BigJim's Summer Vacation (vid added on page 1 and food porn on 3)

My parents live in New Orleans and I only get to see them once or twice a year. When I heard they were gonna be visiting me for 10 days I put in a request to get all last week off work to spend time with them and my wife and kids. 

We had a BLAST and had a ton of quality family experiences.

We sampled local food, beers and wine.

We spent time in Monterey and they hiked while I dove looking for halibut. No speared butts (again) but managed a limit of RCG bycatch to share with them and friends at a fishfry at our house.

My Dad and I went out with dpshim and our buddy Terry on his friend Mike's boat and had a great time catching halibut. My Dad caught a 17 and 19 pounder and I got a slug of a 39 inch 25 pounder. My biggest fish in CA so far!!

We spent time playing with my daughters and watching their dance recitals and taking them to their swim lessons.

My Dad and I went far out of SWS on the yaks with dpshim and they fished while I dove. My Dad got a mess of fish and had a blast checking out the houses along the water.  My dive day was awesome. Viz was 50 feet in spots! 

I got a nice 28 inch ling in shallow right off the bat. Then moved spots and picked up some rockies, and then decided to join my Dad and Dan who were at some offshore kelp. To my surprise the depth was moderate and I could easily see the bottom laying on the surface. On my second dive down I see a big old Wolf Eel just laying out chilling on top of the reef! 

Line up my shot and get him right through the head....but when I reach around to make sure the flopper is secure on the underside of his head he snakes around and clamps onto my thumb! 

Hurts like a mutha and I have to really pull to get my thumb out!! 

When I get the eel secured on the surface I take my glove off and my thumb is mangled. No broken bones, but 2 days later it is still swollen, bruised and throbbing.

This is my second wolf eel, and BOTH have bit me...will try and be more careful if I ever find another one.

Eel taped out at 49.5 inches and had a head like a horse. 

Got a TON of meat off the beast, even though the filets towards the tail are skinnier.

Wind picked up early but the Cuda handled it great, and it was a dream paddling with my new 250cm Aquabound MantaRay Carbon!  The longer length and lighter paddle really made a HUGE difference!

After the dive we chilled on the beach with an all star crew of NCKA and non-NCKA peeps and BBQd and drank and let wives and kids play on kayaks. 

Anyway, here are a ton of pics and a little vid



 

Sincerely,

Jim

ps...I have like 30 unread PMs cuz I have been offline while my parents were visiting...I will do my best to get back to folks ASAP. 

More pics

Wecome back buddy!

   Where's the pic of the Eel?

~Bill

More!

DAAAAMMMMNNNNNN!!!!!

   Bow down to the master!

Few more.

Thanks for looking!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

You & thumbs....  You do know they don't grow back ... right?

~Bill

Congrats on the PB Halibut. Glad you had great time with family.  Sorry to hear about your thumb but where is the picture of the "mangled thumb"? 

Also want to send a shout out to my buddies who took the time to stoke my parents out...either with fish, wine, paddling with them, or just talking with them.

Fuzz, ab10, bloodbath, dpshim, porky, SinCoast, spinaltap, FM1, Pacifico, IcecoldChuck, Cabezademartillo, Meathunter, JJQ, Rob...and everyone else who I forget at this precise moment.   

I really appreciate you all making my parents feel so welcome.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Those pics don't do justice to your eel. Hopefully i got some good ones on my camera too. I'll try to post em tonight!

most humans will never do in a lifetime, what you do on your vacation = EPIC!

Thanks for all the sweet pics Jim.....i'm sure your parents have to take a "Real Vacation" now! 

Glad you and your family had a great time. The NCKA bros showed they are the best!

Dang Valentia is really growing up. She already has the bored high school girl look down pat 
PM me next time the folks come to town. I'll set you up with Aquarium tickets.

Did you get A pick of Cabeza de melon cowering from the cops??

Did you get A pick of Cabeza de melon cowering from the cops??

LOL! Nah, but my wife told me to get the F outta there before I opened my big dumb mouth and got myself in trouble.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Oh, do tell......