Posts by UWAddict

  • Hello from central california

    Welcome back to diving, Jason. If you're interested in leaping straight in and getting to know the CenCal/NorCal dive community. I highly recommend you check out the Big Ab Big Ling tournament. Its happening the weekend of June 8. Its always a total blast. There are usually over 100 registered divers. Most bring their families, significant others, pets, etc. It would be a great place for you to make a couple dive buddies. Even when the dive conditions suck there's always some place to get in the water on the north coast and pull your abs, then everyone heads back to the campground for some good eats, tasty brews, and to lie to one another about the weight of all of the fish we've caught :laughing:.


    #8 BABL June 7th 2014

  • Suspenders or not?

    Quote from phil herranen

    i have never noticed any restriction in breathing withe ether type of pants with a correctly fitting suit , the reason for 7mill on your arms and leg is they need to flex and bend ,and 14mm on your core because that is where all your vitals are and where the mass of your body is , also when you get cold your blood vesels in your arms and legs constrict to keep blood in your core to conserve warmth . the military makes heated vest to keep your core warm so you can wear thin sleaves and gloves so intricate work can still be done in sub 0 temps . almost all surf suits have a thicker chest than arms and legs .i have worn both and a high wast is colder and you get more water flushing than a farmer jon . the only advantage to a high wast pant is the ability to do a water dump which isnt really a option when you are diving in water cold enuff that you are wearing a 5mm or 7mm suit. to me it makes no sense to wear thick sleaves and a not a doubled up core
    phil


    Agreed 100%.


    Dan, I think the difference between our definition of cold water (45*) and your definition of cold water (70*) might be responsible for the difference of perspective here.


    I have a custom 7mm Polosub suit for all of my NorCal diving. It fits me absolutely like a glove. And even that suit allows a small amount of water in. If I hop in and hop right out, I'll stay dry, but if I'm shorediving for 4 hours, I will end up with water in my suit (and yes, I have a pissette, so the water in the suit is not urine).


    When I ordered it, I didn't realize that Polosub's default is high pant, or I would have requested the suspender type. I can tell you with no equivocation that a high pant for up here is not as good as the suspender. Not only is a 7mm so thick that having that seam right around your diaphragm is super annoying, but also the seam where the high pant ends creates just a tiny air space in the suit right there. That spot fills with water over the course of a dive and put cool water exactly where you don't want it if you plan on being in 45* water for a couple of hours. The Polosub is still the warmest suit I've owned (compared to OMER, Beuchat, Cressi), but I do regret not getting the suspender pants.


    I'm gearing up for a trip to Mexico, leaving next week and I was looking at buying a Speardiver 5mm. When I saw that suspender type was not an option, I moved on and am considering other brands.

  • Spearfishing SoCal Summer 2012 - New video

    I posted this up on another board, but figured I should share it over here as well.


    -------


    For some of you SoCal guys, there are mahi, yellows, and seabass yet to be shot before you call the summer over and resign yourself to winter diving. For me, I've only got a few trips south each season in which to get in my SoCal gamefish fix. The last of those trips came to an end on September 3rd, so unless I can arrange a blitz to Baja in the coming weeks, my 5mm is getting hung in the garage and won't be pulled back out until we're months into 2013.


    With my summer season pretty much wrapped up, I've spent my evenings over the last couple weeks sifting through many gigabytes of video, pulling out the better footage, compiling it, and putting it to music. Here's the product. All of this footage was filmed from May to September in Southern California; some of it offshore and some at the Channel Islands.




    Southern California Spearfishing 2012 - YouTube





    In case you weren't convinced you want to watch, here are some screen grabs (some are reposts).
















    This one isn't a screen grab, but rather a photo taken with the gopro of my PB yellowtail (seen in the video):


    Thanks for watching. :beer:

  • Humboldt Dinosaur

    Awesome post, Sam. Pic heavy with food, fish and fungi. What more can you ask for in a thread? Gorgeous ling! I haven't seen any big lings in a long time, I'm super envious.


    I'm headed up to Humboldt this coming weekend. Based on the current forecast, it doesn't look like it'll be divable, but we're hoping to stock up on goldens!

  • Speardiver Aluminum Gun?

    Quote from Adrian

    Well for whatever is worth I bought one of these in the 120 length and I am very happy with it. My diving has been reduced to a couple of weekends out of the year so I can't say I've used it a whole lot though. Very smooth trigger, love the muzzle and the handle plus its lighter than my Rob Allen. Dan added some speardiver stickers he had in blue and it looks great. My 2c


    The other gun I'm seriously considering is a Rob Allen 120. I would be really interested to hear more about how they compare if you get the chance. Thanks.

  • Speardiver Aluminum Gun?

    Has anyone tried one of these yet? I'm in the market for a 120cm gun. Based on the photos it looks like the line release is plastic. I'd be worried about it snapping. Dan do you have more photos of this new line of guns?

  • San Clemente Island 7/13-7/16

    Dove San Clemente Island Friday through Monday with my Dad, brother Bryan, and buddies Michael and Alex. Vis varied everywhere from 15ft to 50ft and was really inconsistent. Some dives we'd jump in to see 40ft vis only to have green 20ft visibility water roll in an hour later. Clarity was also variable by depth, tending to be hazy right on the surface, clear from 5-30ft, then green green below that. Temps ranged from 61 to 71. It tended to be 64ish in Pyramid/China and 68ish on the east side.


    Yellowtail were in, but hard to connect with. Had many more sightings than landings. Total of 5 yellows landed from 25 to 36 pounds. Nearly all of the yellows we saw were estimated over 20 pounds. The 3 fish we landed on one dive went 34, 34, 36. Dove hard for halibut at our best spots for nada. Checked the south and east side beds for seabass. No ghosts seen in the south, a pair of small schoolies sighted on the east side, but none shot. I understand from Joe Farlo's report that there were seabass around and I'm pretty sure we hit the same beds he did, but we just weren't in the right place at the right time I guess. We didn't put too much time toward hunting calicos, but I did see some real lunkers. Unfortunately those sightings all seemed to come when I was holding off for seabass and/or had the sliptip on. My buddy landed a chubby 6.5 pound calico on the last afternoon of the trip, though.


    It was a trip with some pretty incredible moments. First of which was on the way out to the island Friday morning. We headed to the 43 on our way to the island to see if the paddy yellows might be starting up (all paddies seen were dry dry, not even all that much bait on them). Upon arriving at the 43, however, we saw a large pod of blue whales (5-8 individuals) seeming to just mill around. Watching them for a while, we realized that they were feeding. We marveled as they would turn sideways, open their mouth wide and engulf however many hundreds of gallons of seawater and prey. Prior to the trip, I decided that if we came upon whales and the moment seemed right, I wanted to try to dive with them. Well, this seemed like the perfect opportunity, so we suited up and hopped in the whaler to get close to them. Bryan put Alex, Michael and myself in perfect position to dive in and catch about a 10 second glimpse of these massive animals swimming away from us. Its a moment I won't soon forget.


    Perhaps the most amazing moment of the trip, though, came on the first dive at the island later that afternoon. We were in the water at a yellowtail spot on the east side of the island. Sitting outside this boiler rock, waiting for the yellows to show up, a school of what I first supposed were very large bonito came breezing through... Except they seemed too fat to be bonito... it wasn't until my brother yelled "BLUEFIN TUNA!!!!" that I realized what we were seeing. All four of the spearos in the water had independent sightings of the school (or multiple schools?) of bluefin over about an hour period. Unfortunately no one was able to close the gap to less than about 25 feet or so. Still an incredible sight to have within a hundred yards of shore.


    We had an absolutely great time out there. Ton of fun hanging out with family and buddies and spending the majority of our waking hours in the water. The surface conditions could hardly have been better, with glass calm greeting us most mornings on the lee side. All in all, we came home feeling like we didn't quite land as many fish as we should have for how many seemed to be out there, but considering the pile of fresh yellowtail we put in the fridge, I'm definitely not complaining.


    Here are some pics.






  • Omer Stingray foot pockets review

    Just wanted to bump this thread. I am using Speardiver C90 blades in Capt. Nemo pockets. The setup works fine for me (a definite improvement from my old Omer Millenium pockets, which I did not love), but when I try on my brother's Stingrays (with omer stingray carbon 20 blades), I continue to be amazed by how well they fit. I've tried 5 different types of pockets in the water (Omer Milleniums, Capt. Nemo, H. Dessault, Cressi, and Omer Stingray) and the Stingrays continue to be the most comfortable pocket I have ever had a chance to try. I'm thinking about picking up a pair of Stingrays to pair with my Speardiver C90 blades.


    Is anyone using Stingray pockets with their Speardiver fins? And if so, what do you think?

  • Speardiver C90 review

    Just got back from 9 days in Hawaii putting my new Speardiver blades through their paces. Short version is that I'm happy with my purchase and think these blades will serve me well for a long time to come.


    In the days leading up to my trip, I decided that I wanted to stop beating around the bush and go ahead and buy a new pair of fins. My C4 Flaps were too stiff for me and I wasn't totally satisfied with their performance. Well, the Thursday before I left (plane left Saturday morning), I called up Dan and asked if it would still be possible for me to get a pair before I left. He bent over backward to make sure I had the fins on Friday with enough time to get them installed in my pockets and all set. Thanks, Dan! Dan and I discussed at some length what stiffness would be best for me and he eventually convinced me that the "Soft" blades would be too soft, so he'd find me a Medium that was a bit softer than the norm and send me that.


    In Hawaii I spent between 5 and 8 hours per day, every day in the water diving (most of it spearfishing). The max depth I hit was 82 feet and max dive time was 1:54. In other words, I gave the fins the hardest work out I know how. They went from lustrous and beautiful to completely scratched and looking well used. Overall, I am satisfied with the blades.The stiffness level is great. I definitely had an easier time maintaining proper form with these blades as compared to my C4s. I never found them to be lacking in power when coming off the bottom at 75 feet, nor did I have trouble with my legs getting sore diving in current or long surface swims. Whether the performance from the blades and my subsequent improvements in form will increase my average bottom time, I'll have to wait and see. I don't distinctly remember what my bottom times were in Hawaii last time I was there and comparing CA dive times to Hawaii dive times is a complete apples to oranges comparison due to water temperature, wetsuit thickness, weighting, hunting style, visibility, etc. I have every reason to believe that these fins will perform great here in CA, though.


    Now for a couple of cons- For whatever reason, I did find that the Speardiver fins put quite a bit more strain on my ankles than I'm used to with my C4s. I believe that the angle on the speardivers isn't as much as that on the C4s, so I figure that the hours of surface swimming were wearing out my ankles for that reason. Not a huge deal. My ankles will get stronger. The other possibility I'm considering is that because the new blades allow me to have more proper technique to my kick cycles, I'm transferring more energy into my ankles and thus a bit of discomfort by the end of the day. Either way, it never significantly slowed me down or caused significant pain. Another issue I had with the blades is that I found that the water channeling rails are just the perfect dimensions and design for getting stuck between coral heads. I had probably a half dozen or 10 occasions where I'd go to reposition on the bottom or make my ascent and notice that my fin was a bit snagged. It never lost me any fish or did me any harm in any way, but I feared that sooner or later I might damage the rubber rail or have an approach on a fish interrupted by needing to unsnag the fin. Has anyone else had this issue with other brands? I'm not too worried about it because 90% of the time I used these fins will be here in CA and we don't have any coral to worry about.


    As I've said, though, I am overall satisfied with the new blades. I look forward to adding many more scratches to these fins in the years to come :thumbsup2:.

  • Speardiver carbon fins roll call

    Just placed my order for a pair of Speardiver c90 Medium stiffness blades to mount in my Capt Nemo pockets. Big thanks to Dan for taking the time to work through all my questions with me and getting these out the door to me on a greatly expedited schedule so I can have them for my trip to Hawaii (leaving Saturday!).


    I'll be sure to report back with a review when I get the chance.

  • Morel Mushroom hunting

    Somewhat off topic, but the water conditions in Cen/Nor Cal this past weekend were miserable (8ft swell, 20kt wind), so some buddies and I followed a lead I had for a spot around 4,500 feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains that was supposed to be producing morel mushrooms in massive abundance. We hit pay dirt big time. 4 guys, 1 car, 1 day, 85# of morels.


    If you've ever wanted to pick morel mushrooms, now is the time.






  • A Northern California Report

    Crazy timing. Last night I was thinking to myself "man, I could go for a good Kirby-style report right now", clicked into Speardiver and there it was! Thanks for the report. Sounds like stellar conditions ;).


    Seriously, though, could you teach me the art of trophy ab diving? I don't seem to have the patience for it. I would like to get my first 10 some time soon, but after measuring 300 9+ abs, I always just give up and pop three random ones and move on... Is there some technique to it or do you just need to keep dropping down and gauging snail after snail after snail?

  • Diving the Mendocino Coast for Abalone

    Quote from Hookinfish

    I did the classic egg and bread crumbs then I tried garlic, salt and pepper and fried them in a little olive oil. Then last night I put one in the pressure cooker for 35 minutes at 15 psi then I pulled it out and cut it into chunks and noticed it was still a little tough so I put the chunks in for another 15 minutes at 15 psi and used them as a garnish for a salad. I would like to smoke an abalone over some oak or some other kind of wood in strips and try it that way too. But so far fried is the best way. I will have to try your jalapeno, cheese and abalone won ton recipe next. :)


    Slice the ab thin, pound it out. Saute some green onion, garlic and fresh grated ginger in a wok or large saute pan with canola oil, crank the heat up until the pan is real hot (being careful not to burn your garlic and ginger) and toss the tenderized abalone in for maaaaybe 30-45 seconds (any longer and you will end up with rubber bands!). Get it off the heat right away and finish with a teaspoon or two of both sesame oil and chili oil. Bell pepper, broccoli, and mushrooms are optional, but I'll often do them in a separate pan so that I can be sure the pan the ab goes into is sufficiently hot. Serve over rice. It will come out tender and deeeeelicious. Mmm, makes my mouth water just thinking of it!