Posts by matt mattison

Quote from wootin tootin

So true, but the only place on California's north coast with an abundance of scallops in shallow water has to be the Sea Ranch.....a private gated beach community that stops access to 15 to 20 miles of coastline. I could be wrong, but I have dove every access point in the Sonoma /Mendocino county coastline and never saw anything like shown in the video.

I find most of all my scallops from public access points, There are several good spots on the sonoma coast. I dont disclose spots but trust me one of the most known and dived spots on the sonoma coast is one of my go to spots for scallops. Then if you go to mendo they are just about on every wash rock. just have to go slow and have the right conditions

Howdy Everyone,

In this write up I plan to go over some of the tips and tricks I have found useful when scallop diving. Also, I would like to share some general information on scallops. Personally, scallops are one of the best table cuisines we have in our California waters. Free diving for rock scallops in California is probably the most challenging of all diving endeavors. This statement may sound obscure to many; however, for those who have tried this sport know what I mean. In short, it is far from easy to pry them off their perch. Most times an underwater jackhammer would be nice!!!! I have dove for scallops in Southern California and they seem to be easier to pry off and much more abundant. This is just my opinion and not a fact.

Most California divers use SCUBA for the arduous chore of removing the bivalve from their environment. The CFW regulations state that one must use only an abalone iron or a dive knife to remove the rock scallop; however, I believe an underwater jack hammer would be much better as stated before, LOL.

If you have ever tried to remove a rock scallop holding your breath at any depth you must know how incredibly hard it is. SCUBA divers sometimes just slip their knife between the two parts of the shell and clean the scallop leaving the bottom shell attached to the rock. They drop the meat (button) into a sack and continue on the hunt. FYI, keep in mind if using this method and you accidently cut one button into 2 pieces DFW will count that as 2 scallops thus why I prefer taking the complete shell. If the DFW ever does put a size limit on the scallop, then you will have to take the shell for proof. CA DFW regulations state the Legal California limit for a diver is 10 scallops a day and no size limit. Just remember, if you want to take scallops free diving, two things are necessary; stamina and stamina.

Facts about Rock Scallops

Giant Rock Scallops have coarsely ribbed shells called valves. The upper valve is usually scallop-shaped but the lower valve takes the shape of the substrate to which it's attached. The thick, heavy valves are brownish on the outside. Inside, they're pearly white with a dark purple blotch on the central part of the hinge.

Picture provided by Eric Anderson

“The scallop has numerous blue eyes and sensory tentacles around the margin. Juvenile Giant Rock Scallops are unattached and swim by clapping their valves together repeatedly and spurting jets of water outward on either side of the hinge.
After attaining a diameter of about 1 in. (2.5 cm), the scallop cements its right valve to the rocks and thereafter grows and lives as an attached or sessile organism. Like other bivalves, Giant Rock Scallops filter plankton and tiny organic particles from seawater.”
Giant Rock Scallop | Oregon Coast Aquarium

Scallop Range and Habitat
“Rock scallops are common from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia and all the way to Baja California. They live in rock crevices along exposed outer coast, underneath floats and on pilings in bays from the low intertidal zone to subtidal depths of 164 ft. (50 m).” Giant Rock Scallop | Oregon Coast Aquarium
Scallops can reach sizes of 10 inches in diameter though usually less than six inches. FYI – The world record is held by California native, Eric Owen. His scallop was recorded at/about 10 5/8 inches And Eric Anderson with a 9 3/4 - 7.5 pound Scallop

Pictures provided by Eric Anderson

Gear Needed and Recommended for Scallop Diving:

1. A CA DFW fishing lic
2. Your standard free diving gear
3. Flash light
4. Abalone/Scallop bar (as per Sport Fish and Game Reg. 29.60)
5. Float line

Recommended Tips for Scallop Diving.

Here are the tips and tricks I use when I go Scallop diving and I am not saying these are the best tips or the only tips that work but they have worked well for me. The biggest tips I can give you for Scallop diving is watch for the right Ocean conditions and swell. Those are of the utmost importance and a requirement. Meaning you need to have calm conditions, to be able to reach and dive the area’s where scallops like to inhabit. I like a swell that is 4ft or less and minimal wind. Which tends to create a nice lake like conditions and little surge and white water? Scallops are filter feeders so that is why you want to look in areas that have a lot of water movement and surge on most days.
I look for wash rocks and pinnacles and rock piles. Once I find a nice wash rock I start looking for any under cuts, horizontal running cracks or holes. I usually find all my scallops in those areas. In this you tube video it shows what I mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK627S4vtUo
Once I have found a scallop or a crack I want to take my time and look at. I drop my scallop bar or spear gun that is attached to my float line to mark the hole or area. I then take my time and pan my flash light the length of the crack and I make sure to go up and down it a few times. There have been many of time(s) where on the first pass I did not see the scallop till the second or 3rd pass of the crack.

The key is go slow and then go slower don’t rush when your checking those cracks and holes. One of the other things I look for is the orange lips and smile that a scallops makes when opened up.

Pictures provided by friendsoflajollashores.com

Picture provided by monkeyfacenews.typepad.com - Picture provided by www.goldenstateimages.com

Once a scallop is located then becomes the fun part!!!! Some scallops come off by just whacking them with the palm of your hand but most will be an underwater battle to get off. The trick is to find a spot where you can slide the Scallop/ab bar behind the scallop and pry it off. Sometimes I found that instead of prying up like you would on an abalone try twisting/wiggling the bar, I have found that works as well.
As stated before they can be quite hard at times. That is why I think Scallop diving is one of the hardest endeavors to do as a free diver.
Well I hope this information was informative and the tips useful. Now you have some tools in your diving skills to get out there and start your own scallop adventures. Words to remember!

These words are worth remembering. To be a successful scallop diver you must possess Dedication, Motivation, Location and remember always dive safe and in safe conditions. Below are some scallops catch pictures to get you going, ENJOY!!!

Written by
Matt Mattison
Red Triangle Spearfishing
NorcalUnderwaterhunters.com

On Wednesday I was checking the forecast and noticed it was looking great with a minimal wind and swell. So I made plans to join some buddies up on the mendo coast for a dive. Upon waking up that morning at 330am with the pukes from something I ate the night before I had to call my buddies and back out, WHICH SUCKED!!!! Well I hung around the house for a while and by the time 7am came around I was feeling way better. I think I flushed whatever was bothering me out LOL!!!

Now that I was feeling way better I placed a call to my good buddies Trevor Larsen and Jason O’Donnell to see if they were up for a dive local on the Sonoma coast. We all made plans to meet up and Jason House and load kayaks and gear up and headed to up to our chosen dive site. On the drive up we could tell it was going to be a nice day on the water.

Once we reached the parking lot we all quickly started unloading and getting gear ready and put on our gear. It was nice for once not to be dressing in the freezing cold but to have the sun heating you up to the point once you go the suit on you were ready for that cold ocean. Started our short walk down to the beach using my handy Wheel Ezz beach cart and Wheels life savers I tell you!!!! Once on the beach did our final checks and started our paddle out, we decided to head north. Man it was so nice out there, clear sky’s gentle light North West breeze blowing our faces. As we were paddling and looking for spots, I hear Trevor yell out WHALE !!!!! Jason and I turn to look and see the very last part of the back deciding and the sprays of it spout. We sat there for a while watching this whale swim all around us and within 30ft of us so close the spray of when the spouted would drift over and hit us so cool !!!!
We continued on our paddle till we found some nice structure. This pinnacle was in about 40ft of water and came up to within 5ft of the surface. We anchored up off it and started diving. Right off the bat Trevor pops up with a nice 8-10 pound ling, which ended up being the only fish of the day taken!!!
The 3 of us all picked a direction and started working it. Next thing I know Trevor is saying scallops and comes over with a couple of decent ones. I make my first drop down the side of it and as I got deeper it was getting darker and more murky the visibility at best on top was 15ft then on bottom maybe 4-6ft. Once I hit bottom I am in a desert of sand for as far as the eye can see. DAM! I head back up and swim over the top and take another drop and start working the edges and top of this pinnacle.
On about my 4th dive covering this area I find a nice under cut and hole I look in and holly shit!! An apartment complex of scallops!!!! Probably like 8-10 of them in there and decent sized ones in the mix. I drop my gun and float line and head up to recover and start my harvest and start my eviction process!!! It took about 4 dives to harvest the big ones out of there on each dive I would pull one and then drop them out side of the hole in a pile and go back for more air. I ended up pulling 6 out of this hole and left about 3 or 4 of the smaller ones to grow.
As I am going down to pick up the pile of scallops I look to my right about a foot from the first hole I was working and I see a very small hole I shine my light in there and low and behold there is another scallop the biggest one I have ever seen !!!!!!!! I proceeded to go back to the surface and try to calm myself down and do a good breath up. I head down and start the battle and man this was a battle to get off. When I finally got it broke free and pulled it out I was like holly shit that is big scallop!!! The scallop ended up being a PB at 8.4 inches long I add it to the pile and start looking for more. I ended up finding one more to give me 8 for the day. I kept looking for those last 2 for a limit but all I was finding were smaller ones in the 1-3 inch size which I left them to grow. I also have to say Thank you Red Triangle for the Ab grab bar it not only kick ass on abalone but scallops as well. Here is a short You Tube video of the most of the scallops

https://youtu.be/lS6pIgy9AOg

By this point we were all ready to move and look for fish!!! As luck would have it everywhere we went, it was the same story no real fish of any quality just some small schooling blues and blacks. As for lings all I saw all day were 2 small ling cod a tad over 22inches which I left to grow bigger. It was the same story of find a pinnacle and drop down and nothing but sand a desert around the rock pile and pinnacle!!! Along with no fish !!! We tried several different spots and the same story time after time rock pile and nothing but sand around it.

At this point we decided to hit the shallows for some trophy abalone diving. We paddled around looking for an area that looked like there was no shore access and had bad visibility, all the recipes for big abalone. We found a spot that had fit all that criteria so we anchored up and started are search for the elusive ten inch abalone snail!!!! Immediately we could tell we were in the right spot, because all of us on our first drops were seeing good sized abalone. We worked the area for about 45 minutes and in that time Jason had found 2 nice tens and a real nice crusty old barnacle covered 9.75 and I had found 1- ten inch abalone as well. I was happy with just one for the day especially now that we only get 18 for the year anything to help prolong the season and the report card is a good thing. Taking full limits of 3 every time will make it a real short and quick abalone season. Trevor ended up with a nice fat healthy 9.5 inch ab for a dinner some scallops and a nice ling. We then all got back in our kayaks hung out and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather and talked about the day and our next adventure, Days on the water like this make you understand we enjoy the ocean and the north coast’s beauty. Below is a picture of me and Jason with our catch.

Oh and on the nice drive home got to see some of the usual residents enjoying the awesome weather on the coast, and they were in full velvet

In all another awesome day with good friends and dive buddies. There is no bad day on the water when you enjoy what you’re doing with good people and you do it smart and safe!!! I want to thank all my dive buddies and my awesome Sponsors at Red Triangle Spearfishing.

Well as most of you know the North coast has been rough and nasty for some time and conditions have not been nice to dive in since abalone season opened up. Well this Saturday the ocean finally gave us a window to get in with some what decent conditions foretasted, at 3ft swell and 10 mph winds. A group of good friends and some of the Red Triangle Spearfishng Team got together for a kayak trophy abalone dive on the Sonoma coast. In total there were 7 divers in the group. There was Matt Lopez, Charlie Lekamp, Kris Cortez, Aarron Sturtevant, Trevor Scott and Trevor Larsen and Marco Mazza and my self. We all met up at the decided upon location on Saturday morning at 6am, we wanted to get a jump any wind that was foretasted to come later in the day. We all got geared up and kayaks loaded and started are long pull through the dried up creek bed and out over the sandy beach to the waters edge. Once there we could see the water had a small swell and was fairly dirty.

With great excitement and anticipation we launched our yaks and started paddle to the first dive site which is known for big trophy abalone. It was a short paddle maybe 1.5 miles which was not bad since there was only a light wind and minor swells. Once at the dive site we all anchored up, Tip if you are kayaking diving the Sonoma coast right now be sure to bring an anchor as there is no kelp to clip off to.
The water was doable but was not stellar by any means, we had 2-5ft of vis depending on where you dropped down at and there was a ton of surge when the sets would come in. I know there was one set that came in that gave Marco and I a real good reality check and kick in the ass letting us know the break zone would be out of the question today. Both Marco and I love to work that little area where the waves break in the shallows we both have found many of big abalone in that zone.
Right off the bat first 5 min in the water Trevor Larsen pops up with a nice ling. Which made for a good start to the day? We all were working the 5 to 20ft range you do not have to go deep to get big trophy abalone!!!! We all worked the area for about 1.5hrs, finding lots of cool structure and nice abalone. Marco was the first one to pop and find a 10, and a nice one that went 10.3 and some change.
We all continued to work the area finding nice big abalone but not elusive ten. I did come across and shoot a nice 9 pound ling while looking for ab’s.

By this point we had been in this area for well over 2.5 hrs and we all decided it was time to move to another area. So this is where the group split up into 2 groups. My self and Trevor Larsen and Marco started south and found a spot that looked intriguing, we could tell the vis was bad like 2ft but that is a good recipe for big abalone. While the rest of the group stopped a little further north of us on. So the 3 of us worked the area for about an hr when what do you know the young buck kid Marco pops up with another ten inch ab !! Way to good kid!!! Now I am thinking to myself get your ass in gear this kid has 2 tens and I do not even have one yet!!! WTF but I am stoked to see Marco get those ab’s and see the next generation of young divers kicking ass!!!! We need that for our sport to continue on and grow.

Well shortly after that I found my first ten of 2015 yahoo not a big one but a trophy ab!!!

I call Trevor Larsen over to check it out and let him know there is some decent abs in the area and within 5 min he pops up with his ten!!!!

Yahoo we all got some trophies. I continued to dive a bit longer but did not find any other tens but did come across and shoot another ling that went 10 pounds sorry no pictures of the lings. In all it was a great day. As for the rest of the group I know they all did well with nice sized abalone, lings and scallops being taken. Charlie ended pulling a ten inch abalone as well. Children cover your eyes!!!!!! This was the picture Charlie sent when asked for one of his trophy abalone!!! If you Know Charlie and his sense of humor this makes total sense.

Here is a picture of Matt Lopez’s a beautiful 9.83

As for the other young buck of the group Aaron shot his biggest and PB ling at a little over 15 pounds. Congrats Aaron this is only the beginning for you and it is awesome to see these young Men/Kids continue on the sport and progress in the sport.

Kris and the other Trevor got there ab’s as well. So in total several lings were shot, Scallops taken and several nice abalone taken with 5 tens being taken in the group of 7 divers. In all another awesome day with Red Triangle Spearfishing and good friends!!!!
I am looking forward to the next adventure and dive. I want to send a huge shout out and Thank you to my awesome Sponsors Red Triangle Spear Fishing and thank you to my fellow teammates and dive buddies for being a part of these adventures.

Written by
Matt Mattison,

Quote from Hookinfish

How did you get the lobster mounted? Did you get to eat it as well as get a mount? That's a nice trophy wall!

I had the option of eating it but I gave it to the taxidermist as a thank you for doing an awesome job.

Here is a write up one of my fellow Red Triangle Spearfishing Teammates Jim Russell did on Hole Hunting 101.

Hole Hunting 101 by Jim Russell - Red Triangle Spearfishing

Stalking the Vermilion Rockfish (Sebastes miniatus)

Here is a great write up on Stalking the Vermilion Rockfish by my Fellow Red Triangle spearfishing Teammate Adam Suave
Stalking the Vermilion Rockfish (Sebastes miniatus) by Adam Sauve - Red Triangle Spearfishing

Here is a good write up by fellow Red Triangle Teammate Kris Cortez about hunting reefs when the water is clear and the fish are skittish!

Bluewater Reef Hunting by Kris Cortez - Red Triangle Spearfishing

Here is a great article from one of my fellow Red Triangle Teammates Charlie LaKamp about how to succeed with a polespear.

Link to write up;
Stab and Grab by Charles LaKamp - Red Triangle Spearfishing

Even though I registered back in 2011 I have not been on here much so I figured I better do an Intro.

Hello all, my name is Matt Mattison, I am an avid free diver and underwater hunter from Northern CA as well as a member of the Red Triangle Spearfishing Team. I started my diving at the young age of 6 diving with my dad and have been diving now for over 32 years. I am an avid trophy abalone diver and have pulled over 100 abalone over 10 inches and two 11 inch abalone in my life. I also love to spearfish, pull scallops and grab lobsters. I believe in eating what I catch and respecting the ocean with what it gives and provides for us. I am very active in protecting and fighting for diver’s right’s to fish and dive.I am also the owner and founder of Norcal Underwater Hunters.com.

Family:

I have a wife and 3 kids; 14 year old son, 8 year old daughter and a 6 year old son.

How long have I've been diving:

32 years, started diving when I was 6 years old with my dad.

Biggest Fish/Catch:

31.5 lbs Lingcod

11.6 lbs Spiny Lobster

11.25 inch Abalone

7.75 inch Scallop

Something else no one knows about you:

Around 6 years ago I found an Abalone around 9.5 inches. I decided to keep checking on him every year to see how it was doing. It is now around 10.25 inches and I am going to let it grow to see how big it gets.

Deepest Depth:

65 ft freediving

Best static:
Can not hold my breath for shit !! LOL
2:50

Favorite Gun/spear:

Riffe Metal Tech, Pathos Laser Open Pro 60,Pathos Laser Open Pro 82

Fins:

C4 Mustangs

Some Interesting Facts About You:

I hosted 8 big abalone and lingcod dive competition fundraisers for 2 nonprofit groups SCAN and Watermens Alliance. I have also created and run an online forum called Norcal Underwater Hunters.com. I enjoy diving and teaching abalone and spearfishing classes and getting new people into the sport. To me the ocean is my life and my passion and I preach that to my family and friends. I live by the words: MY WORST DAY DIVING IS STILL BETTER THAN MY BEST DAY AT WORK!

Hope to see you on the water!

How to Pay Respect to a Lobster catch of a life time

I thought I would share this write up with you all,

Let me start back at the beginning, Early last year I headed south with a buddy and his boat in tow. We met up with good friends of mine Hobi Ladd and Danny Jones for some lobster diving somewhere in SoCal.
Little did I know what this night would have in store for me. Short recap, we were just about done for the night and I was looking for my last 2 bugs. I had been working in the shallows, 3 to 8 ft. of water, all night. For some reason, as I am swimming on the surface panning my light back and forth, I decided to shine it out into some deeper water, which was about 15ft feet. That's when I saw it !!! In the middle of a big bowl of giant boulders right out in the open, just perched on a small to medium sized rock in the middle of the bowl. I instantly took a breath and dove down with as much intent as I could. I quickly put my hands around it and bear-hugged it against my chest, it put up no fight at all as I ascended to the surface. Once I hit the surface I let out the whoop whoop in celebration of my find. Once back at the boat dock we all admired the find and that's when Hobi and Danny said, "Dude you need to mount that thing." Not just because of it's size, but that I got the whole thing intact, no missing legs or broken antenna's.

3 weeks later I got home and was thinking about it. After hearing from friends about the possible age, anywhere from 50 to 70 years old, and the rarity of the find that it was only right to give this awesome creature and find the respect it deserved and have it mounted. Once I made this decision I knew there was no better person to contact then the best in the business and that was Ed Moore at the Wildlife Workshop in Fort Bragg. If you have time check out some of his awesome work on trophy abalone and fish at Wildlife Workshop Ed Moore
So, I took it up to Ed and let him run with the design and use his creativity. Last week I received a call that he was finished and ready for me to pick it up. With great excitement the wife and I made the 2hr drive up to Fort Bragg to pick it up. Once there, as I had expected, Ed did not let me down but totally blew my mind !!!!! Thank you Ed, you made a true piece of art and the ability for me to treasure and enjoy my life time find forever. Once I had got it home the fun part became deciding where to hang this awesome mount. Well the first thought was the dive room, but that's not right for it to sit down there and hardly get enjoyed. So, I decided to hang it in the dining room. Not to my wife's liking or favorable approval LOL, well after some intense discussions and lots of stink eye I got her to agree. So here is a picture of it on the wall alongside my 3 biggest abalone shells which are 11.25,11.125 and 10.90. I am really happy with the way the wall came out.

Here is a link I did for Red Triangle Spearfishing on Trophy Abalone Diving Tips. Hope you all find some usefull tips in this write up.

Trophy Abalone Tips by Matt Mattison - Red Triangle Spearfishing

Triton Open and T2B spearing events recap,

This last weekend May 2nd was the 2105 Triton Open hosted by the Monterey Bay Triton dive club along with this annual event there was a Fundraiser being co-hosted as well called the Top to Bottom “T2B” for short where hook and line fishermen competed against spero’s with the proceeds going to The Clark family to help with their fight against Leukemia and the cost that goes along with treatment. The T2B was organized by one of our Norcal divers and member of Red Triangle Spearfishing Team Big Jim Russell who most of us know or have heard of. There was a total of 40 Divers and 27 Kayak Anglers entered into this event, so far have raised $1,705.

A little overview of the 2 events, The Triton open event was 6 fish comp meaning your 6 biggest fish combined for a total weight along with a big ling Cod category. We were free to dive anywhere we wanted just had to be out of the water by 230 pm and back to the weigh in table by 3pm. What is nice about this event the Monterey Bay triton breaking it up into experienced, beginner, JR and women’s divisions which gives all levels of divers a shot at winning. The T2B event was set up as 4 fish event with categories done by length for Halibut, ling Cod, Rock fish and cabazone with the scoring being done in a points system as follows.
Rockfish= 8 points per an inch, Cabezon=8 points per an inch, Lingcod= 5 points per an inch and Halibut= 5 points per an inch.

Alright Morning of the event myself and my fellow Red Triangle teammate Jason O’Donnell were up nice early and on our way over to the Divers safety meeting and sign in for the events. After a short wait and signing all waivers and saying hellos to everyone we hit the road to our dive site. Jason I quickly got suited and wheeled our kayaks down to the water and started our long paddle out the outer reefs which is about a 1.5 miles give or take. The paddle out was not to bad a little chop and a little wind but nothing horrible. We found some nice structure and rock piles on the depth finders and tied up our kayaks. Jason and I both chose separate areas about 100ft apart to work so not to be on top of one another. The Visibility was good easy 25 maybe a hazy 30.

I started making drops in the 30 to 40ft range but not seeing fish of the size I wanted, the one good thing was to seeing the healthy ling fishery, just about every dive I would come across a small to just legal lings but I left them all to grow bigger. I worked the area with my for about 30 min mostly working the schooling fish with Panthos 82cm man this thing shoots like a laser !!! Pulled the trigger twice and had 2 hits right on the intended area of the fish!!! Ended up with one nice kelp rock fish and a nice fat blue rock fish. I then relocated to another rock pile. There was not much there once again lots of schooling small blues and blacks. I move to another spot and at this point I was only focusing on lings and cabs so I made the switch over to my Panthos 60cm for hole hunting, the size and the way this gun is set up is bad ass a ton of power in a compact gun, perfect for nailing ling cabs in those tight holes. I finally come across a decent ling, a nice 30 inch 9 pounder. I work the area for about a hr. coming across more small mid water column schooling fish and just legal lings. I made one more final move and this was the best one of the day a nice rock pile a little further out in the kelp bed and off shore in about 40ft-50ft of water. On my first drop down I come across a nice 32 inch 10.5 pound ling whack!!! I go over to the Kayak string it up and head back over to this rock pile next drop down on the other side of the pile I come across another nice ling Whack!!! 32 inch 10.5 pound ling yes!!!! 2 dives 2 lings!!! I go string him up and head back over and make another drop on this rock pile and what’d I find in one of the holes, a nice big ass cab head looking at me whack!!! 23.5 inch cab!!! Hell yea!! I start signing in my snorkel lol, 3 drops 3 nice fish!!! At this point I have 2 nice lings a nice cab, nice kelp rock fish and Blue rock fish, by this point I only need one more ling to round out my stringer. I move to one last spot and come across another 30 inch 9+ pound ling. At that point I call it a day. I start my paddle back in which took about 45min to get to shore. Jason arrives shortly after me and we load all the gear up and rush back to sign/weigh in.
We make it back to the weigh in at Oak Newton Park, with plenty of time. I submit my fish to the Triton Open. The final standing for the experience division was
Alex Reynaud in 1st with 6 fish with a weight of 43.26 pounds and a score of 49.26
This is where Team Red Triangle took over!!! I ended up taking 2nd place with6 fish and a total stringer weight of 41.30 pounds with a total score of 47.30 points; I was lucky enough to also when the Big ling of the comp as well with my 32 inch 10.54 ling cod, Jason O’Donnell took 3rd with 6 fish for a weight of 31.42 pounds and total score of 37.42, 4th place Rick Duenas - 6 fish / 24.46lbs for 30.46 points 5th place Chris Chaput - 4 fish / 26.04lbs for 30.04 points.

I would like to thank the Monterey Bay Triton Dive Club for hosting this event and thank Greg and Vanessa from the Freedive shop for donating all the raffle items for the raffle.

Now as for the Top 2 Bottom comp, to recap The T2B event was set up as 4 fish event with categories done by length for Halibut, ling Cod, Rock fish and cabazone with the scoring being done in a points system as follows.
Rockfish= 8 points per an inch, Cabezon=8 points per an inch, Lingcod= 5 points per an inch and Halibut= 5 points per an inch.
The final rankings were as follows, this was a clean sweep by Team Red Triangle Spearfishing, Big Jim Russell in first place with 3 fish and a monster toad of a ling that went 20 pounds and 38 inches!!!

I took second with 3 fish and Kris Cortez taking 3rd with 3 fish and 4th place being taken by the only hook and line fishermen Coleman Cosby. I have to say it was great event and great times and all for a awesome cause. I want to send a huge shout out and thank you to Sean Walker for the awesome plaque just like in STAR TREK DAM YOU JIM !!!!! I wanted it so close but it could not have gone to a better guy and diver.
I also want to thank the following Amadeo Bachar for donating those 2 awesome prints for 2nd and 3rd place and Dennis Shu for the Lawrence Fish finder for the 4th place prize and would like to thank Bill Perrymann for the Handmade razor and stand for 5th place.Thank you all for your support and thank you all to who either donated cash donations and or competed. This event was just one more example of awesome our Norcal community is. I will close with these final team pictures Red Triangle spearfishing pictures from the day.

In closing I want to thank my awesome and very generous Sponsors Red Triangle spearfishing Thank you Matt and Suzie Lopez. Also stoked and honored to be apart of a such great group and talented group of divers on Team Red Triangle Spearfishing.

Hello all my name is Matt Mattison I am a avaid free diver and scuba diver just love diving. I have ben diving for over 28 years all has ben done on the northeren ca coast from monteray north. I mainly chase after trophy abalone over ten inches but recently found my self getting more into the speering ! I have shot some nice ling cod over the years my PB is 50 inches and 40+ pounds which I took when I was 14 freediving in 25ft of water ! I allso run my own web site a dive fourm dedacated to diving northern ca called norcal underwater hunters. any who I look forward to getting to know you all on here and will try and contribute to your site.