What percentage of California Free vs. Scuba

[Steel Shootin']

I was wondering. It seems like you guys over here mostly freedive. I have heard a lot about the regulations in California, but no specifics. Is it illegal to take fish on SCUBA in some areas, but legal with freediving?

Do people take WSB using SCUBA over there, or do only freedivers get them? Excuse my ignorance, I just have no experience diving over there.

[Spear One]

I think the main problem out there right now is they closed most of the good bottom areas (MPA's). We need to make sure history does not repeat itself here in Fla.

[VAQUERO]

I don't know one person who uses tanks. That would be cheating. Kinda like using dynamite for fishing. It's a pure sport out on the West Coast. Of course we don't have too many spots where fish are holding 150' down. I don't know too many guys who could pull that off.

Adios!

[Erik Sun]

some people think it's cheating but from what I understand it's harder to approach larger fish on scuba because they get spooked easier. You might be able to spot them but getting close might be more difficult. I have never taken anything on scuba, but if it hadn't been for my friend's dad's friend who shot some calicos on scuba, I would have never known about spearfishing. So whatever =P

I mainly see pole-spearers and occasionally a man with a gun.

[Prodigal Son]

That's a good question Scott. I don't know of any CA DFG regs prohibiting the use of scuba when spearfishing. Of course, it's illegal to harvest certain fish in CA by spearfishing, but there is no distinction between freediving and scuba. Here in Southern Cal, most of the beaches are fairly shallow dives; it's just easier to freedive. From what I've read from the southeastern seaboard posts, the spearfishing you guys do is a bird of a different feather. I can't see how you can do much of it without scuba.

[Steel Shootin']

Originally posted by Prodigal Son
That's a good question Scott. I don't know of any CA DFG regs prohibiting the use of scuba when spearfishing. Of course, it's illegal to harvest certain fish in CA by spearfishing, but there is no distinction between freediving and scuba. Here in Southern Cal, most of the beaches are fairly shallow dives; it's just easier to freedive. From what I've read from the southeastern seaboard posts, the spearfishing you guys do is a bird of a different feather. I can't see how you can do much of it without scuba.

Over here on this coast we are really blessed, especially where I live in the Northern Tampa Bay area. Port Richey is one of the closest points in Florida to the Florida Middle Grounds (about 67 miles). It also has great promimity to some of the best freediving opportunities in the state.

It sounds like in California the bottom is more condusive to freediving, especially if a lot of your spots are just off the beach. What depth do you find most of your WSB in? They look like amberjacks, which over here come high into the water column. Do the WSB get up in the column, above the kelp?

[OceanEd]

There used to be a lot of spearing going on with scuba when I grew up in Calif. There were 5 or 6 boats going out of Long Beach and several out of Santa Barbara. Some of the dive boat operations, such as Truth Aquatics, were known for their spearfishing trips. When I was working with them we were running 6 days a week with spearfishing trips out to the Channel Islands.

No boats were diving the coast with scuba/spearing, they were all going out to the islands.

We were told back then by the freedivers that it was hard to get close to WSB and Calico Bass with scuba, but we didn't seem to have any problems doing it.

Maybe that has all changed, but it is hard to believe. Anyone out there dive with Truth Aquatics out of the Santa Barbara pier? Are they still spearfishing?

[IB Boyd]

Hey, Ed, I remeber those Truth auatics trips quite vividly. My father and I used to take trips out to the Islands with them on a regular basis. That was in the mid eighties, and scuba spearing was alive and well. I even worked as a deck hand with them for a breif period one summer, on the Truth, with Captain Bill. I checked their websight recently, and they seem to have shifted away from hunting pretty radically.
Back to the original question, Scuba hunting is allowed in california, but I dont think to many folks do it. Most dive store employees in San Diego cant tell a slip tip from a paralyzer. I enjoy freedive hunting myself. Motivates me to stay in shape(which I need with a full time job and youngster at home), and I find it very rewarding.

[dpc]

I do both. For certain fish, like WSB, you probably won't see one unless you're freediving. However, it's nice to grab lobsters and hunt halibut in deeper waters with scuba. You can't use scuba for taking abalone, but I think that is the only distinction made between the two.
The MPAs are not yet in place due to budget problems with the CA Dept. of Fish and Game, but the have been voted in. There are some existing reserves around, one notable one on Anacapa Island. Most California divers (scuba and free) would be amazed at the sheer amount and soze of fish in the reserves. I'm not sure how much these fish migrate in and out of the reserve area, but there are 10+ lb. calicos that you can swim right up to and poke in the ribs! Plus, every hole is filled with legal sized bugs. I would highly recommend this dive if anyone ever gets the chance, even though you can't bring your gun.
I'll be going out with Truth Aquatics over the week of July 4. We will be going to the southern channel islands. They still run hunting trips for both lobster and halibut out to the northern channel islands. Pretty much all of the captains and deckhands are hunters, and the operation doesn't frown upon hunting. They don't advertise the trips for hunting, but if you go out on a day trip to the islands most of the regulars are probably hunting, depneding on the season. Kevin Costner has even been out on the boats and nailed a 40lb. halibut!

[Nate Baker]

dpc covers everything pretty well. I would only add a couple of points. First, we have kelp, which provides habitat for most fish without them having to orient to the bottom. As a result, there are few occasions when the average spearfishman has to dive more than about 60 feet (usually half that), so scuba isn't really necessary. As an aside, this is also how we lose many freedivers. They shoot a fish at 30 feet, it ties up in the kelp at 80 feet and the diver overextends himself trying to extricate it.

As to the sporting nature of scuba, it's a nonissue here, since the most sought after fish are difficult to approach with all that noise. Some notable exceptions are Black Seabass, which like the Jewfish, are protected now because they're so friendly; sheephead, a member of the wrasse family that really needs protection; and halibut, which lies on sandy bottom at various depths from the surfline to more than 100 feet.

So, yes, freediving is really the method of choice for the serious spearfisherman in southern Cal., but there is that other component of freediving -- the physical and mental journey we make on every dive -- that makes it increasingly popular here. I think most local freedivers you talk to would prefer a good day of freediving with no fish over a day with tanks and a full stringer. Just a personal preference thing.