Trip Report Newport Trip report - 3/23

[Devildiver]

Took a friend visiting from Ecuador out this past week for his first ever spearfishing adventure on the South jetty. He was calm in the water and after an hour or so snorkeling and making shallow drops, I gave him the speargun and let him loose.

Vis was maybe 6' and I didn't see any shooter fish for the first hour or so. Current was ripping so we just dove with it.

I shot a nice black, and then gave Alberto the gun to go after the same school to get his first fish. within a few minutes, he cam back with a keeper ling It wasn't a monster, but talk about a lucky guy shooting a ling on his first day in the water!

We called it quits after that because we were only out to put enough fish on the table for that evening.

[ljsargent]

Sweet. Thanks for the report!
I went out yesterday. Visibility was about the same at best and the water was kind of rough but sometimes you just have to suck it up and get in. Ran into a friendly ling who decided to come home for dinner with me. Saw a bigger less friendly one swim into a dark hole but my torch burned out and I missed the opportunity.

[North Star]

Casey and Lewis - Great job in tough conditions, and good fish! Way to kill 'em!

[Kirby]

I can't believe you guys are getting diveable days right now. Pretty much all of northern Cali has been getting so much rain and huge surf. Vis has been zero in Humboldt for the last month.

What are your ling regs up there? Ours might be changing from 2/day @ 24in, to 2/day @ 22in and many of us are upset about it. I'd prefer the minimum size to stay the same or increase so we'd hopefully see more large ones, but decreasing the size is supposed to take the strain off of certain long-lived rockfish species...

[ljsargent]

Originally Posted by Kirby

I can't believe you guys are getting diveable days right now. Pretty much all of northern Cali has been getting so much rain and huge surf. Vis has been zero in Humboldt for the last month.

What are your ling regs up there? Ours might be changing from 2/day @ 24in, to 2/day @ 22in and many of us are upset about it. I'd prefer the minimum size to stay the same or increase so we'd hopefully see more large ones, but decreasing the size is supposed to take the strain off of certain long-lived rockfish species...

The diveable days are far and few. You just have to be ready and hope you have the day off when they come. If conditions are marginal I'll stay in the bay to avoid the swell.
The ling limit is 2/day and 22in. but I try to wait for the bigger ones.

[Devildiver]

Every day is diveable with a 30" midhandle!

While some days are obviously much better than others, I've found that if I get in the water and look enough (dive light required) I can always kill fish... haven't been skunked in two years putting blacks on the table

Lings are another story

[Devildiver]

Of course I have to drive 4 hours to get to Newport, or anywhere else on the coast for that matter, so I'm always game to dive assuming its safe.

[ljsargent]

Originally Posted by Devildiver

Every day is diveable with a 30" midhandle!

While some days are obviously much better than others, I've found that if I get in the water and look enough (dive light required) I can always kill fish... haven't been skunked in two years putting blacks on the table

Lings are another story

You're better than I am. I have come home on more than one occasion without fish. But it was still time in the water!

[Devildiver]

Originally Posted by ljsargent

You're better than I am. I have come home on more than one occasion without fish. But it was still time in the water!

I'm relentless... like a junkyard dog or a crack-whore coming off of her high

In all reality though, I came home empty handed many times when I was exploring the jetties at the beginning of my Oregon diving. Once I finished my speargun and got over my sandy clit I've been successfull ever since.

Lets go out some time and see if I can keep up my shiny record