Flat Water and Good Friends

Made a plan with good buddies Chaeki and Hotplate (guys who have been on here awhile will recognize the name) to meet up in the afternoon and take advantage of the calm seas.

Chose a spot that is very exposed and has been inaccessible all year because of the rough weather.

At the beach the ocean was FLAT and the ankle slapper waves were crystal clear...paddling out Chaeki joked that it looked more like Hawaii than NorCal and it did!!

 

Went to a reef where I have seen a nice looking male sheephead two times....when we got there Chaeki realized that somehow he had lost his fins?!?! 

He dove with no fins and still got dinner! 

Hotplate (Darrell) hadn't dove in awhile but he looked strong and comfy and was blasting fish left and right.

I was looking for the male sheep with no luck, but picked off a decent olive, a nice chunky 23 inch sheep and a beautiful 28 inch bright blue Ling.

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2188

The viz was crazy and easily 40 foot, and the only not perfect thing was that the current was RIPPING and it felt like diving in a river...constantly swimming to try and stay in place...

After a bit we decided to move and chaeki headed back in.

Tried to go in tight to shore to explore ground that is usually too rough to get to but the current was even stronger here and the structure was pretty barren...I picked off two monkeys (24 and 26 inches) and then Hotplate had to bail.

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2191

Decided to move just a little further out to see if the structure was better...it was. 

Found a spot with a bunch of blues and some olives and some good looking boulders...picked off an Olive right away...

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2190

Then looked under a rock and saw a nice bright gold colored Ling.

Tight hole but was able to put my shaft through her head and pull her out...beautiful 30 incher.

Looked under another rock and saw the stocky face of a grassy and took him.

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2189

While I was stringing up the grassy a Ling swam up and started checking out my shaft...reloaded and went down and followed him around and took him...super bright green 27 incher.

Jumped back on yak and paddled into shore and took a few pics and had a beer before heading home.

Super glad I got out and made the most of the afternoon because I will be on daddy duty this weekend so won't be able to get out again before this weather window closes.

Was great to see Darrell and Chaeki and hope we get to dive together again soon!!

Here's a quick vid and a few pics.



 

Sincerely,

Jim

Fileted up one of the Lings to gift to my daughter Valentina's soccer coach.

 

 

Jim, nice shootn' and Thanks for sharing the dive. You definitely have FishWhisperer vibes. Pretty cool to see couple of names I haven't seen in awhile, hope they are well and hitting the water more than we see posts. 40ft vis....epic.

thanks Big Jim..always like the videos 

lox like u stoned the ling n eel at 130'ish.  nice stuff man.  grate c'ing u enjoying diving

Once again, a stellar hunt and even better post! Man, after diving up north yesterday, maybe at the same time of afternoon, the contrast in water clarity is incredible. Like when you're stalking the sheepshead, you can just see it cruising so smoothly, whereas up north it would have been disappearing into the gloom. And colors, damn Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur can be soooo nice!

And Chaeki spearing with no fins! Damn, that's impressive. I have a friend who has this great idea that a true "free man" is someone who can go out into nature with nothing at all, not even clothes, and get food. We tried a few times on nice days up north to dive off low cliffs and hand pop abs with nothing. Tougher than you'd think. Anyway, sounds like Chaeki is half way to true "free man" status!

Good feast down there it looks like! Gotta get going on my own!
Thanks for an inspiring post!

Your vid not working for some reason

Cool pic of the blue ling fillets!

Thanks folks!

Here's some pics of the sheep being devoured raw last night.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

So all your neighbors, family and friends are covered.  Where does the rest of that fish go.  I had to slow my take way down when conditions got better and freezer filled up. 

Glad you guys got out.  Not much fun without fins.

So all your neighbors, family and friends are covered.  Where does the rest of that fish go.  I had to slow my take way down when conditions got better and freezer filled up. 

Glad you guys got out.  Not much fun without fins.

I gave one Ling to Valentina's current soccer coach.

I gave the three rockies to her coach from 2 seasons ago (his wife likes frying whole fish).

The two Monkeys and one Ling went to our daycare provider who has watched both our daughters for the past 9 years.

The sheep got mostly eaten last night, one loin was leftover and we sent it home with our guests.

One Ling fileted and in fridge to be eaten in the next few days.

Freezer is empty...I like it that way...gives me an excuse to go out and harvest. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Bribing the coaches and daycare providers for those days you are on the water a little to long.  Smart move. 
Next week you can fill up on Abs also.

Fresh is best.  I freezer seal all of ours and if someone stops by and wants some they shop our freezer.  Nothing last long enough to get freezer burn.  Almost always have fresh is cool. 

Bribing the coaches and daycare providers for those days you are on the water a little to long.  Smart move. 
Next week you can fill up on Abs also.

Fresh is best.  I freezer seal all of ours and if someone stops by and wants some they shop our freezer.  Nothing last long enough to get freezer burn.  Almost always have fresh is cool.

LOL! Yep!!

Was actually gonna vacuum seal and save the sheep for when my parents are here in a few weeks...

But after I fileted it up I realized we were out of vacuum seal bags...so sent a text and 30 minutes later the sashimi party was on. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thanks for another great report Jim 

The pic of all the fish in the kayak almost looks photoshopped, there are so many cool colors in there!
Diving with no fins is tough I imagine, Ive tried with no weight belt and that does not work very well at all