Posts by ladvr

  • New gun. New Moon. First Blood.

    Quote from Don Paul

    Great story Mike ! I was hoping you would post some thing in the Cali section, nice job.
    Those seas are as flat as it gets, I really like the image of the perch.
    I'll see ya up there in Feb/April when the White sea persh:D come back.
    In the mean time I need to saw 4' off my tuna gun and come out and play.
    Cheers, Don


    Thanks. I am going to keep diving with the short gun or polespear for another month or two.

  • New gun. New Moon. First Blood.

    Quote from hau

    ladvr---great story, great pictures, nice new gun and nice fish. :thumbsup2:
    If you don't mind, :
    1. Do you have the Riffe enclosed track on your new MT?
    2. I am a kayak spearo and was wondering; Would a yak be good for your type of spearing?
    Thanks


    No enclosed track. That gun is for very low visibility, point blank shooting. An enclosed track might keep the shaft from exiting the muzzle completely.


    I have kayaks and freedive paddleboards that I sometimes use. The problem is access to launch sites. Sometimes its easier to hoof it.

  • New gun. New Moon. First Blood.

    I don’t know how many times I have said it but here it goes again….”That was the best dive ever!” and it almost didn’t happen.


    Set the alarm for 4:30 a.m. to give me plenty of time for coffee and to get up the coast before sunrise. When the alarm went off I had plenty of excuses as to why I should stay in bed. Almost talked myself out of the dive. Made it up and got the coffee going by 5:00. Out the door and headed up PCH by 6:30. Checked a bunch of spots from Big Rock up to Trancas point. Pulled into Dume and hiked up the hill to enjoy the morning. From Dume you could see all the way to Santiago Peak in Orange County and out to Santa Barbara Island. Just epic. A red tailed hawk was working the point for morning doves and down below some cormorants were hitting the water outside the kelp. It was dead calm. The conditions from the cliff looked great. I decided to head farther south and dive I cove I have never been able to catch with good conditions. The goal today was to test a new dirty water gun. The Riffe MT0. A short little mid handle set up.


    I suited up and had to hike about a mile to get close enough to swim to the spot. Once in the water I had visibility up to 40ft and cold water. I worked an endless series of finger reefs with sand in between seeing a lot of halibut in the 24” range. Some of the reefs had some nice size goats and a few cabs on them. I passed and kept looking for a big flatty. Finally, in about 20ft of water I saw some movement on the bottom. It was a halibut opening its mouth. I saw the white of its jaw. Kinda of strange. I dropped down a shot the fish. Head on. The gun was flawless but I think I will add a third band or go to two 5/8ths bands for a little more punch. Anyhow, it was pretty uneventful. Dispatched the fish a strung it. I had about a mile swim back to the exit point. Took my time getting back. Passed on a lot of smaller fish. Lots of bait in the water but no sea monsters today.


    Here is a pic from Dume Cove. I passed on this spot and headed southeast.


    Tons of fish on every reef. Here is a large school of perch.


    Passed on a lot of smaller halibut like this one hiding on the reef.


    Here is the one I shot.


    Here is a pic of my new gun and first blood.



    Happy Holidays (halidays)!


    Mike

  • Coffee and bottom time

    Quote from red tide

    I drink a giant cup of Cafe Bustello every morning diving or not. On dive days I drink the same but I also take a Claratin D24. I have been doing this for years. I have done it for weeks at a time diving well past 100 feet all day everyday. To each his own I say.
    Oh, I almost forgot about the beer advise. Drink lots after every day of diving but never when diving:toast: If beer is not available drink wine or rum:crazy:


    Bad ass! Thanks for the advice.

  • Coffee and bottom time

    How much coffee is too much? I drink about 5-6 cups in the morning. I know it does not help my heart rate. Conversely, how about a beer before a dive? One beer. 12oz not a fat 40. Benefits? Risks?


    Mike

  • Giving away spearfishing locations

    Thanks! I could not agree more with your philosophy on posting locations. I usually use fictitious or very general locations in my reports and videos. For example: "ship rock pier", "Malibu Break Wall"," Pacific Coast" etc.. There is nothing worse then having some asshat post a report on a local fishing hole. The other site is patrolled by enviros, DFG, poachers and lazy lurkers. I like the way you are structuring the site to build in some protection.


    Thanks!
    Mike

  • Old School “Mae West” Breakaway Rig

    Quote from Don Paul

    Hi Mike, the Dacor popper is attached with a Apha Grade Ti 3mm pin. The front has a velcro patch, a mono 300# trip line is looped to a adjustable down rigger clip.
    I can trip the float with a hard pull on the trip line and float the gun, when the popper is activated the
    popper rotates 180 degrees and forms a ball behind the butt.


    Don,
    Can you post a pic of the setup? I would like to put something similar on my WSB gun for the spring. Thanks for sharing.


    Mike

  • Old School “Mae West” Breakaway Rig

    Quote from Don Paul

    Poppers work great .....Here's one on Double Trouble Camo'ed by a GF's nylon stocking.(for good luck).;)
    and one I use on my Kelp Belt reel (shown inflated).
    They were made by Dacor.
    Cheers, Don


    Don,
    Is you popper float rigged between your shooting line and floaltine/reelline? It looks like its attached to your snubber. Anyhow, great pics! Bad ass.