Posts by Juan

If a tree squirrel is on the ground, does it become a ground squirrel?

Welcome Clint! You gotta come out this summer and use that prize you won at the auction. Hope all is well buddy

I've had it happen about three times. Once, it was a small sabbat (sp) sailboat, with some boy scouts on board. It ripped the gun from my hands, and caught the flopper on my hand. Luckily, it only left a small cut. But when the gun got wrapped up in the kelp, it capsized their boat. I swam over to make sure they were ok, and they were, no harm to my float line, and I retrieved all my gear. The other two times were by a power boat, and luckily, the float line just wrapped around the front of the outboard, and missed getting cut by the prop by about 1/2". Retrieved all my gear again. I had a buddy whose line, gun and float were all taken by a boat, and were never seen again. About $2500 worth of gear. He was less than pleased.

Hey there guys, long time since my last update, and I apologize for that. Things have been shaping up well out here. Some good squid around, and relatively clear water. It's still chilly, but definitely is starting to shape up. I haven't gotten out as much as I'd like, but when I have, it's been rewarding. I hope to get out sometime next week, and will post a report on how I did. Seas are calm today, and the sun is shining. Hope all is well in speardiver land!

Gotta love buccaneer's day!

Kelp beds are similar to forests on land. At the base of the stalks, there is usually space between them. Sometimes there are thicker beds than others, but usually you can navigate through them fairly easily. The tops are just like the canopy in the forest as well. It can get so thick it will block out all light. You can drive a boat through it, but you will get your prop wrapped up pretty good. I normally dive off of kayaks and small boats, so dealing with the kelp is simple. You can actually tie off your kayak to the kelp, and it serves as a great anchor. In smaller boats, you can just pull up the motor and unwrap it if it gets bad. Also, you must make sure you clear the prop of any kelp before you get underway, or it can cause some serious engine damage.

On spearing out here, I live on Catalina Island, which provides a different type of underwater terrain. There are spots here that drop to 200' just a few yards off shore. There are some flat, sandy spots here, but mostly drop-offs and the such. There are a few pinnacles and rocks located a bit outside, and they can be productive if you learn how to work them. The currents get pretty strong out here as well. Vis is usually better than the mainland, sometimes up to 100'+, but average 20-25'. Vis can change dramatically as well. It can turn over and green up within a day or so.

We used to have a tank divided into 3 different bottom colors. They would put some turbots in there, and watch them change color as they settled down. Pretty cool stuff. Thanks Brett!

What a difference 24 hours will make. Seas are flat near shore, but the vis is probably going to be crap for a while. Hopefully, it stays calm, and clears up for us. Not sure what the forecast is, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Old Cat pic... (gotta love college girls!)

Great topic! I'll chime in when I'm not on my phone.

Nice haul man. How do you prepare the crabs? I always see them around, just never thought to grab any.

So it turns out the storm really beat up the frontside. Normally the wind comes from the south, but not last night. It was howling, and raining sideways for a while. If you're planning on coming out, it's probably a good idea to think twice about it. Some serious lumps out there on the water, and the runoff near shore is pretty brown. It won't get you sick, but you won't see much. Might be a good day to work on your gear!

Forgot the obligatory Cat pic...

So after the last storm, things seemed to hold up. Conditions are still good, not sure about temps, but I can only assume that they are dropping along with the air temps around here. There's another big storm on the horizon, so hopefully, the same thing happens again. Vis looks good out there right now, between 20-30', and not much swell action. There is a slight downhill bump, but nothing unmanageable. Hope this helps guys

I've used Riffe's, Aimrite's and Mori's. Riffe's have horrible hydrodynamics, and will veer your shots off significantly. Aimrite's are nice, but they are on the small side. I've landed quite a few nice fish with it though. I've used it on my riffe c3x for some time, and it's good for that size of gun. Mori's are top notch, and he's a great guy to deal with. They are a bit bigger, and therefore heavier, so be sure to have a gun with enough mass to handle the amount of power it will take to propel the shaft at the same speed. I've seen the Plamen Kolev ones, they're pretty cool, but something about the amount of parts within them doesn't sit right to me. A tiny little SS ring holds the line in place, and the screw on tips... that's two too many parts for me. K.I.S.S. right? There's lots of good stuff out there, JBL's warhead tip is a no-frills workhorse. And of course MAKO just came out with one too. Heck, Neptonics has the ultimate sliptip they're offering now.

Damn, I guess it all comes down to what will work for you! Good luck!

Sorry for the lapse in updates, it's been a long couple of days here on the isthmus. We had a good Halloween, and we're still in the process of cleaning up.

Water has been calm lately, but I think it may be changing rather quickly here. Some serious gale-force winds have been predicted, but have yet to show up here on Cat. The water still looks good, with 20-30' vis, but if the water gets churned up, you can say bye bye to that. Today was one of those morning where on my drive to work, I could see the mainland quite clearly. That usually means there's some serious weather coming. I'll try to keep this updated throughout the next few days, but it's probably a good idea to think twice about making the crossing out here. When the fan turns on, you don't want to be out there.

Stay safe guys/girls.

And now for another oldie but goodie for the masses:

Another beautiful, calm morning here on Catalina. Almost zero wind to speak of as I type this. Hopefully it holds up. Flat seas, and kelp is up. If I get a chance, I'll head down to the water and give it a look.

So I wanted to contribute something to this board, since the "other" one just gets way too many views by non-members. This is a "permanent" thread meant to help those who want the heads up on the conditions here on Catalina before they head out to sea. Please feel free to update this thread as needed, and while you don't need to give any specific spots out, just give a general area (i.e. Frontside, Backside etc.). I figure there are plenty of people who have the means to get out here on a good day, but if not so good, it may save them some fuel or help to avoid some potentially dangerous conditions.

So, as of today, 10-26-11, on the frontside, water seems very calm, with a slight1-3' swell, headed downhill (East towards Avalon). Not sure of temps, but vis seems to be a solid 20', with a possibility of clearer water on the outside. Big tide changes are making for murky conditions near sandy areas, but not so much near the rocky shoreline.

Hope this helps.

Oh, I just wanted to give you the obligatory first pic from Cat, although it's not too recent

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! Life's good out here on the island, and I heard some nice sized yt have been shot recently on the west end. Lots of fog out here right now, but that just means the waters are calm. We've been busy with the Haunted House lately, so I haven't had a chance to get out much since the fall classic. Speaking of which, it was great to finally meet you Don Paul! Hope to get a dive in with you some day.

Hello to everyone, my name is Juan, and I'm a spearfisher. I live in Two Harbors, Catalina Island. Been spearing for a little under 10 years, but have grown up in and around the water my whole life. I look forward to contributing to the board!