Posts by oto

so I made it over there this weekend, thanks Ben for the 5mm top!

it was a nice experience, the weather was beautiful, but the water was just too cold for me.

one of the most memorable moments was seeing the blue whale migration from north to south, what a view!

we took the chopper on Sat 1pm, got on the boat by 2:30 and headed north on the inside of the island to bird rock, ship rock. the water was choppy out there 3-4 with a cold NW wind, the vis was good, maybe 40', but the water was freezing my friends, 63 on top and felt like mid 55s once you got past 50', the structure was incredible with kelp and rocky drop offs but no fish, dove from 30-70 for about 2 hrs before I couldn't stop shivering anymore.

I was wearing a 3mm bottom waist high, and 5mm top, I'm a wuss, so I think I'd need like a 7mm/5mm!

day 2 we went on the west side (open ocean side of the island), and had some nice swells rolling in, 4-6', which in turn made the vis really bad, it was a hazy 10-12'. worked a kelp bed in 45' and knew i had 2 hrs before my balls would freeze over and call it a day. an hour into it, diving down along two kelp branches, at around 35' down I spotted a large WSB just hanging there, from about 8' I shot behind the eyes what I was hoping would be a kill shot, I was off by about 1 inch, the fish went nuts, pulled a bunch of line out of the reel before I got to the surface, what a mess.

I called the one guy in water with me over, he is not a diver, no second gun to put a kill shot. All I could was lock the drag, hand the gun to my friend, and work the mess, told to hang on to it. after 4 or 5 dives i got enough of the mess undone to bring the fish up, it looked to be a 35-40lb fish, the guys on the boat said it was 50 but they were drunk. so after wrestling and finally putting the knife to finish it off, had to cut the shooting line all tangled up in the kelp, so hand my friend the shaft and gun while I bring the fish to the boat.

I come back to my friend holding the gear, and he is dry heaving in the water LOL, still has the gun but the shaft is gone :angry5: , i asked him where the f is the shaft and he has a blind confusing look...oh well.

get back in the boat and the 2 drunk sailors are getting ready to fillet the fish, since we are heading back over soon, plus they are so excited to have a big fish on the boat :laughing3: , one kept telling the other, dave, this is the biggest fish that's ever been in your boat, while trying not to fall over :laughing3:

so I said, take a picture of me and the fish before you cut it, and here is the biggest mistake, the most intoxicated guy, johnson, takes a picture. about an hour later on our way back, while having a sandwhich and a beer, I asked, "johnson, let me see the picture!", guess what, the picture isn't there! all he has is a picture of me still in the water bringing the fish to the boat, now all we have is fillets!

here are a few pictures, loved the trip but next time I need a thicker suit just in case!

nice Ben!

Quote from red tide

I was snorkeling in 29 feet of water. The shot was well placed downward through the shoulders and out of the stomach.
I was was at least 60 feet away when I pulled the trigger. Those carbon fiber guns are really accurate. I think the red color makes them shoot further. My new gloves had a lot to do with the great success of the dive as well. Now if I could just get a propper fitting speedo I could really shoot some nice fish.:D:D

wow, GR, now you just gave it a hell of a spearboard twist! a 60' shot! good lord!

beautiful fish man

Quote from Chuckd

You won't believe this - 29fsw on a public artificial reef. Go figure. GR is my hero.
C

nice! but shhhh... the spearboard style story sounds better :thumbsup2:

awesome fish! yes, tell us the story!

Quote from greekdiver

Nice fish! How deep did you get him? Any story to it?

Congrats! :thumbsup2:

if this was spearboard, it would go something like this, "shot it in 85' with one fin, freeshaft and my buddy was right behind me to put second shot, we then extracted fish out of hole in 100'" :thumbsup2:

or even worse,
" i shot it at a deep wreck when I went into silent hunting mode by momentarily stopping suction of my regulator, then turned the scooter straight up full ahead to pull fish out of the wreck, it was the toughest dive ever"

Quote from The freediver

I live in Costa Mesa which is Orange County about 30 minutes south of LB. If you want to borrow the suit then you can pick it up and head right out of Newport Beach on the Catalina Flyer which is a badass Catamaran that gets you there quick.

cool! let's do that, please check your pm!

thanks!

Quote from Don Paul

Roger that I'll PM you the latest info I have before you leave. There are also some good spots close to Avalon you can hit from shore or rental kayak, but you should have a float because of possible boat and PWC traffic.
What gun do you have, reef fish or Yellowtail and bonita?

Cheers, Don

i'll be using an RA 110 with reel, ready for whatever! but will mostly look for reef and yellows. the boat will be with me at all times and there will be a couple of other guys in the water as well, mostly as spectators I suppose :laughing3:

thanks don, I appreciate the help!

well, thanks guys.

Don, I'll be arriving in long beach on 8/23, then heading out to Catalina on 8/28 until 8/29, will stay over in the island on 8/28, I would appreciate that very much!

Freediver, that is close to my size, I wear a 52ML or 54. I might take you up on that. where are you located?

Thanks!

yeah, I just checked the bouys, 64 degrees, that's kind of chilly

keeping the expectations really low, last year taught me that :laughing3:, it's more of a leisure trip than a hunting trip so it's all good

thanks though

I'm going to be in the long beach area for a few days including a weekend for one of my frequent projects out there and with my business partner and some other guys we're going to try to do some diving around the catalina island

I could use some advise, when I dove the area in san clemente last year around the same time, the temp was 70 so I could get away with a 3mm, what do you guys think the temp will be the first week of sept?

can anyone share with me some general pointers on what section of the island could hold fish? what's the main game fish there, yellowtails? should I look for kelp beds or rocky bottom? depth? we'll be in a boat.

any advise will be appreciated, thanks guys

Quote from seaweed

Man thats a great haul.

no kidding, hadn't seen a miami haul like that in a while.

nice mutton Dan, looking forward to the rest of the story and pics!

nice king, nice raft!

i'm dying to get back in the water myself, I think I've forgotten how to dive

Quote from gerald

Could have gone either way. Spain definitely wasn't as dominant as was expected, especially in the 2nd half and overtime. Oh well, shit happens. Its so much more impressive to win it Brazill in 4 years...

you thinking Holland has a chance in Brasil? you just made me laugh :laughing3:

this was your chance buddy.

Spain played strong and won it. they didn't score much but they did when it mattered.

I went out diving with Rodolfo and Marco recently in PR, and I can tell you that Rodolfo is a straight up guy. he makes a living from spearfishing and noone outshoots him in the water, he is a diving machine, and he is very selective with his catches, most of the fish he shot the day I went out with him were quality fishes, big, at least by our standards in the US, big hogs, big muttons, big dogs, no small fish. I think that right there speaks loudly of how serioulsy he takes the sport/job and how selective he is.

it is a shame that this thread took a bad turn, but it sounded to me like Rodolfo makes some good points.

by the way, while I was on his boat, I contributed a share of gas and "Carmelo style" sandwhiches, there was no premium for diving with him :thumbsup2:

peace guys, PR is too smal to be divided.

you don't need a passport.

enjoy the trip, it's a nice place!

nice Rolo, how far were you guys from the oil? any signs of it where you went?

Quote from Marco

If you want to stay in San Juan, there is no good shore diving. Did you ever got in touch with Fernando? Is your weekend is the one of 26 and 27, I have soccer tournament with my children. For sure you can get along with some of the guys here. Ask Rodolfo (Asesino) he goes out almost every day. Anyone of us could lend you a speargun and weight belt. I assume you are bringing the rest, right?

Thanks Marco.

I did get in touch with Frenando a while ago, but since this is not officially a diving trip, we'll probably be staying at a resort so the wife can do other stuf. I will be bringing everything else in terms of gear. I'd love to get out one day. I'll try to get in touch with rodolfo.

I'll look up Rincon, maybe I'll travel there one day

Harry, I promised her a trip for our aniversary this year, she deserves it, be nice

hey guys, I'm going to be in PR the last weekend of June with the wife for a long weekend and need some guidance, I'd like to do some diving while I'm there. I'll be bringing dive gear but no spearfishing gear,

we'd like to stay in the San Juan area but not in a busy hotel area, we like more of the remote places. we definitely want to stay by the water. are there any places with some decent shore diving where I could snorkel in deeper waters?

if anyone is heading out that weekend I'd love to join, I can dive well and can be a spotter or camara man, just looking to do some diving.

we're looking at the Ritz in Isla verde, but it doesn't seem from what I read that the diving there is any good.

Any advice please?

Thanks

nice fish, that is a big yellow jack!