A Great Day Diving

['o Cino]

Eliott and I had been talking about halibut for months, as he had yet to get one freediving. Instead of comp'n him a bag from the freezer, we dove a fav site this past weekend, with the hopes of flatties.

The tide was changing, water cold, current strong, and viz pretty bleak at best. By the time you saw any Sandies or Calicos, they spooked, and Eliott had seen zero hali's and was wondering if my stories were just fish-stories.

Well, we were both calling it a day, when Eliott pops to the surface yelling "I got one!" and dove back down. I started to swim over, as he comes back up with a flopping flattie, and screams "It won't die, what do I do!?" Of course, I was laughing hard, congratulating him, and yelled "gill it, and that'll do", to which the reply, as he tried to manage the thrashing fish "It's got teeth, and is trying to bite me!" By the time I get to Eliott, one side is gilled, and we swim back to the boat, Eliott with the biggest smile and non-stop chattering excitement of how he spotted the hali, tried to shoot, and had his safety on.

Later, Eliott got a lesson on filleting the hali, and did a superb job, leaving very little meat at all on the 26 inch fish. Job well done for a first hali.

It was a spectacular dive, and awesome day hanging out. Good Times...

[LunkerBuster]

cheers to a nice looking fish and a great filleting job

[WILL I AM]

congrats to your buddy!!
I can't wait until i land my first hali!

[YakAtak]

Nice fillet job Michael!!!

[Markio]

Nice Hali...

Have not caught one yet but I am prepare for the fight.

['o Cino]

Originally Posted by YakAtak

Nice fillet job Michael!!!

Can't take credit for it. It was all Eliott's fillet job. I just sat back, watched, and explained where to cut and shave. Didn't get one bit of slime on me

[YakAtak]

Originally Posted by 'o Cino

Didn't get one bit of slime on me

I like those fillet jobs the best!!!

[MidwestSpearo]

Wow, congrats on that nice fish and an excellent fillet job.

[Bluewater1]

nice butt brother. that spot looks pretty familiar. O'cide jetty?

[HuntFishSD]

Let's hear it for 'o Cino!

Michael is good peeps and just plain good luck. For those of you who know him, you know this. For those that don't know him, your loss.

FYI, I am Elliott. Michael took me out a couple of weeks ago and I got my first Hali (see pics above).

Anyhow, Michael was nice enough to invite me out again this last weekend and we went to the same spot. This time we had Scott (MMAguy?) along as well.

Well... Good luck again! I got my first sculpin! Actually I got three (11 1/2", 12 1/2", and 13". I spotted a fourth one, but I already had a sculpin on my shaft and I had no dikes and no float with stringer (just my hip stringer). This sculpin was so big though, so I just had to try to hand spear it with an unloaded shaft with a dead sculpin already on it. I might have been able to pull it off, but I couldn't dive down two feet and hold position and aim because of my bouyancy and the surge. So I inadvertanly spooked it into a nearby cave. At that point, I felt guilty for being so greedy and so I called Scott over so he could stick it. After 5 dives his spear found it's mark! The cool thing is- it was his first sculpin too! And a HOG! I hope he got pictures of it.

Oh, and as a side note: After the "I can't find the Hali brain" incident a week prior, I did some research and found this very useful link:

http://www.spearboard.com/showthread...highlight=hali

I also boiled that hali head so I could do a first hand inspection of it's skull. Way cool! (thanks Michael). Anyhow, I was stoked to pass on the info as to where to brain a hali to Michael, since he's always helping others and it's rare to discover something he doesn't know ;-). Well, he goes out and spears a hali- right through the brain! I hope he got pics of that too. Nice job!

Anyhow here's some pics of the sculpin (my 3). Notice that by the third sculpin I decided that placing the shaft directly into the brain was a good idea to avoid getting stuck. That shot was point blank in 4' of water pointing directly down into a hole. I had to be on the side of the gun, because there was no room (that makes it a little tricky to aim). I forgot and left all (3) 5/8 bands on and shot directly into the head and into the rock. But, no bent shaft or broken tip! The shaft only traveled about 12 inches and didn't even leave the gun. Yes, I know that's dangerous. But, I was off to the side.

Cheers, and thanks again Michael! You rock buddy!

Elliott

[ApneaAddict]

I like your enthusiasm. I love scorpion fish. Definitely have to be careful handling them, but the reward is some tasty tasty meat. Next time you see a one you want to spear, but already have a fish on the shaft, just push the fish down the shaft and onto the shooting line, then reload your gun and shoot the second fish. Works like a charm.

Anyway, well done on the fish and thanks for sharing.

[Ethan kills]

Michael! Flat rock BBQ? I feel one coming on.

[HuntFishSD]

Originally Posted by ApneaAddict

I like your enthusiasm. I love scorpion fish. Definitely have to be careful handling them, but the reward is some tasty tasty meat. Next time you see a one you want to spear, but already have a fish on the shaft, just push the fish down the shaft and onto the shooting line, then reload your gun and shoot the second fish. Works like a charm.

Anyway, well done on the fish and thanks for sharing.

Thanks!

Yeah, I use that technique all the time with other fish, but being my first sculpin, I was trying to be extra carefull! I have heard so many awful stories. However, after filleting all three (using kevlar/rubber gloves) without incident, I am a little more comfortable with them. Next time I think I might stick 'em with a pole spear. That seems to be the best way to stick a non-moving object sitting on a rock.

Cheers

['o Cino]

Thanks for the comments Elliott, much appreciated

I didn't get a pic of the 'stone-braining the hali', but sure know where to hit them to cool their jets quick now. Thanks for the forensic work!

Photobucket isn't working now, but we did get a pic of Scotts chubby Sculpin. It had a tail in it's throat, and Scott pulled out a 10-11" top smelt :0

Ethan, excellent idea. Creepy thing is, I'm on the same wavelength, and was just getting the beach buggy ready for this season. If you see Patrick or Dave, pass it on to them...it'd also be a blast to have all the kids in the water.

[ezcompany]

thanks for the report guys!