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Abalone diving in Northern California

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Well written article. But being a diver in the oceans of N. Cal i would never dive in a 6-12ft swell. Thats how people die. Wait for the ocean to calm down to a 3 to 4.5 ft swell and you get good visability.
Bring a pole spear or speargun there are lots of fish to shoot after you have your limit of abs.
 
Good point, ocean_314, regarding the swell....perhaps the real point is to know your dive spots and know your personal limitations.
That being said, my first dives with Sven were in ideal conditions...and I was still plenty nervous, since they were new to me. Sometimes the conditions can change that the same dive spot can be completely different 24 hours or even an hour or two later...the stories about Monastery are legend for this kind of thing.
That's why you'll see us newbies staring out at the water for 15-20 minutes to get a feel for what's going on before entering.
If anyone dives a spot that's new to them, it is probably best to speak with local divers about it, or better yet, go with them.
That's what dive clubs and groups like this are for!
Just my 2 cents
 
There is no excuse for diving in a dangerous swell. The NOA bouys tell you what the swell will be and give you a pretty accurate forcast for the day and for then next couple of days.

Off the N. Calif coast there are web cams that overlook the ocean so you can see the conditions before leaving your house.

Tommorrow the forcast is calling for 4 to 5 ft swell out 20 miles at 14 seconds. I have a sheltered spot loaded with fish so to the coast i go, AFTER i check the web cams to be sure that the ocean is calm enough to dive.

I always explore new spots to dive and i dive alone a lot. The exploring of new spots leads to finding some great palces to dive. I free dive only, its more challenging then air for hunting. I have a paradise spot that no one dives, i found this spot by exploring just looking and diving. I could have never found this spot or a couple of others if i talked to the locals or went with adive club. This spot is loaded with fish, always a school of big blue rockfish, greenling, perch and plenty of abs. I get a ling every third time and hit a huge cab that bent my tines on my pole spear last year.

But i know my limits and never never take any risks.

Happy hunting!
 
I think he forgot to add... do not get eaten by a great white shark in that article.:naughty
 
Usually you dive for abs about 50 feet from shore. And Generally the whites like to stay a bit deeper than that. But that is generally. Still Diving for abs is a lot safer than spearing, no blood in the water when grabbing abs.

And 6ft swels no prob, 10ft is pushing it for going out. 3 is a really really light day good luck finding it. Y0ou only have to get past the 25' mark to find legal sized abs most people aren't freedivers and grab anything close at the 15' - 20' range. Once you go deeper than 25' there are a lot to pick from. Also, the more seculded and difficult to get to the better chance of abs and legal sizes.
 
I do a lot of diving and spearfishing around the FT Bragg area and 6' swell is really pushing it. Why bother its dangerous and not fun.
I dove so much last year i didnt keep track on how many times, but i never dive in anything bigger then a 5' swell and closer together then 10 seconds. The distance the swell is from the next one and the height of the wind wave is also critical.
I always spearfish and pick up my abs after i am done fishing finding 3 abs takes about 10 minutes. I have never seen a shark of any kind. the whites hang around seal hangouts. the rule is dont dive where there are seals. The last guy that got hit by a great white out here was in 15' of water and was diving near a seal haul out. We warned him many times that he was taking his life into his hands but he got BIG abs and lots of bragging rights until mr. white took his head off, then spit him out.
I dove yesterday in a 4ft swell at 14 seconds, visability was 30' water was crystal clear. Not as many fish around as during the summer but i got a mixed limit of rockfish (blues greenling and black&yellows) 5 big stripped perch and passed up a small ling becasue they are out of season. this is freediving with a polespear.
Without even looking i saw at least a dozen legal abs.
 
What is very important?
Don't ever place your fingers below the AB iron handle. They lose a lot of freedivers that way...
 
deeper umm how can you do that? If you have an ab far enough off the rock that your fingers can get underneath the ab its loose and is ready to fall off the rock.
Some divers will sneak up (sounds silly) on the abs and give a quick yank to the shell when the abs are relaxed and not clamped on the rock. They give the ab a quick hard yank and off the rock it comes. If the ab starts to clamp down then you can rip the shell off and the animal will be clamped hard to the rock.
 

You should always 'bounce' an abalone or the shell may be damaged by prying. When you slide the iron under the ab, you want your fingers to the side of the ab iron, not under it. They lose divers that way - seems like every year.

Whether or not you can break the shell and escape depends on your size, how much of the iron is under it, and whether the ab is back in a crevice or whatever, I don't know. Add low vis and surge to the mix.
 
Wow, for such an important safety topic this sure is getting confusing. I'm going to attempt to clarify so nobody new to the hunt is reading this and gets dead because they misunderstood it.

1. prying up an ab:

What do you mean fingers to the side? It's kind of hard to have my fingers only on the side of my iron and still have a good grip. Maybe I'm missing something but I just stick the iron right between the bottom surface of the abalone (the foot) and the rock surface that it is stuck to. I usually will hold the ab iron two handed with my dominant hand holding the handle and my other kind of fisted over it to add support.

Basically, I just make sure my fingers aren't anywhere near the abalone so I can't get suctioned to the seafloor.

2. Seals

I generally stay away from high concentrations of seals but it seems like no matter where I go in the Fr. Bragg area, there they are. This probably has something to do with the fact that I always go 2nd to 3rd week of August. Anyway, when they come around, I get out of the water pretty quick because it makes me nervous. I remember the day that unfortunate got beheaded. I was diving at Van Damme and spearing perch after getting a limit of abs. Around 1245 or so a couple of seals are all over us. We get out. I drive back to Oregon and find out about the attack in the paper next day. The eerie thing was, I think the attack happened right about the time that seal started swimming around us.
 
I dont know if this will help but when prying an abalone off a rock put the iron under the ab and pull sharply towards you. The abs pops right off the rock.
The Great Whites migrate to Mexico and Hawaii in the spring months and return in the fall. You can tell when the whites are around by the behavior of the seals as they move from the more sxposed haulouts to safer ones.
 
Dude, I don't know about their migrations but I get the feeling, in that area, there are some resident whites that are there all year long. That coast just has that feeling.
 
Ther has be a lot of reaserch done on the Great Whites. They are a animal that migrates. Dont get me wrong you whould have to be a fool to dive in an exposed area with a lot of seals at any time of year . But the sharks do migrate.
 
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