Scratching the Itch in Monterey 11/11/10 NonYak

Spent the whole day packing up the house getting ready to move, taking Valentina to Ballet and doing errands for the wife...

Was feeling very cooped up and jonesing to get salty so asked the wife if I could sneak away and try and bring home some fish for dinner for her Mom and Cousin who are in town helping us move houses.

She said yes, and off I went down to Monterey!!

The spot I wanted to go to had some decent sized waves breaking on the shore, so went over to Coral St. to see if it was calmer...was way rougher over there and definitely not doable for me!!

Back to the first spot..watched the swells for awhile and realized that once I got past the breakers it was pretty calm in the kelpy area where I wanted to hunt....

KayakJack's AbSnatcher board did GREAT duck diving through the waves and getting me safely out past the breakers!!

Viz was a little off, but still probably 8 feet or so....

Actually saw a fair amount of nice fish and missed shots at a Ling, Cabbie, and serveral Rockies and GreenLings...

My excuse (besides the fact that I suck ass!!!) is that the surge was STRONG and it was hard for me to swing my gun (frikkin cannon of a Riffe MidHandle) and aim while being thrown back and forth!!
 

Did manage to nail one nice Greenling (my first one I have ever shot!!), a decent Black and Yellow and a chunky perch!!

I had forgot to change the batteries in my flashlight and it died halfway through so of course I found plenty of deep, dark holes that I could not explore...

Anyway, had a great time escaping the packing madness, getting in the water and bringing home dinner!!
 
Sincerely,

Jim

Way to go on scoring dinner for the Family Jim!!! Your a diving maniac now!!!    I've been packing all day myself, moving in 12 hours!!!  Hope yours goes well, and see you soon 

Nice harvest Jim! Looks Yummy. 


-Eliot

Jim,

I appreciate that you took the time out of a busy and probably hectic time to write the report. 

Your pictures of the plantains brings back memories of my travels in South America.  I really liked the ones that were cut thicker, boiled, smashed a little, then finally fried.  It had that crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside texture.  Those were also served with pescado frito entero, but the fish were piranha. 

Nate

Excellent Jim, another great report!

Ill stop by tomorrow to grab the paddle.

Jim,

I appreciate that you took the time out of a busy and probably hectic time to write the report. 

Your pictures of the plantains brings back memories of my travels in South America.  I really liked the ones that were cut thicker, boiled, smashed a little, then finally fried.  It had that crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside texture.  Those were also served with pescado frito entero, but the fish were piranha. 

Nate

Funny you mentioned the plantains!! My mother in law actually made up a bunch just like the way you described for my daughter last night!!!

I love those things any way they are prepared...the ones in the pic are actually store bought ones from Trader Joes!!
 
 
Sincerely,

Jim

nice. What a great way to relax

Way to get it done, Jim, and congrats on a great day.   

Its gonna be A good winter for us buddie! I cant wait to score rockfish all winter long while the hook and line guys have to suffer! Great report dude!

Side note:

I have one of Joe Bloodbath's dive flags mounted on the boogie board...when I was duck diving through the waves on the way out the flag and mount held up great going totally underwater, and did not come loose or get messed up!!

Thanks Joe!! I love being able to pop up and spot the board right away..without the flag it would be a lot harder!!!!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Jim, thanks for the report and more importantly thanks for the invite. Sorry I wasn't able to respond back to ya since I had sacrificed my phone to the ocean gods while fishing SWS yesterday I had to get one more RF in before the season closes, and yesterday was my only opportunity.

I'm happy that you got an opportunity to get outta the house for a lil while and do some diving! Happy that you didn't come home empty handed, otherwise wife might not been happy with your skills Awesome job Jim, can;t wait to do some diving in the winter with you and all

Jim you're an animal. The surf was pumping yesterday!

Jim you're an animal. The surf was pumping yesterday!

Yeah, all the other spots I looked at were totally too big for me to even consider going out...this one was breaking, but totally doable on the boogie board and once I got out deeper past the breakers I was able to clip the board to the kelp and hunt in relatively calm water....

The surge from the swell was strong, but kinda fun as well...except when I was trying to aim to shoot at a fish!!!!!!

 

Going back in I just timed it like I would on a yak...and jammed in the last little bit in between sets!!

 

Good times and even though the harvest was modest, I really enjoyed being out there, exploring around, trying to work on my hunting skills and seeing the sunset while swimming back in!!

Good stuff!!!!!!

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Way to GETR DONE !!!!!