Spearing Northern California

[AB Diver]

Does anyone go after the rockfish and lingcod in mendocino and humboldt counties? Just curious. Seems like everyone likes so cal for the clear and warmer water.

I was looking at trying for my first lingcod and or rockfish this weekend and any insight/tips would be hugely appreciated.

 

[icarus pacific]

Does anyone? Just everyone I know that lives here! :wave

Where in No Cal are you and I'll hook you with the places.

Try this w/ a So Cal and you'll be sorely disappointed for the lack o' love. :hmm

 

[AB Diver]

Well I live in Eureka (humboldt county) but don't dive locally very often because of the lack of good conditions (ie water clarity, weather, currents, etc.) :waterwork . I have dove punta gorda but didn't like the conditions I would however be entirely open to any areas in Humboldt that are good dives. I dive mostly in Mendocino near the Headlands area and a little around Westport (just north of Fort Bragg).

I appreciate your response and look forward to hearing your suggestions.

P.S. I am 18 and only freedive. I am not real expierenced with diving so please take that into consideration when recomending dangerous or "iffy" areas. I have only dove maybe 15-20 times. I can't dive any more than 20 ft because of my ears and don't have a very long bottom time. ( I am working on all aspects of my diving but it looks grim right now) but ANY help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance, KEN

 

[icarus pacific]

Well you're just North of the areas where the largest abalone in the WORLD happen to reside, so don't despair. There are also more lingcod and red rockfish there too. And you might be surprised to know that the viz in Mendo is often better than down the way in Sonoma County. Smile, you could be looking for parking in Palos Verdes, or La Jolla... :hmm

Mendo-wise, it's pretty nice to have a paddleboard or kayak, as the beaches there are the easist ways of getting out, but are also the most dove out. If you can go out of places like Russian Gulch, or MacKerricher and head up or down to the rocks outside the areas reachable by those poor bastards that just kick, your stringer will be much heavier.

What I'd do first is ask around at the local shop(s) to get the numbers of a local dive club. You can get a lot of info real quick from a club as well as meet some lifelong friends. Give SubSurface Progressions in Ft Bragg a call/ visit and ask Larry or whoever there the same- where's the club, where are the spots and when's the next group trip? They'll have a blackboard there with times, dates and contact peoples. :chatup

So just let your fingers scroll the yellow pages under SCUBA, or diving and call around. And being only 18 with only 15-20 jumps is nothing to be embarrased about. Given the opportunity to be there again, it'd all still be fun. Different, but fun. :blackeye

 

[AB Diver]

Thanks Icarus pacific, I appreciate the advice in finding a local club. That sounds like the best idea for me. (funny in retrospect that is so simple I should have thought of it) But next saturday I am headed back down there for ab diving and I will stop in at subsurface scuba and talk to the guys there. I am proud to say that I got my first 9 in ab last saturday! well to the keen and wishful eye it may have made 9 1/4 but we'll call it 9 for safetys sake.
One thing that I was told to try by a freind of mine was to put a little chum in the water while I'm ab diving and then when I have my abs just go for the fish that have worked their way to the chum. Have you ever tried this and if so does it work or is there anything I should know before I try. or do you just play "hide and go seek" with the fish.

Thanks for the help, Ken

 

[icarus pacific]

I'm not the biggest fan of chumming unless I'm in Florida or some other place where there's no fish. rofl The fish up here are in the holes or out on top sunning themselves and chumming hasn't produced for me as much as it's brought in the seals and then there go ALL the fish. :head

One sure fire way to bring out a cabezone or lingcod and sometimes a vermillion if you're deep enough is to put back an abalone that you've decided is too small or whatever. If the ab isn't bleeding from the stab wound you gave it, or even if it is, there's something about a just replaced ab that drives the cab's nuts. Just put the thing down, let it get it's grip, move off or go back up and then come back quick and if the whole ab isn't gone, there's a cab planning on it within two feet.

And now you know another competitive spearo trick. :ban

 

[AB Diver]

Thanks so much Sven,

That sounds like a wonderful tip to me cuz I am always putting back ab's that are too short because the shrink factor at the surface deems them too small. I just can't get over the size difference at the bottom so it never fails that I always replace at least one or two of them suckers per trip.

Awsome advice I look forward to seeing you in the water someday. (Although we may meet when you are on your way back in because I am sure that you don't mess with less than 20 foot of water :hmm .)

 

[icarus pacific]

No Cal advice 101

No problem.

Actually the idea is to gain enough experience in the water so you're not pulling abs that you don't want. Abalone are remarkably sensitive, like me :hmm and will die if you look at them wrong, so getting this down helps the both of you.

If you want to try the chumming thing, save the trimmings from your next load of abs and freeze them in a baggie and bring 'em out the next time- I pretty much promise that at least the blues and black rockfish will come and say hi and it's fun as well.

And on the less than 20' thing- every, as in EVERY really good diver I know would rather spend all day in 20' than busting their ass in 70'. And truth be told, the biggest abs I've pulled and this goes for those other really good divers too, have been in less than 20'. Working shallow is productive, save and fun. Seems that there is a mindset that makes the wannabe's go waaaay out and deep thinking that nobody has been there. I have. :king

 

[AB Diver]

Thanks Sven,

I didn't mean that to sound like I am always pickin abs that are too small but I have only had one trip so far that I didn't pick an ab that wasn't legal. I am aware that they are VERY delicate and I do treat them with EXTREAME care when pulling them off.

One of my pet peves is that they call it an "abalone pry bar" and that is very misleading to new comers thinking that the abalone are increadibly stong and have to be forcefully taken off the rocks. I like to think of it as a sucktion cup on a window. If you just pull on it it is increadibly hard to remove but if you get an air pocket under it it just falls off. Same as abalone. But I am very careful in how I treat them and like to think that I am as careful as I can be so that I have a very high recovery rate.

I did save the trimmings from the abalone I got last weekend and froze them so I am prepared to try that on saturday. I was hoping to shoot SOMETHING other than perch this weekend. I have recently been diving with newbies so I am going to the easily accesable areas and calm waters so this could be part of my problem. I was just hopeing that the chum idea would give me some sort of an edge on majority of people.

PS how deep do you have to be for blue and black rockfish? I have never seen any of em. Maybe I should swim out to a kelp pad this weekend or something and specifically look for those fish? I am beginning to think that fish don't live in less than 20 ft. of water! (but I wear glasses and don't have perscription lenses in my dive mask so maybe I just need to work harder on spotting them?)

 

[icarus pacific]

Well ,if you're not kicking out to the kelp, that'd be one problem solved, though the kelp at this time of year is less than August-September and so you end up having to go down and give it a looksee. Concentrate on looking for the surge and wash around the rocks that occasionally break the surface and thank me later.

Blues and blacks are midwater fish and will concentrate at the edges and under the kelp canopies and will show up with little or no reason than to see what's up. Letting loose a little chum will let them know soup's on and you'll be surrounded by them after a while. A few of the fatter ones will net you a very tasty meal for you and yours. They're bony, but a slow session over a smoky BBQ will make you da man.

If you're going out of a popular cove, like Manchester, Russian Gulch or the like, and just going out to the middle, you're going to be pretty frustrated for the lack of fish and abs. As before, head to North or South out of the main cove and to the washrocks.

Viz here has been 6-10 feet which is enough to write home about, with the viz getting better with the higher tide which unfortunately is happening in the afternoon when the wind is hitting 25, so hit the beach at 9:00 am after the low, low and have fun.