Looks like its going to be a good year

[Bill]

Bill
I dove whites most Sundays about six months a year for 20 years. Traded stories with everyone that was willing. Even shot a few. I don't think anyone has ever put more information in a few paragraphs than you just did. I only have one comment. Two of the three biggest whites that I ever saw were on the inside edge of the kelp bed.
Did you see the story in Hawaii Skin Diver by the other Bill (Ernst)?

[Bill McIntyre]

Bill,

I really should have said "the edge" rather than the "outside edge." I agree that there is no magic to the outside. I really just meant that when the kelp is too damn thick to dive in, you have to get to the edge. If I have seen any pattern at all, its that the up-current edge is most likely to have the action, but of course I've been working the up-current edge hard and seen my buddy shoot one on the down-current edge, so even that fails me too.

I just wish I had a breath hold like you- I would do a lot better on any edge.

Yes, I did see the Bill Ernst article. What an awesome fish, to break Skip's old record by 13 pounds. And of course his statement that the fish in back of it was even bigger has everyone dreaming. I'm told you almost had to take a ticket to get a place to dive out there for the next couple weeks.

BTW, where the hell are the California guys? Its not that I don't love telling stories and talking with you Brits and Hawaiians, but I was hoping to wake up the locals from their winter doldrums.

[Bill]

Thanks for the kind words Bill. They're all taking a break and getting ready for the next season. The spearfisher people get their gear all tricked out and the whites are up eating winter squid on the north side of Santa Cruz Island in dirty 55 (13C) degree water.
Deep Hole has always been a very special place for me. Many fond memories.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by Natedogg

Well, I wish I could add something to the conversation but Bill is (as usual)correct and he dives hard (mostly smart) reguardless of his age. Don't let him fool you with the "I'm not that good" stuff. There aren't many people in the world that have landed more WSB than him. I'm just glad I was able to give him a hard enough time about passing up shots on YT to where he started to take one or two per year.

Aw shucks Nate. You are really cute when you lie with a straight face. There can't be over a couple thousand guys who have taken more white sea bass than I have. I just post more stories and photos.

But come to think of it, Nate had a part in the taking of that 65 pound fish that is second from the right in the first group. He and his cousin Chris were in his cousin's boat in a kelp bed just south of us, and Willie, the guy with the 67 pounder, Jeff, the guy with the 65 pounder and I were in the kelp bed to the north. Jeff had gone off around the up current edge of the bed toward shore, Willie was in the middle of the bed, and I was just outside on the edge. I came up from a dive and heard someone shouting that he had one. I looked up and saw Willie waving, so I went thrashing through the kelp to help him. When I arrived, he asked if I had a fish. I replied that I thought he had one. That narrowed it down to Jeff, but we couldn't see him.

Just about then, Nate and his cousin came by on the way home and came down off of a plane. One of them had to get work or some other lame excuse. Anyway, I thought it might have been them that I heard shouting so I inquired, but they said no. So I asked if they could see Jeff, they looked around and pointed toward him, so I asked them to get over there and help because we thought he had a fish. They got over to him and Nate jumped in and helped bring the fish to the surface. It was quite a long way from our boat, so they loaded Jeff and his fish in their Whaler and brought them over.

Damn! That's Chris running the boat and Jeff in the bow with the fish, but I don't see Nate. I never even noticed that he was missing before now.

Nate, did they leave you in the water over there hunting?

I hope all this stuff isn't too boring to everyone, but I'm having a hell of a good time recalling great times from last summer. Our winters in SoCal are not exactly harsh by most standards, but the diving does suck.

[Natedogg]

Yeah, I thought there might be more around so told them to drop off Jeff first.

Earlier that morning, we had been Lumming for a wile and about to leave because the viz was about 5’ to maybe 8’. And because I was the one with the “stupid job”. Chris was on the cell phone will Bill, he was trying to decide on where to dive when he heard me squeal like a little girl at the sight of a HUGH WSB swimming just under the surface out from the kelp to Chris’s boat. Well that sent Bill full speed to our local. With in 10 minuets Jeff was on! It was a beautiful fish, 65lbs! Still the biggest WSB I’ve seen to date. I was thrilled for Jeff. He’s a super great guy and a great chef to boot. Not a bad guy to have on your boat all the time. Bill doesn’t like to share his top dive partners. lol

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by Natedogg

With in 10 minuets Jeff was on! It was a beautiful fish, 65lbs! Still the biggest WSB I’ve seen to date.

It was the biggest one I've seen until the next morning when Willie got the 67 pounder. I've never felt so inadequate with a 50 pounder.

All this talk of big fish reminds me that I read something today that made me feel at least slightly better about my inadequacies. The lastest issue of Spearfishing Magazine has a cover shot of Bill Ernst with his 93.4 pound world record, and inside there is an article on it by Terry Maas. I've read other articles, but this one is the first in which I've noticed that the 68 pounder that Bill took at the same spot the previous day was his personal best to that date.

Bill has been hunting these thing over twice as long as I have and is good enough to have represented us on several national teams, so now I don't feel quite so bad. Skill really does matter, but luck plays a big part too. Maybe I''ll be lucky this summer and have that monster swim by.

Hell, last summer one guy I know got the first one he ever saw, in the 30s, and then the second one he ever saw, 72 pounds. Another guy I know didn't get the first one he saw, but the first one he took was in the 30s. Then the second one he got was 70 pounds.

Life ain't fair.

[DarenDeath]

I know that having skill is important but I still think being lucky is better than being good. I hope to have a good year too, I got my first and only WSB 20lb in 07. At 20lbs I have room to grow!

[Pastor]

But the more you practice the luckier you get

I would die for a 20lb WSB

[BatRay]

Ok, here's a Californian weighing in....

Have you been able to get out much, Bill?

Not since the end of November. I guess I'm a sissy, but I just don't want to deal with the cold water and air when the chance for a white sea bass is so low.

I'm starting to get antsy though, and I figure that I ought to take a look at the local beds by the end of the month.

[Bill McIntyre]

Oops!

Batray, I'm afraid I may have used my new powers to somehow erase part of your post and insert my reply into it. It appears that I can't be trusted with this dangerous weapon.

[azapa]

Bill, different WSB questions: what do you do with them?

I am just starting to get fish (NOT WSB) in the 20lb range, and find them a handful to:
a. Kill - once on the surface they thrash so hard I can't get my Ike spike in the back of the head, I was even bitten last week my an upset 15lber. How do you finish them off solo?
b. Fillet - you must need a chainsaw? How do you start?
c. Eat - any particularity with bigger fish like this? You must have a large freezer, lots of friends or family, or both? Often, one big fish and I am on "time out" for a week, and Itching to shoot.....

[Old Man Dave]

Now that is a very good question or rather questions.

Dave

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by azapa

Bill, different WSB questions: what do you do with them?

I am just starting to get fish (NOT WSB) in the 20lb range, and find them a handful to:
a. Kill - once on the surface they thrash so hard I can't get my Ike spike in the back of the head, I was even bitten last week my an upset 15lber. How do you finish them off solo?

I generally stick a hand into their gills or grab them by the collar (if that is the right term- the meat below the gill openings) and just hang on tight. And I often cut the gill rakers so that they can bleed out with the help of a beating heart, so that starts the process of quieting them down. Anyway, I don't find it too hard to hold them still enough to insert that knife point into the brain.

b. Fillet - you must need a chainsaw? How do you start?

Its really no different from filleting a smaller fish. You just need a bigger place to lay them out and a bigger knife. But I just stick the knife under the skin and cut across behind the gills and then top and bottom, then usually start from the top next to dorsal fin and start slicing down next to the bones with the tip of the knife while pulling the meat away with the other hand.

c. Eat - any particularity with bigger fish like this? You must have a large freezer, lots of friends or family, or both? Often, one big fish and I am on "time out" for a week, and Itching to shoot.....

I know what you mean. Unless everyone on the boat scores big, I try to dump some of it on my dive buddies. But then I have one of those Foodsaver things that vacuum packs then in heavy plastic so that they last up to a year in the freezer, and I do have a big freezer out in the garage.

But if I have recently taken a big fish, it just lets me be more selective. I may pass on anything under 30 pounds and just enjoy watching them, or even pass on anything that doesn't look like it could be new personal best until my blood lust returns.

The thickness of the fillets from a big one does make it awkward for many kinds of recipes, so often I have to cut the fillet in two pieces along the long axis to make it easier to deal with.

Just last week a friend who has been too busy to dive while doing his dissertation came by and let me empty my freezer of last summer's fish, so now I am ready for a fresh start.

[Pastor]

Veering off topic, what do you think of those vacuum packer things? I had thought of buying one but always end up just wrapping in cling film

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by Pastor

Veering off topic, what do you think of those vacuum packer things? I had thought of buying one but always end up just wrapping in cling film

I like them and have had good luck so far. Some people who have purchased the lower end models say that the motors burn out fairly fast, so I think its worth your while to get the most expensive model, or the next most expensive.

My freezer is not very well organized, so its nice that when I find a lost package in the back, its not freezer burned.

I also get a lot of use out of mine for meat. There is a big warehouse type chain in the states called Costco that has excellent steaks at a very good price, but everything they sell is in large lots that are impractical if you don't have a big family. But I can buy a package of 8 or so steaks and then package them by twos for future use. When I used to do that using other wrapping methods, I would invariably end up finding a package that was freezer burned, but not any more.