Best hali dive yet!

It was pretty awesome.

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Called Alex today to clue him in on the epic diving conditions plus my halibut report from last night. And that's all it took. He was dead set on diving. With such nice conditions coinciding with a grunion run I couldn't stay at home so I called back and made plans to dive together at around 9 PM that night.

Hit up the same spot where I got my last hali. First view from the water and I couldn't believe it. The vis was even more amazing than yesterday! I could see at least 20ft if not more. And at night that just felt spectacular. Of course near the waves it murked up to 10-15ft. But then that was more than enough vis to work with.

Alex went to dive the deeper spots while I headed for the shallows. Saw maybe 30-40 circle shaped stingrays, tons of small guitarfish, 3-4 leopard sharks, and even a big horn shark in the sand (I rarely see these fish in the sand). Well after seeing all that life I was a little surprised I didn't see a single halibut, not even a baby hali. Last night I saw half a dozen smaller halibut in the area. Maybe it wasn't the right time of night to be diving. The grunion run didn't start till around midnight so maybe it would heat up later on.

I met up with Alex in the water and he said he saw a group of baby halibut in one spot and was going back to check it again. Well at least now I knew the halibut were around.

Further down the beach I was get excited. This was the same spot that I shot my 27inch halibut from last night and where I saw multiple "almost legal halibuts". Combing the area I found my biggest find of the night. A fishing lure, still usable. The only problem was..... where to put it? It's times like these where I wish my wetsuit came with a pocket. Tried hooking it on my gun, then my floatline, but finally decided on sticking the lure on my wetsuit tailflap. Swam around some more, but didn't find a single hali. Came back to the spot where I found the fishing lure and there it was lying on the ground again. Oops. Guess it fell off. Dove down to pick it up again and sinched the lure between my glove and lanyard. This time it stayed on and I continued on with my dive.

Nearing the end of this dive spot I had yet to come across a single halibut. But right as I was putting in my last pass, in a couple feet of water, I saw the most peculiar looking bait fish. It wasn't like anything I'd seen before, much to big. Before I could ID the thing it swam away into the murky visibility. I followed after it hoping I was heading in the right direction. Found it! This time I was more serious as I pulled up my gun and aimed at the fish. It bolts back into the murk and I pull the trigger. The shaft flies into the murk. No movement. I guess I missed it. Oh well, what can you expect from a JBL sawed off magnum with a blunt JBL slip tip. This gun isn't built for accuracy or speed. I pull in the line and amazingly the fish is on the other end. I shot it through the back and out the mouth. My closest guess now is that the thing is either an oversized bait fish or maybe... a tarpin? I know the state regulations well to know that there is no rules pertaining to this particular fish, so whatever it is it's legal. I showed it to Alex and he had no clue what it was either. He's never seen a fish like this before. I string it up and hope it's edible.

Well that spot was a bust. The fish and lure were awesome finds, but as for the halibut we skunked out.

~~~~~

Jumped back in the car and we headed on to the next spot. It's a new spot for me, but one that Alex had dove before. Again Alex went out to dive deep (10-15ft) and I stayed shallow. Right away I spot a nice sized halibut in a flat sand patch, but it's too small to tell if it's legal or not. Luckily I've marked my gun with duct tape just for this type of situation. Keeping my distance I eyeball the measurements, it doesn't look legal. But just to be sure I smack my gun into the sand right next to the halibut to get a better measurement. The halibut bolts after a few seconds. But it was only around 19 or 20 inches.

A couple more minutes of diving and I spot a halibut just settling in to a patch of sand next to a rock. He looks big, but not big enough to be sure. I pull out my gun to measure the fish and a few big swells hit me. I look to find the hali again and he's starting to get covered in sand. Hovering above I eyeball the measurements. Hmmm... yep that looks legal! Swinging my gun around to aim for the head I pull the trigger before another swell gets to me. The shaft slams right into the fish and I dive down to grab the shaft before it bolts (I have no desire to let the fish run). Grabbing a hold of the shaft on both ends the fish stops moving. Now at the surface, I try to string him up and that's when he decides it's time to quit playing possum and goes berserk! I haven't got the brain location on halibuts memorized yet so I rip the gills and string him up. By then my shooting line is hopelessly tangled and I head to shore. A few minutes of untangling on the beach and Alex gets out to see what's up. I show him the fish and tell him I found it right in the shallows. He jumps right back in and heads south in the direction I came from.

Reloading my gun at last, I make it back into the water some time later. Time to look for Alex I suppose. So I head south in the direction he went. Halfway down I meet him as he swims back north. I tell him I'll keep swimming south for a while.

A hundred feet south I look down through the sandy murk at the biggest mugs I've ever seen starring up from the ground! A fat head, mouth open, eyes bulging, and just sitting there in front of me. I couldn't believe my luck! I think of measuring it like every other halibut I've seen, but I instantly laugh at the thought. This one is beyond legal, it's huge! But the sand is really picked up in this spot and the murk swirls in front of my face as I loose sight of the fish. I pull out my gun, ready for the next moment of vision. A pocket clears in a second, enough for me to just see the fish's head again. I aim straight for the head, and wait for a moment. Smack! The fish goes wild and I swim down to grab the shaft. The shaft didn't penetrate that far and I flip the fish over, trying to shove the shaft further into the hole. The fish flails about, but now I have enough shaft to work with and I grab both ends. Heading to the surface I see the shot is near the center of the head, but as the fish smacks back and forth I start to worry he might even rip himself off. But first thing's first. I yell out to Alex, less than a hundred feet away, "Hey Alex! Alex! I got another hali!" He makes his way over, takes one look, and responds with a, "Oh **** you!". I couldn't help but laugh.

Alex went back to hunting and I ripped out the gills of the big hali attached to the shaft. He's still got a lot of energy and I don't want to give him any chance of escaping so I decide to head straight for shore. One wave jarred me pretty hard, but I made it to safely ashore, gun in hand and fish on shaft. Smacked the hali a few times with my light, which mostly knocked him out.

That's when I notice the fishing line coming out of the halibut's mouth. Attached to the line is a rather large baitfish head. It practically falls out of the mouth as I grab the line. Huh. No hook in sight. I wonder if there was another fish story behind this line? No telling I suppose. Stringing up the hali I head back in to the ocean. But by then I had scoured the area as much as I could. Alex stuck it out and shot a nice corbina. No more legal sized halibut seen that night. But what an awesome night.

Alex told me he's heading out again tomorrow night. He's determined to catch a halibut. And I'm going to help him the best way I know how. I'm staying at home : )

'buts went 26 and 35 inches, bigger one weighed around 18-19lbs. A new personal best

Found out this fish is a mullet (thanks to Chris Oak). Weighed around 2lbs.

Always love to collect fishing hooks on my dive, though I never go rod and reel fishing.

Finished~

Quote from seaweed

Congrats on the awesome fish. I was looking at some Hali pieces at the grocery store for $30/lb, they must be some phenomenal eating.

The texture is unlike most any other fish I've eaten. I rank its texture above calico bass, sandbass, sargo, sheephead, white sea bass, or yellowtail. The meat is also very mild, perfect for sauces. Had some this morning, delicious

Quote from chris oak

Nice flatty! That other fish is a mullet, I've eaten them before as well. Believe it or not it was decent sashimi.

Ah so that's what it was! I've never seen a mullet before. Thanks Chris. I froze the sucker last night. I'll try eating it sashimi style tomorrow.

Does anyone know if mullets are typical of SoCal waters or did this one migrate up from Mexico?

So I ended up smoking that mystery fish (aka mullet). I couldn't try it sashimi style. I just wasn't brave enough

After smoking the fish it turned out pretty nice :thumbsup2:. It was my first time smoking, but luckily the fish came out with a nice golden glaze, good texture, and the right amount of moisture on the inside (i didn't want it dried to a crisp). It was a tab on the salty side, probably should have pulled it out of the brine solution sooner. Next time I'll experiment with soaking the wood chips in water first and using a little less salt and more sugar in the brine mix. Hope to try smoking again in the future.

Preparation

Wood chips for smoking. I cooked two batches of these.

Smoking's done. The meat was still a little raw inside so I had to cook it over a pan for a minute or two until it was finally done.

Ready to eat~

Quote from Ryddragyn

I repeat: **** you, Daniel. Oh well, my corbina tasted good.

By the way, scallop dive was successful this morning. Collected a limit and ate them all raw on the beach.

:laughing2: now you know how I felt when you swam up with that big halibut you took with your polespear a while back. I was soooo jealous!

As for the scallops, I really want to find a way to eat those things. I'll have to bring a lime next time I'm in scallop country and see if that's the ticket. It sure sounds tasty!

Quote from Don Paul

Oh no, a smoker !....there go's the Leopard Sharks.:D:D;)

Cheers, Don

ha ha, what is that how everyone prepares their leopard sharks nowadays?

But those puppies are safe from me. Once I get bored of the other fish then maybe