Yesterday's "window"

Got excited to see swell finally drop below 10 feet and had dreams of getting to some areas that have been inaccessible all year due to the nasty weather.

Met up with my Aussie buddy Andrew, Steve lorikay2, and Kris LiveAlohaKris in AM and made a plan to head up to the chosen spot.

When I got there I could tell it was gonna be challenging...whitewater, crashing waves on shore, swell churning on underwater pinnacles...

Anchored up anyway and jumped in to see if doable at all but even at 50+ feet the surge made staying still and hunting pretty much impossible. 

After about 10 drops we all agreed it wasn't happening and headed to a slightly more sheltered spot where there is often a big school of blues to play with.

We found 30+ foot vis and the blues were there in numbers as well. 

After about 20 more drops I had taken a few blues and one nice 28 inch Ling and then one of my sinuses started squeezing up and started having to stop at 15 feet down for it to sloooowly equalize before continuing down to the bottom. Totally sucked! 

Knew my time was limited so kicked it into harvest mode and shot two 25 inch Lings and a 19.5 inch cab and called it.

Kris and Steve had already shot the fish they wanted and had headed in for shore, and Andrew was seasick so we headed in as well.

Wind SUCKED coming back in, but finally made it to the warm sunny beach and we had a cold beer and took some pics and chilled for a bit before heading out.

Andrew has family coming into town from Australia so needed meat for them so gifted him all my fish and he fileted them at my house and left me the carcasses for crab bait. 

Despite the disappointing ocean conditions and the sinus issue it was fun to get back in the water and dive and spend the day with some great friends.

Here is a quick vid I threw together and some pics.



 

Sincerely,

Jim

Almost forgot!!

Got to try out a new Subcraft dive light and was VERY impressed!!

 

Crazy bright, super easy to turn on/off with one hand while diving down/up, and am looking forward to not having to buy batteries all the time since it has a rechargeable battery.

If you're in the market for a new light you should definitely consider checking this one out:

https://www.redtrianglespearfishing.com/collections/dive-lights/products/subcraft-1000-lumen-dive-light

 

Sincerely,

Jim

great report

I bought that light too after reading Dg talk about-love mine --very cool..lasted all dive for me- and charges the same battery over and over- which is ni$er than buying batteries or guessing if they are still fresh enough

beuatiful day over there--on the beach lol 

Good to see you and the other guys at the ramp yesterday. I ended up with one ling and 5 rockies. That 6 foot tide change from Hi to Low had the water ripping pretty good. Was a bitch getting to the bottom next time I'm bringing some spare weights.

The 30 ft vis was nice and I was just glad to be out there again.

Fresh rockfish is on the dinner menu tonight 

Good to see you and the other guys at the ramp yesterday. I ended up with one ling and 5 rockies. That 6 foot tide change from Hi to Low had the water ripping pretty good. Was a bitch getting to the bottom next time I'm bringing some spare weights.

The 30 ft vis was nice and I was just glad to be out there again.

Fresh rockfish is on the dinner menu tonight 

Was cool to see you and your buddy as well!!

Yeah the surge and current made diving harder than usual for sure....and then my sinus betrayed me and it really got tough...feel fortunate that I got some nice fish though. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

man "under 10' swell" as a window- you guys are hard core! I'm always hoping to see swell drop to the 3' range for great conditions. but a full stringer in big swell is incredible, nice work!

great job BigJim. So consistent!

Nice report Jim good to see you got to shoot something nice unlike me I just shot some perch about 2 weeks ago from a shore dive. By sinus pressure do you mean pressure by your forehead between eyebrows? I ask because I felt really bad pressure while diving about 2 weeks ago also felt like my left eye was going to pop out at times kinda sucked. Maybe the new mask I was using caused the pressure for me since it wasn't a low volume mask more like a scuba mask

Nice report Jim good to see you got to shoot something nice unlike me I just shot some perch about 2 weeks ago from a shore dive. By sinus pressure do you mean pressure by your forehead between eyebrows? I ask because I felt really bad pressure while diving about 2 weeks ago also felt like my left eye was going to pop out at times kinda sucked. Maybe the new mask I was using caused the pressure for me since it wasn't a low volume mask more like a scuba mask

Were you equalizing your mask by blowing air through your nose as you descended?
Sounds like you were experiencing mask squeeze.

Thanks for the report, pictures, and video Jim.  Looks like you're set for crabbing 

Great job.  I got out yesterday and can't tell you how nice it was to see the bottom in spots.  It's been way to long. 

Nice to see you and the Boys took advantage of the "window" . Did your brain start reeling with which Blue to shoot  . Thanks for the report and vid.

Thanks guys!

Yeah Russ, sometimes I end up not shooting any cuz I wait too long trying to find and get a shot on the biggest one...

Nice report Jim good to see you got to shoot something nice unlike me I just shot some perch about 2 weeks ago from a shore dive. By sinus pressure do you mean pressure by your forehead between eyebrows? I ask because I felt really bad pressure while diving about 2 weeks ago also felt like my left eye was going to pop out at times kinda sucked. Maybe the new mask I was using caused the pressure for me since it wasn't a low volume mask more like a scuba mask

Were you equalizing your mask by blowing air through your nose as you descended?
Sounds like you were experiencing mask squeeze.

Andy, for me the pain is above my left eyebrow...an intense squeezing pain until it equalizes by itself...I could hear it squeaking its way open. 

Sucks ass! 

I'll take some Sudafed here soon and get rid of whatever is congested in the sinus/tubes so should be good to go before next window. 

The eyeball pain I associate (like CDM said) with mask squeeze...make sure you are blowing some air out of your nose as you descend so the mask doesn't get sucked to your face...

 

Sincerely,

Jim

At times I would but it felt like it was sucking air out of my nose a lot maybe it was the mask I was using because with my normal mask I don't feel it as bad.

Nice report Jim good to see you got to shoot something nice unlike me I just shot some perch about 2 weeks ago from a shore dive. By sinus pressure do you mean pressure by your forehead between eyebrows? I ask because I felt really bad pressure while diving about 2 weeks ago also felt like my left eye was going to pop out at times kinda sucked. Maybe the new mask I was using caused the pressure for me since it wasn't a low volume mask more like a scuba mask

Were you equalizing your mask by blowing air through your nose as you descended?
Sounds like you were experiencing mask squeeze.

Yeah, could be the mask for sure...

Hope to see you out there again soon!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

At times I would but it felt like it was sucking air out of my nose a lot maybe it was the mask I was using because with my normal mask I don't feel it as bad.

Nice report Jim good to see you got to shoot something nice unlike me I just shot some perch about 2 weeks ago from a shore dive. By sinus pressure do you mean pressure by your forehead between eyebrows? I ask because I felt really bad pressure while diving about 2 weeks ago also felt like my left eye was going to pop out at times kinda sucked. Maybe the new mask I was using caused the pressure for me since it wasn't a low volume mask more like a scuba mask

Were you equalizing your mask by blowing air through your nose as you descended?
Sounds like you were experiencing mask squeeze.