Ling at Neah Bay

[Rob Holman]

Just got back from Neah Bay on Sunday night. Season opened last weekend, but the tides were poor for diving. We elected to go the weekend of 4/22-23.

Weather was great if not a little windy.

We shot a lot of fish. Our boat of three people bought back 10 ling, and about 55 black rock fish! I even freeshafted two of the ling (I'm new to freeshafting and ling don't die easy)

The biggest ling is in this photo and went about 25 pounds.

[Rob Holman]

One of the guys (scott) took some UW photos. These are all black (or blue) rock fish

[Rob Holman]

China Rock fish (I don't allow these on my boat since they are so slow to grow and easy to fish out).

[Rob Holman]

Anenomies

[Rob Holman]

Wolf eel. (cannot hunt)

[Stretcharmstrng]

those wolf eels are good eating...sucks you cant hunt them.

very cool pics man!

[Rob Holman]

I have heard the wolfies are good to eat. It's been illegal for about a decade to harvest them. They are cool fish though. Fun to hand feed. Doubt I could shoot one, it would be like shooting a pet! They get pretty big.

Scott took pretty good photos. The pinkish anenomies are dinner plate size.

[PV_Spearo]

Why would you ever want to freeshaft a ling?
I cant see any possible advantage to that.....

Anyways, nice fish!! Keep up the good work!!

[Rob Holman]

I just started the freeshafting last year. I have found it to be so much more enjoyable than line shafting. It is just so easy and fast to re-load. No line to screw around with. When wearing dry suits and such, managing the line is that much more of a pain.

At the time, I was freeshafting black rockfish, and came across a couple ling. Rather than switch to my line shaft (which takes me about a full minute), I just loaded two more bands and whacked the lings one by one. The ones I shot were in the 10 pound class. I am not ready to try to freeshaft one much bigger than that yet.

[Kevin Casey]

After he spears these things, it is important to note that he cooks them in



LARD!!!!

[PV_Spearo]

Hmm...i never have problems with the line really tangling. I was thinking that in the limited vis you have and close shots taken on the fish there woulndt really be too much of an advantage. Especially if you shot a ling an it went bizerk, got off the shaft, or took the shaft into a crack or cave where you coulndt get it out.
Guess you gotta make sure you stone 'em.
Btw, you guys ever get any halibut up there, i heard the fisherman get quite a few near neah bay.

Brandon

[GROUPER55]

Nice pictures! Was stationed in FL, now at Fairchild near Spokane. I have been thinking about trying to get over there and get some info on stickn the fish. First halibut/ling trip was out of Neah Bay aboard the China Doll II years ago. How deep do you guys usually dive to consistantly find the ling? Is the bottom full of caves/depressions or is it relatively smooth? Everyone keeps telling me to go to Oregon to spearfish, but as with the whole deal, its a pain trying to get reliable info when you are unfamiliar. Thanks for sharing the picts.

[Rob Holman]

I hear that some folks get halibut. I thin you are better off in early summer near where the rivers dump into the bays. The bay where the Sekiu and Hoko rivers empty into the Straight is a good spot I hear. In those bays, they have caught 100 pounders in only 20 feet of water. I think they feed on the salmon when they are running. Otherwise you are stuck in water over 200 feet. I have talked to people who have seen them at Duncan Rock. That can be a challenging dive....

I have been on a quest for Halibut for a while now without luck. I have about 900 dives in the NW and have yet to see one. Although I have only dove in halibut habitat perhaps 40 or 50 times.

The bottom is generally filled with snaggy rocky reefs surrounded by vast patches of sand. We nearly always run these dives with a live boat and do not anchor. Expect current, surge and poor viz. Water temps are usually in the mid 40's, but do occasionally get up into the lower 50's if the currents are right. Last year 5 miles off the coast, the water temps were in the 70's, and we had sightings of blue sharks and sunfish (saw some myself while Salmon fishing a few miles to the north).

You can find ling in 10 feet of water. I have the best luck between 50 and 100 feet. They catch them in 300 feet with the halibut too so they are everywhere.

Kevin, when will you learn that Lard is Gods gift to cooking?

[fuzz]

I agree with PV on the freeshafting. I can see where the line would be cumbersome if you're using drysuits; however, the benefits of a lineshaft seem to greatly outweigh freeshafting in this environment.

We shoot a lot of lings down here in norcal and while most would be easily landed lineshafting or freeshafting(if I was a bubble blower), there are some that I would definitely lose freeshafting. Some of the boulders & cracks are too deep/small to get into to retrieve fish. I've never lost a ling with a lineshaft and never had a problem with the line, so see no real reason to change :confused:


Maybe you can switch to a commercial style line setup? It's made for ease of use & pretty simplistic. Your shots aren't likely to be far, so it seems like the best of both worlds for your situation.
http://www.slinginsteel.com/resources/guns/commercialfirst.jpg

[Slay Ride]

Nice Rob. I can't wait to try you lard encrusted Ling. Let me shoot the one you plan to cook!

See you in July.

Les

[Rob Holman]

Deal!

(it should be noted that Kevin's Pear and asparagus Ling poached over reduced onions in a mustard cream sauce is pretty tasty too. As were the fish Taco's that Chris made!)

[Rob Holman]

Regardign the line shafting and free shafting. Both are fun, and both have their uses. That commercial set up looks interesting too...

[GROUPER55]

I have used every type of line shaft I think they make, but still like the original, basic setup. I used the commercial type for awhile, but found that because I like to get down in the rocks and poking my head into wrecks/ledges ect... the lower loops would get caught up in the debris. As far as hanging off the bottom and shooting fish in the water column, in my opinion it cant be beat for speed. I think the pupose of it was to be very fast as far as shooting and "reloading".

[brents]

do you guys ever freedive in oregon or is it all scuba?