newport beach, ca area

[aesthetic]

im going out tomorrow. not sure exactly where, probably crystal cove... im going after some sheepshead! mmm. cant WAIT.

ill take pictures and post a report if i come across anything.

 

[aesthetic]

*sharpens paralyzer tips*

such tedious work lol.

 

[bigtapakah]

do any of you guys go during the week? im wanting to get into spear fishing but have no one to go with, and i work on the weekends

 

[sciencemike]

Me and sucinimad went out this morning for some lobsters. We ended up with one that was too small (sucinimad) and one lobster antennae(Me - he is a better lobster hunter). But on another note my Foldspear once again proved handy..... We were coming in when sucinimad spotted a nice tasty rubber lips about 15 inch or so and i got a kill shot on him. No sheephead today, just garabaldi, lobsers and baitfish. Sorry no cameras with us at the park, but here he is about to be breakfast on my counter top. lol

Thanks sucinimad ill go diving with you anytime

 

[aesthetic]

Me and sucinimad went out this morning for some lobsters. We ended up with one that was too small (sucinimad) and one lobster antennae(Me - he is a better lobster hunter). But on another note my Foldspear once again proved handy..... We were coming in when sucinimad spotted a nice tasty rubber lips about 15 inch or so and i got a kill shot on him. No sheephead today, just garabaldi, lobsers and baitfish. Sorry no cameras with us at the park, but here he is about to be breakfast on my counter top. lol

Thanks sucinimad ill go diving with you anytime

great to hear man! i got 2 missed calls this morning from him, but i was out like a light.. in fact i just woke up.

im actually go out around 1 or 2pm though, not 100% sure where yet.. but itll be fun for sure! if youre around and have time to go out again, you should come along or something.

 

[aesthetic]

do any of you guys go during the week? im wanting to get into spear fishing but have no one to go with, and i work on the weekends

well they just went this morning, and im about to go around 1-2pm.. so yeah basically we go during the week alot of times. just keep coming in here and im sure youll pick up on a nice trip. maybe today if youre around.

 

[sucinimad]

Oh man, Mike shot that thing like a pro! Spear went through its head and instantly paralyzed the fish. You definitely got me stoked on spearing, Mike.

Conditions at Crystal Cove was a bit worse today. Water vis was probably ~10ft with a bit of surges. Let us know how you do with your dive, aesthetic.

bigtapaka, I usually try to go out in the morning around 7-7:30am. Next time you want to freedive, let me know. I don't know the first thing about spearing though. sciencemike and aesthetic should be able to help you out with that.

 

[aesthetic]

Oh man, Mike shot that thing like a pro! Spear went through its head and instantly paralyzed the fish. You definitely got me stoked on spearing, Mike.

Conditions at Crystal Cove was a bit worse today. Water vis was probably ~10ft with a bit of surges. Let us know how you do with your dive, aesthetic.

bigtapaka, I usually try to go out in the morning around 7-7:30am. Next time you want to freedive, let me know. I don't know the first thing about spearing though. sciencemike and aesthetic should be able to help you out with that.

yeah im gonna be checking out inspiration point.. its always been a favorite

i just wanted to try to make a custom float/stringer before i went but i dont think that ill have time before. maybe afterwards though.

 

[sciencemike]

i just wanted to try to make a custom float/stringer before i went but i dont think that ill have time before. maybe afterwards though.

I have an old boogie board i was thinking of converting.. Mount a dive flag on the back. Drill an anchor line through the middle? Add in a couple of stringer lines and a lobster net on the back? Do you think that would work? Plus you could ride it in through the rocky areas.

And sucinimid, im gonna bring that Pony bottle/reg down next time for those hard to get bugs.

Everyone- We are gonna try and get out to the deadmans reef (Crystal bay) this saturday morning. Its a small 100 yard swim and should be really good for the lobsters and fish as well. Everyone should come.
Mike

 

[aesthetic]

I have an old boogie board i was thinking of converting.. Mount a dive flag on the back. Drill an anchor line through the middle? Add in a couple of stringer lines and a lobster net on the back? Do you think that would work? Plus you could ride it in through the rocky areas.

And sucinimid, im gonna bring that Pony bottle/reg down next time for those hard to get bugs.

Everyone- We are gonna try and get out to the deadmans reef (Crystal bay) this saturday morning. Its a small 100 yard swim and should be really good for the lobsters and fish as well. Everyone should come.
Mike

thats exactly what i was planning on doing. i couldnt find my oldest bodyboard.. just an old toobs, which is still a pretty nice board so im a bit sketchy on cutting it just yet. and yes, i was planning to mount the flag, and also use the already mounted stringer (upside down) as the anchor/cable.

i thought a cool idea for the storage would be to cut a square out of the middle and either custom fit a small cooler that would drop in, or a mesh bag.. that way it would sit in the water and keep them somewhat fresh. or in the case of the cooler you could just fill it with ocean water and perhaps some ice, to keep the board level on the surface. just a couple ideas im running with. we will see.

i also want to experiment with a spoon setup that would suspend under the board to attract fish

:martial

 

[sciencemike]

thats exactly what i was planning on doing. i couldnt find my oldest bodyboard.. just an old toobs.. . . .

Ha! NO, damn dont waste your toobs (My toobs is creased but i still wouldnt dare cutting it up...) Get a wall mart special or an oldie. My oldie's has been used in the swimming pool for ages so the foam is all flaky. But maybe we should not pollute this thread and just start a new one on dive floats. BTW i dont like fish blood in the water so maybe a hole cut with a plastic liner to keep the fish in.

Also i was thinking of going out on thursday as well. Anyone up for a 7:30 am lobster run/fish spear- we need to do a south facing beach.

Lastly i was wondering if any freedivers out there would want to go to catalina to see if we can do some deep clear dives. Maybe work on our stats. Im very curious to how deep i can safely go, and the dive park in catalina is >100 ft deep with 50 -60 ft of vis. We could do some deep work there in the am, then go spearfishing out of the park. Anyone interested?

 

[sucinimad]

Bah! I don't think i can make it out on Thursday morning. But, I'm wide open tomorrow as well as Friday morning...

This Saturday is a definite Yes. Who else is up for it?

The Catalina trip sounds great. What's the plan? Are we staying over night? Are the dive sites far away from the harbor? Transportations on land? The last time I went there was ~10 years ago and I don't remember anything from that trip .

 

[aesthetic]

so i didnt hit anything today. i was only in the water about an hour because the surge picked up quite a bit and really made maneuvering the rocks much more challenging. saw plenty if perch and garibaldi as usual. came up on a NICE calico (fat sucker) but the second i noticed him and slowly turned he darted away..

only other things i saw were leopard sharks, a couple of really nice size. ive read a thread or two that leopards taste like salmon if you bleed them and everything.. but i know alot of people consider shooting them to be wrong. what is everyone's thoughts on it? for awhile ive been researching it and seeing different opinions.

 

[sciencemike]

so i didnt hit anything today. i was only in the water about an hour because the surge picked up quite a bit and really made maneuvering the rocks much more challenging. saw plenty if perch and garibaldi as usual. came up on a NICE calico (fat sucker) but the second i noticed him and slowly turned he darted away..

Yeah they are spooky little fish arent they... I have only shot one big one and that was a month ago. For some reason it just kept hanging around us.

. . . . leopards taste like salmon if you bleed them and everything.. but i know alot of people consider shooting them to be wrong. what is everyone's thoughts on it? for awhile ive been researching it and seeing different opinions.

Anyways i have no opinion on the leopard sharks. They are listed in my F&G book as edible, so are those shovelnose. I know killing sharks is kind of sacred to all of us... ironic isnt it.. And they always make my dive when i see one. Maybe take it if you can subdue it with your bare hands or knife it. If you want ill bring my camera and film it. Eh but maybe pass on shooting them they are pretty cool and none of us are starving. Fight the desperation (1:55 am at a bar urge) to come back with something/anything. Its always depressing to go out and come back without even stretching your rubber (band).

Anyways How is friday for everyone? I want to do the same dive as monday on friday? A couple of scuba friends might join us, and i might have that dive float ready. Get ready for some lobstering!!!

As for the actual freediving in Catalina, I would like to go out on the early am shuttle ~6am or so and take the 955 one back. Maybe do a early night dive in the dive park as well? Well anyways i can go next weekend? Ill get some markers on my dive float buoy so we can tell distances. Im trying to talk a couple of my Scuba buddies into going along to be Safety divers as well. Has anyone in our area taken a professional class before or are we all just going off of books/forums/personal experience? I know Dam and i are trained in CPR and i am familiar with SAMBAS and SWB; but in reality i doubt any of us can make it further than 25 meters down anyways.

 

[sucinimad]

Mike, Friday morning sounds great! Is anyone else up for it? aesthetic? bigtapakah?
7:30 Crystal Cove, Reef Point.
How's your float coming, Mike?

 

[cheezwedge]

Has anyone dived deer creek near Oxnard?

 

[sciencemike]

I have never dove that far north. Sorry how is it up there?


So me and Dam went out today with two scuba guys. We went out to crystal bay state park. How was it....

15-20 mph winds
4 foot swells
10 foot of visibility
6-8 foot of surge
and whitecaps on the swells

I was seasick in 10 minutes of being out there. I headed back into shore thank god. I only went down 6 dives in about 20 foot of water. It was so much nicer to be under the water and not on it. But the scuba guys were really getting beaten around down there. Dam stayed out for 40 minutes or so. He was a real trouper. Good job. Needless to say we got not lobsters. But there are nice schools of spotted croakers. To bad i left right as they showed up

I dont think with these conditions ill be going out tomorrow to deadmans reef.

Also we have a final date for CATALINA

It looks like 4 scuba guys and 4 snorkelers and 2 freedivers will be going out to catalina NEXT sunday the 12th of october. The plan is to do 2x1.5 hour dives or one long freedive (3 hours) in the park. Set the anchor at about 60 -90 feet . Seeing how far we can go and getting used to the depths and the nice 50-60 foot of vis. We can all grab lunch.. Later we will go outside of the marine reserve park to do more snorkeling/diving/hunting/bugpicking for a bunch more hours. Im gonna bring my freediving gear for the morning and my hunting/scuba gear for the afternoon. Everyone is welcome. Take the early shuttle out there and the 7-9 shuttle back. pm me or DAM (sucinimad) for more info.

 

[Doug Gausepohl]

That's too bad... better luck next time, thanks for posting.

 

[sucinimad]

Well, stupid lobsters haunt my dreams at night so I went out again today.

Crystal Cove, 8AM, hardly any wind, surface conditions was good. Visibility was horrendous. I couldn't see more than 4-5ft. The water also felt much colder at ~15ft down. I guess the poor conditions encouraged the bugs to venture out more. I caught a few shorties and managed one keeper.

The lobsters traps were all filled with 3-8 bugs each. I'm afraid that pretty soon, there won't be any keepers left.

 

[aesthetic]

Well, stupid lobsters haunt my dreams at night so I went out again today.

Crystal Cove, 8AM, hardly any wind, surface conditions was good. Visibility was horrendous. I couldn't see more than 4-5ft. The water also felt much colder at ~15ft down. I guess the poor conditions encouraged the bugs to venture out more. I caught a few shorties and managed one keeper.

The lobsters traps were all filled with 3-8 bugs each. I'm afraid that pretty soon, there won't be any keepers left.

nice catch! im jealous! i havent come across ONE this season yet lol... but hopefully soon we can make it out and ill get a few before they are all fished out. maybe this upcoming saturday, because i start a new job this week and i have to be there everyday at 8am, so by saturday i might have no trouble waking up at that time to go out.

ill let ya know sometime later in the week if the plan is working or not rofl