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Messages - BigJim

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1
Diving - Trips & Photos / Making the best of bad conditions!! 03/26/11
« on: March 27, 2011, 10:51:52 am »
Figured I would share with you guys since the low viz and high surge reminded me of ab diving up North!!!  ;D

Been jonesing all week to get back in the water and try and shoot some more video with the GoPro!!

Also, just got a new shaft for my little Riffe...the other one worked great but the Hawaiian flopper needed to go 6 inches through the fish to flop and in tight holes I was losing some fish that were right against the rock.

Wanted to try a threaded shaft with a flopper closer to the tip. Ordered it up from Austins Diving Center online....these guys have GREAT customer service and have helped me out several times....explained what I was looking for and that I was hoping they could rig it with line and crimps to match my gun....did an excellent job and the package arrived a day earlier than expected.  If you can't find what you are looking for at your local dealer, you should give these guys a chance to help you out!!

http://www.austinsdiving.com/

Anyway, conditions have been horrible all week, but the forecast was slightly smaller swell and lower winds for Saturday....

It still was miserable out and the wind made paddling out a real PITA!!   :-[

Getting ready to start diving, put my mask on and the f'ing strap breaks!!     >:(

Have just enough starp left to barely make it work, but it comes loose several times while diving and I have to swim back to the yak to redo it...after the second time doing this I decide to leave the GoPro in the yak to make one less thing to worry about on my head!!!

Vis was minimal and surge was high....worked the shallows for a small MFPB and Black and Yellow and a decent Grassy.

Then found a hole with a fat old MFPB head in it!!    :D

Shot him once and even with the shorter flopper the spear did not stick....let the dust settle in his hole and am eventually able to see him back in there...shoot him again and once again I can't pull him out....   :'(

While I am cursing and reloading, he snakes his way out of his hole all dazed and confused looking!!  No time for the spear so just tackle him underwater and start wrestling him into submission!!     :o

Get my legs wrapped around him and pull out my knife and manage to skewer him right through the head!!    :P

Call it quits for the day and paddle back in and head over to Moss Landing to meet up with Andy and the fellas who were gonna be poke poling over there. They had the pop ups, beer and BBQ going to combat the conditions...good times with these guys are always in the forecast and today was no exception!!!
 
 ;)

DFG comes by and they say they think the eel (measured out at 27 inches and weighed close to 5 pounds on their scale) may be a state diving record?!? One of the DFG guys says the current record is 4 pounds 12 ounces...

They had me go over to Phil's Fish Market to get it weighed on a certified scale, and when I did it weighed out the same as the existing record taken back in 2007!

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/sportsdivingrecords.pdf


I shot a 28 incher in Carmel a month or so ago and I know HotPlate has pulled out a 28 incher as well, but I never even new there was a record for diving for these guys....Kirk Lombard  holds the hook and line record at over 6 pounds, but apparently they have seperate records for diving and hook and line...

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/anglingrecords.pdf

I think a lot of guys have gotten bigger ones diving and just have not reported it. The grass rockfish record is 6 pounds...I think some of the lunkers that Andy and I have pulled out this winter would have been right there...anyway, got a crap load of meat off that eel and the wife was very happy with the amount of goodies we have for the ceviche she wanted!!

For the conditions we had today I am just happy to have brought home dinner!    8)

Here is a vid I threw together...wanted to make a vid showing off my amazing bottom time and great aim ( :D) but ended up with this instead!!

Looks best in 720p!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49MwlA_V72Y

 8)

Sincerely,

Jim

2
Fishing - Tips, Tricks & Rigging / Re: rock fishing
« on: March 23, 2011, 09:26:33 pm »
Bait on top of the flies gets a little bulky inshore, but it would work.  I play more of a chum game - visual attraction isn't really part of it.  If viz iz available then color's definitely good.

Gotcha!!

Thanks bro!!
 8)
Sincerely,

Jim

3
Fishing - Tips, Tricks & Rigging / Re: rock fishing
« on: March 23, 2011, 08:34:47 pm »
"Rockcod Rig" makes it easy.  Buy some tobacco sacks or 3 or 4 ounce pyramid or medallion sinkers.  The Rockcod Rig is just like a shrimpfly rig, but there are two bare hooks vs the two shrimpflies.  Tie onto the Rockcod Rig, add your weight at the snap swivel end, put some bait on your hooks (squid is an easily acquired mainstay), and you're good to go.  Be ready though - you'll run into some strong fish, so stick with at least 20 pound on your main line, and 25-30 is better.  Let me know when you're going if you want some company.  I'm needing some fresh fish!   :)

Just curious Eric...why the bare hooks instead on the shrimp fly tipped with squid?

I have never caught any fish off the rocks so really have no clue, but was just wondering...I would've though the color on the shrimp flies would help to attract them in?? Or maybe not!  :P
 8)
Sincerely,

Jim

4
Suggest a Feature / Re: Smiley Faces
« on: March 19, 2011, 04:13:27 pm »
If we get the opportunity at the Cove, I'd really appreciate a lesson in whole blackened fish preparation as well as the finer points of getting more out of each fish.  You're the master!  (bowing down smiley...  Hey, we need a thread about needing more smileys!   ;))

I will bring my heavy duty camp stove, jumbo sized skillet, whole jar of oil and all my spices...whole rockfish/cabezon will be on the menu for sure!!!  ;D

My skillet can fit a whole 18-19 inch fish...anything bigger I gotta either chop the head off and do along side or filet....of course if you filet you can still fry the head or use it (and the rest of the carcass) in a soup!!

The head/skeleton soup is Ana's domain....I just know how to pick all the meat off the bones and fins after it is all boiled up in in brothy goodness!!
 8)

Sincerely,
Jim

5
Suggest a Feature / Re: Smiley Faces
« on: March 19, 2011, 03:19:21 pm »
I'm loving the avatar parallel!   :)

Yeah but yours is bigger....you're gonna give me Ling envy!!  ;) LMAO!!!!!
 8)
Sincerely,

Jim

I'm man enough to admit that I didn't catch that one!  Loved the pic I got from posing with it though!   :D  That was the biggest kayak-caught ling I've witnessed at 28 pounds.  We never used to measure them back then.  I've caught several over 20 and up to 24 pounds/40", but that 28 and another 24 that my other buddy caught that day were really nice lings.  I gaffed both and had them in my bag - it was the evening that I toted that bag up to the trucks with 52 pounds of ling before I realized what I was doing - love getting that jacked up on fishing!!   ;D

Crazy!!

Those are all HUGE lings!!!

The one in my pic was "only" 16 pounds and 34.25 inches...my biggest thoughl!!

Biggest fish I have seen diving and was lucky enough to have it be Ling season still and even more lucky to be able to get her with one clean shot!!
 ;D
Fed all my wifes family off one filet and a soup from the head and bones, and then froze the other filet for a feast with my parents when they were out visiting for Thanksgiving!!

Ate every gram of that Ling except the skin we took off the filets and the bones that were left over after the soup!!

Good times!!!!!
 8)
Sincerely,

Jim


6
Suggest a Feature / Re: Smiley Faces
« on: March 19, 2011, 02:37:36 pm »
I'm loving the avatar parallel!   :)

Yeah but yours is bigger....you're gonna give me Ling envy!!  ;) LMAO!!!!!
 8)
Sincerely,

Jim

7
AWESOME!!!!!!!

I see that GS4 ab shell and hawg trough every day at my office and looking at them never fails to brighten my day!!  8)

I got that same seat...I LOVE it and for a big guy with lower back problems it has been a life saver!!  :)

I'm shooting for that beer/fish cooler this year!!!! I could fit a whole limit of fish, abs and enough beer for all the A-Hulls in there!! Ok, at least enough beer for the first half of the day!!!!!!
 ;)

Looking forward to it!!!!
 ;D

Sincerely,

Jim


8
Suggest a Feature / Smiley Faces
« on: March 18, 2011, 10:53:55 pm »
I don't know what they are really called, but we need more!!
 :P
 ;D
Sincerely,

Jim

9
Hookups / Re: GS5 Friday and Saturday Dive?!?!
« on: March 17, 2011, 04:30:17 pm »
BigJim,

What size gun are you using in the low vis conditions?  I have a JBL Magnum and an Omer 82cm that I am happy with (mainly the Omer).  I have a pole spear that work pretty good for the low visibility days, but have considered getting a shorty gun for close shooting.  It looked like you had a little Biller or Riffe in your video?

I am really wanting to try for scallops!  Not sure if there are any pinnacles with them at the cove.  I may have to dive Trinidad for them.

Matt

Matt...my first gun I got was way too big for any low viz/high surge conditions and even though it is a great gun (Riffe Mid-Handle 44") that I got for a great price ($50) it is overkill for rockfish/hole hunting.

I then got a 75cm Mako Predator Pro....cool looking gun and was deadly accurate, but it jammed on me the very first time out and even though they sent me a replacement part right away I lost confidence in it...

I sold the repaired Mako at price to Andy baitnbeer Gomez who loves it, and used the cash to buy a Riffe Padauk Competitor 00 for $225 online from Austins in Miami (free shipping, no tax, very nice guys).

http://www.austinsdiving.com/proddetail.php?prod=RCP-0000

http://www.speargun.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16%3Apadauk-series&catid=9&Itemid=10

27 inches long and beautiful dark blood red wood...supposedly the hard straight Padauk wood allows the gun to be made from one piece of wood and so the price is cheaper than the other Riffe's but besides that is exactly the same...

Have it rigged with only one wrap of line and a single "Hawaian Flopper" shaft, and one beefed up 5/8 band and one of the 1/2 bands it comes with.

It has enough range to pick off schooling blues at about 6 feet (about as far as I can accurately aim anyways to be honest!!), and get real tight in even the smallest holes. The small size also makes it very easy to move around with in strong surge.

For hunting in the holes I am just loading the one 5/8 band to try and avoid messing up the shaft on the rocks and have found it has plenty of power to punch through a Cabbies skull....will see how it does on Ling skulls come April 1st!!

When the vis is better it is real easy to load the other band to give me a little more power/range and it snaps out nicely to the end of the shooting line. Then if I am going to check out a hole I can slip the second band off real easy as well.

My one "complaint" is that with the single hawaiian flopper shaft you really need to get the shaft about two inches all the way through the fish to have the flopper "engage"...This can be real hard to do in some holes where the fish is right up against the rock!! I am trying to work on shot angle/placement in these scenarios, but still sometimes the shaft does not go through far enough cuz it hits the rock on the other side and then if I don't get control of the fish immediately they can slip off the shaft....

Riffe sells a threaded shaft for these guns and I am thiniking of getting one and a smaller double or single flopper that sits closer to the tip of the shaft to increase the chances that it will go all the way through...but the shafts aren't cheap and so for now I am working with the one I got!!
 ;)

In between buying the Mako and selling the Mako I also picked up an AB Biller 32 with some christmas stocking $$. IMHO it works great and I have shot plenty of fish with it....my buddy Jim Okumoto welds 5 prong barbed trident tips and he gave me a couple to use...I put one on the Biller and it works great and had plenty of holding power for big grassies, cabbies and eels!! Not sure if they could hold a big Ling down though!!

The difference in ability to move in surge and get tight in holes was still limiting with the 32 Biller, and definitely feel that the 27" Riffe is my favorite gun I have used so far for the kind of hunting I do!!

Anyway....if you want to try it out up at GS5 just let me know!!

Oh yeah....I am DOWN to look for a scallop as well!!

 ;D

Sincerely,

Jim

10
Hookups / Re: GS5 Friday and Saturday Dive?!?!
« on: March 17, 2011, 03:08:22 pm »
I'm all over it, Jim - we're slaves to the conditions there though.  If it's not "nice" then our choices will be limited.  You've progressed so well in your diving, and it may be time for the challenges of extremely low viz!   ;D  JK (kinda) - I hope we get nice clear water, but be ready for something between zero and 10' of viz.   :)

Zero vis or not I'm game!!  ;D

I've actually taken advantage of quite a few minimal viz/high surge days down here and every time I am tempted to just come back another day when conditions are nicer, I remind myself that those kinds of days are EXACTLY what I need to expand my ability to dive and have fun in other places up and down the coast!!

Hunting in those less than ideal conditions is definitely way more of a challenge than the FAC 20+  foot viz days that we have gotten quite a few of down here this winter....

It's awesome to be able to dive in those great conditions, but I have also really enjoyed those days when I had to work HARD just to find a fish, let alone manage to shoot one!!

 8)

Looking forward to it fellas!!

Sincerely,

Jim




11
Fishing - Report / Re: Went Fishing - 3/16/11
« on: March 17, 2011, 08:30:42 am »
Beach, light wind, sun....sounds ike a good time to me!!

Glad you got out there and thanks for sharing!!

Sincerely,

Jim

12
Hookups / Re: GS5 Friday and Saturday Dive?!?!
« on: March 17, 2011, 12:09:41 am »
Jim, I will go diving with you!

NICE Dom!!!

Looking forward to it!!
 :)
Sincerely,

Jim

13
Hookups / GS5 Friday and Saturday Dive?!?!
« on: March 16, 2011, 11:57:41 pm »
Who's going out?!?!

I'm down for whatever: abs, uni, spearfishing!!

Only dove right in front of the lighthouse last year and would like to explore new spots/areas, but don't know my way around up there at all...if you want to take a big smiling guy out and show him around, I'm your guy!!
 ;D
Sincerely,

Jim

14
Looking forward to it!!

Check WILL be in the mail tomorrow!!

Finally!

 ;) 

Sincerely,

Jim



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