Spearfishing Spots / Depth in Mendocino

[chulho]

Hello DB-

First posting here- but have been reading postings for months.

My buddies and I are decent Abalone divers but new to Spearfishing. We usually dive in Sonoma, but we're trying out Mendocino this weekend.

We're thinking of renting a kayak and finding some remote locations for abs and game fish...

so my questions:

1- is van damn the only area you can launch kayak? is it the best place?
2- what's a good dept to dive to get rock fish?
3- i know mussels are off limits during summer, but how about sea urchins?
4- anybody seen large sea urchins in mendocino? where? (i know not many people go after these things...so maybe share location?)
5- what general areas do you recommend for game fish?

Thanks!

 

[BatRay]

Wish I was a Northern California diver so I could advise you. At any rate, welcome to the forums and I'm glad you've jumped in

 

[Sonny B]

Chulho,
What part of Ft Brag will you be near?
-Caspar
-Russian River
-Albion
-Nojo Harbor
All have easy kayak launching, some you have to pay to park though.

On spearing,
Rockfish can be found at every dive site above.
Right now on the coast the kelp is very thick and during low tide can be down right nasty. So please take care.
Paddle out to a spot of kelp and look for holes.
These holes in the thickets are usually a high spot where the kelp gets pushed away by the surge. These are the areas you will find rockfish and perch.
Once you find rockfish, you can hole hunt and see if there are any lings about, since they feed on rockfish.
You may need to look at several holes in the kelp patches before you find one that holds the school of RF, but once you do, its pretty easy pickens from there.
Most blues and blacks stay towards the top in ~15-50’ of water.
On clear days you can see them from the surface.
Good luck and dive safe.
Tino

 

[chulho]

Hey thanks for the replies!

I'll be staying near Russian Gulch/Van damn. The places you mention- I've never heard of them- and I thought Russian River was in Sonoma! I need to study some maps.........

Thanks for the tips! This was EXACTLY what I wanted to know.

And for the warning- heard that one diver drowned recently from kelp.

-Chulho

What part of Ft Brag will you be near?
-Caspar
-Russian River
-Albion
-Nojo Harbor
All have easy kayak launching, some you have to pay to park though.

On spearing,
Rockfish can be found at every dive site above.
Right now on the coast the kelp is very thick and during low tide can be down right nasty. So please take care.
Paddle out to a spot of kelp and look for holes.
These holes in the thickets are usually a high spot where the kelp gets pushed away by the surge. These are the areas you will find rockfish and perch.
Once you find rockfish, you can hole hunt and see if there are any lings about, since they feed on rockfish.
You may need to look at several holes in the kelp patches before you find one that holds the school of RF, but once you do, its pretty easy pickens from there.
Most blues and blacks stay towards the top in ~15-50’ of water.
On clear days you can see them from the surface.
Good luck and dive safe.
Tino

 

[Sonny B]

I ment Russian Gulch, oops.

 

[liberte]

good luck with the kayak diving, it seems like an interesting platform to dive from. i just got an inflatable for my sailboat and plan to use it to get to some more remote spots on the coast. it deflates and inflate pretty easily and has wooden slat floorboards, i'm psyched.
i couldn't find too much info on urchins, it doesn't seem that there is a bag limit on them and i have definately seem some big ones up there. is it better to eat big ones or little ones? i have seen them on pretty much every dive in sonoma so would think they were everywhere in mendo too.

good luck

 

[cmburch]

google ca dfg urchins 35 per day

 

[chulho]

urchins- bigger the better, but doesn't necessarily mean that bigger will produce the most "roe" (what you eat is not really egg, but the gonads that produce the eggs).

ocean kayaking went well! we launched at van damn and went out about a few hundred yards and found a "hole" in kelp bed (thanks sonny b!). got all 9's abs here, and speared bunch of greelings. saw lots of urchins, but we were all busy diving for fish.

so different from sonoma- i'm not sure if it was just conditions that day, but aside from 15-20 feet visibility, and very protected even far far out, just the water color (bluish), the kelp, rock formations- beautiful. we dove in the morning and afternoon for total of 5 hours- came back exhausted. but kayak helped a lot- gave us peace of mind, good resting/warming place, and just a whole lot faster getting back.

rented kayak for $30 single, $40 for tandum at subprogression dive shop (the only place in mendocino that rent kayaks for the ocean- others just do tours).

totally worth getting kayaks.

good luck with your inflatable!

 

[cmburch]

My first sit on top was about $450 demo unit with seat and paddle from Half Moon Bay Kayaks. I got a regular kayak with rudder $400 from craigslist. Check craigslist for kayaks.