There's more than one way to put it there.
I almost never go spearfishing on weekends. The crowd at the ramp is just too much to deal with if I don't have to, and weekends are when my wife is most likely available to play. But Saturday my wife was competing on her horse all day and I got an invitation to go on Dave Rice's boat, so I jumped at the chance. The rest of the crew was Dam Nguyen and Kyle Dodder, so I figured there was a good chance of seeing some fish on the boat, even if I didn't put them there.
At the first spot, Dave swam back into the thick kelp and stoned a 30 pound yellowtail while I was still trying to get suited up. The water was blue and clear and I got all excited, but then I screwed up. My back is very stiff and getting my fins on and off is a challenge. I was sitting on his stern trying to cross an ankle over a knee when a swell hit just right and threw me overboard. I landed very gracefully with a full face and belly smack. Since I was already in the water, I had Dam hand me my fins before he took off to take photos of Dave's fish, and then started down the edge of the kelp bed. On my first drop, I leveled off at 20 feet and then wondered how I got a kelp leaf on the right side of my mask obscuring my vision. But there was no kelp there, and then I figured out that it was blood filling my mask. I guess I must have broken a blood vessel in my nose with that graceful entry. So I swam back to the boat and pinched my nose until Dave eventually came back and found some toilet paper to pack my right nostril. So much for my dreams of spearfishing glory.
After I sat around a long time to let the blood vessel clot, Kyle came back with reports of seeing fish and then Dam came back and mentioned seeing a 50 pound wsb that disappeared into the bottom murk before he could get a shot. And he also said he passed up a surface shot at a 35 pounder in hopes a bigger one would be following. I decided I had to get back in the water, but I compromised. If I dove and it started bleeding again, I'd be done for the day. But if I just swam around looking for a surface shot, the nose might be OK and then I could see what happened if I dove to retrieve the fish. So I swam all over the bed on the surface. I could see at least 20 feet down and I was just sure I'd see a fish, but no joy.
When I got back to the boat, Dave was already aboard and mentioned that Dam was out in open water in front of the boat, apparently looking for yellowtail. No sooner had he said that when he followed with "he just did a quick dive." I turned around just in time to see Dam pop up with his gun trailing behind him while he was hanging on to his float line being pulled across the surface. Then we saw this big white sea bass just under the surface. The fish was running in circles around Dam right under the surface of the clear blue water, and we could watch the entire fight while he pulled himself up the line until he grabbed the fish. I've never seen anything quite like it. It weighed 52 pounds.
We decided to move to another nearby spot, and the water was just as pretty. I decided that it was late enough in the day to try my nose out at some gentle dives and the toilet paper packing did the job, but I didn't see any fish. The bed seemed dead, so I tried going out in to open water to duplicate Dam's performance. I did find some bait, but nothing else. Dave said he had given up and was heading back to the boat when he made one more dive to about 15 feet and then saw this wsb sitting still behind him, so he brought it back with him. I think it weighed 33 pounds.
I didn't get any fish, but I felt like I was in good company with Kyle, the guy who recently took one of the biggest white sea bass officially recorded. He didn't have a bloody nose, but he had some issues with guns. I'll leave it to him to give you his excuses if he wants to.
It was a beautiful day with beautiful blue water and some very nice guys. I guess I'll settle for that any time. Meanwhile, I'll work on my flexibility and my dismounts.
I almost never go spearfishing on weekends. The crowd at the ramp is just too much to deal with if I don't have to, and weekends are when my wife is most likely available to play. But Saturday my wife was competing on her horse all day and I got an invitation to go on Dave Rice's boat, so I jumped at the chance. The rest of the crew was Dam Nguyen and Kyle Dodder, so I figured there was a good chance of seeing some fish on the boat, even if I didn't put them there.
At the first spot, Dave swam back into the thick kelp and stoned a 30 pound yellowtail while I was still trying to get suited up. The water was blue and clear and I got all excited, but then I screwed up. My back is very stiff and getting my fins on and off is a challenge. I was sitting on his stern trying to cross an ankle over a knee when a swell hit just right and threw me overboard. I landed very gracefully with a full face and belly smack. Since I was already in the water, I had Dam hand me my fins before he took off to take photos of Dave's fish, and then started down the edge of the kelp bed. On my first drop, I leveled off at 20 feet and then wondered how I got a kelp leaf on the right side of my mask obscuring my vision. But there was no kelp there, and then I figured out that it was blood filling my mask. I guess I must have broken a blood vessel in my nose with that graceful entry. So I swam back to the boat and pinched my nose until Dave eventually came back and found some toilet paper to pack my right nostril. So much for my dreams of spearfishing glory.
After I sat around a long time to let the blood vessel clot, Kyle came back with reports of seeing fish and then Dam came back and mentioned seeing a 50 pound wsb that disappeared into the bottom murk before he could get a shot. And he also said he passed up a surface shot at a 35 pounder in hopes a bigger one would be following. I decided I had to get back in the water, but I compromised. If I dove and it started bleeding again, I'd be done for the day. But if I just swam around looking for a surface shot, the nose might be OK and then I could see what happened if I dove to retrieve the fish. So I swam all over the bed on the surface. I could see at least 20 feet down and I was just sure I'd see a fish, but no joy.
When I got back to the boat, Dave was already aboard and mentioned that Dam was out in open water in front of the boat, apparently looking for yellowtail. No sooner had he said that when he followed with "he just did a quick dive." I turned around just in time to see Dam pop up with his gun trailing behind him while he was hanging on to his float line being pulled across the surface. Then we saw this big white sea bass just under the surface. The fish was running in circles around Dam right under the surface of the clear blue water, and we could watch the entire fight while he pulled himself up the line until he grabbed the fish. I've never seen anything quite like it. It weighed 52 pounds.
We decided to move to another nearby spot, and the water was just as pretty. I decided that it was late enough in the day to try my nose out at some gentle dives and the toilet paper packing did the job, but I didn't see any fish. The bed seemed dead, so I tried going out in to open water to duplicate Dam's performance. I did find some bait, but nothing else. Dave said he had given up and was heading back to the boat when he made one more dive to about 15 feet and then saw this wsb sitting still behind him, so he brought it back with him. I think it weighed 33 pounds.
I didn't get any fish, but I felt like I was in good company with Kyle, the guy who recently took one of the biggest white sea bass officially recorded. He didn't have a bloody nose, but he had some issues with guns. I'll leave it to him to give you his excuses if he wants to.
It was a beautiful day with beautiful blue water and some very nice guys. I guess I'll settle for that any time. Meanwhile, I'll work on my flexibility and my dismounts.
