-
Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
- Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
- Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
- Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
- Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
- All this and much more...
You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
Blue Water Hunting???
- Thread starterrstyh00k
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Okay, I have you at North Hollywood and you seem to have a boat. So you're probably diving the channel island maybe Catalina. Do you like mornings or afternoons?
A rule of thumb is that if you can hunt calico bass then you probably have the skills to shoot a pelagic. Equipping yourself is another thing. A reel or a breakaway floating line is a must because even a small yellow or white can take you for a ride when you're new.
Try to shoot a yellow along the lateral line near the face. A white is a softer flesh and requires a bit of skill. Try not to gut shoot either as it will most likely end up in a dead fish swimming. Down shots are good as the lateral line is not helping the fish sense your presence.
Mornings go to the east end (east of Avalon) and anchor if you can staying on the front of the island. Watch the current as it can rip there depending on the tides. The bluewater fish like yellowtail and white seabass work the smaller baitfish. The baitfish need sanchuary near the kelp or structure. Yellows normally come up from the east to the island and there is a long sandbar that runs very deep here off the end of the island. Get in the water and greet them staying on the outside edge of the kelp along the rock pile or if you drift out onto the deep sand bar then just hang around 30 feet down. Watch the little black fish that look like small angels carefully. They are very alert. It's late in the season and you should have some nice hunting for smaller yellows or white sea bass.
If you see a fish don't chase it. Just try to SLOWLY MOVE INTO A SHOOTING POSITION. This applies 10 fold in the case of white sea bass. Imagine yourself walking down the street and a pack of doberman pincers come along. That is probably how the fish feel. Posture is everything in the case of pelagic fish. Fish are curious and will see you out if you don't scare them.
Spend about an hour or so there and if you don't see something then jump to another spot on the front of the island. The dump at Catalina just east of Avalon has tradtionally been a good producer at night/evening. Between the two you can work all morning long.
Ship Rock is another tradional favorite. I've only had luck there on late evening dives.
If you get a fish then you must work it into your arms and kill it by sticking a knife or stringer into its brain. Form a mental triangle between its eyes moving toward the tail and insert the tip there deep and wiggle it. Let a little of that cold California water in and you will have your first of many. Don't stab yourself while doing this with out asking my permission first.
Should you have the good fortune to get into a school, the rules change. Pick one and only one. Don't be distracted by the others. Leave picking the largest for another more experiance day.
Have a great time!
It's a very addictive sport.
I forgot this. Join a group of hunters. The price of admission is small. The ego's are huge and you may have the benefit of seeing how many different underwater hunters fish. I made the wise decision to join the Neptunes many years ago and found my mentors and learned so much that 30 years later I still look back on what I learned to and NOT to do.
Thank you Jimmy D, Dick Bonin, Dwayne Smith, Dale Cote (RIP), even Sid the Squid.
DB is a great addition too.
A rule of thumb is that if you can hunt calico bass then you probably have the skills to shoot a pelagic. Equipping yourself is another thing. A reel or a breakaway floating line is a must because even a small yellow or white can take you for a ride when you're new.
Try to shoot a yellow along the lateral line near the face. A white is a softer flesh and requires a bit of skill. Try not to gut shoot either as it will most likely end up in a dead fish swimming. Down shots are good as the lateral line is not helping the fish sense your presence.
Mornings go to the east end (east of Avalon) and anchor if you can staying on the front of the island. Watch the current as it can rip there depending on the tides. The bluewater fish like yellowtail and white seabass work the smaller baitfish. The baitfish need sanchuary near the kelp or structure. Yellows normally come up from the east to the island and there is a long sandbar that runs very deep here off the end of the island. Get in the water and greet them staying on the outside edge of the kelp along the rock pile or if you drift out onto the deep sand bar then just hang around 30 feet down. Watch the little black fish that look like small angels carefully. They are very alert. It's late in the season and you should have some nice hunting for smaller yellows or white sea bass.
If you see a fish don't chase it. Just try to SLOWLY MOVE INTO A SHOOTING POSITION. This applies 10 fold in the case of white sea bass. Imagine yourself walking down the street and a pack of doberman pincers come along. That is probably how the fish feel. Posture is everything in the case of pelagic fish. Fish are curious and will see you out if you don't scare them.
Spend about an hour or so there and if you don't see something then jump to another spot on the front of the island. The dump at Catalina just east of Avalon has tradtionally been a good producer at night/evening. Between the two you can work all morning long.
Ship Rock is another tradional favorite. I've only had luck there on late evening dives.
If you get a fish then you must work it into your arms and kill it by sticking a knife or stringer into its brain. Form a mental triangle between its eyes moving toward the tail and insert the tip there deep and wiggle it. Let a little of that cold California water in and you will have your first of many. Don't stab yourself while doing this with out asking my permission first.
Should you have the good fortune to get into a school, the rules change. Pick one and only one. Don't be distracted by the others. Leave picking the largest for another more experiance day.
Have a great time!
It's a very addictive sport.
I forgot this. Join a group of hunters. The price of admission is small. The ego's are huge and you may have the benefit of seeing how many different underwater hunters fish. I made the wise decision to join the Neptunes many years ago and found my mentors and learned so much that 30 years later I still look back on what I learned to and NOT to do.
Thank you Jimmy D, Dick Bonin, Dwayne Smith, Dale Cote (RIP), even Sid the Squid.
DB is a great addition too.
Last edited:
Wow thanks for the advice, and im great with calicos, cause well at 15 i started using a polespear for a year, and im 16 now and i have a riffe gun, but im still confused about many things, how can i improve my breath hold at home ( i have no pool) running or idk, i can only go down 30 feet and sadly stay for only 15-20sec. And also, i don't have a reel, im planning to get one, and i isntead use a boat bumber as a bouy, which connects onto a rope about 40-50feet and then to my gun is that a good set up for yellows? or whites?
Hey Rusty,
Glad to have you hunting underwater. I think your set-up might be in for a small change. Why don't you try this set up. Tie off your bumper/float line to the back of your weightbelt. Then take your bumper float itself and tie it to a much shorter piece of line with one of those stainless steel spring clips that snap on to line. You may be able to find them at a commercial fishing store or at a dive shop. The idea being that you can adjust how far away your float will be away from you. Snap the clip about 15 feet away and dive down and hang on the float. Just hang there. Make sure your weighted properly (slightly negative) so that you don't have to move while your hanging around. The idea is that this will allow you to remain mostly motionless while waiting for a pelagic to come around.
With this set up you can always jettison your weight belt and yet not lose control of it. If your diving 30 feet another day you can just move your clip and hang at 30.
Rig your gun differently. Put a seperate line with about 75 feet of floating line which could be anything from ski rope line to plastic tubing sealed on the ends and tied to a float in what is called a break away set up. That is a short line tied to the spear side of your shooting line with a bungee tied to it. It should allow the gun shooting line to do it's own thing and follow the shaft when fired but instead of being tied to your gun, the bungee from your short line will stretch and pull out of a hole or metal eye on your gun seperating your shaft and gun completely, hence the break away. The short line is tied to your shooting line is also tied to your fish fighting line and float. Imagine three lines joined together at one junction. One is your shaft and shooting line, one is your short bungee line made from polespear rubber and the third is your fighting line of 75 feet with a float. When you shoot your fish, it pulls your shaft and line free of the gun and is tied to another float. You put one arm through your speargun rubbers and fight your fish with 75 feet of line tied off to your spear float. Your gun will stay with you, and you can handle your fish. Try to keep it out of the kelp if possible. That will depend on your shot and who is in control, you or Mr. Fishy.
I'm sure there are hundreds of different opinions on what I'm going to say next but it is my belief that most of our ability to dive deeper and stay down longer comes from relaxation or lack thereof. So by rigging a float to hang underwater from you have eliminated waisted energy maintaining a position underwater. With the rope tied to your weightbelt you can just literally sit and wait for a visitor, kind of like deer hunting in a tree. Work out side of the kelp but try to maintain eye contact.
I think that your ability to relax will improve with this set-up and over time in the water. Another side benefit is that you can be seen with your float on the surface by all of the crazy boaters around Catalina.
I'm sure you've noticed (even with Calico's) that fish are curious. Use this to your advantage and put one on the dinner plate.
Dive safely and enjoy. Your bottom time and depth will take care of itself. I also would encourage you to find a buddy with some experiance. Theirs will be different experiance than mine. Neptunes, Fathomiers are all local So. Cal clubs. The more divers you see in action the faster you will learn.
By the way the little damsel like fish to watch are called blacksmith. I was having a brain snooze at the time.
Glad to have you hunting underwater. I think your set-up might be in for a small change. Why don't you try this set up. Tie off your bumper/float line to the back of your weightbelt. Then take your bumper float itself and tie it to a much shorter piece of line with one of those stainless steel spring clips that snap on to line. You may be able to find them at a commercial fishing store or at a dive shop. The idea being that you can adjust how far away your float will be away from you. Snap the clip about 15 feet away and dive down and hang on the float. Just hang there. Make sure your weighted properly (slightly negative) so that you don't have to move while your hanging around. The idea is that this will allow you to remain mostly motionless while waiting for a pelagic to come around.
With this set up you can always jettison your weight belt and yet not lose control of it. If your diving 30 feet another day you can just move your clip and hang at 30.
Rig your gun differently. Put a seperate line with about 75 feet of floating line which could be anything from ski rope line to plastic tubing sealed on the ends and tied to a float in what is called a break away set up. That is a short line tied to the spear side of your shooting line with a bungee tied to it. It should allow the gun shooting line to do it's own thing and follow the shaft when fired but instead of being tied to your gun, the bungee from your short line will stretch and pull out of a hole or metal eye on your gun seperating your shaft and gun completely, hence the break away. The short line is tied to your shooting line is also tied to your fish fighting line and float. Imagine three lines joined together at one junction. One is your shaft and shooting line, one is your short bungee line made from polespear rubber and the third is your fighting line of 75 feet with a float. When you shoot your fish, it pulls your shaft and line free of the gun and is tied to another float. You put one arm through your speargun rubbers and fight your fish with 75 feet of line tied off to your spear float. Your gun will stay with you, and you can handle your fish. Try to keep it out of the kelp if possible. That will depend on your shot and who is in control, you or Mr. Fishy.
I'm sure there are hundreds of different opinions on what I'm going to say next but it is my belief that most of our ability to dive deeper and stay down longer comes from relaxation or lack thereof. So by rigging a float to hang underwater from you have eliminated waisted energy maintaining a position underwater. With the rope tied to your weightbelt you can just literally sit and wait for a visitor, kind of like deer hunting in a tree. Work out side of the kelp but try to maintain eye contact.
I think that your ability to relax will improve with this set-up and over time in the water. Another side benefit is that you can be seen with your float on the surface by all of the crazy boaters around Catalina.
I'm sure you've noticed (even with Calico's) that fish are curious. Use this to your advantage and put one on the dinner plate.
Dive safely and enjoy. Your bottom time and depth will take care of itself. I also would encourage you to find a buddy with some experiance. Theirs will be different experiance than mine. Neptunes, Fathomiers are all local So. Cal clubs. The more divers you see in action the faster you will learn.
By the way the little damsel like fish to watch are called blacksmith. I was having a brain snooze at the time.
Last edited:
Hi Rusty , Here in CA are best time for BWH is JULY -Sep
Im no expert but i think I can offer a little Help , its been a year and 3 months since I shot My Last Tuna:rcard this year was the worst BW year ever in SO Cal
Here in So-Cal there's a small group of divers that shoot small football size tuna off the Dolphin, to be able to do this you need a fast Boat and good crew or a Ski , and most important Pay attention to the Birds/Turns and Dolphin ,
the dolphin=
they will tell you if there feeding with tuna= IE if there following your boat and want to play in your wake Dont Waste your time , But if there keeping to them self and doing Belly flops theres a GOOD chance there feeding with Tuna
The Turns = Little white birds that make Jerky turns
they will tell you the depth of the Bait and tuna so if there 30 ft in the air the tuna will be 30ft down
it takes getting used to but you want to be at least 200yrds in front of the dolphin , you have hold on tight as you sit on the back of the boat going 10knts :blackeye as soon as you captian says" Clear Dive DIVE DIVE"
dive down as fast as you can dont worry about being fluid , just get down
it takes a while to get used to it , its hard to hold your Breath after you just jumped off a moving boat , pushing past the wake and trying not to swallow water
Good luck ,,, Sorry i dont have spell check:t ,, ill add some more on Spearing off the Paddys later be safe......Joe
Im no expert but i think I can offer a little Help , its been a year and 3 months since I shot My Last Tuna:rcard this year was the worst BW year ever in SO Cal
Here in So-Cal there's a small group of divers that shoot small football size tuna off the Dolphin, to be able to do this you need a fast Boat and good crew or a Ski , and most important Pay attention to the Birds/Turns and Dolphin ,
the dolphin=
they will tell you if there feeding with tuna= IE if there following your boat and want to play in your wake Dont Waste your time , But if there keeping to them self and doing Belly flops theres a GOOD chance there feeding with Tuna
The Turns = Little white birds that make Jerky turns
they will tell you the depth of the Bait and tuna so if there 30 ft in the air the tuna will be 30ft down
it takes getting used to but you want to be at least 200yrds in front of the dolphin , you have hold on tight as you sit on the back of the boat going 10knts :blackeye as soon as you captian says" Clear Dive DIVE DIVE"
dive down as fast as you can dont worry about being fluid , just get down
it takes a while to get used to it , its hard to hold your Breath after you just jumped off a moving boat , pushing past the wake and trying not to swallow water
Good luck ,,, Sorry i dont have spell check:t ,, ill add some more on Spearing off the Paddys later be safe......Joe
Last edited:
Rusty,
I think we are seeing different definitions of Blue Water Hunting here. What Joe Acevedo was referring to was what I call true blue water hunting- out in open water, probably over a thousand feet deep, and probably out of sight of land. Trying to get in front of schools of dolphin to shoot tuna is truly specialized stuff, but your post inquired about yellowtail and white sea bass.
No matter if the water is clear blue, I don't consider that I'm blue water hunting when I'm next to the island or mainland hunting white sea bass and yellowtail. That is far different from what Joe described, and generally doesn't require the same gear.
For instance, in what Joe was talking about, most guys would want a big float on the end of a float line rigged for breakaway. But diving in a kelp bed for white sea bass, and float other than a very small one that just serves as something to grab when all the line has been pulled through your hand would be constantly hung up in the kelp and make it almost impossible to dive.
I just thought I'd interject this here since people have widely different ideas about what constitutes blue water hunting, and it can cause misunderstandings.
I think we are seeing different definitions of Blue Water Hunting here. What Joe Acevedo was referring to was what I call true blue water hunting- out in open water, probably over a thousand feet deep, and probably out of sight of land. Trying to get in front of schools of dolphin to shoot tuna is truly specialized stuff, but your post inquired about yellowtail and white sea bass.
No matter if the water is clear blue, I don't consider that I'm blue water hunting when I'm next to the island or mainland hunting white sea bass and yellowtail. That is far different from what Joe described, and generally doesn't require the same gear.
For instance, in what Joe was talking about, most guys would want a big float on the end of a float line rigged for breakaway. But diving in a kelp bed for white sea bass, and float other than a very small one that just serves as something to grab when all the line has been pulled through your hand would be constantly hung up in the kelp and make it almost impossible to dive.
I just thought I'd interject this here since people have widely different ideas about what constitutes blue water hunting, and it can cause misunderstandings.
Attachments
Yes, I'm the one who suffered the round window rupture in one ear and went permanently deaf, then ignored doctor's orders to refrain from diving again. That was in 1992. I'm still deaf in that ear, and still diving. The other ear is OK so far.
I think stupid is more appropriate than brave in this case. I did obey doctor's orders and stay out of the water for 5 years, but then I just couldn't take it any more. I had been diving since about 1952, and it was too late to learn golf or bridge. I promised my wife I wouldn't dive deep and would never force equalization, and I guess she decided it was worth the risk if it made me easier to live with.
As far as fame goes- when Terry asked me if he could use my story in the ear problems part of the book, I told him that I would really prefer that he mentioned me because of my phenomenal deep dives and my record fish, but he said the book was not a work of fiction.
Last edited:
That last part gave me a good laugh Bill,:friday. He did give you a free book right ? Once I saw how well the book was received I was sorry I never contributed in any way except for the film project.
Cheers, Don