Moat Creek - October 27, 2007
Hey there,
I just thought I would write a short story about my
experience diving up north this weekend in the Nor Cal
comp.
The day started out early. Kevin, Andrew and I had
gone to bed late and we had a hard time waking up in
the morning. We ended up at the dive site 2 hours
late.
We got our gear together and paddled out to the kelp
bead. for some reason, the kelp bead started out
deeper then I have seen it in the past. Most of the
dives were 50 feet and deeper. I did not find any
quality fish out there, so I moved to a spot I had
dived in the past. There was no kelp there and the
visibility was better (10 feet or so)
On my first drop I popped a 7.5 pound ling deep in a
crack. all I could see was it's tail, so I lined up as
far foreword as I could (mid body). I shot the fish
and watched it take my shaft deeper into the hole. I
left the gun at the bottom and made a couple drops to
the bottom trying to get it out. I was not very
successful, so Andrew went down and pulled it right
out!!! Sweet. Now I have a fish on board. Andrew is a
diver from florida and he is good at pulling grouper
out of holes.
5 Minutes later I made a drop to the bottom and shined
my light into a very small hole to see if there might
be some abalone inside but when I looked inside, it
seemed as if the boulder in the back moved. Hmmmm, was
that my imagination? I was confused. I had never seen
a boulder with a pattern like a ling cod. I swam to
the surface and called Andrew back over. I said "dude,
I just saw a big rock that might be a huge ling cod!!
I might need a second shaft."
I made my second dive to the bottom with Andrew
following my fin tips. I knew if I shot a rock I would
feel like an idiot, but I had a feeling this was a big
fish. Once I was at the hole, I looked for the
entrance. or the exit of the hole but had no luck. I
spooked a china rock fish and it spooked the rock the
looked like a ling cod. WOW it was not a rock. The
ling cod swam deeper into the hole and I could now se
its massive tail. I swam back to the surface. MY heart
was beating fast as I yelled "it is a beast of a ling
cod", to Andrew. We took a few more breaths and
dropped back down to take the shot. I thought I might
have to shoot the fish in the tail but to my
astonishment, the fish was staring right at out of the
dark hole. I lined up and squeezed the trigger.
Bang!!!!! The fish went crazy as it pulled my shaft
deeper into the hole. THe clouds of sediment were
billowing out of the hole as the fish pounded into the
rocks. I surfaced and told Andrew I needed his magic
pulling this beast out of the hole.
Andrew dropped down with me at his fin tips following
with a second HammerHead 65cm gun. Andrew reached up
inside the hole and grabbed the shaft. About 20
seconds later, I saw his eyes get bigger, like
something bad just happened. The big ling cod had sunk
it's massive fangs into his thumb and cracked his
finger nail in half. Ouch!!!!!! Andrew needed to fish
this fish out of the hole in order to get his hand out
of the lock tight jaws. He pulled hard and finally we
could see part of the head and his hand in the mouth.
I waved at Andrew signaling that I was going to put
the kill shot in the fish so he could get his hand
out. Bam!!!! the shaft hit the fish in the brain and
the jaw finally opened. Andrew shot up like a rocket
after a minuet and 15 second breath hold. I stayed
down and continued to squeeze this fish out of the
tiny hole. I finally got it out and rocketed to the
surface out of breath.
We celebrated and yelped for joy. This was a BIG
fish!!!!
Next I was off to find some big north coast reds. 5
minutes after the ling I got to a small pinnacle that
looked good. I waited on the bottom and sure enough a
nice 5 pound red swam up to greet some of my shaft. I
hollered for the others to come over. I had found a
honey hole. On my second drop I shot another red with
my HammerHead gun and this one weighed in at over 6
pounds.
It was now time to paddle back in to see what my ling
cod weighed. Once I was on the beach there was a lot
of talk as to what the fish might weigh. We put it on
a digital scale and it weighed in at over 30
pounds!!!!! This was the biggest lingcod I had ever
shot.
What a Day!!!
Special thanks to Brian, and the Nor Cal gang for
hosting the comp, to kevin at Hamerhead spearguns and
mostly Andrew AKA "Boda Grip". I hope his thumb gets
better soon.
Fish on!!!
Dan Silveira
Hey there,
I just thought I would write a short story about my
experience diving up north this weekend in the Nor Cal
comp.
The day started out early. Kevin, Andrew and I had
gone to bed late and we had a hard time waking up in
the morning. We ended up at the dive site 2 hours
late.
We got our gear together and paddled out to the kelp
bead. for some reason, the kelp bead started out
deeper then I have seen it in the past. Most of the
dives were 50 feet and deeper. I did not find any
quality fish out there, so I moved to a spot I had
dived in the past. There was no kelp there and the
visibility was better (10 feet or so)
On my first drop I popped a 7.5 pound ling deep in a
crack. all I could see was it's tail, so I lined up as
far foreword as I could (mid body). I shot the fish
and watched it take my shaft deeper into the hole. I
left the gun at the bottom and made a couple drops to
the bottom trying to get it out. I was not very
successful, so Andrew went down and pulled it right
out!!! Sweet. Now I have a fish on board. Andrew is a
diver from florida and he is good at pulling grouper
out of holes.
5 Minutes later I made a drop to the bottom and shined
my light into a very small hole to see if there might
be some abalone inside but when I looked inside, it
seemed as if the boulder in the back moved. Hmmmm, was
that my imagination? I was confused. I had never seen
a boulder with a pattern like a ling cod. I swam to
the surface and called Andrew back over. I said "dude,
I just saw a big rock that might be a huge ling cod!!
I might need a second shaft."
I made my second dive to the bottom with Andrew
following my fin tips. I knew if I shot a rock I would
feel like an idiot, but I had a feeling this was a big
fish. Once I was at the hole, I looked for the
entrance. or the exit of the hole but had no luck. I
spooked a china rock fish and it spooked the rock the
looked like a ling cod. WOW it was not a rock. The
ling cod swam deeper into the hole and I could now se
its massive tail. I swam back to the surface. MY heart
was beating fast as I yelled "it is a beast of a ling
cod", to Andrew. We took a few more breaths and
dropped back down to take the shot. I thought I might
have to shoot the fish in the tail but to my
astonishment, the fish was staring right at out of the
dark hole. I lined up and squeezed the trigger.
Bang!!!!! The fish went crazy as it pulled my shaft
deeper into the hole. THe clouds of sediment were
billowing out of the hole as the fish pounded into the
rocks. I surfaced and told Andrew I needed his magic
pulling this beast out of the hole.
Andrew dropped down with me at his fin tips following
with a second HammerHead 65cm gun. Andrew reached up
inside the hole and grabbed the shaft. About 20
seconds later, I saw his eyes get bigger, like
something bad just happened. The big ling cod had sunk
it's massive fangs into his thumb and cracked his
finger nail in half. Ouch!!!!!! Andrew needed to fish
this fish out of the hole in order to get his hand out
of the lock tight jaws. He pulled hard and finally we
could see part of the head and his hand in the mouth.
I waved at Andrew signaling that I was going to put
the kill shot in the fish so he could get his hand
out. Bam!!!! the shaft hit the fish in the brain and
the jaw finally opened. Andrew shot up like a rocket
after a minuet and 15 second breath hold. I stayed
down and continued to squeeze this fish out of the
tiny hole. I finally got it out and rocketed to the
surface out of breath.
We celebrated and yelped for joy. This was a BIG
fish!!!!
Next I was off to find some big north coast reds. 5
minutes after the ling I got to a small pinnacle that
looked good. I waited on the bottom and sure enough a
nice 5 pound red swam up to greet some of my shaft. I
hollered for the others to come over. I had found a
honey hole. On my second drop I shot another red with
my HammerHead gun and this one weighed in at over 6
pounds.
It was now time to paddle back in to see what my ling
cod weighed. Once I was on the beach there was a lot
of talk as to what the fish might weigh. We put it on
a digital scale and it weighed in at over 30
pounds!!!!! This was the biggest lingcod I had ever
shot.
What a Day!!!
Special thanks to Brian, and the Nor Cal gang for
hosting the comp, to kevin at Hamerhead spearguns and
mostly Andrew AKA "Boda Grip". I hope his thumb gets
better soon.
Fish on!!!
Dan Silveira