Posts by chris oak

  • The Spearboard monopoly

    That sucks ass Lee :(, sorry to hear you lost out on all that.


    BTW Mike Im sure you also know but one of the other shitty parts about sb is you cannot go back and erase posts once it's been up for a while, I think it's so the post counts stay up.

  • Lobster Medallions

    One of the best things about being a freediver is that the seafood is free :).


    One of my buddies was nice enough to show me a decent spot in oc, conditions were a bit rough with a lot of swell whipping thru the reef. Unfortunately the bugs weren't on the crawl as much as we would have liked but it was still a nice dive. I saw a lot of sculpin and even a nice halibut but truth be told I was getting a bit tired of the constant kicking to just stay in place. I ended up with a few bugs and decided to cook a couple of them tonight.


    I can't take credit for the recipe, it was originally from sb, I don't even remember whos recipe it was but I think it was marcos. At any rate, this is my version of it.


    I must confess that I suck ass at cooking lobster normally, it's usually too dry so I usually fry it or cut it into small pieces and then grill it. Mori taught me a great trick a while back and it's basic knowledge that I didn't know about. The outdoor bbq dries out your meat because there is constant warm air going out of the grill. The indoor oven however has the same air circulating around it, thus the moisture stays in. That's why the white seabass sex sauce works so great in the oven AFTER you bbq it. Consequently it works out great for cooking lobster and keeping it moist as well.


    Lobster medallions:
    2 bugs
    1/2 cup butter
    1/4 cup chopped parsley
    1 tb chopped garlic
    a tiny bit of garlic salt


    Detail your bug, then cut into small sections with a knife, I used to use a butcher knife and it would make a big ass mess in the kitchen with splatters. My wife had some shitty ginsu knife in the kitchen and man did it work out great, cuts thru tin cans and lobsters with ease :).


    Whip up the butter with the parsley and garlic and salt, it was referred to as "escargot sauce" or something like that in the original recipe. Smear the mix on the top and bottom parts of the medallions you cut. Put into a baking pan lined with aluminum foil and broil it for 10-15 minutes until the flesh is no longer clear. Serve with your choice of vegetables (I love eating it with cabbage that has been sauteed in olive oil, onions and salt).


    I also did a quick grilling of some scallops my coworker gave me. Heat up olive oil in a pan, add some fresh garlic and fry. Then add your scallops and add a tiny bit of garlic salt and grill just until it stops being opaque. Remove immediately, the scallop will continue cooking because of the hot temperature from being in the pan and should turn out just right. Very simple and delicious.

  • The Spearboard monopoly

    I bailed out of sb because of the drama and b.s. that was going on there. I hope to not have it happen here as well :(. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and this is mine:


    One of the many problems with sb is the lack of regulation and courtesy. Here's a classic example, fairly recently I tried to help out a noob that pmed me, so I gave him some info on a spot. He did well and then after that started posting more and more info on specific spots, so I pmed him to keep posting reports but be more general. He started to be a little bitch about it and whine about how I'm the only one that complains about that. We got into it and I simply explained that no one needs to know the specifics unless they are your close friends, broadcasting it only brings a shitstorm of divers to the area and the more traffic the worse that area becomes. If you don't think seeing a bunch of noob divers getting out of their cars, trampling lawns, being loud as they manly carry their loaded spearguns out of the water etc is damaging you only have to look at the rash of permit parking only signs, no parking signs etc in pv. After that last argument I pretty much had it, sb is burning the good divers with the noobs who can't even take the time to use the search function let alone be civil to other divers.


    You can spear whatever you want, as long as it's legal IDGAF what you are doing. Sure I'm a marine biologist but it doesnt mean i don't like to kill fish, anyone who knows me knows I like killing and eating fish. Keep in mind there are a shitload of other people reading all of the spearing forums and yes they are not in your interest. It's better to keep a low profile about what you are doing and remember some things are more sensitive than others. No you shouldn't be ashamed of what you killed, but parading around with it in the parking lots and rubbing peoples faces in it is just going to make us look bad. Shooting shorts and asking what size is legal or shooting fish and asking, "what kind of fish is this?" is not just stupid, its damaging.


    Everyone has their own opinions on what should be able to be shot and what shouldn't. If someone doesn't agree with you then that's okay, there's no need to be an asshole about it. 99% of things said online wouldn't be said if you were right in front of the guy you were talking to, it's easy to be tough when you are behind a keyboard.


    We are looked at to be a zero bycatch, low environmental impact sport. If you are tearing off fish, shooting shorts, posting overlimit pix etc how the ~`~`~`~` is that low impact? Do you not realize this will have a negative effect on any lawmaker/enviro who gets forwarded your post?


    Bill Mac is an asset. Yes he can be hot headed, but he's helped out more noobs (including myself) and put more people on fish than anyone I know. He has a temper, but remember this guy is old school. He was busy fighting for the country when most of us weren't even born. This is not an excuse, it's a fact. I've known him for years and had disagreements with him but we have mutual respect for each other and yes I consider him a good friend just as I consider you guys on this board friends.


    As for the not named moderator, Nate Baker is a solid guy. The whole b.s. about him being a enviro spy is complete bullshit. He voiced his own opinion about laguna and trust me, his one letter didn't close the mpa there that closure was done in closed meetings a long time ago. Aren't you entitled to your own opinion? He wasn't trying to censor anyone on sb, he was trying to clean shit up. By taunting him or any of the other guys on sb was just stupid, people were probably trying to get banned or trying to be a hero or prove some "I'll show you" point. When I left, I didn't make a big deal about it. I just simply stopped posting and put a contact email. If you think you are that big a deal that everyone needs to follow you and plead for your return then brother you need to check yourself because in a few months no one is going to give a shit where you are or even remember what you posted.


    Me? I ~`~`~`~`ing left that board and the only thing I'll be doing is posting when I need something, or buy/sell something. SB is done, until it gets cleaned up it will cause more damage to spearos and the spearo cause than anyone will ever know. It wasn't handled correctly because the owner needs a lot of traffic and numbers for sales. It's not rocket science.


    Stop fighting about shit, be an adult and send a pm to the person you disagree with. You'll find out 9/10 that it was a misunderstanding, and if they don't agree with you let it go. It's just their OPINION.


    And if it's that big a deal to you that you need to prove something, show up at their door and be a man about it. Don't badmouth them behind closed doors.


    I know a lot of you don't agree with me and that's okay. It's just my opinion vs. your opinion. My opinion on mpas? It was complete bullshit that they closed down the most heavily foot traffic/boating areas, they did that shit on purpose. I believe in slot limits and heavy duty fines for poachers, not complete closures.If you want to talk to me in person about something then let me know, I'm more than happy to meet you half way and discuss it.

  • I just threw up in my mouth....

    Tailsurfer I'm pretty sure the tidepool law states that they area areas that are only uncovered during the lowest minus tides but I'll have to look into it for sure. Certain areas of pv have always been protected from tidepool collection but you are allowed to catch bugs as long as they aren't in tidepools.


    Budlight who makes this map? I'm surprised they jumped the gun and started selling these before January 1, unless they are trying to pull a Laguna and lie and say the enforcement has already started.


    Remember there are SMR's where we pretty much can't do anything and then SMCA's which have varying laws of take. It's confusing as shit, but this is the most comprehensive site I've seen: MarineMap Decision Support Tool
    Goto mpa's, arrays, and proposals and use the pull down menu to select "adopted mlpa and south coast mpa" and you'll get a ton of info.


    I'm trying to work out a map with general points/landmarks for freedivers because otherwise it's impossible to tell the boundaries without having gps mapping on your boat. When I worked out the areas in pv I was pretty sick because one of the huge areas starts in marineland and works northward
    :(

  • Low tide buggin'

    wow nice haul! If you can, put up a one word sentence on your first post and then reply to it on the second post, it keeps the lurkers down and only members will be able to read your second post onwards :)

  • second chances

    I'm slowly catching up on some stories, this one happened sometime late summer...


    This is yet another story about the greatest super hero of the modern times. Me. Well actually that’s another lie, it’s a story about a fish. I know you are surprised to hear that since I almost never talk about fish. Shit that’s another lie, I guess I’d better get to the story…


    I hopped out of my car and shielded my eyes from the sun as I squinted back to 20/20 vision and scanned the reef out in the ocean. ”It’s clear,” I told myself. I couldn’t believe it so I squinted again. Yep blue water welcomed my squinting eyes and I hastily ran back to my car and started gearing up.


    In less than five minutes I was kicking past the breakers and onward to the reef. Along the way I passed some beautiful barred surf perch, I watched them dart back and forth in the sand. I admired their reddish bars and made a mental note to try to catch some later for a display we have. Small baby white perch flittered by them and I had to smile.


    Sometimes I’m so dumb I should kick my own ass. I’ve been working at the aquarium now for what…23 or so years? All this time and I never knew I had a spot where I could shoot fish on my lunch break during a short drive from work. Rarely is the visibility even ten feet, usually it’s more like five feet. But today was epic, I was looking at about 30 feet of visibility. It’s amazing, most of the time I could barely make out rocks or reef, today I in the clear visibility I could see past the feather boa kelp and it was like being at Catalina Island. The kelp was loaded with all kinds of life, small bass and small rockfish could be spotted peering under the small blades. I made a drop and surprised a 3 pound lobster sitting outside of his cave, I glared at the bastard for being out in the open when it’s not lobster season and to show him who was boss I reached down and touched his head to send him scurrying back into his hole. See you in October sucker! I made another drop and suddenly was surrounded by thousands of open mouthed sardines, the school parted like moses parting the seas and curved around me, only to join back up as they passed me. It was amazing.


    I worked my way to the deeper part and saw a patch of sand up between the rocks, as I slowly crawled forward I made out a mouth, and then a head and a tail far away. Holy cow that’s a nice halibut! My breathhold was almost up and I reached out with my small rabitech 90 cm gun and pulled the trigger.


    Pfffftttt, the spring steel shaft shot forward and pegged that fish mid body. I watched it dart forward and as it sped away taking my floatline all of a sudden the line went slack. WTF???? I dropped down and followed the line and sure enough the damn slip tip didn’t deploy. My trophy was gone and I was left dejected as I kicked back up and cursed myself for losing such a nice fish. I hoped that shot wouldn’t cripple it and sentence it to a slow death.


    As I worked my way forward still I made another drop to another reef and once again saw the smiling mouth of a hidden halibut. I repeated the motions and once again the fish exploded out of the sand, at first I thought it was the same fish. I saw the slip tip toggle and as I retrieved it noticed it was smaller than the first one and unmarked. I sighed quietly as I dispatched the fish and worked my way up the reef.


    The thought of the fish I had lost earlier had never left me and I scanned the whole reef looking for it, but all too soon my time was up and I had to head back to my car. As I loaded my gear in my car I made myself a promise to go back to the reef after work.


    I felt like an excited kid waiting for christmas to come, it seemed forever until that clock swung it’s hands to five oclock! I stuffed my still wet gear into my car and made the short drive back to where I had been in the afternoon. As I gathered my still wet gear I noticed the visibility was still great and as I entered the water noticed it was still warm. Once again I made my way down the reef and thoroughly enjoyed the visibility. This time two gigantic bat rays flew next to me and then darted away. I spooked a few short halibut without even seeing them. Sargo made their short mating croaks and swam in front of me and then back again. Opaleye boomed away as soon as they caught sight of me out of their kelp canopies. A couple of big kelp bass swam up to me and then quickly disappeared into their caves. I saw more fish that day than I’ve seen all year put together on that reef. A lot of life but unfortunately I never saw my lost halibut.


    As I got to the deepest part of the reef I took a deep breath and silently dropped down. Way at the bottom of the reef I noticed a lot of bait schooled up and as my eyes adjusted I noticed a huge electric ray gliding above them. I’ve only seen a handful of electric rays in my life so I cautiously approached it and then suddenly as it darted forward in an attempt to catch some of the bait I saw the mottled coloration. That’s no electric ray!! It was a halibut and man a pretty nice one at that. As I leveled the gun I noticed a hole right in the center of it, it was the halibut that I had lost earlier in the day.


    I took careful aim and squeezed the trigger, the shot was true and the next thing I knew I saw that halibut give a mighty shake and spit up a huge piece of bait before it dashed into the deeper water. I carefully played it on my floatline and knew that the slip tip was holding this time. Every time I gained a bit of line it would dash out and take out more but eventually I worked it upwards towards me and I grabbed the fish and dispatched it before it could tangle me up and drown me. As I examined it I could tell it was definitely the fish I had shot earlier and had the hole to prove it!


    I didn’t weight the pair but the smaller one was probably around 8-10 pounds and the bigger one close to 15. Not my biggest halibut but definitely the biggest I’ve shot during my lunchtime . I gave some of the fish away and cooked some in my cajun maple syrup marinade, the fish definitely made quite a meal. I was amazed that I had been lucky enough to find this fish again but I was even more amazed that the shot didn’t seem to bother it and that it had continued to hunt and chase bait!


    Uploaded with ImageShack.us

  • Worms in Cabezon ???

    Both carter and mike are right on the money. Older fish definitely have more worms than younger fish from what I've seen. Lime juice won't kill them and you have to freeze them in a commercial sub zero freezer for a while to kill them. Usually slower moving fish tend to have more than faster fish but again like carter said I've seen them in barracuda and yellowtail this is because I think it moves up the food chain in other fish.


    I usually only eat the back muscle portion in fish RAW, I also try to gut my fish asap to keep the worms from burrowing from the stomach cavity into the meat. Cooking it will kill the worms and you won't notice them unless your fish is infested.


    I've said this before, one of the best pieces of advice I ever got from a parasite specialist was NEVER eat any freshwater fish raw. The worms in there can easily live in your body. Saltwater fish can also have worms that live in your body but they have to get by your blood chemistry difference and also get thru your stomach acid. It can happen so be careful.

  • My introducton

    [quote='Joe Acevedo','http://spearfishing.world/forums/index.php?thread/&postID=57335#post57335']Welcome to the Board Josh , I hope you can leave the "tailsurfer DRAMA" for SB
    I hope all your reports are true reports , and not false reports like the ones that made you famous on others boards
    I moved over here to talk with watermen about Freediving and spearfishing , so I hope we can keep this place civil



    I concur Josh, we're not looking for trouble here and I look forward to your new unexaggerated reports. Dive safe!

  • Hunting Yellowtail

    There are definitely yellowtail still around at clemente :). Let us know how the ulusub works out, they look like quite a bargain for a teak gun! If you are accurate with your 55" you might have to get used to the other gun maker, I used to be laser accurate with my rabitechs and then switched over to mid handle wood guns and hybrids, now it takes a couple of shots for me to get my rabi down. If I could do it all over again and had enough money I'd probably stick with one gun maker and learn that series well.