beconfly
11-02-2010, 09:12 PM
Got down to PV while the sun was still down at 6:20 am. It takes a lot of motivation to get myself out of bed before 6am, but the pursuit of the lobster was sufficient. The stars were shining bright as I parked on the side of the road near the exciting ridge trail down to the water. Left my gun at home, as my sole mission was to catch my first lobster. This was my second lobster dive, the first being in the same place, with big goose egg on the report card.
Dawn broke as my buddy and I entered the water, a nice easy entry in the calm seas. Buddy was on a fish mission, and got off to a quick start with a nice sheephead. I was focused on the bugs... saw a bunch of clearly short ones, and some cute itty bitty ones. I quickly realized that it was already too late to find them outside their holes. Damn. I found a few that were definitely legal, but deep in holes. One brave guy was 3/4 out of his hole, but was extra weary as i excitedly closed in on him. Blew it. Another legal looking guy seemed to have a rather shallow hole... tried a grab, and felt bad as i broke off an antenna at the knuckle. I saw that he was still reachable, and went for it, but I swear that bastard was biting my hand when i reached in there. With my relatively thin gloves, i wimped out and moved on. I found two HUGE crabs in one hole (i think sheepcrab)... thought about working on them for a while, but they were wedged in there good, and I kept imagining that they would be pinching my ass as i dragged them around in my bag, so i let them be.
Managed to pull one lob out of his hole, but he slipped away as i was bringing him up. I chased him around for about 20 seconds, and finally came up gasping. I figured that was probably dumb, and how lobster divers sometimes meet their maker. Must change holding strategy. Finally caught one lobster, got him up holding securely onto the tail rather than carapace, and he measured a solid three inches... back into the murk he went.
It was great just to be out there, saw tons of life. After 3 hours of chasing lobsters, I just went out exploring. Saw two leopard sharks, one probably ~5ft, a very large horn shark, bat ray, abalone, sculpin, three seals playfully checking me out (or hoping i had a fish for them), and saw some very large sheephead and calico bass under the dense kelp. Made me wish i brought my gun. Ended up staying in the water almost five hours before realizing i should probably head off to work. Unfortunately another embarrasing goose egg goes on the report card. Perhaps i need to try a new location? Need to try night diving? I will figure it out dammit.
Dawn broke as my buddy and I entered the water, a nice easy entry in the calm seas. Buddy was on a fish mission, and got off to a quick start with a nice sheephead. I was focused on the bugs... saw a bunch of clearly short ones, and some cute itty bitty ones. I quickly realized that it was already too late to find them outside their holes. Damn. I found a few that were definitely legal, but deep in holes. One brave guy was 3/4 out of his hole, but was extra weary as i excitedly closed in on him. Blew it. Another legal looking guy seemed to have a rather shallow hole... tried a grab, and felt bad as i broke off an antenna at the knuckle. I saw that he was still reachable, and went for it, but I swear that bastard was biting my hand when i reached in there. With my relatively thin gloves, i wimped out and moved on. I found two HUGE crabs in one hole (i think sheepcrab)... thought about working on them for a while, but they were wedged in there good, and I kept imagining that they would be pinching my ass as i dragged them around in my bag, so i let them be.
Managed to pull one lob out of his hole, but he slipped away as i was bringing him up. I chased him around for about 20 seconds, and finally came up gasping. I figured that was probably dumb, and how lobster divers sometimes meet their maker. Must change holding strategy. Finally caught one lobster, got him up holding securely onto the tail rather than carapace, and he measured a solid three inches... back into the murk he went.
It was great just to be out there, saw tons of life. After 3 hours of chasing lobsters, I just went out exploring. Saw two leopard sharks, one probably ~5ft, a very large horn shark, bat ray, abalone, sculpin, three seals playfully checking me out (or hoping i had a fish for them), and saw some very large sheephead and calico bass under the dense kelp. Made me wish i brought my gun. Ended up staying in the water almost five hours before realizing i should probably head off to work. Unfortunately another embarrasing goose egg goes on the report card. Perhaps i need to try a new location? Need to try night diving? I will figure it out dammit.