Salt Pt 6/30/07 - free diving report

I went up north yesterday to grab some abs before the July closure. Wind was up early but the vis was incredible. Easily 25 feet in the early morning and I thought I was diving in Carmel. Found a school of nice blues near some pinnacles, took 3 - that's all I need and started looking for a ling. Checked a bunch of holes, but no big boy was at home. Saw some cabazons camouflaging on rocks, they believe I cannot see them.  I actually saw a total of 5 cabazons on the 3.5-hour dive, 2 undersized, 2 borderline and I took the last one home. a 24" beast.
Swell got bigger and vis got worse as the day went on. But still, 15-25 vis was incredible on the north coast, should've brought my underwater camera.

JohnGuineaPig,
did you go diving for halibuts in Monterey on Saturday? How did you do and how was the vis? I am thinking going down there on 7/4.

JohnGuineaPig,
did you go diving for halibuts in Monterey on Saturday? How did you do and how was the vis? I am thinking going down there on 7/4.

wow, nice catch there! i love seeing those big cabezon!

monterey was sunny but water was cold. i felt it was too cold for butts as compared to the other day in capitola. that water was warm to the touch and held halibut.
i paddled with my wife to cannery row and hit a few spots and the vis was poopy. some places the tip of my spearshaft vanished when sighted down my gun. no good.

vis was ok at del monte from 10- 35 feet over sand and eel grass beds and it was horrible as the day went on. lots of plankton bloom started up and it was like a 5 ft thick layer i was diving through.

the whole day, didnt run into any thermoclines that felt like would hold halibut and didnt see a single divot in the shape of a butt. saw a lot of electric rays and perch though. schools of fat perch were all over. no butts to be seen.

i bet the vis at capitola was better on this day.

: )

nice catch there though, im jealous you had great vis!

john

leon, where do you dive at salt point? i have never dove north of ocean cove but want to go to salt point soon. i have driven through but did not stop; (
john

John,
Because it was fairly flat, I dove just inside (south) of the actual salt point itself on Saturday. You park by the main parking lot (with clean restrooms, dressing room & fish cleaning station), go towards the point, pass the yellow marker where it marks the boundary of the Gerstle Cove preserve. Outside the preserve, it's all fair game. There are lots of access points. Because there are lots of people diving Salt Point every weekend, you want to get away from the crowd. While I was diving, my wife counted at least 20 divers entering/exiting the water from where I entered. Most of them just spend 30 minutes or so in the water to pick up their limits of 7.25" abalones. Yeah, the abs are small, until you swim quite a bit out. Even the blue rockfishes are small closer to the entry points, most divers carry a speargun but 99% of them don't swim far. There is also a cove/bay north of the point, where it's fairly easy to enter/exit. But you just have to get out a bit, otherwise the picks are slim. North of that cove/bay, it gets really exposed and swelly. But I imagine on a calm August day, that 2 miles of shoreline all the way up north to Stump Beach must be really good. I have never seen anybody dive there. I wanted to dive on a spot there last August on a flat calm day but changed my mind after seeing that spot was not so calm after all, hehe.
South Gerstle Cove is good for fish and bad for abs. There are several protected small coves to enter the water. Again, get away from the crowd. But still, mostly all the abs from South Gerstle are flat shells. I heard there is a wreck just south of the south point of Gerstle Cove Preserve, but I've never been there. I heard that the fishing by the wreck is good, but you don't want to eat any abs close to the wreck as the residues from the wreck get absorbed by the abs.
When I want big abs, I go further north to Fisk Mill or Sea Ranch.
Leon

Hi Leon,

I have heard a lot of good about that area and want to go check it out sometime. I dont know when I'll be able to get out there yet but hope to be soon!

I did some diving around fort ross offseason and had marked some spots with big lings. One ling was over 4 ft long and was huge i went back several times and saw him again and again and he just kept getting bigger. i think he recognized me after a few times. Maybe he wanted me for lunch!

I never could get myself to shoot him. He was like a pet.

I think i need to dive a new place soon. Im itching to get some fish!

john

Nice cab.  Makes the blues look like perch........