Monastery South Freedive Spearfishing Report

Hi folks,

my wife and i drove down Sunday am and I did a beach dive while she fished from the rocks. She got 2 Rf despite getting stuck a lot.

I snorkeled around and got one 20" cab and one 22" olive . Both fish were sitting holed up because there was lots and lots of surge action. Not many fish to see at all this day because of movement but it was really clear.

It was nice and warm and I wish I was independently wealthy and could spend the week down there diving: )

john

John,
That's a nice olive! We need to dive at Monastary more often, the beach is slated for closure in the upcoming MLPA, perhaps in May or June.
Leon

Nice fish John. Good viz? Week before last was 40+ inside Stillwater. Looks good enough for LM tomorrow I think.

i agree, the closures are really going to make dive site limited for hunting. I think we'll have to go to places less ventured: )

john

Nice!
The weather was great this past wknd. I fished from hsore on Saturday, about a mile north of you. Caught a bunch of big cabs and greenlings. It seemed like there was 50 foot vis out there! Not much swell and bright sun. My diving buddy met us out ther for some fishing and I kept asking him WHY he wasn't in the water with his gun.

Thanks for the report John,
PK

Nice fish John. Good viz? Week before last was 40+ inside Stillwater. Looks good enough for LM tomorrow I think.

Granite! The vis was great, it was so clear but chilly. I watched seals and otters do their thing and at one time i heard pounding so i went to see an otter up to his waist under a ledge working to dislodge a abalone or something from below.

It was a fun day just to move with the surge and let it take you wherever it flowed under water. just like life, sometimes its best just to relax and enjoy the ride: )

john

Nice!
The weather was great this past wknd. I fished from hsore on Saturday, about a mile north of you. Caught a bunch of big cabs and greenlings. It seemed like there was 50 foot vis out there! Not much swell and bright sun. My diving buddy met us out ther for some fishing and I kept asking him WHY he wasn't in the water with his gun.

Thanks for the report John,
PK

i think that area you were at would have been golden for spearing that day and probably not as surgy as where i was. the north side of monastery and north have always been such a neat place to freedive and see all types of fish. i love diving the rock piles at monastery north and the pinnacles there.

there are some big lings there as well as my friend pulled a 37" out of there a while back on a really rough day. carmel is the place for good vis though. the cold water and the terrain is just perfect for it.

i hope to go again soon.

i was actually using an old sporasub samurai gun to which i glued on a jbl tru glide track 100cm gun. i wanted to see if this tru glide track would make the gun better and it was excellent. before the shaft would whip and go out of the muzzle at a weird trajectory and now its straight and true. ready for our santa cruz island trip in may: )

john

Check out this underwater video of a killer lingcod!



This guy has some other videos from Carmel and Monterey of lings, calicos, sheephead, etc too! Very cool!

PK

That ling looks like it is macking on an already speared olive rockfish and fairly decent size one at that.  Can a ling that size really eat such a big olive?  Obviously the ling thinks he can.

That ling looks like it is macking on an already speared olive rockfish and fairly decent size one at that.  Can a ling that size really eat such a big olive?  Obviously the ling thinks he can.

its amazing what a ling can eat. i have speared lings and after knifing them have them spit up blue rockfish which were partially digested. one was almost as wide as the ling itself. a common thing that returns from their bellies is octopus as well. i leave those for the other fish around me to eat: )

john

It's amazing what a ling can eat - my buddy Brian claims my 24# ling in 9/04 was only a 20#er after I pulled this whole 4# black out of its belly...   

I bet that black was tasty