Even if it was the wrong species. Yesterday I had one of those trips that almost justifies all the time and money I waste on spearfishing instead of saving it to leave to my kids.
I'd been out six times so far before yesterday, and had not only failed to spear a white sea bass, I hadn't even seen one. It has been generally been very cold and very dirty, but hope springs eternal so I set out with Joel Olenik and Dave Rice. When we arrived at one of our spots, we could hardly believe it. Temp was a balmy 63°F and visibility was at least 25 feet.
Dave jumped in first and almost immediately spotted a white sea bass but couldn't get a shot. Joel and I followed quickly. After my first warmup dive, I spotted a pair of fish going under me at about 20 feet in the opposite direction. I wasn't really ready to dive, but I did anyway. I lost track of them during the dive, but when I leveled off in a haze layer, I could see the rear half of one slowing swimming away. I followed as best I could and it didn't spook, but I couldn't close the gap before needing a breath.
A few dives later, I was hanging in the kelp at about 20 feet and a pair of yellowtail came by. I was really programmed for white sea bass, but had to make a quick decision. If I shot the yellowtail, I might use all my time and energy trying to recover it from the kelp while I could have been hunting WSB, but on the other hand I hadn't even pulled the trigger this year, so I went for it. It didn't take all that much line before I stopped it, but it took enough to get almost to the bottom before it tied up. I looked around for my buddies for backup, but they didn't hear my shouts, so I decided to evaluate the situation and see how much help I needed if any.
After a few dives I got the float line going straight up and down over where the fish was tied up, so I orally inflated my Riffe float and clipped it to the line as deep as I could pull it so as to put upward pressure on. Then I started trying to cut the fish out. Unlike most white sea bass which tend to be pretty much out of gas after tying up, the yellowtail was swimming hard against his tether. I would cut the kelp under where he was wrapped, and if I had someone on the surface, he might have been able to pull the fish up with a ball of kelp from above him. But since there was no one helping, by the time I'd get the surface, the fish would have found some more kelp to wrap the line around. Still, I was making some progress and pulling the float line through the tuna clip on the float. But I was also getting pretty tired and feeling my age, so when I saw Dave nearby, I asked him to come watch me for one last dive and he did. I only had to go to 38 feet that time, and was able to finish pulling the fish up after I surfaced. It was a relief.
On the way to the boat, I passed Joel and he said he had a white sea bass. We got to the boat at the same time, and he pulled a nice 47 pound fish over the side. I had thought my yellowtail might weigh around 20 pounds, but when I got it in the boat it seemed to get bigger. It turned out to weigh 40 pounds, when is very large for the California coast and my personal best by about 5 pounds. They get bigger down in Baja and of course much bigger in New Zealand, but 40 pounds is uncommon here, so I felt better about wasting my WSB hunting time.
After Joel and I took photos with cell phones and cameras, texted photos to everyone in the New York City phone book, weighed, gutted, and iced the fish, we finally got back in the water. After about 20 minutes, I heard Dave say that he had one on, and Joel went over for some underwater photos. After they got back in the boat, the current came up a bit and some of the kelp started going under water. The limit of WSB this time of year is just one, so they were all through unless they lucked into a yellowtail. I could have kept pressing for my own WSB, but decided to quit and get home early for a change. It was a fine day already.
There had been huge river of sardines and mackerel all day, and they got thicker the longer we stayed. While we got out of our wet suits and prepared to pull the anchor, we got a special treat. A huge school of dolphin bunched the bait up near the boat and started blasting it. Bait was flying through the air, dolphin were zooming by in the blue water, and it was a very nice ending to a very nice day.
I'd been out six times so far before yesterday, and had not only failed to spear a white sea bass, I hadn't even seen one. It has been generally been very cold and very dirty, but hope springs eternal so I set out with Joel Olenik and Dave Rice. When we arrived at one of our spots, we could hardly believe it. Temp was a balmy 63°F and visibility was at least 25 feet.
Dave jumped in first and almost immediately spotted a white sea bass but couldn't get a shot. Joel and I followed quickly. After my first warmup dive, I spotted a pair of fish going under me at about 20 feet in the opposite direction. I wasn't really ready to dive, but I did anyway. I lost track of them during the dive, but when I leveled off in a haze layer, I could see the rear half of one slowing swimming away. I followed as best I could and it didn't spook, but I couldn't close the gap before needing a breath.
A few dives later, I was hanging in the kelp at about 20 feet and a pair of yellowtail came by. I was really programmed for white sea bass, but had to make a quick decision. If I shot the yellowtail, I might use all my time and energy trying to recover it from the kelp while I could have been hunting WSB, but on the other hand I hadn't even pulled the trigger this year, so I went for it. It didn't take all that much line before I stopped it, but it took enough to get almost to the bottom before it tied up. I looked around for my buddies for backup, but they didn't hear my shouts, so I decided to evaluate the situation and see how much help I needed if any.
After a few dives I got the float line going straight up and down over where the fish was tied up, so I orally inflated my Riffe float and clipped it to the line as deep as I could pull it so as to put upward pressure on. Then I started trying to cut the fish out. Unlike most white sea bass which tend to be pretty much out of gas after tying up, the yellowtail was swimming hard against his tether. I would cut the kelp under where he was wrapped, and if I had someone on the surface, he might have been able to pull the fish up with a ball of kelp from above him. But since there was no one helping, by the time I'd get the surface, the fish would have found some more kelp to wrap the line around. Still, I was making some progress and pulling the float line through the tuna clip on the float. But I was also getting pretty tired and feeling my age, so when I saw Dave nearby, I asked him to come watch me for one last dive and he did. I only had to go to 38 feet that time, and was able to finish pulling the fish up after I surfaced. It was a relief.
On the way to the boat, I passed Joel and he said he had a white sea bass. We got to the boat at the same time, and he pulled a nice 47 pound fish over the side. I had thought my yellowtail might weigh around 20 pounds, but when I got it in the boat it seemed to get bigger. It turned out to weigh 40 pounds, when is very large for the California coast and my personal best by about 5 pounds. They get bigger down in Baja and of course much bigger in New Zealand, but 40 pounds is uncommon here, so I felt better about wasting my WSB hunting time.
After Joel and I took photos with cell phones and cameras, texted photos to everyone in the New York City phone book, weighed, gutted, and iced the fish, we finally got back in the water. After about 20 minutes, I heard Dave say that he had one on, and Joel went over for some underwater photos. After they got back in the boat, the current came up a bit and some of the kelp started going under water. The limit of WSB this time of year is just one, so they were all through unless they lucked into a yellowtail. I could have kept pressing for my own WSB, but decided to quit and get home early for a change. It was a fine day already.
There had been huge river of sardines and mackerel all day, and they got thicker the longer we stayed. While we got out of our wet suits and prepared to pull the anchor, we got a special treat. A huge school of dolphin bunched the bait up near the boat and started blasting it. Bait was flying through the air, dolphin were zooming by in the blue water, and it was a very nice ending to a very nice day.
Last edited: