Last minute Sunday dive

Was meant to be on daddy duty on Sunday but the inlaws showed up and took the girls and the wife told me I should take advantage of the free day and go diving!

 

Called fuzz to see if he wanted to go explore given the conditions looked sweet but he couldn't make it so I headed out solo.

Saw Bobby Seal at the beach and invited him to paddle out with me, but then realized he needed to be home early for work (and for once I had all day!  ) so told him an area to explore that would be a shorter paddle.

Paddling out on my Kraken the water was GLASS and got bluer and bluer the further I paddled.   

Had an area in mind that I wanted to explore and take advantage of the flat seas, but decided to check a crack I know on the way out...

Dropped my marker weight down on the GPSd spot and could see the bottom at 35-40 feet while sitting in my kayak!! 

Almost as exciting was the fact that some kelp had finally grown to the surface right on the spot so I could clip up my yak without having to mess around with my anchor! 

Once in the water there were blues and blacks and small olives everywhere and I could easily see the bottom and knew exactly where the crack was and what part I wanted to check first.

Breathed up and cruised down and shone my light in the far corner...nobody home right there...moved light to right and looked back into main part of crack and there was a NICE looking Ling head sitting there not too far in looking right at me...

Wiggled in a little closer, took aim and squeezed the trigger on my Pathos Laser Open Pro 75. The one thick band punched the shaft right through the Ling's head between her eyes, turning her into a unicorn and stoning her dead. Lights out.

Easily pulled the fish put of the hole and rose to the surface to gill and gut her and post a real time facebok pic. 

35 inch female, thick body but spawned out and empty belly...perfect!!

Third Ling 35 inches or over I have shot with the Pathos 75 so far this year...last year I only managed one 35 incher. Stoked!!!! 

Paddled the Kraken to the area I wanted to explore and dropped into aquarium like viz and blues and blacks everywhere.

Hadn't shot a sheep up in Carmel so far this year so wanted to try and find one...started exploring down to about 45 feet and was really digging the huge pinnacles and wash rocks and boulders but wasn't seeing any sheep so blasted a few blues and a chunky kelpy or two for a DOTY upgrade.

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/1701

Then I came across a school of blues with a few nice olives in it...hid behind a boulder and picked off one then saw that there were two more hiding up high in a kelp stalk...used the boulder to hide behind and was able to sneak within range to take both. One was a fat 19.25 inches and my biggest so far this year.

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/1700

Swam back to yak to unload the olives and cruised over to a nearby washrock to continue my hunt for a sheep. When I got right next to the rock I could see a sheep swimming about 20 feet down! Turned on gopro and took a quick breath and dove...

Sheep saw me coming and tried to escape but the Pathos 75 has enough range that I was able to get a shot into her. Was not sure how good my shot placement was though so let go of the gun and let the sheep pull it with her while I swam after. Got my hands on her and made sure shaft was secure and flopper was deployed and then headed up to the surface to admire the beautiful meaty 25 inch fish. 

Dropped the sheep off at the yak and decided to hunt the shallows (where it is usually too rough) to see what I could find....found some small Lings and cabs, but not the giants I was hoping for so headed back towards yak and popped 5 more blues to finish off my limit.

Took a few pics of the fishies on the yak, gutted and scaled the rockies and then paddled back to shore. Met a few NCKAers (and some hopefully future members who I encouaraged to join) on the way in and back at the beach.

After a cold post dive beer and some more pics, I headed home...exhausted but stoked!!

 

Here's my vid and some pics....vid is longer than most ones I make these days but I was kinda proud of my "olive stalking" so put the whole scenes in...hard for a guy my size to be sneaky! 



 

Sincerely,

Jim

Few more!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

great read and pics--
you should see the ocean down here today--always has to be on a workday when it lays 100% flat ..not a ripple..no waves--no wind--crystal clear coves down off the cliffs....glass

great read thanks Jim

great read and pics--
you should see the ocean down here today--always has to be on a workday when it lays 100% flat ..not a ripple..no waves--no wind--crystal clear coves down off the cliffs....glass

great read thanks Jim

Thanks Craig!

Yeah man yesterday was prolly the best conditions I've dove in all year...so fun diving in water like that...shooting a fish or two is just an added bonus.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Always a big treat reading your post bro. Fish porn and all. Thanks for sharing.

Jedmo

Wow . Great report as always. Looks so clear down there.

Love your vid report.

That is one Big-Ass Blue, Jim. I haven't seen any of that caliber up here in Mendo. Super stringer o fish!

Nice stringer.  Thanks for the report, video, and pictures Jim.

awesome report and video Jim!!

it was a pleasure talking with you in the parking lot.  sorry the picture i took was so dark!

I always had a feeling you were a stalker.
Nothing wrong with that picture either.
Great job!

Thanks again guys!

awesome report and video Jim!!

it was a pleasure talking with you in the parking lot.  sorry the picture i took was so dark!

It was great to meet you and your buddy as well!!

You did fine with the pic!! A few filters lightened it right up....now if I could only find the filter to make the beer belly look smaller.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Nice report and video from you as always. Enjoyed the moment of your shot without hold my own breath. Looking at those fresh fish meat made me hungry. Time to go to lunch. Will order a fish dish for sure. Thanks for posting them.