Eye Of Mine: A Norcal trip report

Short version: I shot a fish. Scroll down to view the pictures.

Looooooooooong version: WARNING the following report was written after having dinner and a couple of beers in me.


Sunday morning did not start out well. I woke up with my left eye itching and burning. Half asleep, I reached my hand up to my eye to rub it and found a white pus-like substance had dried nearly gluing my eyelids shut. Immediately I knew what I had because I had experienced this once before as a kid.

I had pink eye!





I shot a quick txt message to Harold letting him know I couldn't dive with my eye in that condition and included a camera phone pic as proof so he wouldn’t think I was wussying out. Well, he still called me a wuss and told me to suck it up and dive anyway.

Hmmm... I still had one good eye and my freezer truly was in a sad state of empty. Making haste, I downed a quick breakfast and started getting my gear together.

Typical of our dive trips, we arrived late and didn’t launch our kayaks until well past noon. A quick dive along the inside of the cove found visibility no better than a hazy 4-6 feet. In search of cleaner water, we paddled out a bit further out until we reached a deeper set of pinnacles in 30 to 50 feet of water. This was well within my range of diving, but the past few months I had been working late, eating a lot of junk food, and not getting much exercise. The lack of fitness combined with the lack of time in the water resulted in me struggling with my breath hold. What didn't help was my pre-dive meal of two animal style In-and-Out burgers, french fries, and strawberry milkshake that I had scarfed down during the drive to Carmel.

However, what I found helped was if I first dropped my gun and then followed my floatline down as if it were a stalk of kelp. This gave me both something to visually focus on, as well as freed up my hands to do a solid downward pull. 
On one such dive, I had just touched down on the rocky bottom and as I lay on my belly, slowly swiveling my head to survey my surroundings, I lock eyes with a particularly large specimen of Ophiodon Elongatus, laying beside me not 3 feet away! Lying completely out in the open, I was stunned by the monsterous length of this fish and as I watched the sea lice scurry across its massive head and deep furrowed brow, I wondered how I could have missed seeing it during my initial drop. Oh how desperately I wanted my spear gun which was dangling off my float line somewhere behind me out of my immediate line of sight.

With one reptilian eye fixed attentively on mine, I held its gaze while slowly I reached a hand back in a blind attempt to feel for my gun, keeping my head motionless to avoid spooking this fish. It took a few attempts, but my fingers finally brushed against the smooth barrel of my Rob Allen. Gun in hand, I painstakingly inched the business end toward the fish until the tip of the spear rested nearly against the side of its head. 

As my finger found the familiar trigger....... I hesitated.

I don't really have an explanation why, but this phenomenon seems to affect me no matter what type of shooting sport I engage in. It occasionally happens after I've drawn a bead on a passing dove or a flushing quail, or when the cross hairs of my rifle scope settle in behind the shoulders of an animal; Or in this instance when the tip my spear gun is nearly touching the fish I was about to take I sometimes hesitate.   

Here's one possible explanation I came up with: The sole intent of the hunt, the purpose of the stalk, the entire pursuit was to eventually arrive at this single juncture. Andd when success is at hand, I think I may hesitate because.... I don't quite want it to end yet. 

Is it possible that I enjoy the pursuit more so than the kill at the end?

Or perhaps I hesitate because I was still admiring the majestic beauty of this fish and wasn't quite done before I turned it into dinner. 

Deep beneath the ocean's glassy surface, the philosophical debate I was momentarily consumed with was rudely interrupted by a sudden flicker of the lingcod's fin. The almost imperceptible motion of a single pectoral fin as the fish prepared to take flight broke my trance and my trigger finger instinctively answered with a flicker of its own.

I knew my shot was off because instead of stoning the fish, the ling went berserk, writhing back and forth trying to dislodge the arrow that had pierced it's body before bolting off into the murk, dragging my gun and floatline clattering against the reef behind it. I still had a bit of reserve left in my lungs, but with my wits returned I decided not to pursue, but instead to let the fish run and retrieve it from the surface. No ling wrangling for me today.

Delicately taking my floatline between loose fingers, I carefully played the fish to the surface. Later I found the extra precaution unnecessary, as my shaft had punched cleanly through both gill plates anchoring it securely.

With my hand wrapped securely around its gills, I realized I had just taken my first double digit fish for the 2011 season!






Harold came over and after exchanging a round of high fives we snapped a few pictures before resuming the hunt.









Underwater portrait service courtesy of H. Gibson Photography. Guaranteed to maximize the "awesomeness" factor in all your fish photos! Lol.









The next few spots were productive and we slowly picked up a collection of the usual reef species.

A nice blue rockfish for me






A chunky cabezon for Harold






What's cool about diving with Harold is that usually when he spots a nice fish, he’ll call me over to let me check out how it was set up in the hole before taking the shot. What I’m often amazed by is how little of the fish is actually visible while hiding in the cave or crack system and how easily a more inexperienced diver such as myself could or would have overlooked it.









A cab with a headache. Lol.







As the day slowly wound to a close I found myself relying more and more on my dive light to illuminate the bottom. Harold eventually picked up his first ling. It was a decent sized fish, but still nowhere close to the size of mine. I didn’t show it, but deep down I was secretly feeling pretty proud of myself. Here I was diving with Fuzz and I had shot a bigger fish than him.  Usually on our trips, Harold always shoots the biggest fish and I’m stuck with sloppy seconds.

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Whassup now?!? HAHA!!!![/SIZE]


Harold generously let me bask in my quiet, but immeasurable pride of having taken the big fish of the trip……until one of our last spots where he decided enough was enough and winched this beast from the reef after sinking an immaculately placed shot directly into its eye socket.




Monster!




Dammit! Out fuzzed at the 11th hour!! Lol. 


Tankwell photo of Harold’s carnage






In all seriousness I can’t complain because even though I could not claim top honors for the big fish of the day, my own tankwell held well over a weeks worth of sustenance for myself and to share with friends.







And while my eye was feeling a bit worse than it had been that morning…..






Being able to spend the day out at sea, the sweet salt spray on my face, warm sun on my back, I was already living a most blessed life.

Thanks for the well written report and stunning pictures Nelson.  Those Lings are HUGE!

great read nelson, and congrats on the big ling, cameron

Impressive. I'm jealous.

Characters you are interested in, solid plot, some toil and adversity, and a triumphant ending. Great report!

Dude, you are an AWESOME writer! I never get tired of reading your reports on here/spearboard. Congrats on the ling!

Holy $H!T!!! I'd burst my bubbles @ first glance....that's a sic LingZilla... No wuss factor here

WTFG!!!  and who ever glosses over the words are missing a great read....HOLY CRAP!!!   Incredible report and pics....

Not surprised one bit! Great report and sweet ass pics!

This has to be one of my all-time favorite reads on this board, simply awesome!

Awesome report and wonderful story! You're too humble though...you never post the stats. What was the length/weight on those hoglings?

Great report, simply impressive what both of you did but not surprised at all either lol!! Well done my brothers

Damn dude! What a good day you two had. I like the term "out fuzzed", that's pretty funny. Nelson Kwok has a nice ring to it, but I think "Pink Eye" is a way cooler screen name

Jeff

YEAH!!!!

 

Always enjoy your reports Nelson, and seeing you on the beach heading out when I am heading back in!

One of these days I am sure we will actually dive together!

Congrats again and thanks for sharing!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

awesome!!!

now who farted in your pillow?

Been waiting for this one! Awesome report Nelson. Sweet underwater photos!

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