Moby.... Greenling

Wadup All,

 Just got out of the water on a smokey Friday afternoon with a couple fish and good company. Went out to my summer secret spot, the same as last post, to find rougher seas than expected, and a weird windswell that was kind of tossing my stomach. Anywho, it still was a blast. Viz was a very sediment-y 10ft at the surface and unfortunately not much better down at depth. Many a rock were, unintentionally, slammed into today

Made it through the pounding shorebreak to find most the midwater fish were nowhere to be found.... what was interesting was last dive me and my bud saw dolphins blasting into those same kelp beds; maybe they did a little crowd control. Still not too interested in the blues and blacks; big lings and hopefully some verms are on the watch list.

My inshore reef that provided a 34" lingcod last month and some solid cabezons in the past was my first stop. Unfortunately the swell was pretty strong, and the network of caves are pretty tight. So it made shallow water diving quite the energy burner. This area is littered with abalone and muscle shells, but the kelp is so thick right now and just at eye level at the bottom. I have a vendetta against a couple of large cabs who have used it to their advantage and bolted never to be found.

I dive and j-hook to around 15-20ft, right where the topography gets great for holed up fish; and low and behold I see a not so camouflaged grey and white cab laying in a hole. Most fish here match the landscape and are bright red to match the algae growths. This guy not so much. He was good size, probably around 18", but I couldnt bring myself to pull the trigger on the sleeping dummy. Call my crazy, but I have a soft spot for those lil crustacean munchers. Sleeping fish dont exactly spark my prey drive and I figured I'd see better, so I cruised onwards.

Made one or two more dives in the area and see a cab dart past me; go time. He vanished, but I followed his general path and low and behold he is just chillin at depth. Perfect angle for a stone cold shot to ensure his suffering was brief. Passed more than a couple holed up chinas, kelpies, and grassys; but not quite what Im looking for today. Although many of them had chunks missing, which is a great sign that some serious lings will be found there soon enough.... Was over getting hammered into the rocks so I pushed forward towards the trench. My pee shooter light doing a better job at being a distraction then actually being useful.

Since specific hole hunting was not going great, I decided to just cover more ground and J-hook and follow networks of cracks instead of looking in holes that were pitch black with a smidge of light . This tactic lead me to run into my limit of greenlings, all around 40ft. I must have been more lurky than I thought because I blindsided most of them before they were able to dart off. Unlike Cabs, these guys really do vanish when spooked. 15, 16, and 16.5 were hauled up. This stretch of coast has so many of them its really absurd. Alas, they are not the thick filleted lings Im voraciously searching for.

Go to string them on our board and motor towards a stretch of reef closer towards the sand and directly west of our float. J-hook down a couple times and finally spot a ling on top of the reef just hanging probably defending his turf. I have no issues blasting lings, theyre so arrogant; and if they could they would probably devour me quickly- unlike my cab friends . Go for a stone shot at 30-40ft and get him through the cheek unfortunately. I thought for sure he would tear off, so I quickly pinned him to the bottom and ripped his gills as I surfaced. I carry my dive knife in my wetsuit pocket now and have my car key attached to it, so if possible I try not to take it out unless its really needed. Ripped gills, used spear shaft to brain.

All the while my feet are killing me, throbbing relentlessly. It seems us big guys get shafted when it comes to fins over size 13. Was getting to be quite distracting and painful, but my buddy( who is relatively new and sticks to mostly mid water) let me use his UK SL6. Pain dissipates slightly Go deep to check out these big dark holes and the light straight blasts every nook and cranny without me needed to actually stick my head in there. This 200 Lumen light is MUCH brighter than my piece of worthless 250 lumens. See a big variety of chinas, some schooled black and blues, and a couple more greenlings; but no monster lings or cabs.

Getting pretty exhuasted after scoring the majority of the deep water reef and head back inside to the inside shelf to see if my 20+ cab from last session would like a shallow water showdown..... He's not. So I take a 14" Grassy or Kelpy.... not sure the difference, another one; whatever the opposite species is; and a nice olive.... My fav.

Return to shore without getting pummeled and after gutting go for a little bodysurf in the shorepound. Overall a great 3 hours diving in some challenging conditions. Dont judge my pathetic looking stringer, I've come to terms that only trophies look big comparatively

Also as a side note!
1) If anyone is looking to get rid of their backup light, let me know! I would love to buy it off you.
2) Does anyone have a recipe for smaller rockfish so you don't have to fillet them?
3) And if you dont fillet your fish, how do you eat it? Ill occasionally bbq a smaller blue/black whole; or bbq the bones of a large fish.
4) If anyone is getting rid or wants to sell a quality dive watch, I'd love to buy it off you also! I like to keep my dives as objective as possible
5)I'm also in the market to get a kayak so I can go out to GT and PP off SWC, if you see any deals let me know!

Cheers,
Jesse

The days haul

My thread failed to post three times because I was trying to upload all the pictures at once 
And its obviously the camo

You must be a writer as that was one detailed report. 

You got fish when others would have gave up.  Good day in my book. 

You must be a writer as that was one detailed report. 

You got fish when others would have gave up.  Good day in my book.

I was a science major, but my english profs always loved me 
Good to give back to such a cool community and thanks! I find perseverance is a good trait to have as a spearfisherman

Dude thats an awesome report! Nice work on the fish too

My chef friend would take a rockfish on a cutting board, put a wet clean towel over it at pour boiling hot water over the skin and that might make it edible for sushi style, might rub it clean with salt before.  Twice cooked fish is good also.  Steam whole then cover with fresh garlic ginger, fresh herb of choice, green onion, then pour your favorite hot oil over top to seal flavors through steamed fish.  Finish with touch soy sauce.  With the murky water story report , I say you are one brave dude.  You got that thing that I don't, and you prolly dont know any different.  Great report choosing your target.

Thanks for the great report and pictures Jesse.

Rad write-up, Js!

Thanks for the constructive words all,
Hope to see you guys out shreddin soon!
Jesse

Deep fry!!!  Scale, make vertical slits 1" in the meat down to the spine, rub salt and pepper, dust with corn starch and fry until light golden.  delish with a spicy Thai sauce or cocktail sauce. On a small fish you can eat the crispy fins like potato chips!

Damn! Nice writeup! I couldn't remember half that detail. And impressed you got greenlings up the wazoo. Sometimes I won't even take a shot at them because I blunt too many spear tips doing that, but clearly you da masta!
In college, we were pretty lazy and cooked whole rockfish right over the fire on a grill, skin comes off pretty easily, you can add whatever sauce or spice you like- it was pretty efficient and we could feed a hungry crowd without too much sweat.
thx for the post- gonna try my luck tomorrow I think!

Thanks for the contrsuctive words yall! You all rock

This is a seriously detailed report.  That's how I write for work..science major eh
I keep saying I'll be getting a dive suit, but I'm not sure I like surgy low viz...


Thanks for sharing

This is a seriously detailed report.  That's how I write for work..science major eh
I keep saying I'll be getting a dive suit, but I'm not sure I like surgy low viz...


Thanks for sharing

Divesuit changes the game for freediving and thanks! Surgy and low viz is my specialty