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Old 09-20-2011, 02:46 AM   #1
gnofauhsoj
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New found respect and envy to socal divers

I'm going to make this one short:

So I decided to go to go visit my brother down in San Diego and made a stop at Big Sur to be greeted with cold water conditions similar to a washing machine. I ended up getting a decent size ling and Cab with a AbBiller 36 special. I made my way down to San Diego and the next day my brother and I went diving at Children's Pool since both of us we're not familiar with the area. Since this was my first time diving in SoCal I learned a few thing....

1. I need a better gun
2. I need to get on a boat or at least get a kayak
3. Calicos are not at easy to stalk as all the videos I see posted, (I don't know how you guys stalk these things, I only got close enough to get off 2 shots, and only 1 landed)
4. Decent viz doesn't mean that your always going to be able to get clsoe enough to get off a shot.
5. Those Seal watch people really are as ignorant as people on this board portray them to be.

also.... I wish the water in NorCal was as warm as it is in SoCal, I was wearing my 7mm cressi technica and I honestly think I could have stayed in the water the whole day, up here I can only manage about 4 hours.

I only took 1 good sized calico and saw 1 yellow tail but didn't have a gun that was even close to being adequate for that. Hopefully I'll have the right equipment next time I go down for lobster season.

One more thing! Lobsters were all over the place, WTF, where are they in NorCal?
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Old 09-20-2011, 04:35 AM   #2
ralphthehalibut
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Re: New found respect and envy to socal divers

That 36 is a little short, but makes a good halibut and hole gun. You don't have to have a kayak but they are nice. People shoot some very big white sea bass and yellow tail from shore down here. There are a lot of lobster up in nor cal. Just hunt the chest freezers of divers who visit so cal
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Old 09-20-2011, 10:10 AM   #3
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Re: New found respect and envy to socal divers

Quote:
Originally Posted by gnofauhsoj View Post
I'm going to make this one short:

So I decided to go to go visit my brother down in San Diego and made a stop at Big Sur to be greeted with cold water conditions similar to a washing machine. I ended up getting a decent size ling and Cab with a AbBiller 36 special. I made my way down to San Diego and the next day my brother and I went diving at Children's Pool since both of us we're not familiar with the area. Since this was my first time diving in SoCal I learned a few thing....

1. I need a better gun
2. I need to get on a boat or at least get a kayak
3. Calicos are not at easy to stalk as all the videos I see posted, (I don't know how you guys stalk these things, I only got close enough to get off 2 shots, and only 1 landed)
4. Decent viz doesn't mean that your always going to be able to get clsoe enough to get off a shot.
5. Those Seal watch people really are as ignorant as people on this board portray them to be.

also.... I wish the water in NorCal was as warm as it is in SoCal, I was wearing my 7mm cressi technica and I honestly think I could have stayed in the water the whole day, up here I can only manage about 4 hours.

I only took 1 good sized calico and saw 1 yellow tail but didn't have a gun that was even close to being adequate for that. Hopefully I'll have the right equipment next time I go down for lobster season.

One more thing! Lobsters were all over the place, WTF, where are they in NorCal?
Ahh the wish for warm water, but then i would have to take my wife and 12 year old daughter diving all the time!!! And you know how that goes. They find the big abs and lings while i will wind up shooting nothing but blues....

Up here the Lobsters are called crabs and are not nearly as easy to find as they are buried in the sand during the day and out and about at night. Night diving in the ocean up here is a little dangerous.
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Old 09-20-2011, 11:08 AM   #4
rhyne
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Re: New found respect and envy to socal divers

I haven't had a chance to dive up north yet... out of curiosity, what makes diving up north more dangerous?... taxman?
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Old 09-20-2011, 12:28 PM   #5
gnofauhsoj
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Re: New found respect and envy to socal divers

Haha I was just amazed about how many lobsters I saw down there and surprised about how skittish the calicos were, rock fish up here are just asking to be shot.

Don't get me wrong, I love diving here in NorCal but even I wouldn't be able to stay in as long as I would want to even with a 7mm. Diving for crab seems fun but I just don't know where to go.
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Old 09-20-2011, 01:09 PM   #6
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Re: New found respect and envy to socal divers

you don't need a boat or a kayak. Calicos are hard to shoot, the big ones don't get that old and big by getting shot.
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Old 09-20-2011, 04:46 PM   #7
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Re: New found respect and envy to socal divers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ethan kills View Post
you don't need a boat or a kayak. Calicos are hard to shoot, the big ones don't get that old and big by getting shot.

Well said, Calicos are probably the hardest fish to stalk/hunt in socal, especially the big ones, smaller ones can be taken pretty easily, although some are not as smart if you dive an area with less pressure/divers. Nothing like dumb rockfish that you shoot and string up while his buddy watches you reload and proceed to shoot him. You have to work on your technique, equalizing quietly, slow movements, make drops parallel with kelp stalks as to blend in, don't make a drop in the open.
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Old 09-20-2011, 05:01 PM   #8
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Re: New found respect and envy to socal divers

Great to hear you had fun here in SoCal. Even when calico's spook, and dart off, that isn't the end game. Peek over your shoulder every now and then, it's been many times that a nice calico has quietly returned 5-10 mins later to see what I'm up to.
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