Posts by Don Paul

  • Chumfest 2010 (picture intensive)

    What a feed, love the picture of the Pompano, that's some fine eats mate.
    Funny thing.... at first I thought.... that water looks strange for the Marquesas..... thinking Marquesas Island . <img src= " class="smiley" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x" height="23" width="23" loading="eager" data-tooltip="biggrin" aria-label="biggrin"> where are the rock cliffs ?


    Great job landing the Pompano mate.:thumbup:


    Cheers, Don Paul

  • My Kind Of Forum

    Welcome freekeydiver. I have heard of Jack Kearns, and I have a old sports illustrated with the Pinder bros on the cover in my den. Great to have you here mate.


    Cheers, Don Paul

  • Finished Intermediate Performance Freediving course

    Quote from O2 deprived

    I'm just saying it's too bad they were fished out . I think it's great that they are coming back due to the protection. Nothing better than having them come up and check you out when you are diving.
    Sorry it upset you, Don. that was not the intention-- I am way more of an enviro-freak as you well know!
    I am one of a very few 4th generation coastal Californians- the changes we have seen here are horrendous- oh the stories my Dad tells of the Channel Islands.
    I took the pic off. - BTW-don't ever go to Blue Water grill.


    Not up set I have a strong backround in fish conservation you may not know about going back to 1982, but this is not the thread for me to list that.


    Don

  • Finished Intermediate Performance Freediving course

    Quote from O2 deprived

    thanks Don; will do!
    Catalina- those were the days!


    I have a hard time looking at that image as much now as I did in the late 70's than I started diving here in Cali, I have and never will shoot a Black Sea Bass even in Mexico where it's still legal.
    My club was instrumental in helping to bring about making BSB a no take fish in Calif.
    The Avalon Pier pictures and the tonnage of fish in one hero shot would make a better point, but what is the point of that image and this thread?
    The Late Al jr was not a Neptune BTW.
    Don

  • Custom Euro Gun Builders

    Quote from fuzz

    I had one... back in 2004 or so? Probably traded it away in 2005. :)


    I remember Rene Rojas was a big fan of them. They move through the water really nice, but I wasn't terribly impressed with how it shot. For such a high end gun, the balance also seemed a bit off (slightly top heavy). Didn't pay as much attention back then to the band/shaft power balance, so curious what my impressions would be of them today (if properly configured). ?(


    That gun was a turning point using new methods and technology along with pricey advertising in Italy.
    For me the art and design was a factor much like that of most things Italian that I covet.


    Cheers, Don

  • Finished Intermediate Performance Freediving course

    Quote from O2 deprived

    I am going to Cat. to work with some of the young guys this week. We are going to do some drops and work on entries,breath hold, stealthy dive technique.Doubt I will have a chance to try to tag a calico but you never know.


    The water is warming with our little heat wave.What general area are you going to do drops ? I would avoid Blue Carvern and the East end quarry in over 150fsw in Oct if you train that area later.
    Stay safe, have fun and the real fat calico come out when the sun quits getting in their eyes.
    Cheers, Don

  • Finished Intermediate Performance Freediving course

    Quote from O2 deprived

    just an Ok from your Dr. blood pressure, heart rate, breathing- normal stuff. It really isn't that difficult. No course will force you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable-- at least none that I know of. You can hold your breath for as long as you want or not- dive to max depth or not. It is not a contest. Don't worry about it. It really is a nice experience for all divers.
    BTW- I have no association with any of these course groups- not an advertisement just my student experience.


    I try to stay in above average condition by mountain biking, anaerobic walking ( in a safe place) freediving,and some hatha yoga for relaxation. I believe as long as long one has good genes, and eats well, exercise can be the fountain of youth.


    I look forward to training and spearfishing with you when our schedules permit, there is much I can learn
    from a champion swimmer and diver.


    Cheers, Don

  • Finished Intermediate Performance Freediving course

    Quote from O2 deprived

    [quote='Don Paul','http://spearfishing.world/forums/index.php?thread/&postID=33551#post33551']


    Hey Don,
    why don't you come down to the Blue Hole and as a present to yourself, dive your age- 58m? or PFI has a class in Cayman where you can dive that deep. Most of the other classes aren't set up for those depths.Cayman is nice but you can't hunt there unless you are a local with ancient equipment.;)


    The only way I'm going to 58m is if I drop my gun and am not smart enough to pull out of the dive.
    At least I'll be going for it, but you better be there to shoot me in the fin at 190 and swim me up.;)


    I would fit in very well with the Cayman kids, and I do have ancient equipment in great shape.
    Hunting is something I can do without as long as a have a camera and the water is warm and clear.
    One of the prime reasons I would do a class is to surround my self in deep blue water and look up.


    I was actually invited to Pipini's first class in San Diego but my deep diving friend from Switzerland begged me to go instead. He took the class and on every dive trip would make sure he dove deeper then me whether fish were there or not. I told him to take it easy we had nothing to prove among friends. I also told Alex never to train alone in the pool. A month later my friends in South Africa sent word he was found alone sitting on the bottom of a pool the next day without a pulse.


    I only bring this up to stress that any diver with the wrong motives that fails to listen to his teachers
    is a dead diver. No 5 day class makes you a deep diver


    I have never dove over 105' shooting fish but I have manged to stay alive for 30 years of blue.
    Someday though I want slide down that rope in warm blue water to 190' and see what its like.
    Cheers, Don

  • Blue Fin Tuna take

    Quote from O2 deprived


    Environmentally, fish farming only works in some species thus far ( tilapia, catfish,steelhead). Many farming practices( salmon) infect the wild population with disease and inferior genetics.Those tuna pens have not been successful. I think in time we will work these things out- at least I hope so.


    Most of the Blue Fin tuna in pens come from the wild and are only in the pen to gain weight and fat content. Recently As the world's love affair with raw fish depletes wild tuna populations, long-running efforts to breed the deep-sea fish from egg to adulthood may finally be bearing fruit.


    By the end of this year, an Australian company says it will begin selling small amounts of southern bluefin tuna hatched in its fishery. A Japanese firm breeding the more prized Pacific bluefin tuna hopes to start sales in 2013 and ship 10,000 fish by 2015.

    I am fish subsistence hunter that does not buy any fish from a store, I do not rely on any net or commercial fishing process to put meat on the table for me or my guests.I don't even buy it in restaurants. I do agree that Northern Blue Fin quotas were a joke for many years but I have no problem harvesting pacific blue fin by shaft in my local waters, and no Perch or Sargo have ever been harmed by my spear or in the writing of this post.^^;)


    I do completely respect your opinion though and personal choices.


    Cheers, Don

  • Blue Fin Tuna take

    Quote from O2 deprived

    I can't support killing bluefin under any circumstances.


    O2deprived does your statement cover all tuna: Pacific, Southern, big eye and long fins ( albacore)
    or just the Northern Blue fin giants ? How do you feel about farm raised tuna ?


    Cheers, Don