First one from this year

Well I finally got bit by the wsb bug. Once bit my only cure is to dive till I get one So for the first day of wsb hunting I decided to dedicate the entire day to these beasty fish. Called up a few friends to see if they were interested in going with, but they all bailed or were busy. So I grabbed my gear and headed out for the kelp. I searched for hours, but didn't see or hear anything and just as I was getting cold and thinking of calling it quits a 30lb wsb appeared and disappeared right below me. It was so unexpected it jolted me back awake and I was ready for more. And more I did see. There was an entire school of them in a small area just up ahead. Saw at least a dozen separately swimming around, but nothing large enough to make me want to pull the trigger. Then as I rounded one kelp strand I was right on top of a nice 30lb c-bass, I looked to the left and there's another one sitting right next to him just a bit smaller in size, I look further to the left and there's just this massive fish. One look and I knew I couldn't hold myself back anymore. I had to take this sucker! Blasted her near the gills and she high tailed it outta there. Like all my c-bass from the past this one was the same. She zipped out 3/4 of my reel line and then stopped dead in the water like usual. Chased after the line, picked her up, and went home with my prize fish. 2nd biggest fish I've ever shot.

Great way to start out the season, I just wish I could duplicate this kind of dive. I've been out at least 5-6 times since looking for more wsb without seeing or hearing a single one. Last year seemed a lot easier for me. I really need Chris Lupin to come down and start diving with me again. He knows how to put me on fish like no one else XD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFErY5SIKEc&feature=player_embedded

Thanks guys. Hope to snag another soon.

Quote from ddonnell

Wow. Nice.

The video didn't load for me though..

Try loading it again, it works on my computer.

Quote from Joe Acevedo

Wtg Daniel !!! Thanks 4 sharing ..

I'm taking Noah out tomorrow , were making
A solo run up the oc coast - gonna hit the beds from sc up to cc

Joe

Good luck Joe. Hope you find a nice fat one.

Quote from ddonnell

Yup, isolated incident. A-OK now.

You want to do a Malibu yak trip next weekend?

How do the conditions look and who's heading up with? I'd like to dive Malibu before the MLPA closures start.

Quote from Don Paul

Nicely done Danial , Your off to a great start. That if a fine fish, great for you to get to look at them before choosing a quality fish. Dan needs to put that image in the Cali location on the opening page. My first this year
was only half that size from the OC.

Cheers, Don

I always wondered how Dan picked those images. I wonder if I need to upload an image to this thread for it to work. I normally just link images from Facebook or Imageshack. Of course on this thread I haven't posted any pictures of the wsb, just a video. ( Oh and congrats on your first Don. I'm sure you've shot even more since )

Quote from halibutmike

Congrats Daniel! - always nice when a plan works!

It sure is Mike. My original plan was to dive for 2 days straight, but when I lucked out on the first day I called off the second dive.

Quote from deadmanh

awesome!!!!!! shore diving?

Yep 99% of my diving is from shore. The only time I want to dive from a boat is when it's paddy hopping season.

Darren mentioned or asked me, I forget which, about a write up for this fish. I had a rough draft saved on my computer for a while, which I edited a couple times. Mostly I put it off and just forgot about this document. But I gave it another try today and I think now it's good enough... maybe. Anyways I thought I'd throw it up on this thread before I forget about it again.

If I can attribute this wsb to anyone I’d have to give my thanks to Bill Mac. He posted a couple of reports of Dam’s recent hauls and repeatedly mentioned other wsb being caught, some even over 60lbs. Now I already knew fish were being speared or at least had the feeling, but seeing those two fish and reading Bills comments just pushed me over the edge. I had to get in the water and see those silver monsters for myself. I couldn’t wait any longer. Tomorrow I was going to look for my very first wsb of the year!

Packed my gear and almost couldn’t go to sleep I was so anxious. I hadn’t hunted for wsb in a while and thoughts of those fish just kept darting back and forth inside my brain. But soon I found sleep amidst the wsb.

Woke up the next day and zipped out to my favorite wsb spot.

Last year I had thoroughly scouted this area so I knew exactly where the wsb liked to hang out. Like a bee to its nectar I headed straight for it. Swimming through the kelp I avoided all temptations to explore until I reached that one spot which I knew held those fat monsters. Minutes later I’m there and one, two, three… countless dives later I can’t believe what I’m seeing? No wsb. Not a fin, a boom, not even a flicker of a white scaly hide to keep my hopes up. Sure the water was murky, it was no top to bottom day, but there was still plenty of vis to work with. If they were here I would have at least seen a shadow or something. But after each dive the kelp felt more and more vacant. Something had changed. As I continued to dive down through the thick canopy I refused to give up hope. There might be a c-bass just around the next kelp strand.

But as the minutes turned to hours and the hours dragged on and on, my body was slowly succumbing to the silent enemy of the sea. The frigid cold water was sucking out the last bits of fire from my core. I was no longer warm. I was shivering.

With a long sigh on the surface I made the decision to head back. I hadn’t covered the entire bed, but I’d checked out enough of it to know that there was nothing here worth sticking around for. So I turned around and started swimming back to shore, stopping at a few spots I thought could hold seabass, but mostly making a b-line to where I’d come from.

By the time I arrived at the main beachfront I still felt the cold run its discouraging chills down my body, but with the sun still in the sky I began toying with the thought of continuing on ahead to check out the next kelp bed. But before I could make up my mind a large shiny body slithered its way underneath me and I almost couldn’t believe what I saw as I watched a 30lb wsb magically appear and disappear before my eyes. The whole time I had been pointing my gun behind me. Of course by the time I swung it around that massive ghost had long since disappeared, but the memory of it gliding below me replayed itself over and over in my skull.

Like lightning to a tree my indecision had been destroyed. Thoughts and feelings of cold were instantly replaced with an electrifying excitement over what lay ahead. I was back to wsb mode!

Moving further into the thick murky kelp I almost immediately started seeing a fair bit of movement below. Barely able to make out the shapes, I watched below as the backs of ghosts glided in an out of being on the edge of visibility. They did not leave, instead mockingly they continued appearing and disappearing a second here a second there. I could not accurately take a single shot even though they were less than 6ft away from me. All were legal, but impossibly beyond reach.

I decided to change tactics. It was time to dive down into their element and meet these huge fish at their level. Kicking below I entered into their domain. If you hadn’t realized it yet, this area was just completely murked out. I had to strain to barely see the silhouette of a kelp strand 5ft away. Even so I leveled off inside that muddy visual prison, ready for anything. Five seconds later, slightly frustrated with my limited view, I thought about kicking forward and almost before I move I hear a boom, and another boom, and then a succession of booms and then far away I here even fainter booms. Shit I scared a ton without even seeing a single one underwater! Going back up for air I give up on diving for a moment and just wait at the surface. Nothing happens. The fish that were swimming below me are clearly gone. With hope eternal I slowly move on, through the kelp from the surface.

Not even 20ft away I see something. It’s barely clear enough to make out the fish from the surface. But I know without question that it's a perfect opportunity at a very legal wsb. Its back is in sight and moving slow enough below me for an easy shot. I quickly line my gun up for the kill shot and I have him. Just a trigger pull away and he’s mine! I watch and wait and the moment passes. I let him go. Why would I do that? It was at least a 20-30 pound fish, there for the taking and everything!? Well I felt a little trepidation as I watched that log of a fish swim off into the murk, but I’d made a promise to myself. And that promise was to only shoot a wsb I could be proud of. My goal, my desire, wasn’t to shoot any old wsb I was going to shoot a big wsb, End of story.

The water looked slightly clearer further into kelp bed, but I continued to stay on the surface. The utter failure of my attempted underwater dive just minutes ago was still fresh in my brain. Quietly I weaved through the kelp, lifting bands of kelp up and over my snorkel silently as I made my way through the canopy of kelp. I soon had a bead on another wsb, but it was even smaller than the last, so I let it go as well.

I swam past another kelp strand and something ridiculous perfect meets my eyes. Right in front of my face less than 5ft away I see the face of a monster 35-40lb wsb floating horizontally in front of me. Then something tells me to look left and as I do I grab hold of another surprise as I realize there’s another wsb floating right there with this one! But wait what’s that? I look even further to my left and there’s a face of one that just dwarfs the other two fish. All I could see is its face and still I know that’s the biggest damn thing I’d seen all day!

All my reserves are lost at the sight of this one fish and without hesitation I pull the trigger on the beast. Steal blasts out of my hybrid like an explosion! The jolt blinds my sight, reel line flies, and I head to the surface. To my surprise the reel line stops dead quiet as I reach the surface. Sweet! I must have stoned him. But then I look down at my reel again and like Frankenstein it’s come back to life! Line peels out at an alarming rate! Then stops and I feel a little relief…but wait no! It’s zipping out some more! Oh wait it's stopped again. Is that it… oh crap there goes more line! The cycle continued and my line slowly disappeared in spurts as the fish continued desperately to gain more ground. I grabbed my Riffe float on the end of my gun and began inflating it all while keeping pressure on my reel line. Better to worry about that now before I run out of all my line. Then like all my wsb from the past this one stopped at roughly a quarter of line left in my reel.

Trying to calm myself I slowly take a few more breaths at the surface, glad that the fight is over. There is always that worry in the back of my mind that this is the one, the one that will pull all my line and take everything from me. But this one was through; tired and entangled at the bottom of the kelp. Like a treasure to be found, I knew somewhere deep under this murky film of water was a prize worth searching for. A few more breaths and my inflatable is fully inflated. Letting go of the gun I look down the line and decide it’s time to follow it. Dimly illuminated underwater I swim past kelp strand after kelp strand gliding over the light grey trail that is my shooting line. There was a fish somewhere up ahead, but my breath hold could not carry me that far. Looking up I made my way back to the surface, but in the same instant I grabbed hold of the shooting line. I could feel by its tug that it was impossible to pull the line all the way to the surface, but I knew the closer it was to the surface the easier it would be for me to find on my next dive. So I pulled the line up and in response it snapped!

Looking down I watched as the line separated itself in my hand. All I could think of was,”Oh shit!” But I desperately needed to breath. So I continued pushing to the surface. I could do nothing but watch as the green muddy water absorbed those two pieces of line, changing them from grey, to green, to nothing at all.

Gulping a fresh breath of air, I'm back at the surface. You’d think I’d freak out, but for some reason I was not worried in the slightest. The line was below me so all I needed to do was dive down and pick up where I left off. Calm and collected I gathered the air I needed and dove back down. Within seconds I caught sight of that same grey line and I’m back on path to my ghostly treasure.

A few more kicks down the line and once again I feel the need for air. So I return to the surface. This time the line reaches the surface without a single tug, of course that's because there’s no longer any gun to tug on. Barely waiting at the surface I quickly dive back down to the trail knowing the fish can’t be far now. Nearing the bottom I see a shiny flicker of white behind a kelp strand. Gliding in closer I see it. She’s there. A monster of a fish silently floating upside down in the kelp, all the fight is out of her. Quickly I swoop in and wrap my hands around her massive body. And with that I have her!

Up to the surface I kick with my prize. A few feet up and I start to feel tension, a few more and my ascent slows considerable, a couple more and I’m at a dead stop. The line’s stuck and I’m out of time! Worried at the thought I realized I had to let go. Releasing my prize I bolt for the surface and a jolt of fear hits into me as I breach for air. The thought of losing the fish rushes through me as I looked around desperately wondering which kelp strand held the sea bass. Looking back to my float it helped calm my nerves as it served as a landmark in this endless sea of kelp. Convincing myself that the fish could not be far I dove back down to find her. It’s not long and I find that same log of a fish. This time as I grab hold of her massive head and managed what I could not just seconds ago. I made it to the surface, seabass in hand! Looking at her now I cursed my judgmental eye as I had to admit she was no personal best. But still I could not take away the fact that she was one hell of a fish! She was short, but fat and above all she was mine.

Now all I had to do was to bring this beast back to my gun and I could grab everything and make that long trek back to shore. Thankfully the fish’s air bladder was still pumped full of air and in no time at all I was right back where I started. A couple minutes of fiddling with my slip tip and soon it popped free! And… “Oh shit!” I forgot about my broken line! If I dropped the slip tip now… I looked around, and it’s clear my shaft along with my slip tip had sunk straight to the bottom. Man this seabass just got a lot more expensive.

Grabbing the fish I was determined to get my shaft and tip back! Pulling that lunker of a fish down with me I kicked hard until I reached the seafloor. Scanning in all directions I couldn’t see anything that looked familiar. I look back at the fish sitting next to me and felt the squeeze in my lungs. What was I thinking? I couldn’t stay down here long enough to search while dragging this fish anchor along. Resolutely I bolted back to the surface, found my float, grabbed my gun, and shoved the muzzle into the fish’s mouth and out it’s gills. That aughta hold her, now I just need to find my shaft. Looking up I marked my location with my float and down I go. Nearly all fear and worry had left my mind by now. The water was calm, the visibility was at least 10ft in this spot, and I had hours to search for my gear. It was only a matter of time till I found it again. And within 3 dives my prediction came true. I found my shaft and tip.

Now I had everything. I had my day in the water, I had my gear, and most importantly I had my fish. :thumbsup2: