The BANZAI report

Well July 13th was the day that I became whole again   The one year suspension on my fishing lic was up !!! Awhile back Josh approached me with this idea of a road trip south to break in my new lic since Ab's are closed. I put a post up on Spearboard looking for a hook up and man the response was overwhelming. 

The report:

Josh and I made our bonsai run to San Diego this weekend.  This was my first time targeting the elusive White Sea Bass and Josh’s second time so we’re not the most experienced WSB hunters but hopes were high that our comfort and experience in the water as well as our other hunting skills would carry over and that with some luck and help we would land the big one.  We were very graciously offered assistance by many So Cal spearos and I chose to go with the offer by one of Los Pistoleros, Michael Dong (‘o cino on sb) in finding the spot and getting to it. 

Our optimistic plan was to leave after work Friday, drive down, get there early in the morning, get a few hours sleep and do a morning dive, then meet Michael at his boat at 1 and dive till dark on Saturday, then do a shore dive Sunday till it was time to leave.  I got off work at 6 on Friday and met Josh in Hayward where he left his car around 7:30 and by 7:45 we were on our way.  We drove through the night and made good time, getting to San Diego in just a little over 7 hours and then proceeded to spend the next 2 and a half hours looking for a motel room.  We hadn’t counted on the fact that comic con was this week, as well as Gay Pride week.  Sea World had something going on and so did the university.  Every motel in the San Diego area was booked.  We ended up 30 miles east in Alpine before we found a room.  We decided that it was better to get some good sleep and be fresh for the boat dive than to push it and be frustrated and exhausted the whole time so we crashed till 10 then hit the road again.  We hit up the supermarket and picked up some food for lunch then went to the dock to meet Michael.  We threw our gear on board and we were off, 30 minutes later we were in the kelp paddies eager to hunt.

Josh and I had discussed strategies and tactics during the ride down the night before.  He shared what he has been learning about being a “SILENT HUNTER” and some of the tricks of how to lure the fish to you and to be in the right position when they show up.  We talked about the tips and tricks we’ve been reading about and hearing about.   Then we got in the water.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’m still  completely new to blue water spearing and that , I’ve got a lot to learn, For those of you that think that spearing White Sea Bass or Yellowtail is anything like shooting rock fish this post is really for you.  After all our talk about being a silent hunter and how easily spooked these fish are, that farting in your wetsuit can clear an entire kelp bed.  With all the excitement of me getting his privileges back and being my first open water dive etc. when I hit the water I made more noise than a baseball card in the spokes of a bicycle.  I think even did a backward flip off the boat like you would do from the pontoon of a Zodiac.  Again, I’m not trying to say that I’m not new or that we did anything that wouldn’t be expected of newer open water spearos, but it is funny and there is a lot to be learned if you want to go this direction with your diving.  We swam out into the kelp bed and started hunting.

After a while Josh noticed I was getting kinda of bored so he swam over and asked what tactics I was using. He suggested diving down and holding a piece of kelp to keep your position, or dive down and swim into or away from the sun or across it’s rays hoping to catch a fish doing the opposite.  Dive down and instead of grabbing the kelp stalk you went down on swim to a different one and wait. Or Josh’s favorite, dive down on the sunny side of a large mass of kelp and swim around the back side and come around to see if anything follows you.  He was trying to give me ideas to try to keep me interested in what we were doing but after we’d been in the water for about 2hrs I came up hooting and hollering.  Josh thought for sure I had got a fish ! so Josh looked over and asked what was up ?  I shouted that I’ed just hit my personal best depth at 56 feet.  That’s when Josh knew I was bored, and done fishing.  We dove a while longer and Josh said let’s hunt our way back to the boat and try somewhere else.  By the time we got back to they boat we’d been in the water for 2.5 hours.  We’d seen a few small Yellowtail but since neither of us new the size requirement we didn’t shoot them.  We climbed up and discussed our options and started back to the harbor.  On our way back in we were laughing and having a good time when all of a sudden behind us someone yells, “JOSH, MATT”.  We turn around and Rich and Phil are right behind us coming back from their Mexico run.  I’ll let them release the official story on that one but congratulations guys.

The rest of the day we visited friends, new and old. Shared experiences with the days dives and previous dives.  I can honestly say I’ve found a new respect for the guys that are hitting these fish cause it’s nothing like hitting rockfish.  There’s a lot of skill involved, which means time in the water and a dedication to the sport.  Sometimes you dive all day and it’s when you get bored or distracted that you finally see a fish and if you’re out of position or your safety is on you miss your shot. You have to dive every dive like this is the dive that you’re going to see a fish and that’s not easy when you’re diving 8 to 10 hours in a day looking at nothing.

We spent the night Saturday at Michael’s and decided Sunday we wanted to hit Children’s Pool to see what all the fuss was about.  If you don’t know, there’s a big hub bub in San Diego about this man made beach that some seals have decided to call home.  There’s a lady that is apparently very adamant that people should not go on this beach as it might disturb the seals.  She has been known to harass people with a bull horn and do some pretty crazy things which to me seem to suggest that she’s just mentally unstable.  There’s also a group of divers that are concerned because she’s been trying for years to get the city to ban public use of this beach to protect the seals from a danger that doesn’t exist.  You know how us divers feel about losing our access.  We wanted to show our support for the local dive community and Matt didn’t seem to interested in fishing anymore so we went to CP for some fun diving with the video cameras.  We went over to the table that the San Diego Council of Divers has set up down there and introduced ourselves.  Those guys really have their act together and in just a few minutes we had the scoop on the whole history of the situation complete with documented evidence and photographic proof.  They keep a couple binders on their table with all the information neatly organized to back up their statements and as they’re talking to you they just show you the documents they’re talking about.  Some thing we learned that we hadn’t picked up on from all the discussions on the web are that the beach was created because of a donation early in the last century by someone that wanted to ensure that there was always a public beach for the children to learn how to swim in the ocean, hence the name “Children’s Pool.”  This lady donated the land and the money to build a sea wall so the beach is protected and there were never any seals there until in the later part of the century Sea World started releasing rehabilitated seals and sea lions there.  In the 1990’s because of rising costs, they stopped releasing the animals 12 to 15 miles offshore and began releasing them right from the beach.  No wonder they decided to call it home, it’s protected and there’s lots of people swimming and playing and people have been their food source for however long they were being rehab’d.  We also learned that she makes over $300,000 a year in donations to “save the seals” that are not threatened.  So maybe she’s not mentally unstable, I dunno.  Our observation from two guys coming from out of the area was that both sides are kind of extremist but I think that’s part of the system in America is if there’s something you believe in you have the right to fight for it.  Maybe she does believe that the seals are being harmed and sees a need to protect them.  And the divers see their rights being threatened by someone trying to close another public beach access point for no reason.  Whatever the outcome we felt responsible to represent and support our brother divers in a positive way so we dove.  We were very courteous while there making sure to keep our gear out of the way and smile and be polite to everyone.  When we entered we did so well away from the seals and made no effort to get near them or disturb them.  We had a great dive and saw lobsters, a horned shark, a moray eel, some Garibaldi and other assorted fish.  It was a great dive and we met a bunch of great people.  A few divers came up and introduced themselves seeing that we were new and offered to show us around but we just decided to do our own thing.  Another Pistolero introduced himself to us and we were just generally impressed by the friendliness of the dive community in San Diego and the surrounding area.

All in all we had a great trip.  There was absolutely no traffic in either direction.  We met a lot of new people and made a lot of new friends.  We had a great time and even though we were always busy it was relaxing to not have a schedule and just to be doing what we were doing until we were done and then decide what we want to do next.  Thanks to Michael for taking us out and letting us crash at your pad and all your help.  Thanks to everyone we met and talked to.  Viva los Pistoleros, and thanks to the San Diego Dive Council for their efforts to protect our rights


Video to come soon.

Ive always got A kick out of the seal lady she sounds like A real bitch! Watched countless hours of her bullshit on youtube.. Good for you on supporting our brothers and sisters from down south... Congratulations on getting your license back I bet you wont pull that one again.... Thanks for the write up.....Andy

and if you don't want that 9" abalone, let me know where it is,  I'm all for 9's!!

Nice report dude, and good work on the spelling!    Hopefully next time your down South you slay em'.  I'm happy you got your license back and I hope you have a great season!

Jeff

PS. Anyone wanna post up a video of the seal lady?  She sounds like a real piece of work...

PS. Anyone wanna post up a video of the seal lady?  She sounds like a real piece of work...

wow what a wack job.  Love how she keeps approaching them while yelling "get away from me."

Is she a Raiders fan?

Sorry, but what the hell were you guys doing parading a shot shark around in front of a harbor seal display.........how old are you?

You give us divers a bad name. 

Edit:  I didn't realize that it wasn't you guys that did the shark parade............my apologies.  I just saw the video and sort of hit the ceiling....again, my ignorance.

Sorry, but what the hell were you guys doing parading a shot shark around in front of a harbor seal display.........how old are you?

You give us divers a bad name. 

Coincidentally, Dave, when those guys in the video posted it on Spearboard, a lot of people had the same reaction as you. A big argument ensued, and then the thread got locked or something, if I remember correctly.