Shallow Water Ling Showdown 31" and 29"

On a two week hiatus between jobs and been jonesin to go dive to clear my head before pursuing an amazing  Oppurtunity in my career field.

None of my dive partners are around, oh well, modify my longjohns to a high waist and get rollin to my favorite zone by 10am.

Waters looking the calmest Ive seen all summer, no shorebreak but still some leftover chop from the incessant non stop summer wind. Does anyone know what the deal is with all this wind? Like really...

Cruise down and hop in and was surprised to not see a ridiculous amount of kicked up sediment, a pleasant surprise; still undivable conditions for some of my buds- but Im quite comfy in the murk thank you very much.

I kick out and thankfully my shallow water reef isnt a giant closeout, its swelly but not too bad. Go to the crack where the infamous large grey and white cab is and he darts past me at the end of my breath.....
Frantically scour the area, Say a few curses and move on my way.Wherever you are cab.... I will find you.... And I will kill you  

Motor out deep because I was getting annoyed with the swell, but I have no light; mine is so bad Id rather just not even dive with it. Dive deep.... Dont have a watch, but deep enough where the water temp drops 10 degrees; deep enough to where Im equalizing 3-6 times- its super dark and green today- too spooky.

Its Eery as I descend by myself, as i look down while breathing up I cant see much past 15 feet. Descend into the darkness until around 30ft and then the water clears and negative buoyancy takes over.

For whatever reason, the outside zone here just doesnt feel very fishy, no mussels/ab shells, bad cover, too much sand; but there are some giant crevices and boulders providing some good cover and schools of large rockfish to prey on.

There are probably some serious monsters out there, but theyre probably out deep during the summer or seriously hold up way past my non flashlight assisted vision. The only reason I check is because a scuba steve pulled a 29lber about a month ago; hes the worst. Must be nice to be able to scour every single crack and hole thoroughly. I digress....

Slam a darting away from me 15" greenling. And take probably 30 dives, no lings or cabs to be found. Plently of black and yellows though 

This is where some serious apathy kicks in. I literally just use my greenling as chum and start letting the schools of rockfish swarm around me. 2 olives, a blue, a black. Were taken like this. Now I know how those guys off the charter boats feel hammering blue fin huddled around a dropped line. So weak. Hammer a black and yellow and decide to head back in to check the whole inside shallow reef since the waves are relatively mellow.

Make a parallel line from the cab crack to a washrock and man this area is so fishy. 5-25ft deep, littered with holes, tons of algea, tons and tons of empty ab shells, lots of kelpies and grassies with bite marks. And this is where I scored a 32" ling and most my cabs. Strange because its so shallow.... Or maybe I just need a watch and Ive been diving much deeper than previously thought. Its always felt fishy, but scuba steve must have gotten into my head with his shallow water heckles and lured me out deep 

The water is nice and clear but swelly. I scan the bottom trying to spot anything holding still as the kelp sways to and fro. Boom a pair of red eyes standing still in swirling red kelp. Thought it was a large grassy, and went for a closer look only to have it vanish in the thick algea as a wave passed. Hold steady and wait for the outward motion and boom; big face and red body- cab time. Stoned and pinned on the rock: 17". This place is loaded with um, but none that are crazy big like the lings.

Put him on my gun with the rest and cruise over to the wash rock. Great great habitat; im glad its small enough so I can thoroughly check it out. I keep on the surface and occasionally j hook. I find a nice stretch of reef with a large crack that goes into a hole with a perfect overhang. As I follow the crack on the surface an enormous ling swims under me heading to that overhang. "Holy Shit!"

He of course tries to stand me me up as I anxiously dive down. Hes big, and I try my best to control my nerves. Like seriously.... How do you guys slam 40" ers. Like these things are sketchy. Awesome predators. My gun sucks, so I need to make sure my shot is perfect but hes not lining up for a stone shot and I dont want him to swim away.

Get a decent angle and blast him above the cheek. My shaft doesnt deploy all the way(which I usually plan knowing Ill get a stone shot) and he breaks away from the pin and alligator rolls 30 times but cant break free. In the process the 31" pig breaks the circular guide on my spear that threads the shaft and holds it in line with the gun body.

Hes too big to reach around and wont let me in his gills. Finally I get a grip and thread him down my line. Pull my spear tip up and end his misery.

As Im gathering my thoughs and letting out some solid hoots another slightly smaller ling comes out to check out the commotion. Holy shit! Go to load my gun and see that the guide is broke. Fumble for a few seconds with 7 fish flopping on my gun line and try to keep an eye on him. Loaded and he vanished....

Shit.... I scour the area knowing that it cant be far away. 5 minutes and no luck and as 10 minutes come up I dive straight down to where I shot the last guy and there he is; perfectly camoed on the side of the rock in the red Algea. I must pass hundreds every dive.

Streamline my mass of hanging fish that cant be strung because of the broken guide and line up a stone shot. He goes down easy. Hopefully they werent a breeding pair at 29".

Feel like I might as well limit on 30" lings if I can, but no luck and I head in.

Whats interesting is that all my big lings have been found in relatively shallow water. This is directly contradicting to most spearos I follow experiences. On that reef Ive gotten a 32", 31" and 29" all in 15-20 ft of water. Must be because its the only habitable reef out of the trench that isnt super deep. I dunno

The walk up was awful, but the cab and yellow were baked and the rest were fillet.

Once more if youre ever looking to dive give me a holler

Keep it real all,
Jesse

Instagram:jrsnyder91

The catch

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Great report Jesse. Thanks for the write up. Felt like I was there. Thanks for keeping it real . Some day I will take you up on a dive .

Ditto on the wind here on the Monterey bay this year. Would like to have taken my aluminum on the bay a little more this year.

Alex

Great report Jesse. Thanks for the write up. Felt like I was there. Thanks for keeping it real . Some day I will take you up on a dive .

Ditto on the wind here on the Monterey bay this year. Would like to have taken my aluminum on the bay a little more this year.

Alex

I try my best to entertain !
Ya its been a never ending spring, bad for surfing and spearing. Lose Lose ! Falls right around the corner though; I'd assume well go back into the La Nina cycle of chilly and clear with little swell; Lings beware!

Nice write up Jesse and congrats on your harvest 

Antonio

Awesome and great write up, especially for those of far from the water this weekend! Thanks!

I didn't know that spot till you posted ......thanks for the heads up Jim! 

Well luckily you'll probably only see me out there.... unless I keep giving away landmarks 
But if you can get through the 4ft death shorebreak most days, more power to ya 

Nice write up Jesse and congrats on your harvest 

Antonio

Thanks man, it was a harvest indeed with some admirable fish

Awesome and great write up, especially for those of far from the water this weekend! Thanks!

Quotes like that keep my reports detailed  Glad you enjoyed 

Thanks for the detailed report and pictures Jesse.

Thanks for posting and pics

Thanks for the detailed report and pictures Jesse.

Thanks dude!

Thanks for posting and pics

Cheers bro!