Posts by spearstuff

I was kinda curious to see how much I've spent in spearfishing since I started 4 years ago. So I added it all up, as close as I could from memory. I'm probably missing a lot of extra expenses, but this should cover the bulk of my expenses. It's interesting to see it all laid out like this. Feel free to add up your expenses and see what you've spent.

My Spearfishing expenses - day one to present.
Started spearing in 2007.

Spearguns/polespears, 150, 675, 245, 40
Speartips, 40, 40, 20, 15
Shafts, 60
Bands, 20, 20, 60
Wetsuits, 60, 330, 150,
Gloves/Booties 20, 20, 20, 40, 16, 16, 20,
Weights, guessing 100
Fins, 40, 60, 20, 180
Float/floatline, 50, 60, 50
Dive lights, 110, 80
Gasoline unknown - I’ll guess 600 but it's probably much higher
Underwater camera 400, 50, 50, 50, 50
Lobster bag/gear. 15, 16, 16, 16, 5
Fishing licenses
· California 50, 60, 60, 60
· Mexico 40, 60
· Arizona 40, 60

Inflatable boat and motor 1100
Sonar, 113

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Total.... around $5,700
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Quote from Dan

3 hours on the water, just enough to enjoy oneself and not get too tired. For some reason I thought you guys were out at some ungodly hour, like past midnight. You used a GPS to get to the spot right? Would it be possible to find the spot at night without a GPS?

I always wish I had a boat with a depth finder and a waterproof GPS so I could find those dive spots that you can't find from the surface. Right now I rely shallow reefs I can see from shore and the shoreline to find spots.

As for staying out late. February 1st I dove from 9pm to 3am and got a limit of bugs, but if I do that I've got to have nothing planned the next day and the conditions have to be perfect.

Quote from Ryddragyn

The water was in the mid 50's, so not that bad. 5mm farmer john bottom and 7mm top for me, and I think Daniel and Davis had 5 mils all over. Total dive including paddling was from about 6:45 until 10.

5mm top and 7mm bottom for me.

Quote from Dan

The only place I've seen lobster out in the open walking around was in the Atlantis hotel Bahamas aquarium. The were walking single file, f'n amazing. Here they're always in a hole which is damn convenient, when you have something to tickle them out like you said. California must've had a serious lobster decline to make such a stringent rule.

Well every reef has it's own amount of lobster depletion going on with it. Some are full of bugs. While on the otherhand some reefs in Laguna look like they've been wiped clean of lobsters, in spots where there could have been hundreds if left undisturbed. I've seen pictures from Southern California of the past. People used to be pull out limits of 7lb bugs shorediving. Now if someone pulls a single 7lb bug it's a rare sight and everyone's jealous.

So I'm 100% positive that our lobster fishery will hit a noticeable decline in the next 20 years if not sooner. Something major enough for the government to get involved and place even more stringent rules.

It's not really overfishing to blame, because we already have a size limit to safeguard against that. It's the overfishing combined with large amounts of poaching that will cause a decline in this fishery. However it's just my opinion, no science to back it up.

Quote from Dan

I think Daniel said a while back that it's easier to catch the bugs at night, but I forget why.

Cause at night that's when the lobsters come out of their holes, run all over the place, and look for food. During the day they're bunkered down tight in their holes. I'm sure in the past you could easily pick a limit of daytime lobsters, but overfishing has just made that impossible in most areas in SoCal. The lobsters that are left (at least in Laguna) tend to stick to hard to reach holes and can be completely inaccessible during the daytime. So nighttime is the best chance at grabbing them.

Quote from Dan

I'm not a big lobster guy, but my impression is that it's usually done between 20 and 40ft deep, and can be done from shore if you know where the bugs could be. The sharks are known to feed at night, and be present in places you never see them during the day. I'd have thought though you have the worst shark to worry about.

Well out here I dive for bugs within 5-30ft range at night (usually on the shallower side), maybe if I had a boat I'd try the 40ft range. And if I had scuba spots I'd try it all the way to 100ft.

But if a great whites going to eat you it's fate. There's nothing you can do about it or prevent it. The animal's territory goes from Mexico all the way through California. And the hotspots are well known in California. If you avoid diving were there's been sightings the chances of getting killed is the same as getting hit by lightning IMO.

Quote from Dan

Thanks for the story. It's a nice bug. Goodbye Houdini Is that a gauge fastened on to a flashlight? Is that a normal way to hunt for lobster in California? How is it an advantage? Are you wearing a life jacket? Is that required by law when kayaking?

Yep the guage is fastened to a flashlight. But not everyone has one out here. For me it just makes it easier to measure the lobsters, especially at night when you need to hold the light and a lobster at the same time.

And you're required by law to have a life jacket on your kayak at all times if you're paddling in the ocean. But you don't have to wear a life jacket unless you're a minor. As to the reason Alex wore his, I'm guessing he just thinks he looks cool in the life jacket <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

First I got to say.... the unregistered lurkers can see all of this thread Rich. The neat feature where the first post can be seen by unregistered users but the rest are hidden only works on the California section. Dan never applied that option to the speargun section.

Second awesome gunbuild! I really like how you made your own abalone inlays. Very unique!

Quote from Dan

Beautiful coastline. Not good vis though. How is this place different than your local dive spots?

Pretty much the same fish that we can find in Southern California. Almost the same temperature and visibility too.

The main difference is that it's Mexico. Plus I didn't see another diver the entire time we were down there. Felt like we had the entire coastline to ourselves.

Quote from Nick dillon

DONT! I work at a scuba shop. We have had people try stuff like this and screw up their ears in a heartbeat, due to the pressure. You obtain 1 ata of pressure for every 33 feet. At 99 feet you have 4x the pressure you did when you put them (the ear plugs) in at the surface. If one fell out at depth, not only would it cause a ear drum to rupture, but it will also cause some loss of hearing. True its a nice idea, but the risk isn't worth it! Trust me. I may not know much about freediving, but i do know scuba, and this is a baddddd idea. I have problems diving cus ive had tubes in my ears twice, so if i go to fast down, i cant equalize, so I have to take my time. This is just going around the problem. IF your body doesn't want to dive, don't do it. I also know that getting off dairy products about a week or more before a dive helps clean up you system before diving. Equalizing about 200 times a day, 3 days in advance helps to. This is what we tell our students before they take open water. Just my 2 cents.

Dillon I find it hard to believe that the Doc's Ear plugs caused an ear drum to rupture. These things are recommended by DAN for scuba divers. Plus there is a hole in the inside of the ear plug so air can easily escape.

I'm betting those stories you heard were from people that were using regular earplugs and not the Doc Pro Ear plugs. Or like lunkbuster was saying.

Quote from Miguel

Looks like a fun trip, how was the water temp?

It was a fun trip! Felt a degrees or two colder than SoCal water temp right now.

Wow that's really amazing stuff!

Quote from Marco

Nice calicos Daniel. They look like grouper family. Must be very tasty.

One question: Don't you eat the "gooseneck barnacles" in California? They are a DELICACY! In Spain are with a fortune. Are they allowed for you to harvest?

Very easy to cook: Just bring salt water to boil, pour the barnacles, bring to boil again and take out from water. Enjoy with a glass of white wine.

Take a look to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPYv6Rt8Ktw

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You know I tried cooking some gooseneck barnacles before, but I must have failed at cooking them since I didn't like them very much. You can harvest them in California, but most of the spots in Orange County the barnacles are protected.

I saw that video before Marco, actually right before I went out and grabbed some barnacles from the reef. They make it look delicious in the video!

Quote from anthonysub

Capitan 9 lb

If Capitan is another word for Hogfish... then you're no where near the record buddy.

Ha! Alex always beats me on quantity when we're spearfishing together, but at least this time I can say I beat him on quality. Got this 7lb calico bass in the same kelp bed Alex and me were working down in Baja this week. Shot this one stone cold. Looked down as I was pulling him out of the kelp and I saw a rockfish swimming right bellow me. Well I made a mental note and strung up the calico, untangled the shooting line, talked with Alex, and reloaded my speargun. Looked back down for less than a minute and I found that rockfish floating in the same spot after all that. Plugged him with one band. By then time it was time to go so I headed back to shore with my prize fish and a tasty snack.

And here's another shot for size reference.
The thing looked massive up close, at least as far as calicos go.

Didn't know calicos had a taste for gooseneck barnacles till I opened up this one's stomach and found a bunch of these inside.

7lb Calico Bass
From: Baja California

Quote from The freediver

Great post Chris! I felt like I was there and should've been! I know how you feel. I finally found time for a shore dive Thursday in the morning for 2 and 1/2 hours and then back at it again for another 4 hours later from the boat for bugs. I felt sore and achey all Friday and most of today, but rejuvinated at the same time! Good thing I picked that light of from you because I forgot my big one and used the small one all night long. Worked like a charm and got my PB lobster by far!

I gotta know, how big did that lobster go? I'm going to throw out a guess of 7.5lbs?

Another really nice writeup Chris. And an even better looking Calico, congratz man.

Nice recipe Chris! If I get the chance I'll try and grab some sea urchins soon and try it out.

On a side note: why post the recipe on the second post? You already posted this on spearboard. I thought people only did that second post thing on here to keep things a secret.

I read somewhere online that "chartreuse" is the most visible color to the human eye.

Not that it matters for distance, but I've got a lime green strap on my weight belt. A couple of weeks ago I dropped my weight belt in a thick pack of kelp and if it wasn't for that little strap I know I wouldn't have found my weight belt again. That Lime green color is such an unnatural color it was instant recognition when I spotted it. It almost looks like it glows underwater.