English interpretations please!!!!!

[spaghetti]

Or better said:
a Wong for a kill and a Dong for a keel
But I agree with Pastor: let go, too much drag!

[calinitalia]

Sorry if I missed something, but, The original posting comes from Torrence, California, he says he's moving to Catalina Island, right? Catalina is right in front of LA / SanDiego. Why is he watching Italian Videos to basically go across the street???

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by calinitalia

Sorry if I missed something, but, The original posting comes from Torrence, California, he says he's moving to Catalina Island, right? Catalina is right in front of LA / SanDiego. Why is he watching Italian Videos to basically go across the street???

Excellent question. I think its because you Italians have us brainwashed and use such exotic sounding foreign words, so you must be on to something.

He would really be better off reading Blue Water Hunting and Freediving by Terry Maas. It describes how to hunt white sea bass and yellowtail, and its all in simple English.

[calinitalia]

Only one problem Bill, I'm not Italian. I'm from San Diego but live and work in Rome. (calinItalia = californian in Italy). Any chance of getting some baby WSB sent here to kick start the med with some weat coast cuisine??
Happy hunting!!!

[calinitalia]

OOPS!! I meant West coast cuisine. Fat fingers!!

[oflow]

I have both the book and video by terry maas. the reason for watchin the italian videos is to aquire different types of skills by differnet spearos. i try to take in as much info as possible........ and if you've ever dove the channel islands, which i'm assuming you have, alot of the techniques make for great diving over here as well.... I also speak to al schneppershoff as often as possible for his personal views on california diving. I also pick the brain of Andy Taylor, owner of Blue Water Hunters in Santa Barbara. Since I don't have 20+ years of diving under my belt, I feel the best way to learn is to dive and keep studying.......... BOOM! TAKE THAT, OLD SPEAROS!!! HAHAHA!!

[oflow]

and billy-boy......terry maas doesn't go into much detail about compensating past 20 meters in any of his books.... i've read Blie Water Hunters more than a hundred times and I still can't get enough of it...... but there's nothing wrong at all about trying to broaden my apnea horizon........ and because of practice and a study of Umberto Pelizzari's Manual of Freediving, I have just pulled a personal best with my breath hold....4 mins 4 seconds........BOOmSHACKALAKA-LAKA!!!!

[oflow]

I'm also planning for a freediving training seminar in Baja Mexico for a week in June. I figure that if I have a professional teaching me I can only improve and progress. I'm pretty sure I've only dove to like 60 maybe 65 feet, but I had no problems at all. And Bill, did you have anyone to show you the basics of spearfishing or freediving when you were just starting? Cuz I haven't had anyone experienced teach me or show me...... so if I get the opportunity then by all means I'm gonna take it. It seems to me that the less i try and spear and the more I try and become one with the ocean, the easier it is for me to get close to the fish..... or the sharks.... or the rays. The fish seem to know that I mean them no harm and in turn approach me by the truckloads.....except for those pesky fuckin white sea bass..... you always gotta be wayyyyyyyy kool when approaching them. In fact, everytime I try to approach them, they get very, very sketchy. It just goes to show that I need more practice..... But Calico's and sheepshead are my best of friends. They seems to congregate around me when ever I'm "aspetto" at the bottom. even when i'm "Macetto" upside down in the kelp, they come and say what's up.....

[Bill McIntyre]

and if you've ever dove the channel islands, which i'm assuming you have,

Yes, I have. I think the first time was in 1963.

and billy-boy......terry maas doesn't go into much detail about compensating past 20 meters in any of his books...

Well no oflowy boy, he doesn't, but I made the mistake of thinking we were discussing techniques useful in the Channel Islands. You may get off on diving past 20 meters, but the great majority of the white sea bass are in the top 20 feet. If it makes you feel good to lay around down below 20 meters because you know that they have to do that in the Med, then that's just fine, but its not CA spearfishing. You'll be seeing your fish on the way up.

and because of practice and a study of Umberto Pelizzari's Manual of Freediving, I have just pulled a personal best with my breath hold....4 mins 4 seconds....

Whoopeee! That just frigging wonderful. I stand in awe of you, but I'm a simple spearfisherman. Last Monday when I got the fish pictured below, I was averaging around 50 to 55 seconds with occasional dives over a minute, and I was at 20 feet (not 20 meters) when I pulled the trigger.

And Bill, did you have anyone to show you the basics of spearfishing or freediving when you were just starting?

Well no, I don't think so. I got into shooting big fish at age 13 or 14 back in 1952 or 1953, and there just wasn't anyone to teach me. My dive buddy and I just sort of felt our way along and learned by trial and error.

Cuz I haven't had anyone experienced teach me or show me..

I can understand that. It sounds like you might threaten them when you dropped your breath hold and depth abilities on them, and besides that they might feel that their command of Italian was inadequate.

I tend to take a lot of young guys out because I really enjoy seeing their joy when they get that first white sea bass or yellowtail, and their enthusiasm is contagious. In fact a large number of guys have taken that first game fish from my boat. A few weeks ago I took out a guy who's previous single fish speared was a sheephead, and he got a 43 pound white sea bass. A couple of weeks later, I took a guy who had speared some calicos and sand bass and one 12 pound white sea bass, and he got a 60 pound white sea bass from my boat. Since I'm an old fart, many of my new buddies soon surpass me in physical ability, if not experience, and that's fine with me as long as they don't call my billy-boy.

None of us can speak Italian, none of us can hold our breaths for over 4 minutes, and none of us can dive over 20 meters, but we sure have fun.

[oflow]

i will definitely say that i have yet to even encounter a white sea bass half that size yet. I am certainly no expert, nor am I even very experienced, but I find nothing wrong with learning everything I can..... and I don't give anyone a hard time about it either. i'm certain that if I ever went diving with you or any of your cohorts I'd be in awe of your knowledge of the ocean. But i feel that ability and technique can apply anywhere. And no, I don't make it a habit of diving down to 65 feet, or absurd breath holds, but I want to have the ability to do so, namely because I want to film other spearos in action. My apologies about the whole billy-boy thing. Respect is key here, and that was outta line. Again my bad. I just started this post in hopes of understanding what all the Italian techniques were. It seems that I'm getting flack for wanting to understand them better. I hope soon enough i am rewarded with a sight of sea bass of that caliber. You are surely a knowledgable spearo with years of experience. I believe i will stick to topics that have to do with the immediate surroundings of my dives and this area. That way I will have a better understanding of the techniques that are applicable for the Channel Islands. Sorry for the rude comment.

[calinitalia]

There is nothing wrong with studying. Just remember though when applying the new breath hold techniques and making deeper dives, that you need to have someone with you that can not only exceed the depth that you are going to, but also knows how to save your life if you screw-up. Deep dives here in the Med are almost absolutely necessary in some areas if you want to shoot something bigger than an anchovie. I never went more that 12 meters (+- 36 ft) until 2 weeks ago in Sardegna when I was on an outer bank with a super experienced local. After he made several dives in more than 30 meters and came up empty handed, he put me and my buddies on a rise that at it's shallowest point was 18 meters. He told us to get in the water and we nearly started filling our pampers due to lack of experience. He is a FISPAS instructor as well as an extraordinary spearo. So we felt relaxed, he gave us some extra instructions, and we dove one at a time doing "aspetto" and "Aguatto" between 18 and 21meters only resulting in a few fish.
On the other hand,This morning with strange weather conditions here in Rome and crappy water vis, I was able to get some decent Sarago (similar to a perch with a doctorate degree) and cuddlefish (MmMmMm!).
I did not go over 8 meters because I was alone. I may have got more fish had I gone deeper, but I used my head.
Maurizio Ramacciotti (famous Italian Spearfishing champion and friend) told me that you really only need about 1 min 15 seconds max to effectively fish down to 25 meters. He said "if the fish don't come close to you in that time they probably aren't coming in 4 minutes either". A curious fish will come almost immediately if you don't srew-up the approach to the bottom!!!
I wish I could get a huge fish in 20feet of water here, but it's very rare.
Take care and be safe!!!

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by calinitalia

I wish I could get a huge fish in 20feet of water here, but it's very rare.

Yes, we are very lucky that we can get big fish at shallow depths. Our need for depth and bottom time comes after we shoot the fish. The big white sea bass get to the bottom and wrap up in kelp, and its often murky down there.

For instance that fish I shot the Monday was at a spot that is 55 feet deep. The shooting at 20 feet is easy, but the retrieval from the bottom can be difficult and dangerous.

[calinitalia]

Yeah I can imagine!! I worked on the sportfishing boats out of San Diego from 1990 to 1992 and every time we had a good size white hook-up, she would tie up in the kelp and give us hell. This could be very dangerous while diving because with the adreneline, you can tend to lose track of how long you've actually been down. All the more reason to have someone up top monitoring your down time. The same as here when working a big grouper in a cave.