So Hey I'm a New Member

click on image

I just found this website and thought I'd join since I noticed a lot of familiar faces.

My name's Daniel Burke. I live in Orange County and I normally spearfish at least once every two weeks. If conditions are good and I have the time I'll try and dive every other day. It took 3-4 years of spearfishing and buying gear, but I'm now very comfortable swimming and diving in the ocean, night or day. Shorediving and cheap road trips are my favorite! Baja, Colorado River, Lake Mead, and Northern California are the few trips I would jump at the occasion to go on. Although I'm highly selective on where and when I'll dive on boats because it costs too much. But I'd pay to go to the Coronados Islands again any day.

Lobster, wsb, abalone, and carp are some of my favorite things to hunt. It's the hunting and searching that I love. Not knowing what will be around the next corner. The feeling that I'm actually in the wild and not some artificial game preserve. Sharing the moment with friends and eating the spoils after a long day's dive.

I've also started to enter carp spearfishing competitions with Alex Stover. Tons of fun and there's another competition this October near Bullhead City Arizona, just across the river from Laughlin at "The Dive Shack". Last time we shot 40+ carp each on the river. But I'll need to find someone to compete with come October since my partner is going to be busy at Grad school during the competition.

Also if the swell report says it's favorable I'm going to enter the Gat-Ku competition in San Diego. I'm hoping to spear a wsb with a polespear, which will be quite the challenge since the largest thing I've speared is a calico.

I think it's great that this site tries to keep things a little more private. I'll probably post my reports here from now on. I'm really interested to see how this sight turns out.

\

Quote from ladvr

Welcome Daniel. Great pics.

Thanks Mike. You know that duffel bag you gave me? I still use it everywhere. It's really come in handy. Also I had some spare time last dive and was able to pull this off the beach.

Quote from LunkerBuster

welcome daniel..some very nice pics...nice looking pooch too

I wish he was still around he was my all time favorite dog.

Quote from Dan

Really nice pics. Welcome Daniel.

The intros are getting hard to beat

Thanks for having me Dan. And thanks for your avatar pic

Quote from attan

those r some big squids!!

I know! I was really amazed when I found out I could catch them just 5 miles away from my house (as the crow flies). Here's two videos I made from the two squid trips I made this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLhwS2jiwIE

http://vimeo.com/11612828

Quote from Marco

Nice vids and pics! How do you prepare those squids? Forgive my ignorance, but I've heard that they have ana ammonia taste.

Here's how you cut them initially

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8_JgzAKdE&feature=related

Then I cut a thin layer off the top and bottom of the squid (the meat will be whiter and softer an 1/8th of an inch down)

Then you can soak the squid fillets in buttermilk for a couple hours (to soften it up), but I can't tell if it really makes a difference.

Next step is to pound the squid and flatten it to half it's original size. I like to pound it even further, till it's the consistency of snot, which after frying makes it hardens enough to grab, while still being very tender.

Next egg, flower, and bread it. Then fry it up in the pan. Put some hot spices or chili peppers in the mix to give it a little kick.

The ammonia taste is unavoidable (it has a bit of a lemon flavor mixed with salt), but cut the pieces into bite sized pieces and dip it in cocktail sauce and the cocktail sauce overpowers the ammonia flavor. The cocktail sauce is the most important ingredient. Prepared this way I really enjoy Humboldt squid. Also put in a tortilla (+beans and rice) with a little cocktail sauce it really tastes great. The squid just melts in your mouth.