Posts by chris oak

  • white sharks

    Quote from Don Paul

    When the water temp hits 54 degrees at the surface this year I come clean . I would never hold something back that could save a life. I promise 3 personal GWS stories and a extra bonus story from
    the East end Quarry with a few pictures. I dive alone allot at night some times a long kick of LB in piss green cold water....I'm getting soft mate and low on testosterone, old stories scare me at my age. :@:@


    Now guys driving around on the weed at night in Cali...That's F'n SPOOKY.:@:@:D


    Cheers, Don


    Alright Don, water's cold, let's hear them stories!!!

  • Happy Holidays

    Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and your family! I hope next year brings you good health and heavy stringers full of stoned fish.

  • before the weather went to hell...

    This has probably been the worst lobster season I've personally encountered. Actually when I think about it, it's probably been one of my worst summers as well, the combination of cold water and dirty conditions have made things...well challenging to say the least.


    It must have been a few weeks ago, although with all this rain it seems like it was an eternity. I spent an entire day checking some of my spots on my boat, with the cold water most of the reefs were empty except for a stray calico or two. The highlight of my day was blowing a shot at a 25 pound seabass at a fairly close distance. I could see the stripes lit up on it and everything and in an instant, poof it was gone. I stayed in the water from about 8 in the morning until 8 that night, all of my lobster spots were vacant, it was like the bugs had magically disappeared. Spots that I could always count on getting at least three didn't even have hardly any shorts, only sleepy perch drifting back and forth in the swaying feather boa kelp. I grabbed two that were dead on the money, the kind of bugs that the gauge will stand up on but without the extra mm's that I like to have as assurance in case the DFG rolls up on me, so back into the sea they went.


    A week or so later we finally had a window of opporunity when the santa anas were still blowing and the waters were fairly calm, this was before the storm came that has been pounding us unmercifully the last few days. My buddy volunteered his boat so I met him after work and we launched out into the darkness. The first spot we pulled up on was a spot that we had seen and caught some lobsters during the daytime. The rocks here didn't form the deep caves where lobsters often elude us, instead there were broken rubble that had exits on either side. We excitedly slipped off his boat and began searching the calm, clear waters. I dove down on some shallow reefs that were teeming with growth, here and there a few short lobsters would scramble away as the LED lights came into contact with their red bodies. I ran into a few big bass sleeping in the deeper caves, and finally my light lit up a nice fat lobster. He rolled his antennae back like a dog when it gets angry and I swooped down and grabbed it. Thank goodness I wasn't going home skunked....again! A few minutes later I saw another one on the side of a reef and positioned the light ahead of it so I could make a quick grab behind. Two! Maybe this spot was loaded after all!


    Those would be the only two lobster either of us would get. We made a quick decision and headed to another spot that I wanted to try. The visibilty on the outside of the kelp here was bad, two foot with that cloudy brown water. But as we kicked our way inside we found the clearer water we were looking for.


    Right away I saw tons of shorts running around. I made a few grabs on some that I thought for sure were legal, shit how could the be a 1/4" short, they looked huge under water!!! I must've measured ten or so that were within a mm of being legal but all of them were quickly released back into their homes. I was working a shelf and as I dove down saw the orange stripes of a bigger one, I quickly shot my hands out and succeeded grabbing a 3lber, but doing so I misjudged the reef and tore half my thumb nail off. OUCH! What a dummy. Thank god the freezing cold water numbed it so my buddy wouldn't have to see a grown man cry. I dropped down to the shelf again and peered inside. Quickly three or four big bugs shot backwards, maybe 6 pounds or so. I vainly tried to grab them but only succeeded hitting their antennae as they scooted back to safety. Lobsters don't get that big by being stupid!


    Every new patch of reef held new surprises. A giant sheephead was asleep in one cave, my lights didn't even disturb him as he slowly drifted in the swell. Another held a horn shark, and then still yet another a swell shark. A big octopus danced on the top of one reef trying to figure out what the clumbsy shape grabbing his lobsters was. As the swell dropped the visibility did too, and it took about an hour but I finally managed to grab the rest of my limit. I knew it would make it for a tough night, it was getting late and time to get back. I kicked back to my buddies boat, fought the kelp stringers that tried to take my lobsters from me and exhaustedly pulled myself back to safety. In the dim light I again measured all of my catch, 7 legals all well over legal size flipped their tails on the deck of the boat. I gathered them up in my mori bag and leaned back on the deck. What a night! I checked my watch and knew I'd be home in my bed by about 1am but would have to get up again at 6 for work


    Oh wells, some things are worth being tired at work for...

  • California dragon swim

    That's the story I heard, the city wanted the neptunes to pay their own insurance to have the dragon going on. I remember seeing that dragon in the naples boat parade every year, this was way before I started freediving. As a tribute, the tongue sold for a lot of cash at one of the neptunes auctions :)

  • Video from last night's dive

    Quote from spearstuff

    Yep that ray was a butterfly. Do you have some sort of computer database of all the sea creatures at work Chris? Or do you just use a really big book?


    No we've got some guys that do a lot of work with inverts and I'll try to ask them, otherwise there's what I call, "the bible", it's this gigantic intertidal/subtidal book that's out of print that we use, I can't remember the name off the top of my head, we've also got a very small library that's open to the public if you are ever in the area. If it's fish you can always check out fishbase.org. I hate running things thru keys but unfortunately that's the only way to tell sometimes. At any rate I'll try to remember monday when I'm back in.

  • white sharks

    Can't wait to hear the story come wintertime. And I know what you are talking about getting spooked, twice I've been diving and got "the whillies" and pulled out immediately. One of those times there was no baitfish to be found, it was like they all took off and that happened right when I got the bad juju vibe. The way I look at it, I know they have come to check us out, we spend so much time in the water there's no way it couldn't have happened. But I only will dive out in the open in clear water at cat, if it's murky I'll stay in the beds.


    I know for a fact that a couple of radio tagged sharks showed up at bird rock, ship rock and pt fermin. The point fermin one really got me thinking...

  • white sharks

    Come on Don, you can't keep us hanging like that! Plus you might be saving a life because we'll know how to avoid problems. You wouldn't want to go to sleep at night knowing you could've saved one of us and didn't would you ;)

  • white sharks

    Out of curiosity how many of you guys have seen white sharks in southern California? I've never seen any but my buddy saw a small one about 8' off my boat one time. I know that they live off the east end of cat because a few of my friends have seen them there. I also know they have been off the west end because that's where that lady in the kayak got tipped last year.


    I'm talking about real id's, not "I saw this dark shape under me and I know it was probably a white shark".

  • poke recipe

    Dan, this post was a reply to the bonita talk on the california section, how about we keep it here for a week or so and then move it?


    Fuzz that sounds like when you eat something you don't like and someone asks you about it and you say "it's interesting" ;)

  • poke recipe

    In general I always bleed out my fish asap, I usually cut the gills first and when the blood is done pumping I cut out the heart, gills, kidney and other organs. If you can make a saltwater slurry in your cooler it works best, throw ice and salt water in it and soak the fish, it will be firmer than when you shot it when you get it to shore. Cut out all the red pieces of meat, that has the blood in it and gives it the fishy taste. I usually use this recipe for bonita, tuna, yellowtail and even white seabass when I don't have any of the other stuff above. If you are using seabass don't use the stomach portion, it has worms!


    Oaks Poke Recipe


    2 lbs tuna/bonita/yellowtail


    1 teaspoon grated ginger
    1/2 whole garlic clove
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    2/3 cup soy sauce
    1/4 cup oyster sauce
    2 tsp sesame oil

    syrachia rooster sauce to taste
    1/2 cup of seaweed, I usually buy the green flat stringy stuff at the korean market
    6 green onions, diced
    1 small red onion, julienne cut


    First combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar and mix well. Then add the garlic, ginger and remix.


    Add the fish cubes and stir well. Add ogo seaweed if you can find it, if you can't find any seaweed you can use furikake spice or even dried nori. Then add rooster sauce to taste. Finally add the green and red onions. Serve with a hot bed of white rice. I usually don’t like poke but man once I tweeked the recipe I love it this way.

  • Catalina Update!

    Short Report:
    Catalina Island Front side
    10 knot wind, 3-4 foot swell 15 second period
    Vis east end to goat harbor, 10-20 feet
    Vis Bird Rock to Indian rock 25 plus feet
    Water Temp: 65-68 degrees
    Many Fish Sacrificed :)


    Long Report:


    On a Hunch


    It doesn’t take a genius to tell you that the last few days have been absolutely miserable. 110 plus degrees with no wind, I’d return from work and sit home listlessly while watching my dogs pant helplessly while they searched for a cooler spot in the yard and it was then I made my decision. Screw this crap, I’m taking the day off tomorrow and heading out to the islands.


    A few phone calls later and two of my coworkers anxiously agreed to head out with me armed with their rod and reels. As for me, I prepped out two of my new guns, the 59” so cal tracker and the 63”wong ono as well as my old favorite, the rabitech 120 stealth carbon. I predicted fish were going to have to die the next morning, at least I sure hoped that was going to ring true. I was on a hunch, the high outdoor temperature and low wind conditions should have warmed up the water, if the bait held out I figured I might have a shot at some late season yellowtail or at the least a lot of tasty calico bass.


    Several hours later and we were gliding across a flat channel with a 3’ swell bump. There was hardly any wind and I could’ve pinned the throttle on the Honda 130, but instead kept it at a nice 24 mph cruise to save gas. We were hoping to see some of the blue whales that have been around lately but had to settle for a superpod of common dolphins. It’s always a pleasure to see them racing in front of the boat as they greet us before tearing off into the wide open ocean. I always view it as a good omen and hoped for at least a fun dive.


    From the looks of the first spot near twin rocks it wasn’t going to ring true. Visibility was poor, maybe 10 feet and green, probably the worst visibility I’ve had at Catalina in a long time and much worse than the 25 foot that I had a week or so ago. There was bait scattered and my buddies caught a lot of small calicos and some bonita but I didn’t even squeeze off a shot. After a while I disgustedly gave up and hauled back on the boat, fired up my boat and headed towards the east end where I figured the water might be warm and clear. At any rate the 66 degree water was a welcome blessing from the intense heat on the mainland!


    I was wrong on both counts. East end quarry had 15 foot vis, and church rock was probably worse, the water was also about two degrees cooler. I spotted a few skittish bonita and a mega school of barracuda that split when I dipped down on them. Tired of the shitty visibility and the lack of bait, I once again hauled my ass out of the water and fired up my whaler and headed west.


    As we skimmed across the water I noticed a blue band cutting thru the green water somewhere mid island. Maybe it was that giant rock that looks like a ship from the distance, or perhaps it was that rock covered with an acre of millions of years of bird shit. Or maybe it was someplace entirely different, the shock of blue warm water cleared my memory like a shot of heroin to the veins, I can’t be sure :). All I know is I was suddenly in fish paradise.


    I spent a little bit of time on the outside with the wood guns but there was little current and the bait seemed bored. Ah maybe it’s too late in the season, I told myself. I decided to hunt on the reef so I loaded up the single 20 mm band of my mighty rabitech and dropped over the side. There was bait swarming around me of every type, I saw greenback mackerel, spanish mackerel, smelt and even sardines flittering about. In ten minutes I was making some drops around 40 feet. Here the sheephead wound thru the kelp with a watchful eye while making circles around me, garibaldi boldly thumped their throats while nervous kelp bass drifted into deeper water. I cleared my snorkel and silently made a drop behind a thick batch of kelp and drifted towards a group of them, as one of the bigger one’s turned I noticed one of the biggest barracuda I’ve seen in a while flitter in and then turn quickly away. I extended the railgun and quickly pulled the trigger, the flopper shaft rang true and I saw the fish spiraling around as I kept tension on the line and pulled it to the surface. My parents love broiled and smoked barracuda and I knew this was going to be a treat as I put the fish on my stringer. I kicked over a bit and made another drop behind some kelp and saw a nice kelp bass that I figured to be about two pounds. Zip, thunk. That was it, the bass rolled over stoned. Wow that was easy! And it was a bonus, the fish ended up going 5 pounds, the shot was farther than I though. In short time I strung up four bass averaging about 4 pounds or so each, plenty of fish for the fish tacos that I planned for later. At any rate my stringer was getting heavy so I kicked back to the boat, and I gutted them before throwing them over the stern.


    I was going to eat lunch and one of my buddies said that he had hooked something that burned out line and never stopped. I figured that seemed unusual for a bonita, although it could’ve been a big bass. I grabbed my tracker and loaded up the four bands just in case and headed out to the edge of kelp again.


    By the way the kelp was bending I figured the current had increased. Now bait was headed towards the front of the bed and I followed them out. I kicked on the surface and saw the bait scatter about and made a quick drop, in a few seconds a gigantic school of bonita swam up from the depths and towards the surface, I lined up the shot and poof, sent the shaft thru the fishes gills. Yum, fresh Hawaiian poke tomorrow night! Once again the fish was bigger than I originally though and I slid my stringer thru the gills of a fat 5 pounder. I saw a few bass and couldn’t resist making a drop and nailing a small one to add to my stringer as well. The day was going so good that I could have gotten a limit but I had plenty of fish for dinner and then some.


    It was one of those times where you totally forget about everything else in your life. Your job, your troubles, the heat, everything melted with that blue water. I saw with the bait, watched bonita tear thru the school and roll their eyes at me, watched bass dart quickly up and grab a quick meal before darting back down again. Cormorants swam about and then a few fat sea lions started coming in and taunting me while eyeing my fish, they even barred their teeth and made fake rushes towards me but I held my ground and rushed them back. I hoped whitey would visit them later, but hopefully after I was on my way back home! As I began working the bait a bit deeper out of no where I saw a bigger fish slide into the school. At first I was unsure if I was looking at a white seabass or yellowtail, when it first appeared it was just a hazy white shape. As I slowly extended my gun and dropped closer I could see it was a nice yellowtail, maybe 12-15 pound rats that I’d see during the summer. I braced the gun and lined up a shot on the stripe, click, thunk, 60 inches of stainless shaft and one of mori’s famous slip tips hurled its way thru the fish. The shot was solid and I grabbed the floatline on my way back up. As I was on the surface the fish just sat there, I was thinking, hell ya I stoned it! I clipped my gun onto the floatline and began hauling in the fish. That was a mistake.


    The fish woke up and quickly and made a mad dash for the deep kelp. With it my brand new shaft, tip, and GUN! Holy shit, I figured the shot was solid so I pulled hard on the floatline but the fish pulled harder and I found myself being pulled unwillingly underwater. Normally I’d let go and wait until the bastard tied up, but I thought the sea lions would grab that fish and head out to open water, if I lost that floatline then I’d lose all of my gear including the gun dammit. I shot gunned the water out of my snorkel, took a raspy breath and kicked my carbon fins as hard as I could in a tug of war. The fish kept pulling and just as I was going to have to give it some more line it started to tire, I gained enough line to get my gun back and unclipped it and threw the bands over my shoulder, now safe I could fight it leisurely. After a while I saw the fish making circles and finally was able to dive down and grab it by the gills and dispatch it with my knife. When I put my hands in it, I was astonished that it was way bigger than I thought, I brought it to the surface and my buddies yelled out that it was a nice one. I brought it back to the boat and pushed it over the stern, we took some pictures and I got a weight of 30 pounds on the digital, double what I originally thought. That blue water sure can be deceiving! I saw one more big yellowtail but this one proved to be smarter and with a flick of its tail told me to kiss its ass as it took off, it didn’t matter, I had a nice fish already in the fish bag and had the time of my life today.


    We made it back before dark on a fairly flat crossing, it would be 10 pm by the time the boat was washed down and I got it back into my backyard and I had prepped the fish and eaten some dinner. It was a great day and I got to spend the day with some buddies, escape the heat and even shoot a few nice fish, what more can you ask for? On the menu tonight, bonita poke, grilled kelp bass collars seasoned in italian dressing and Lawry’s salt and yellowtail sashimi!