Sonoma coast report 4/7/09

A friend and I did a shore dive at the fort ross reef, The conditions were a little surgey the vis was about 5-6 feet.  I picked none ab and speared a nice blue and a black and yellow rockfish.  My partner got thee nice abs and three blue rockfish.  We were in the water from about 10:30 till one thirty. I took my dive light and float line and looked in a lot of holes saw a lot of abs but none as big as I wanted. It was a great day there was a little rain and it was hard to fill out the ab cards but we got it done.

The only downside is I was disconecting my metal stringer when I dropped it it took my ab iron and flashlight with it.  I made a bunch of dops but was not able to fins them.  We were diving in the cove straight down from the parking area.  There are two points the main one and the second one which divides the cove.  We were swimming to the tip of the point inside the cove when I dropped them. If you find them PM me. 

Hows about a location on all them small abs.....my dive buddy only likes em in the 7 to 7-1/8 inch range, likes to leave the big breeders in the gene pool.   


Losing gear sucks, hope you get em back.  Thanks for the report.

My way of thinking:  We "take" from the ocean all the time so to "give" back once in awhile is not too bad 

Hows about a location on all them small abs.....my dive buddy only likes em in the 7 to 7-1/8 inch range, likes to leave the big breeders in the gene pool.   


Losing gear sucks, hope you get em back.  Thanks for the report.

No problem take him to Fort Ross Reef Campground make a u turn at the gate shack turn right and follow the road to the end.  Walk down the trail to the ocean walk straight to the water swim out about 50 to 100 feet and start looking under rocks.   

My brother dove there yesterday, but he said he didn't run across you stuff. 

There is a reason my ab iron has a bright lime green handle and my dive belt is bright yellow.
I have had to recover both on more than one occasion.

There is a reason my ab iron has a bright lime green handle and my dive belt is bright yellow.
I have had to recover both on more than one occasion.

Yep, bright yellow has saved my favorite iron more than once, 

Don't feel bad about losing a few things. I managed to lose an ab guage and c4 light launching at Elk last year. The time I went diving with Fuzz, I dropped my snorkel in 30 - 40 ft of water. Fuzz spent a good number of dives looking for it to no luck. I tried diving with no snorkel and was getting my butt kicked. Finally found it just as I was giving up.

-Brian G

There is a reason my ab iron has a bright lime green handle and my dive belt is bright yellow.
I have had to recover both on more than one occasion.

Yep, bright yellow has saved my favorite iron more than once, 

Yah the light is yellow and the ab iron handle is white did not help though too much surge and was pushed of the area before I could dive down. 

Probably down in a hole and with 5 ft viz say bye bye. I found an ab iron that was bright yellow once. A weight belt. A fishing rod and reel. So it does give back, just not the right person sometimes. I lost a weight belt once kicking out through the surf and didn't even know it until I tried to dive down and popped back up. I got my abs but had to hold myself to kelp and rocks. Thanks for posting. Keep looking you will find that ten. PM me about diving for big abalone.

I have found all sorts of stuff over the years weight belts snorkels ab irons.  I tend to lose an ab iron the first dive of the year every other year or so mostly from some stupid move on my part. I think I am still ahead.

My brother dropped our fish stringer in 2004 and I found it in 2008! It was home-made so I know it was the same one.

Anyway, sorry you lost gear - that's always a bummer. I lost a $90 pair of sunglasses in a beach landing once. I've found all sorts of good gear though, so the stuff you lose can be evened out by the things you find.

Thanks for the report and sorry to hear about your stuff.  Last weekend while rock picking I found 3 or 4 rusted or corroded ab irons in the rocks at the reef day use area.   Not hard to figure out why there weren't alot of abs right there.  5-6 feet of visibility is rough.  JTF

It could be a lot worse.  I lost a 55" teak speargun that I made when I went on the NCKA cortez trip.  That was a sad day.  It probably cost me $350 to build.  It would have cost $600-700 to buy.  I was on another trip where a guy lost a wong hybrid. I lost a riffe MT0 in humboldt too.

Sounds like time to revive the "Donations made to the Sea" thread...