Stuck my First Keeper Ling of the Year

I recently hit a local spot near me for abs and decided to bring the pole spear.  Just as well, because the abbing was kind of disappointing; we got limits but nothing over 8 1/2".  Almost as soon as I got in I saw a decent cabbie and a real nice fat 20" greenling but I had left the stick back with my innertube.  I was looking for abs.  A little later I swam over this decent 29" ling, pretty skinny 7#er so possibly a spawned-out female.   People who haven't done much diving might be curious to know that ling cod, which look like a huge head when they are out of water, actually look pretty snake-like under water.  They swim like a snake, like a barracuda, unlike other rockfish that swim mostly with their tail.  It is a rush seeing a nice ling; I am not the stud spear fisherman like some other people here, but a 30" ling, after you have been looking at 12" blues, looks huge.  I can't imagine nailing a truly huge ling free-diving. 

I started following this one around on the surface while screaming at my buddy to get my pole spear so I wouldn't lose the fish. Vis was probably 30 feet and the fish was on the bottom in about 20 feet of water.  Then the fish started swimming back into shallower water, directly towards my float and my dive buddy!  Lucky.  She went under some rocks, came out the other side and then basically sat on the bottom in 15' of water waiting to get slammed.  My buddy handed me the hawaiian sling and I went down and nailed her in the head.  Game over.  Pretty lucky fish, actually.

For those who don't dive much, you really have to jam that pole spear in there so the spikes stick out the other side, then hold the spikes with one hand and the shaft of the spear with the other, as the fish wakes up from being stunned.   Then get to the surface, get to your float and get the game clip through the gills while the fish is thrashing around.  It is hands-on.  There are a LOT of better spear-fishermen in this group than me - I hardly go deeper than 25' - but even if you do it casually like me it is a lot of fun and not that tough to nail something. I say if you can touch the bottom in the deep end of a pool you can nail perch, blacks and blues in a lot of places, and that means fish 12 months a year.   

I am sure the 50' deep divers here will have a lot more feedback on this subject.  Tank dive at Gimme Shelter, anyone?  I will bring my new Hammerhead gun and maybe Ariel can show me how to use it.

Nice work, Pete.  Getting a ling with a Hawaiian sling is no easy feat.   

Congrat on the Ab/Ling combo catches.  Thanks for the report and picture.

Awesome job Pete
Looks like a way better dive trip then in march at Refugio

Good story, makes me itch to get back in the water, and a good primer on how to get a ling with a sling, hold'em down til you get a good grip on the end of the spear, any other way will probably end up with the thing getting away and dying under a rock.

Fun post,

Dale L

Great report.  Thanks for sharing.

Tank dive at GMS 3 sounds good.

Nice one!

Nice Ling.  30 foot vis too.  I was hiking up above Duncan Mills and could see white caps from 5 miles away.  I didn't feel too bad about not diving until seeing the picture you posted.   DcBatt

Nice fish pete congrats

Pete way to go dude. That is a nice fish. Good hunting brother. You probably enjoyed a great dinner that night huh.