The Lost Coast report: Aug 2-6 Ab/fish safari

Hey all,

sorry  for the delayed report. Too much fun = backlog at work and chores. Cruised up to the lost coast last week and hung out with the Abking himself. To be around such royalty always humbles me. Got in early afternoon on Sat. and did a quick camp set up. Water was FAC with about 5-6' of vis(good for these parts). Jumped in and filmed Eric's young cousin Jake taking his very first ab. Saw some decent abs but left them be.  Amphibian was on hand as well and took a nice ab.

Awoke Sunday to foggy sky and another FAC ocean. Eric and cousins began fishing from their yaks as I paddled to a nearby reef looking for a  giant. In the water for close to an hour before finding a cluster of three, one of which looked good. Fought him for about twenty minutes then popped him loose from his shell and came up with an empty shell. Went back down and the ab had crawled along the  rock and out of reach. Felt sick that I had done that and vowed to get that ab. Found another access point to the rock and finally popped the naked ab off the rock. Measured 9 11/16". Called it good and did some fishing. Landed some blacks and a nice Vermillion about 5 lbs.

Eric and I  decided to check another spot and dove there in the evening from 6-7 pm. We saw many abs and some dandy's too. Stuck my head  under a  ledge and saw 6-7 abs , one of which was BIG. Measured him at least 4 times trying to get him to stretch out to click on my 10 inch gauge, but he didn't quite  make it. Was at  least 9 7/8" and maybe 9 15/16". Felt good to let him be. Will check in again sometime next year to see if he makes the grade.

Took Monday off and hung out in Humboldt on Monday evening. Eric and I dove and fished an amazing area on Tuesday, for 5-6 hours. He declined to dive and fished while I hunted for a monster ab. Was feeling a bit pooped out from the weekend and didn't have very good bottom time(in fact it downright sucked)as I dove in 15-18' of water with about 8-9' of vis. Found a hole with two in it. Worked on a decent one but it was too far away. Checked another group of rocks and found a nice one, but a rockfish bailed out of the hole and murked it up pretty good.

Waiting for the hole to clear up, I poked my head under an adjacent rock overhang and plowed right into a giant. Marked the spot with a rope and weight and came up to begin the task. Ab was in a easy spot but was super strong. Took a quick video of  him on the rock and sank an iron into him. Wouldn't budge. Continued to go up and down trying to get the iron deeper, but still couldn't pop him. Lost my snorkel and called the Abking on the radio to come over for some support(and to borrow his snorkel). He left his honey hole and cruised over to provide the snorkel and some much need moral support as I was getting crapped out and fast.  Also borrowed his  ab iron and sank that one into the ab and pried for all I was worth. Finally got him and put him on the 10 gauge. Several shaky measurements with the gauge and he taped out at 10 1/16".  Was super excited and just knew he had to be ten by how huge he was underwater.

Some high fives with Eric and it was time to relax in the kayak and do some fishing. Within half hour of getting my second ever 10" ab, I hooked a Lingzilla on a piggyback from a greenling. Eric came over with his net and performed a world class net  job on my biggest Ling ever. Taped out at 37 1/4" and must have weighed near to twenty pounds. Got some ripping pics and video and let her go. A ripping day with a  good friend on the water, a giant ab and a big ling within one hour. Doesn't get any better than that! Eric piggybacked up two or three additional Lings and  let them all go as well. Brought home a couple of  Blacks and a decent Vermi.  Thanks for a great day my friend.

PS: still learning about video editing and will try to get some type of video footage up soon.  Thanks for listening to this long winded diatribe.

Shannon

Now that a great combo Yak fishing & Ab diving safari!  Thank you for the report Shannon and looking forward to see the video.

Great report. Congrat's on the 10"s and the big ling.

Great report ! Sounds like it was fun .

Great writeup, Shannon.  Just how I remember it.   

That second dive Shannon did with me Sunday evening (his second of the day and my first) was a special time.  Cousin Jake, who'd gotten his first ab the day before, was all stoked about diving again.  He managed to find an ab on his own and we cruised some boulder action that was just out of this world - big abs on almost all ledges, hanging in clear water with not much kelp to deal with at all.  I dove with a 3 mil "ultra john", a full body liner and rash guard, booties, hood, fins, mask and snorkel.  With the surface water around 60 and otherwise mid 50's it was cold and I did get a shiver after 30 minutes in the water or so, but I was extremely psyched to be diving WITHOUT a weightbelt!  I could stay on the bottom no problem, and the flexibility and ease of movement was like a dream.  I'll remember that dive for a long time.  The entire trip was awesome, and, Shannon, your enthusiasm to get in and dive definitely lit a fire under me.  Thanks!

Eric   

Some pics:

Here's Shannon and his 10 incher.  I've got some good vid of the fat ling too.   

That is a crusty old-growth snail!!!  VERY nice work boys.

Great pics Eric,

would love to have a copy of the ab shot if you get a chance to email it. Got some good pics of you too.

SRJ

WTG on the 10 incher Shannon and for the fat ling as well.

Thanks for sharing some pictures Eric.

Jedmo

What a great adventure and good times. Beautiful Ab too. Thanks for the report

Terrific documentation of the trip, Shannon. I really enjoyed reading that report. And pics are always good.

Way to go on the fat snail there Shannon! Looks like another epic hookup!! I would love to try and get up there with you boys for A dive before the season closes!!! How long do we have? Sin, are you ready for A trip???

Sounded epic to me... nothing long winded...I love the long drawn out reports...takes me away from my 9-5 for a few moments...

Beautiful day OTW hooking up with some NCKA bros...only thing missing sounds like was FM1's BBQing on the beach to set it off...

WTG and thanks for pics and reports...

Great trip!,write and anytime you get to spend with theKing, in his lair, is ALL GOOD!  WTSave the naked slug!!! ......do they move that fast?
Thank for the dive&fish.....iTHINKiGOTsandINmyEAR