Does no one scuba in CA?

[Integral]

hey guys...i'll be moving out to CA (san diego, lived in OB last summer for internship, now i got a real job) for good at the end of the summer and here in FL a lot of ppl spear on scuba and do deep(ish) dives (140-200). i've been lurking the CA boards to get a feel for what i'll be shooting and what kind of stuff is going on, and it certainly seems that hardly (if any) of you guys spear while SCUBAing. if that's true, why is that? i see that there are some regulated species that don't allow harvesting via scuba, but WSB,YT,Sheephead, etc do...and those certainly seem like the most popular. so my question to you all is...why? and does ANYONE scuba and spear b/c i'm not a big fan of free-diving....

thanks for the help and i can't wait to get to CA and do some diving/fishing/surfing///etc. woo.

-colin

[fish impaler]

wont see many wsb on scuba

[headshot]

most spearboarders are free divers.
Many guys spear fish on SCUBA but most of the big fish will avoid the bubble noise.
SCUBA is good for rock fish, calico, sheep head, halibut, and ling cod.

[fishkabobz]

Originally Posted by headshot

most good spearfishermen are free divers.
Many guys spear fish on SCUBA but most of the big fish will avoid the bubble noise.
SCUBA is good for rock fish, calico, sheep head, halibut, and ling cod.

That's what I was thinking.

Scuba for the smaller fish out here, freedive for the big 'uns. Though Lings and Halibut can get pretty damn big and had on scuba. Most of our diving is between 10 and 70 feet. And we don't have to drive 45 miles across water to get to it. Makes it a lot easier to freedive when we aren't going to 100-200 fsw to find fish also.

[oceanhunter1]

A lot of freediving is the challenge, can you find a halibut in the time you're holding your breath, on SCUBA, it seems like it's just a matter of how long will it take me too spot one, and how deep do I wanna go. This is just my opinion though.

[apneanaut]

I bet there's some great rockfish and ling hunting down that deep. I'm not sure why there aren't many fanatical SCUBA spearos. I think it's generally understood that it's hard to hunt yellowtail and wsb on SCUBA, but everything else is probably catchable.

[series8217]

The better game fish in California are found by spending a LOT of time in the water. They aren't in holes tucked in reefs; they move around a lot. It's easier (and less expensive) to spend 6 hours looking around in one day if you're freediving than it is on SCUBA. Freediving is also much quieter and doesn't scare away the skittish fish.
Shore diving is also very popular here, and the trails down to the shore are not fun when carrying a lot of equipment.

[mokaction]

Scuba surfing he winter for lobsters and smaller fish.. summer time freediving for bigger fish..

Larrry

[spearthebigones]

Hmmm I wonder ... do we have any strange exotic fish at deep depths in California that I've never heard about or seen?

[Fis_Hunter]

I will address Northern california we hike up and down hills to get to our dive sites some are hundreds of feet high. The water is as cold at 42 degrees and warms up to around 50 We enter over rocks into breaking waves packing a tank and 36 lbs of lead and a speargun up and down that hill is a B%tch. You will probably not dive deeper than about 50 feet deep on a tank. You can make 50 with about three or four kick cycles freediving if you want.

[kjflyfish]

If you get in with a local club, you'll learn heaps. California seems to have a very strong spearfishing club culture, which is great. You might even end up siding with us elitist, arsehole, snorkelrs.

Scuba spearfishing seems to be an uniquely American phenomenon. Even in the Mediterranean, where fish are few and far between (and deep), scuba isn't used. The divers compensate by being better athletes.

That said, method of take doesn't matter at all regarding fisheries - it's all about numbers. No bad blood to the Scuba doos!

I can't wait to dive the CA kelp! This NZ winter is killing me!

[HHEAD]

The only thing you can't hunt on SCUBA are abalone. OK, so I freedive deeper than I've ever dove on scuba but blowing bubbles in NORCAL is f'n awesome, you feel like the pied-piper leading the rockfish groupies (blues and olives). You look ahead, its barren rocks and kelp, you look behind you and there's a vortex of rockfish trying to eat your bubbles. Deep & Clear = freedive. Shallow and Shitty (or @ night) = Scuba. If you dive year-round in CA you'll get more quality days in the water mixing free & scuba. Halibut, rockfish, scallops, lobsters are all fun stuff to hunt on gas.

[|FATHOM|]

Here in california our trophy fish are very skitish. You guys in florida have great viz so you can see the fish way before he can hear you. Over here the trophy fish will hear you and bolt before you can see him. Look at the hell diver video's those guys can practically swim with the fish on scuba and take their pick, I'm not putting them down they land some great fish but that for sure wouldn't roll in california. All those fish would bolt and you'd be swimming alone. I think If I lived in the gulf or florida I would scuba and spear a lot more.

Its also a hassle to lug all the scuba gear and make a beach entry. Keep in mind most of our coastline in cliff or mountain meeting ocean so some of our entry points involve a bit of hiking. The only species that I target on scuba is halibut other than that I freedive for my fish.

[Ethan kills]

Every halibut I have shot has been in like 10 ft of water. I am relitivly new to all of this but there is something awkward and clumsy about scuba to me. I guess I understand if you are trtying to get scallops or bugs though, all the scallops I have taken have been freedive as well. Scuba would be cool too use while taking pictures.

[t-bone1]

beware Great Whites Sharks are attracted to Scuba .