The story starts a few months ago when I was told from my boss to go and present my work to a conference in San Francisco. It took me 2 seconds to connect San Francisco to California and California to spearfishing. After a little internet search and after bothering a few locals (Steve Veros, Metelin, and many others found on spearboard.com) I find out that April is a good month to hunt white seabass, a fish very similar to the corvina people fish in south of spain and marocco. A beautiful animal that quickly takes all my attention...I want one! I don't really know what to do when I get there and I barely know that they hunt this fish in giant thick kelp bed sneaking between the stalks trying to surprise these fish. I know there are sharks and I know the water can be dirty and this is it. I don't plan anything, I just book a car and buy a flight ticket which will take me to San Francisco and back to UK from San Diego. I only know that I'll drive down from San Francisco to San deigo, meet people and spear. What can I ask more?
I dream about these trip for months and pictured how it would be. If I have to be totally honest, before leaving UK I felt pretty confident of my skills and thought it wouldn't have been hard at all to catch these white seabass. Nothing could have been more wrong. I get to SF and start to get in contact with the locals living all over the state. I met Steve and he is an awesome dude and so all the rest of the california spearos. It's a beautiful country with beautiful people, I'd say as great as the Gibraltar crew!
So after finished my job in San Francisco I get a car and drove down to Monterey where my intention is to have my first dive for lingcod. The weather is miserable and the waves are big. It doesn't look right for a first dive after all the stories of sharks and being all on my own. So I leave Monterey and get to Santa Barbara where Iaon is waiting for me. 2 days in SB and again no fishing. It seems like I brought the storm from the UK and other big waves and brown water are in SB. I drive down and stop around Los Angeles, John is there showing me some spots. He cannot dive so I have to go and have my first dive myself. I'll do it. I get my gear and head to the beach. The waves look so much bigger when you stand in front and wait to get inside. There are surfers, they are pretty confident in that mess. I try a couple of times but the waves hit me on the rocks hard. I'm afraid I have to give up also this time. 4 days gone and no diving. I start to get depressed. All these months dreaming what?
5th day I meet Dave, great california diver, and finally I get wet. Oh man, that kelp bed is scary. It's a bloody jungle and you are like a wild native sneaking along those trees in the darkness. It takes me a while to relax and the bottom is at 30 mt and it's just all dark. After 4 hours no fish seen. Then suddenly a school of maybe 20 fish all around 15 kilos passes in front of me. I aim to the closer one with my stealth previously set with a slip-tip and boom. The reaction is violent. The fish takes a lot of line and start to entangle the shooting line and the reel line all around the kelp and disappear in the darkness. We gotta be quick as in the area lately 7 gills sharks tend to attack the fish while the spearos try to detangle the line and the fsih from the kelp. I call my buddies and they quickly arrive to help. The kelp is all around me and I can barely move, sure I cannot dive in this mess and I kind of panic. They arrive and we first make some space in the surface to allow us the dive and start diving to recover the fish. It's not easy as every time you dive your legs get all wrapped up by the kelp. After a few dives each none of us spot the fish. Down there is dark and the fish entangled deep. We start to cut the kelp and finally we bring to the surface a big ball of it. There is not fish and I cannot find the shaft. Finally and unfortunately I find it at the end but the slip tip is still attached to the shaft. What a bummer, the slip tip didn't deploy and despite a perfect shot the fish got free. To make it worse, the spear is totally bent and I'm depressed.
On the good side the wheather is nice and I can go fishing. For the next 6 days I barrow guns from local guys and I meet so many beautiful people (Joe, John, Damian, Ephraim, Tommy, Maurizio etc etc etc...the list is soooooo long). Joe is the best though, he put me in contact with many other spearos, all very experienced and he is just great. I get to use these monster guns with middle handle, 3-4 bands and 8-9mm shafts. 6 days in a row and no fish seen. I start to get headaches as in this kind of fishing you need to dive down to 5-7 mt and swim orizontally going from stalk to stalk and wait. In this way your neck is all the time in this awkward position and this meant for me continuous migraine. This white seabass hunting is hard as when you fish in these kelp bed you either catch a beautiful fish or nothing so you can spend so many days going out and just dive in the darkness and see and catch nothing. I'm determined, I want to catch one and I don't give up even though the days are running out.
6 days no sights but on the next day I'm in the water. This time I'm with Bill. For so many hours I fish with this 65 inches Daryl Wong and no fish, then I switch to my stealth although I only have a shaft with a single flopper as my slip-tip is gone on the fist fish and although the vis today is quite good. At one dive I'm down to probably 6 mt and swim to reach the next stalk. I look to my left towards the surface and at limit of the vis I see something. What's that? It's a weird thing. I turned and slowly swim towards it. The closer I get the more the figure seems like a big tail. It's a big tail and I see half body of a huge white seabass sleeping inside the kelp. I swim slowly and get in range to shoot. I know I have single flopper and I want to shoot the fish on a good spot so I don't risk to lose it. I slowly move to see the head and boom....I know you think this was a gun shot but unfortunately it was just the fish that took off and left me there as a miserable asshole. I knew my chance was gone and I kept fishing with no other luck.
The next night was terrible, I was tired of almost 10 days fishing everyday, with headache and regret. I was waking up every now and then seeing the big bloody tail sticking out from the kelp but nevertheless on the next morning I was ready to go.
I get in the water again with the daryl wong 64 inches and no fish seen for almost 5 hours. I'm close to call it a day but after an hour bouncing on the waves with Dave's little inflattable we arrive on the last spot. The water today is murky so I decide to go again with my stealth, moreover I seem to see fish only with this gun so I test if this is true. I'm kind of hopeless, I keep diving but I don't expect much. The water is green and I'm on my umpteenth dive of the day. I'm just under the shadow of a stalk, I just got there from the previous one and I'm waiting. I look up and down and right and...fuck! On my left there a massive dark figure. I can see its eyes and it is looking around, probably looking for me. It's finally a big white seabass and it's close. The insitict take the upper hand and boom. This time is my stealth. I get the fish right behind the gills. The shot is perfect but I don't want to lose this one or I'm gonna give it up. I hold the line tight as I want the fish to entangle shallow. I get to the surface and I call Dave. He already heard the shot and I scream to shoot the fish again as I don't trust the single flopper. The fish is still there and pull hard and so do I. Dave is quick and in a few seconds he is down, shoots the fish and comes back up saying "DArio, it's big!!!!!!". This Stealth has some special powers huh!?!?
This is the end of the story, The fish weighed 25 kilos more or less and made me a very happy italian. It was all worth it. The insomnia at night, the fish lost, the fish no shot, the days out with no sighting. It was all worth it.
It seems it all happened for a reason. Today a big storm probably mark the end of my wsb hunting even though I'll be here for a couple of days more. Last night I slept as a baby and I kept seeing the scene just before the shot. It was so cool! Today I took it easy, slept long, eat well and watch the plam trees under the heavy rain.
I think it's a beautiful story and really summarize what speafishing is. It's hard and you have to be determined to achieve what you want and never giving up.
The best side of the story is although the fact that all the spearos I met on my trip were really happy to take me out and put me on fish. They were all hoping for me getting this wsb and just after 15 min from my catch the news went all around and I started to received phone calls and text messages from all over california. My phone was litterally frying, I never never never received so many phone calls! Everybody was happy and was congratulating me for the catch. All california spearos were supporting me and spearfishing is a great activity.
Last picture is with Dave, the guy I caught the fish with. I was happy as a king and so tired I could barely lift the fish and he was so happy too!
Some people have a lot to learn from most of the guys I met in this trip.
I dream about these trip for months and pictured how it would be. If I have to be totally honest, before leaving UK I felt pretty confident of my skills and thought it wouldn't have been hard at all to catch these white seabass. Nothing could have been more wrong. I get to SF and start to get in contact with the locals living all over the state. I met Steve and he is an awesome dude and so all the rest of the california spearos. It's a beautiful country with beautiful people, I'd say as great as the Gibraltar crew!
So after finished my job in San Francisco I get a car and drove down to Monterey where my intention is to have my first dive for lingcod. The weather is miserable and the waves are big. It doesn't look right for a first dive after all the stories of sharks and being all on my own. So I leave Monterey and get to Santa Barbara where Iaon is waiting for me. 2 days in SB and again no fishing. It seems like I brought the storm from the UK and other big waves and brown water are in SB. I drive down and stop around Los Angeles, John is there showing me some spots. He cannot dive so I have to go and have my first dive myself. I'll do it. I get my gear and head to the beach. The waves look so much bigger when you stand in front and wait to get inside. There are surfers, they are pretty confident in that mess. I try a couple of times but the waves hit me on the rocks hard. I'm afraid I have to give up also this time. 4 days gone and no diving. I start to get depressed. All these months dreaming what?
5th day I meet Dave, great california diver, and finally I get wet. Oh man, that kelp bed is scary. It's a bloody jungle and you are like a wild native sneaking along those trees in the darkness. It takes me a while to relax and the bottom is at 30 mt and it's just all dark. After 4 hours no fish seen. Then suddenly a school of maybe 20 fish all around 15 kilos passes in front of me. I aim to the closer one with my stealth previously set with a slip-tip and boom. The reaction is violent. The fish takes a lot of line and start to entangle the shooting line and the reel line all around the kelp and disappear in the darkness. We gotta be quick as in the area lately 7 gills sharks tend to attack the fish while the spearos try to detangle the line and the fsih from the kelp. I call my buddies and they quickly arrive to help. The kelp is all around me and I can barely move, sure I cannot dive in this mess and I kind of panic. They arrive and we first make some space in the surface to allow us the dive and start diving to recover the fish. It's not easy as every time you dive your legs get all wrapped up by the kelp. After a few dives each none of us spot the fish. Down there is dark and the fish entangled deep. We start to cut the kelp and finally we bring to the surface a big ball of it. There is not fish and I cannot find the shaft. Finally and unfortunately I find it at the end but the slip tip is still attached to the shaft. What a bummer, the slip tip didn't deploy and despite a perfect shot the fish got free. To make it worse, the spear is totally bent and I'm depressed.
On the good side the wheather is nice and I can go fishing. For the next 6 days I barrow guns from local guys and I meet so many beautiful people (Joe, John, Damian, Ephraim, Tommy, Maurizio etc etc etc...the list is soooooo long). Joe is the best though, he put me in contact with many other spearos, all very experienced and he is just great. I get to use these monster guns with middle handle, 3-4 bands and 8-9mm shafts. 6 days in a row and no fish seen. I start to get headaches as in this kind of fishing you need to dive down to 5-7 mt and swim orizontally going from stalk to stalk and wait. In this way your neck is all the time in this awkward position and this meant for me continuous migraine. This white seabass hunting is hard as when you fish in these kelp bed you either catch a beautiful fish or nothing so you can spend so many days going out and just dive in the darkness and see and catch nothing. I'm determined, I want to catch one and I don't give up even though the days are running out.
6 days no sights but on the next day I'm in the water. This time I'm with Bill. For so many hours I fish with this 65 inches Daryl Wong and no fish, then I switch to my stealth although I only have a shaft with a single flopper as my slip-tip is gone on the fist fish and although the vis today is quite good. At one dive I'm down to probably 6 mt and swim to reach the next stalk. I look to my left towards the surface and at limit of the vis I see something. What's that? It's a weird thing. I turned and slowly swim towards it. The closer I get the more the figure seems like a big tail. It's a big tail and I see half body of a huge white seabass sleeping inside the kelp. I swim slowly and get in range to shoot. I know I have single flopper and I want to shoot the fish on a good spot so I don't risk to lose it. I slowly move to see the head and boom....I know you think this was a gun shot but unfortunately it was just the fish that took off and left me there as a miserable asshole. I knew my chance was gone and I kept fishing with no other luck.
The next night was terrible, I was tired of almost 10 days fishing everyday, with headache and regret. I was waking up every now and then seeing the big bloody tail sticking out from the kelp but nevertheless on the next morning I was ready to go.
I get in the water again with the daryl wong 64 inches and no fish seen for almost 5 hours. I'm close to call it a day but after an hour bouncing on the waves with Dave's little inflattable we arrive on the last spot. The water today is murky so I decide to go again with my stealth, moreover I seem to see fish only with this gun so I test if this is true. I'm kind of hopeless, I keep diving but I don't expect much. The water is green and I'm on my umpteenth dive of the day. I'm just under the shadow of a stalk, I just got there from the previous one and I'm waiting. I look up and down and right and...fuck! On my left there a massive dark figure. I can see its eyes and it is looking around, probably looking for me. It's finally a big white seabass and it's close. The insitict take the upper hand and boom. This time is my stealth. I get the fish right behind the gills. The shot is perfect but I don't want to lose this one or I'm gonna give it up. I hold the line tight as I want the fish to entangle shallow. I get to the surface and I call Dave. He already heard the shot and I scream to shoot the fish again as I don't trust the single flopper. The fish is still there and pull hard and so do I. Dave is quick and in a few seconds he is down, shoots the fish and comes back up saying "DArio, it's big!!!!!!". This Stealth has some special powers huh!?!?
This is the end of the story, The fish weighed 25 kilos more or less and made me a very happy italian. It was all worth it. The insomnia at night, the fish lost, the fish no shot, the days out with no sighting. It was all worth it.
It seems it all happened for a reason. Today a big storm probably mark the end of my wsb hunting even though I'll be here for a couple of days more. Last night I slept as a baby and I kept seeing the scene just before the shot. It was so cool! Today I took it easy, slept long, eat well and watch the plam trees under the heavy rain.
I think it's a beautiful story and really summarize what speafishing is. It's hard and you have to be determined to achieve what you want and never giving up.
The best side of the story is although the fact that all the spearos I met on my trip were really happy to take me out and put me on fish. They were all hoping for me getting this wsb and just after 15 min from my catch the news went all around and I started to received phone calls and text messages from all over california. My phone was litterally frying, I never never never received so many phone calls! Everybody was happy and was congratulating me for the catch. All california spearos were supporting me and spearfishing is a great activity.
Last picture is with Dave, the guy I caught the fish with. I was happy as a king and so tired I could barely lift the fish and he was so happy too!
Some people have a lot to learn from most of the guys I met in this trip.
