooch's wetsuit would ever get wet.  Watch out Fuzz.... here comes da Mooch. 

I'm thinking about blowing this picture up to lifesize and putting it on our living room wall

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z68/pacifico_fishing/Stilwater%2020070117/IMGP1928-600.jpg

Hey Blue...I have the pic before being resized, no need to blow it up   

Mooch!  got a taste of the blood!

Now you can be toting the perfect combo for your yak, a rod and a gun

If you ever go out for halibut I have a big gun for it you can use It's a bit antiquish but it kills just fine  Let me know and I'll dust it off and put new bands on it



I'm thinking about blowing this picture up to lifesize and putting it on our living room wall

Pacifico  I was looking at that paunch and thinking maybe Mooch and I are distant relatives

btw Mooch, how much did your suit run you?

if I rememberr correctly, it was about $350.00 (shipping included) I got it from Spain coz it was simply cheaper. If you're interested, send Fuzz a PM for the web site 

"what the heck am I doing up here?"

As we were paddling back from the dive, I was thinking that exactly

If you ever go out for halibut I have a big gun for it you can use It's a bit antiquish but it kills just fine  Let me know and I'll dust it off and put new bands on it

I'm thinking about blowing this picture up to lifesize and putting it on our living room wall

Blue, I'll take a hand me down anytime Thanks! As far as Halibut, it will be a while till I get good enough to even spot one.

PLEASE don't use that particular pic....the "belly" you see is just trapped air in my wetsuit....I did not strap on the beaver tail so "air" kept getting in my suit...thus making me look like a spawning beluga whale