Those are some big flat fish Mike, congrats. No wonder you have a 2 fish limit, that's an extra 50lbs of wieght right there!
OUt of curiosity, do you use soft wieghts inside the vest, and do they slide around inside the pocket when you move?
John,
I used the hard weights but the lead shot might be a good option. The 2lb hard weights are a tight fit to the pockets. You could also cast some lead plates in various weights. I did that for my spetton vest.
Thanks for the report. I just bought three wetsuits and now I am regretting not getting a pursuit. Bummer.
Mike
that was a great report...thank you mike..i enjoy your style of telling very much.
nice review too...I might want to look into the vest...What are you going to be charging for them Dan?
Thanks. I love using a vest. The guys I dive with get tired of hearing about it. I dove up in Malibu a few weeks ago and left the vest at home. I had to put extra weight around my waist to compensate. After diving with it for a year I really missed having it. Just felt awkward.
Mike
Nice pics Mike, love the sea lion pup one. Judging by the size of the vest those halibut are huge. What did they weigh?
I did not weigh them. They were 39 and 40 inches in length.
I had a chance to dive with Dan’s weight vest for a few hours. It’s a nice product that accepts the standard 2lb weights. I’ve been diving with a vest for a little over a year and consider it an essential piece of gear. It makes it easier to drop down, level off and control movement underwater. I prefer the vest to the harness systems. IMO it does a better job putting the weight over the lungs.
Anyhow, for those who are not familiar with Southern California fishing we have a bait fish in the smelt family that spawns in the tidal zone through out the spring and summer months. The Grunion come in on the high tides and deposit and fertilize eggs that will hatch during the next high tide.
For more info on Grunion:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/grunion.asp
Larger fish take advantage of the grunion spawns. Particularly the California Halibut. Larger halibut will follow the grunion in for the feast and linger around for a few days or longer. While we have good halibut fishing year round the numbers and size bump up during the grunion runs.
Here is some California halibut video from last year:
This morning I got to the spot at first light. The ocean was at dead dog low tide. -.8ft on the tide charts. The tide pools were all drained out and many of the intertidal creatures were left high and dry. Star fish, limpets and anemones to name a few. Even a sea lion pup managed to get stranded by the out going tide.
After a few hours of diving and passing up dozens of smaller fish I score two nice fish. My partner also shot two. I passed on a smallish but legal wsb on the way back in. I have a two halibut limit at this spot due to the climb out is up a gnarly goat trail to the top of a 60ft bluff. Fun dive and a great morning to be in So Cal..
Cheers,
Mike aka ladvr
Welcome Hutton.
I did a camo job on my MT0. Great results.
The observation tinu made is not unique to your gun. Coming from a wood gun background all pipe guns to me appear to be weak in that department, pneumatics also. Jeff's solution is probably the strongest I've ever seen. The new Aimrite muzzle also incorporates a standalone stainless steel line anchor. The Riffe line anchor is good, so is the Neptonics and the Aimrite. They're all pretty much the same, thing is you need a flat spot on the bottom of the gun where you can recess the line anchor.
You can easily make one from a rectangular piece of stainless steel. Just bend the front part out and drill a hole into it, smoothing out any rough edges. If you're not using a reel and don't need the line to pass through the line anchor you can simply drill a hole from one side of the gun to the other and tie/crimp the shooting line there. Then bend a piece of wire for the wrapping of the line like I did here.
Dan,
What are the specs on the wire you are using? How is it fastened?
Mike
Perfect size for a white sea bass. How thick is the insulation?
Welcome. I envy any who lives in Encinitas. Cool little town.
Mike
Nice wetsuit Dan! Does that come in a 5mm? Sorry for the derail!
I have the same problem. The water spots don't show up real well in the monitor. What kinda of wetsuit are you wearing in that pic John. Cool pattern.
Mike
looking forward to the reviews...I have a lot of faith that vests, done right, are superior...I hate that feeling of ache from having your belt on your lower back all day.
Nice vest. Uses the standard two lb weights. My other vest required making ingots to fit the pocket. If it quits blowing I will get it wet some time this week.
Mike
Mono is way smoother than dyneema. No need for tests. You can clearly see it in the shot.
I use 1.4 mono vs 1.75 dyneema.
Got it. So is the 1.4 mono 200lb test? I was thinking 400lb.
I don't read Spanish. I assume a "congrats" is in order!
Mike
Dyneema slows down your shot a lot but it's a lot stronger than mono.
Thats interesting. I wonder why its slower? It has less mass and less friction. What kind of dyneema are you using and how are you testing shaft speed?
Mike
Cool thread. You guys shoot some nice fish!
Bad ass pics!
Mike
Wow! Nice fish. Are they good eating?
Mike
Overall, if you spool your floatline oftenly to keep your float close to you (as I do), you spend much more time doing it than spooling your reel after each shot.
Curious about this. Why would you spool a float line? If I want my float close to me I use a tuna clip to attach it to the floatline. Am I doing something wrong?
Mike
