Posts by Maguimaraes

  • May 15 diving

    Is that the same kind of Barracuda we get here in California?


    Why is it that most people bad mouth them? Taste bad? I know that some in other parts of the country and world have some sort of toxin but I don't think the local ones do.


    I've seem some big ones at the islands here and missed a shot but never tried them...

  • Cool dive yesterday

    Quote from Trace

    Great job Marcelo. Always good to hear your stories.
    Let's dive when you get your new gun.
    Trace


    Trace, It arrived a few hrs ago! Looks pretty cool, now I just need to see if fish really come and try to spear themselves with it just to say they were hit by a **** speargun!:cool2:


    Let get in the water soon, we need to make it happen, been talking about it for too long,:thumbsup2:


    Any luck with your gun?

  • Cool dive yesterday

    Yesterday (monday) I had promised to take my son to the beach before going to Capoeira class, we ended up bringing my mom along so I packed my gear in the car and off we went.


    The sun was out, tide going up and a small swell was building up but viz was pretty decent.


    I went out looking for White Sea Bass and shortly after getting to the spot I have been seeing them I see a few cruising the bottom but all were small so I kept waiting at the surface and laying on the bottom waiting for something legal to show up but no luck.


    At one point, I was crawling along the bottom and as I am heading up for air, I notice a little patch of sand and what could have been a buried rock but it was wide enough that I was pretty sure it was an Angel shark so I decided to come back down and inspect it a little more since i could not see a head or tail but was "sure" it was a shark, once down, I locate the spot and my face is just a couple of feet from it when very casually the biggest Halibut I have seen pops out and swims away in no hurry.


    Even as it was bolting out of hiding, It took me a couple of seconds to realize it was NOT a shark so I swim after it to see if it was going to settle but I missed my chance.


    That encounter was enough to make my brain switch from WSB to starring at any patch of sand for the next few minutes. no more than 5 minutes later as I am in about 10" of water, half way down looking for my missing fish, from the corner of my eye I notice something approaching me from the left and as I turn my head I realize that it's a bat ray about 4' to 5' across about to bump me, literally. We were inches away from each other...


    I don't know if the ray was drunk or stoned but it did not move away until we looked in each others eyes, as soon as I turned my head I almost jumped out of the water and I must have awaked the beast because it too almost jumped out of the water...one of those movie scenes where both stare at each other and scream like little girls!:laughing3:



    I dove for a little longer but no legal WSB crossed my path...:(


    I swam in, grabbed my kid, mom and went to class...great day for all!:thumbsup2:

  • Diving for Pismo Clams

    My simple recipe for the "regular" clams.


    After they are cooked, remove from shell, in a bowl add good olive oil to cover the clams, salt and black pepper to taste, a little bit of garlic, a little vinegar and oregano, let it marinate for a couple of hrs in the fridge.


    Eat plain on a toothpick/fork or on sliced baguette.

  • Diving for Pismo Clams

    Did you get the smaller clams to purge all the sand? I got a few the other day and even after an overnight soak there was still sand inside so after boiling I removed them from the shell and hand washed one by one.

  • Another one bites the dust...

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    Wow. What a warrior. Glad you found her and could give the proper respect and shared battle. It would have new shitty if she was foul hooked by a head boat patron and not appreciated.


    Good on you. Blessings on the meal


    Agreed, It would suck to have her being brought up and beat up with a club! I've seen some videos where the guy is beating the fish so much looks like he is mad at it instead of trying to dispatch it.


    Thanks Sames and Hookingfish...


    SD, it sure is awkward at times.


    Don, I sure am...been eating lots of perch lately!:laughing:


    I had some guests yesterday and we served as appetizers assorted cheeses and halibut sashimi, for main course was rice and dried salted Cod with sliced potatoes, onions, bell peppers, olives and olive oil!

  • Another one bites the dust...

    Yesterday I helped my mother in law move and after it was done, I packed my gear and headed to water.


    Got in about 4:30PM hoping to see what I had been seeing the whole week. Viz on the inside was good but as I moved deeper it got darker and murkier. There were some HUUUGE rubber lips around, some bait and eventually large Jacksmelt, cool because the hole week the ghost was hanging with Jack!


    I repeated the same plan from the day before, look for bass and scan for halis once i a while but unfortunately, history was repeating itself and I did not get a shot at anything so I start heading back to entry point.


    About the same area I shot the halibut on the day before I see this odd shape on top of the rocks and realize it's the tail of a halibut, directly underneath me and facing in the same direction...CRAP!


    Ok Marcelo, relax and pretend you did not see it...so I keep on swimming and start pointing the gun at its head and praying that it does not bolt, as soon as I have a good angle on the shaft I pull the trigger and all hell brakes loose!


    Halibut starts trashing around as I pray for my shaft to have gone all the way trough and not hit a rock when all of the sudden the fish swims away from me as fast as a jet but it starts pulling my float line...ziiiing I hear as it slides in my hand and I start to put some pressure on it but no help, the fish just keeps on going and I start to swim/get dragged after it.


    After what seemed like forever, the line stops and I start to follow it only to find my shaft sitting on the floor next to some kelp. I feel a heavy weight inside me and realize its my heart sinking!


    I start to gently pull the line and soon feel and little resistance and at the same time hell brakes loose again!!!
    Trashing, sand getting kicked up, kelp getting wrapped around me and flashes of white come and go but eventually it all calms down again and I take a few seconds to catch my breath and relax because I can actually feel and hear my heart beating.


    I go down again to look where the fish is and find it laying next to another kelp patch as I site there admiring this beautiful fish, I am planning on what/how am I going to get it so I try to grab the line but the fish wants none of it and puts up another great fight, once again I wait for the dust to settle and go look for it but this time I have my knife in hand, I dive over the fish and stick the knife in its head and flip it belly up as quickly as possible, by this time we are both tired and the is not a lot of resistance on the hali's side.


    Hand goes in the gills, and with a firm grip on the fish I pull the knife out and stick it this time in it's brains, go in peace my friend, thank you for a great fight and the food you are going to provide my family!


    That is when I noticed this big scar on the bottom...I wish there was a way for us to communicate, I'd love to hear how she got that...for a great fighter she was!

  • Hali and baby bass

    I was out a few times this week and started seeing a few bass, most just about legal but a few with some good size to them, at least comparing to the ones I saw last season.


    Today I manage another dive and within 5 mins. saw a legal but decided to pass because that is what I shot last season so I did not want to shot another baby, or at least I was trying really hard not to...


    I kept moving to a side of the bed where i had seem them before and looking for Halibut as I went...saw some good sized calicos...good to see them coming around as well, its been bad at this spot during the whole winter.


    I reach the spot and sure enough they were there at least the small ones, I keep on seeing shorts and just legals but nothing exciting, about one hr into this spot I see a good sized (to me) but it's in a bad angle and I can't take the shot.


    Another while goes by and I see one that is slightly smaller but good, I aim, pull the trigger and boom! My bubble is burst, I missed the shot!


    I swim around for another while looking for wsb and halis as I pass the sand patches but nothing. Finally I convince myself that is time to go home and start the swim back to my entry point...as I reach an area more favorable for halis I king of give up on the wsb mode and go into hali mode full time.


    When I get to about 8 feet of water and am out of the kelp bed, I cross an itty bitty patch of grass and from it comes out 2 wsb, on surely short and
    one a little bigger, this time I could not resist and pull the trigger on the bigger one. No more and 10 feet from where I put it on my stringer was a little rocky area and I decide to check it for buts and as luck would have it there was one just laying on top of the sand/rocks after a few second of hesitation due to angle and rock under the fish, i put myself on a good angle and pull the trigger again and the fish take off like a bat out of hell!


    A little chase is issued and eventually the fish makes its way to the stringer!


    It sure feels good to put some game fish on the table, lately i had been going crazy on the perch nothing else was making it's way to my spear!