Laguna dive report.

[sciencemike]

The story:
My dive buddy and I went out spearing yesterday afternoon in Laguna. The conditions were more than pleasing, with little, wind little surge, and about 20 foot of visibility. We swam out along the reef that Anton knows like the back of his hand. He was calling it every step. Heres where we see shorts... Heres where the Sandies are... Nice tour Anton. Then he puts his game face on and makes his real first drop down. We drop down together, we split at the bottom, i go one way he goes the other. All you hear is the hum of my motor on my halibut skiff DPV. Then i see a 10 lb sandbass, take the shot and thats when i realize i had only one band cocked. For hunting shallow rocky halibuts. My gun plink... Then the spear skipping across the top of the rock, then BLAM, Antons gun fires.... I grab my throttle and do a 180 to see if Anton needs any help with his sandbass or sheep head... He is no where. Just a lot of dirt on the sandy bottom stirred up... Sure enough i hit the surface and he yells Butt!. I was very jealous, his fish woulda been a PB halibut for me. It looked massive as he swam with it in the water. It had to come in at 13-15 lbs cleaned.

We head out further, Anton with his "Extra Dead Leg" as he called it and me with my DPV. I drop down to 30 feet and start scanning the gravel..... I then see this monster hali just setting on the sand. It had to be pushing 40 inches and 30 lbs. I am 3 feet away when i see it because the DPV was obstructing its view. He was so big i could see his eyes turned directly at me.. I back peddle, push the dpv to the side and fumble for my gun, an eternity passes while im staring at him while i Cannnot find my DAMN HANDLE behind me, then he casually gets off the bottom and swims away. Im so pissed at myself, but i refused to take the Hail Mary shot...He gracefully dissapears into the darkness.

Next dive is similar to the first, I see Anton beginning his breathe up, so i start mine as well. His fins go up then my fins go up and we start down. I cross around him and under him on the drop and head over to the sandy spot, and sure enough another halibut is sitting on the gravel, i let go of the DPV and the gun and they keep moving and i put the fin breaks on, then as the handle of my gun passes me i grab it, angle it slightly downward and squeeze the shot off. I thought it was a pure belly shot, but turned out to be in the meat just inside the belly. It turns out Anton was lining up on the same fish, then he saw a shaft go through him and hears my Plink.

She bent my shaft, spooled 100 feet of line, and gave Anton the 2 fisted wrestle of his life. But it came in at 19.5 lbs Cleaned and bled @ just over 36 inches. She had handfuls of eggs in her so i bet she woulda been pushing 27 lbs uncleaned.

All in all its always a great day when everyone gets fish to be proud of.

[BatRay]

Very, very nice story. Plus, the fish looks like it was great

[irtrogdor]

I've been wondering about diving with a DPV lately. I'll bet its a lot easier to get to the spots. Seems like actually diving with caused you some problems though - wouldn't it be better to anchor it or something and dive down with fins?

[sedoy]

Anton !it is Russian Name?

[Adon]

Does the DPV not spook fish?

[sciencemike]

The DPV is indeed a pain. I often leave it on the surface and dive down on my own. But getting to spots is really nice with it. Me and Anton Bernheardt (Not sure if he is Russian) each held a side to cruse back to shore with our halibuts. It made it very nice. I like them for halibut hunting because you are focused on the bottom, and they increase your bottom scanning time. Holding the gun and the DPV is difficult. The whole process is more of a novelty thing, and truth be told I have used it a handfull of times since I got it. I like it more when the harbor seals show up and i can cruise around with them, as if im one of them. When they come i dont get many fish anyways so i usually unload my gun, and tie it off in the kelp and we just go cruising around together.

The DPV makes a rrrrmmmmmm noise kinda like a boat that is almost 1/2 a mile away. I have never found fish that are spooked by them. After all that 35 lb er that i saw before i shot mine was only 4 feet away from me.

Over all they are just a fun addition to diving, but they also make learning Hands free Eq much more of a necessity, and if i wasnt completely comfortable doing this method of EQ down to 60 or so feet DPV's could be dangerous on your ears.