Bugging in Laguna 10-04-2006

[mnguy]

Went bugging after training let out at 4pm today as there's no better way to wait out the traffic to Riverside than diving . I went day diving at a spot where I always see bug carcasses on the shore but it was devoid of any life, save for the one legal I pulled and some decent sized sandbass hiding under a ledge.

I met up w/ Sebastien and 68beast later on in the evening to do a night dive. I only saw a few more bugs and managed to bag one that was a bit bigger than the first. The bug that I grabbed was in a pocket that I found thanks to a wayward garibaldi. In that pocket, there was another bug of the same size and a big crab that looked like a spider crab but was all red like a red rose. I went for the 2 for 1 but missed one and only got the one I bagged. The smaller one was about 1/4" past legal and the larger one about 1/2" past legal. Other than these and about 2 more that I saw, the area was pretty dead too.

Thank God that the two that I grabbed today were legal, I don't think I could handle getting another one thats short by a millimeter or 2. I might have deteriorated into starting sentences with periods if that kept up

[mnguy]

Forgot to add, I'll be diving tomorrow after 4pm and maybe friday after 130pm so hopefully there will be more pics to come.

[amasterp1322]

nice job on the bugs im heading out fri for the second time hope I can get more than one this time

[So-Cal Spearo]

Nice report. Glad you finally got some! I hate those super close bugs where you keep measuing them and hope that somehow they will get bigger every time you measure it!...They never do.

[jdeirmend]

Nice bugs . . . and beer! I love the way newcastle tastes, it must go great with a lobbie. Now, if only it didn't make me shit funny for three days straight after drinking it . . .

P.S. - With that comment, I think I've started a track record of TMIing you, Mike.

[turtle714]

where are you diving at today? ive been waiting to get rid of this wicked cough but its been two weeks now n' i just need to get in the water...

[mnguy]

Yeah dude, TMI

I dove Cress today with no legals in sight. I saw lots of big bass acting all dumb again since I wasn't packin any heat, so tomorrow I'll probably spear in the early part of the afternoon and bug in the evening. Gotta test out my new bamboo shooter.

I saw a weird rockfish that I thought was a big ass cabbie at first, same bluish blotchy black coloration with some lighter blotches and all and it just laid there in like 4 feet of water tucked into a groove under a rock. When I got closer and got my knife out for the kill, I noticed that it had a rockfish/bass body plan and head and wasn't all rough looking like a cab either. I also noticed that it was at least 18". I went in for the riffe silencer knockoff stab to the dome but the surge was a bit rough today what with the seemingly 0 second period on the swells I whiffed Any ideas on what it is?

Vis was also down over most of the beach as the sand has all been pulled off the shore by the swells and the surge is picking it up. I'll be diving somewhere in Laguna tomorrow and for the better part of the day as I only have to work in the morning. If anyone wants to link up call me. 949-412-1587

Oh and if anyone cared, the 2 lobbies in the earler pic were a male and unplastered female.

[Chris Oak]

Nice catch mike! The fish sounds like maybe a grass rockfish, I've seen them pretty big too. I've also tried one of those big red crabs, I'm pretty sure it was a kelp crab. One time I was bug diving in the shallows by the feather boa kelp and I felt a huge pinch on my ass, the thing had latched onto me and was pinching me so I grabbed him and threw him in the bag cause I was pissed. Tried to steam him and man was it gross. The meat was all green looking, and tasted nasty, blah. I don't think there was a winner that time, we all lost

[Scottywotty]

Yeah, but he paid the ultimate price!
you'll live to get pinched another day

I seem to remember those crabs being called oriental kelp crabs.
I've seen some that looked big enough to feed a family of four!
But never tried one, now I'm glad I didn't......Thanks!

Scott

[mnguy]

Originally Posted by C-Level

Nice catch mike! The fish sounds like maybe a grass rockfish, I've seen them pretty big too. I've also tried one of those big red crabs, I'm pretty sure it was a kelp crab. One time I was bug diving in the shallows by the feather boa kelp and I felt a huge pinch on my ass, the thing had latched onto me and was pinching me so I grabbed him and threw him in the bag cause I was pissed. Tried to steam him and man was it gross. The meat was all green looking, and tasted nasty, blah. I don't think there was a winner that time, we all lost

Grass rockfish, noted. Thanks for taking one for the team on that crab too Chris, as green and nasty sounds like a bad time.

Went out again today for some spearing at Cress with my bamboo pole tipped with a sawed off anchor bolt, mixed with potential bugging. Saw some bugs but didn't grab any. The tide was a really low low tide, like the first reef was maybe 40 feet from the shoreline. Attempted a bug in like 5 feet of water on the way in and spooked a big ass sculpin. I waited for it to land and then shafted it in the skull. The pole didn't penetrate all the way through but the anchor bolt wings toggled inside the body somewhere and I couldn't get the damn sculpin off of the spear. I decided to just swim in with my new tip protector and remove it on shore. As I was swimming in, around 3 feet of water, I passed over a fat cab. I whipped out my knife and turned around, waiting for the eelgrass to part again. When I got sight of the cab again, I went in for the Navy SEAL commando kill and stoned it in the skull. Cab is 15.5", so just enough but not too shabby considering it is a Laguna shoredive Will put up pics later.

edit: pics

sculpin
cabbie

Here are some notes for those of you who have trouble telling the two apart. Each ray on the sculpin's forward dorsal is distinct while the cab has very shallow dips between the rays and a generally fleshier dorsal. Note the cirri above the eyes on the cab. Note the proportion of the front and back dorsal fin length on the cab and sculpin, with the sculpin having a more forward ratio while the cab is about even. Note the size ratios on the dorsals as well, with the cab having a greater volume of rear dorsal and the sculpin the opposite. Also note the smooth skin on a cab versus the rough skin on a sculpin. It is not as readily apparent, but you can make out the scale pattern on the sculpin where the cab is mackeral smooth.

[turtle714]

Originally Posted by mnguy

Grass rockfish, noted. Thanks for taking one for the team on that crab too Chris, as green and nasty sounds like a bad time.

Went out again today for some spearing at Cress with my bamboo pole tipped with a sawed off anchor bolt, mixed with potential bugging. Saw some bugs but didn't grab any. The tide was a really low low tide, like the first reef was maybe 40 feet from the shoreline. Attempted a bug in like 5 feet of water on the way in and spooked a big ass sculpin. I waited for it to land and then shafted it in the skull. The pole didn't penetrate all the way through but the anchor bolt wings toggled inside the body somewhere and I couldn't get the damn sculpin off of the spear. I decided to just swim in with my new tip protector and remove it on shore. As I was swimming in, around 3 feet of water, I passed over a fat cab. I whipped out my knife and turned around, waiting for the eelgrass to part again. When I got sight of the cab again, I went in for the Navy SEAL commando kill and stoned it in the skull. Cab is 15.5", so just enough but not too shabby considering it is a Laguna shoredive Will put up pics later.

edit: pics

sculpin
cabbie

Here are some notes for those of you who have trouble telling the two apart. Each ray on the sculpin's forward dorsal is distinct while the cab has very shallow dips between the rays and a generally fleshier dorsal. Note the cirri above the eyes on the cab. Note the proportion of the front and back dorsal fin length on the cab and sculpin, with the sculpin having a more forward ratio while the cab is about even. Note the size ratios on the dorsals as well, with the cab having a greater volume of rear dorsal and the sculpin the opposite. Also note the smooth skin on a cab versus the rough skin on a sculpin. It is not as readily apparent, but you can make out the scale pattern on the sculpin where the cab is mackeral smooth.

dayam...nice catch

[Chris Oak]

Originally Posted by Scottywotty

Yeah, but he paid the ultimate price!
you'll live to get pinched another day

I seem to remember those crabs being called oriental kelp crabs.
I've seen some that looked big enough to feed a family of four!
But never tried one, now I'm glad I didn't......Thanks!

Scott

Yeah it was pretty gross scott, but maybe it was just me. I triple double dog dare you to try the next one . I took a look at a display and I guess there are two types, one is the shield backed crab and the other is the kelp crab and both of them get pretty big. I still shudder thinking about what they might taste like. Ive eaten sheep crab and it was good but the shell was too much of a hassle.

Damn mike what did you shoot that sculpin with a .44 mag ? That's a stone shot if I ever saw one!

[abachar]

Nice fish, bugs, beer. This is probably to late because the fish are in your gut, or the Riveside community plumbing, but while diving we mostly see these guys from the top as they attempt to camo, and I was wondering what are the differences that you (or anyone) has noticed between the sculpin and Cab looking at them dorsally rather than laterally as all the ID guides show. In comparison, what is the shape of their head and placement of pectoral fins when resting on the bottom. Ive seen alot of cabs but never seen a sculpin. Aside beautiful layout ("pinning" the fins etc..) for photo.

[mnguy]

Originally Posted by ab10hunter

Aside beautiful layout ("pinning" the fins etc..) for photo.

Funny thing is, those fish weren't pinned or anything. Rigormortis + a day of being on ice in the cooler made them look that way.

I've never had a cab flee on me when I got right next to it as long as I didn't touch it, so I always drop down and try to get a lateral view since it has the best visual keys. Any sculpin I've dove on tries to scoot away once you get within about 2 feet of it, and then it does the whole "I'm a rock" thing until you attempt to mess with it again. That's what happened with these two as well, and I saw the highly vented dorsal and knew what was up. The pink tint on the edges of the pec fins didn't hurt either.

Chris, I shot it with a polespear I made out of bamboo with a 1/4" anchor bolt that I took a rotary tool to and cut the end into a tri-cut tip.


Here's the cab's final meal, a little tako.

[Sebastien]

God job bro!!
Those rockfish are the most delicate fish I know

What a hell is the last picture???