Today was my 12th trip this year, and I had not seen a single fish. I guess it makes me feel slightly better than only three fish had been seen by guys on my boat during those trips. That might mean that I don't suck so much as a spearfisherman, but on the other hand it means I suck as a skipper, so its a no-win situation for me.
Since I was desperate and groping for ideas, I thought of inviting Dario
Deli, the Italian who has been visiting in San Diego for the last week. I had heard that on his first California trip, he saw wsb and his host, Dave, got one. He has been 7 times since without another sighting, but I was hoping there was something magic about his first dive with a new guide, so it was worth a try. The other anchor puller was Zach Brines.
So where to go? I had heard of lots of fish being taken in the last few days at two different spots. One involved an early start and rather long boat ride that one of the crew didn't seem up for, and another involved towing the boat quite a long way on the freeway, which I wasn't up for. So the default position was to do the same thing I've been doing, diving the coast, even though it hasn't been working.
At the first spot, I was dropping anchor when I got a cell call giving me another hot tip about one of those places we didn't go. Great!
The vis was decent and the bait was fantastic. Dario saw one that he thought was about the same size as the one I got later, but while trying to get closer for a shot with his pneumatic, it spooked. He was haunted all day about not taking the shot sooner, and he says he'll think about it all night. I know the feeling.
At the next stop I made him use my 57" magnum. I felt bad that I didn't insist in the first place, but I thought he wanted to use his own gear. It didn't matter, because none of us saw any fish.
So at the third stop, we anchored inside the bed, and I swam out around the corner and down the front side. The sardines and mackerel were so thick that I just knew I had to see a fish, but then I've been there before this year. I came back through the bed, and by the time I was at the inside edge, I was feeling cold, disgusted, and like I had seen this film before, so I was about to swim back to the boat. The Zach stuck his head up about 20 yards away and said he had just seen a pair. I thanked him, and decided maybe I should turn back and give it a bit more time.
I think I had made one or two more dives and was breathing up for another one, when this fish came through the thick kelp maybe 5 or 6 feet down and out in front of me about 45 degrees below horizontal. I'm on record as saying surface shots can be tough, but this wasn't one of those. Maybe the only thing that was at all hard was getting the gun pointed at it, since it was moving and would have been out of sight in the kelp in a few seconds. For that, I'm glad I was using my Wong 55" hybrid, which seems to be my money gun. Its easy to swing quickly and easy to aim. I recall thinking, " I don't think even I can miss this one" and I didn't.
At first I thought it might have been close to stoned. I grabbed the float line right behind the swivel and kept it from taking much line, but then it would have bursts of energy and pull me under, and I'd have to give up some line to get a breath. Finally it seemed to be stopped right under me, but by then I was a real mess. There was a very thick mat of kelp on the surface. If I turned loose of my gun, I was afraid I'd never see it again in the thick kelp. I couldn't very well shoulder it and hope to dive in that stuff. So I pulled in all 120 feet of float line and clipped to the rear end where it couldn't get away. But of course then I had all that float line next to me in the thick kelp.
I decided to orally inflate my Carter float and clip it to the float line at the surface to keep on tension while I dove, but the oral inflation tube leaked all the air out. (Does anyone know if that can be fixed?)
About that time, Zach came swimming to the rescue, and asked if I wanted him to take a look at the fish. I said "hell yes" or something like that. So he breathed up for quite a while and managed to get down through that surface canopy, and the next thing I saw was him coming up with my fish outside the edge of the kelp. He said it was tied up at around 45 feet, which is certainly within my capabilities, but I would have had to recover a while before doing it, and I'm not proud. Its good to have young studs willing to give an old fart a hand.
They both dove for a time while I took the fish back to the boat, but I had probably scared everything out of the bed fighting my fish.
We stopped one more time in hopes of getting Dario his fish before he goes back to the UK, but it was not to be. He has a few more days though, and is going out with Dave, so there is hope.
I had fun getting that monkey off my back today. If you read this far, thanks for letting me share my fun with you.
Since I was desperate and groping for ideas, I thought of inviting Dario
Deli, the Italian who has been visiting in San Diego for the last week. I had heard that on his first California trip, he saw wsb and his host, Dave, got one. He has been 7 times since without another sighting, but I was hoping there was something magic about his first dive with a new guide, so it was worth a try. The other anchor puller was Zach Brines.
So where to go? I had heard of lots of fish being taken in the last few days at two different spots. One involved an early start and rather long boat ride that one of the crew didn't seem up for, and another involved towing the boat quite a long way on the freeway, which I wasn't up for. So the default position was to do the same thing I've been doing, diving the coast, even though it hasn't been working.
At the first spot, I was dropping anchor when I got a cell call giving me another hot tip about one of those places we didn't go. Great!
The vis was decent and the bait was fantastic. Dario saw one that he thought was about the same size as the one I got later, but while trying to get closer for a shot with his pneumatic, it spooked. He was haunted all day about not taking the shot sooner, and he says he'll think about it all night. I know the feeling.
At the next stop I made him use my 57" magnum. I felt bad that I didn't insist in the first place, but I thought he wanted to use his own gear. It didn't matter, because none of us saw any fish.
So at the third stop, we anchored inside the bed, and I swam out around the corner and down the front side. The sardines and mackerel were so thick that I just knew I had to see a fish, but then I've been there before this year. I came back through the bed, and by the time I was at the inside edge, I was feeling cold, disgusted, and like I had seen this film before, so I was about to swim back to the boat. The Zach stuck his head up about 20 yards away and said he had just seen a pair. I thanked him, and decided maybe I should turn back and give it a bit more time.
I think I had made one or two more dives and was breathing up for another one, when this fish came through the thick kelp maybe 5 or 6 feet down and out in front of me about 45 degrees below horizontal. I'm on record as saying surface shots can be tough, but this wasn't one of those. Maybe the only thing that was at all hard was getting the gun pointed at it, since it was moving and would have been out of sight in the kelp in a few seconds. For that, I'm glad I was using my Wong 55" hybrid, which seems to be my money gun. Its easy to swing quickly and easy to aim. I recall thinking, " I don't think even I can miss this one" and I didn't.
At first I thought it might have been close to stoned. I grabbed the float line right behind the swivel and kept it from taking much line, but then it would have bursts of energy and pull me under, and I'd have to give up some line to get a breath. Finally it seemed to be stopped right under me, but by then I was a real mess. There was a very thick mat of kelp on the surface. If I turned loose of my gun, I was afraid I'd never see it again in the thick kelp. I couldn't very well shoulder it and hope to dive in that stuff. So I pulled in all 120 feet of float line and clipped to the rear end where it couldn't get away. But of course then I had all that float line next to me in the thick kelp.
I decided to orally inflate my Carter float and clip it to the float line at the surface to keep on tension while I dove, but the oral inflation tube leaked all the air out. (Does anyone know if that can be fixed?)
About that time, Zach came swimming to the rescue, and asked if I wanted him to take a look at the fish. I said "hell yes" or something like that. So he breathed up for quite a while and managed to get down through that surface canopy, and the next thing I saw was him coming up with my fish outside the edge of the kelp. He said it was tied up at around 45 feet, which is certainly within my capabilities, but I would have had to recover a while before doing it, and I'm not proud. Its good to have young studs willing to give an old fart a hand.
They both dove for a time while I took the fish back to the boat, but I had probably scared everything out of the bed fighting my fish.
We stopped one more time in hopes of getting Dario his fish before he goes back to the UK, but it was not to be. He has a few more days though, and is going out with Dave, so there is hope.
I had fun getting that monkey off my back today. If you read this far, thanks for letting me share my fun with you.
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