British Columbia Spearfishing Trip

[Fondueset]

Suckers are the only potentials - they are among the more wary species too and don't even make the fish advisory around here. Carp are too long lived - though here they are very active and wary most of the time, heavily armored and really strong and would be a good challenge - they also have way too much personality. Gar are a rarity - and you could catch them with a good pair of gloves anyway - also long lived and apt to accumilate toxins. Bowfin are the most toxic fish in the great lakes.

I'm still looking for a way to get more force behind my 'legalize salmon' campaign - put and take fish - it's only hysteria that makes them illegal. It looks like there is a push on to promote underwater tourism here - that may be my point of entry.

Canada is sounding pretty good for freshwater spearing! And I do have some connections on the east coast. Just a matter of time there.

[Oldsarge]

Doesn't Canada let you spear fish through the ice during the winter? How much different can it be going down after them? A little logic, here, Ministry!

[Fondueset]

Same here - you can spear many more species with a bow or handspear - but if you go under water holding your breath it's very limited. You guys should see the response I got from the Department of Natural Resources.

[iceselkie]

Originally Posted by Fondueset

I've got some more pictures to put up - typically in the first run I for some reason exclude a bunch of really nice shots that I discover later.

Since then Claire has been into 'no gear' diving - as you can see in the shots at the bottom of my site. I think I need to get her a monofin and a sphera.

I'll get the pics up there over the next couple of days.

Looking forward to it; brilliant shots as ever.
it feels so much more crisp, without wetsuit, less prep time etc. & monofins are fabulous. http://gallery.deeperblue.net/data/5...illion_036.jpg

[Fondueset]

I've got a friend making a design for my mono based on pacific northwest art. I decided to wait and let her really work on it when I realized theres no way I'll have the fin by Sept 8th - which is when I'm supposed to dive with the governor and some other politicos. I was invited to take photos but I'll be the only freediver. I'll just have to impress them with the ice fins.

I hope I get the Monofin this fall though - then I'll have all winter to jet around in it. The water is extremely clear all winter - but the fish all move out into the depths. Will need the wetsuit though...

I tweaked that image a little - not as good as it could be but just to bring it out a little

Also started seeing these guys here when I visited an area near my usual breakwall. 50 meters away I never see them.



and a little movie
Drum Movie

[Fondueset]

Nice job Pete! I'd like to see that polespear design.
I share your ambivalence about spearfishing - The only species I'm interested in are the really difficult ones. But then you only have to get a couple meters closer to get good pictures... sadly these last are inedible.

In the interim I've been reflecting on what a great trip that was. I was barely there long enough to start to feel the effects of explosive decompression from the very intense homelife of a parent of an autistic teenager - Claire's brother - but I did form strong impressions of everyone on the trip. What a rare group! Our love of 'being under water' is a powerful organizing principal and a sort of tribal common ground was allready there waiting for us. It provided a context of shared excitement and sheer fun that made for instant friendship.

Here are a few in the latest round of highlights; Pete's alarmed/annoyed glance when I forgot myself and exhailed too forcefully after surfacing ( I see it most every time I surface - sphera and all); watching he and Eric hover and glide like whales; Tyler's infectious appreciation for an amazing universe of underwater life; Brianna shooting around like a dolphin; Gabe's yell after the Ling grab; Lee's quiet competence and amazing cooking; Jim's bad dream about Lee; Colin's often bizarre stories from points unknown; watching Claire interact with everybody and the feeling of safety I had with her swimming in such good company.

By the time we all had to leave I felt like I finally had the rythm of the place and was ready to start spearfishing - an activity I'd not seriously revistited since I was 17.

The trip back was uneventful - but at the home front tension and trauma greeted me like a wall of near-frozen Molasses. A new medication for my son had gone exactly the way I though it would - bad; and the culture shock was like a bowling ball in the stomach. After an intense period of experimention and measured observation under duress, things are now less dangerous. It's impossible to convey the intensity involved in raising an autistic child - I can count on part of one hand the number of times I've been away from home for more than a day or two in the last 14 years.


This one was worth it.

Since I got back I have these dreams - my house is a moonlit ship en route to the dive site; I doze off to shifting moonlight, and the slow roll of the sea.
Or I'm looking up at my flag bouy from the depths; smiling.

[Amphibious]

Originally Posted by Fondueset

Colin's often bizarre stories from points unknown

in the theater of my mind it all makes sense, sometimes there is some lost in the oral translation

had some greenling last night, was most yummy

[Fondueset]

It's the stuff of a good novel - also hilarious. I still suspect you work for MI6 or 5 - whichever is the international lot.

Got the 90 cobra - very nice. As you recommended I filed the line release - but also came up with an idea and put some heat-shrink tubing over it. Seems to work quite nicely so far.

[Amphibious]

Me a spy? never.... you know nothing, shhhhh......


Heat shrink! good idea!!!! let me know how that works

the MA 90 goes out for more slaying with Brianna & Gabe this weekend

[JPPLAY]

Originally Posted by Amphibious

the MA 90 goes out for more slaying with Brianna & Gabe this weekend

Blind fish no doubt.

[tylerz]

OMG sorry Jim! I had thought I wrote a reply to you about sending me your address so I could send the tape to you, and the last while I have been waiting for your response. I now remember that I went to get the tape and I couldn't figure out which one was the right one, so I thought I would just find a friend with a miniDV camera and quickly grab the data. Since then I have been on the water sailing non-stop for about 3 weeks now. So, again I appologize, and send me your address in a private mail, because if I don't find a solution here in the next couple days I will definately send both the tapes and you can extract them and I will just get some new tapes. If I recall, they were $5 each so it won't be worth sending them back most likely.

Hope everybody has been having a nice summer. I have some new footage and photos taken with my canon during my sailing adventures here. I think you guys will like some of them.

Cheers,

Tyler

[iceselkie]

I just blinded a fish today when i shot it in the eye. Does that count?

[Fondueset]

Colin, I think it was the fez and wrap around shades that first clued me in. I realize not everyone can see them - but that's the idea - isn't it?

Brianna - I thought of you and gabe the other day as I was lurking along on the bottom and this wild looking fish came by - it was blind on my side. I'll put up the video as soon as I get a chance

[iceselkie]

Cool, Chris!! you would have liked the fish gabe saw yesterday. It was deep and big and red and (no guns present), it was a really austere moment. Of course, no camera either, that's probably why it happened. Lurking along is awesome...

[Fondueset]

Damn! A woman who appreciates lurking. How excellent is that?!

Here's a short vid of that fish - don't see these too often. I really like the way they move.

Blindsider Shad

Red..hmmm - and freshwater? Interesting