Story # 1
This story is for divers who like motivation to get in
the water,
The water down south is hot, this year, with Big White
Sea Bass. Do I need to say more??? Now is the time to
get in the water and hunt!!!
My friend Joe and I went down south towards S.D.
this weekend to hunt WSB. We hunted from shore using
our Ocean kayaks. We paddled out to some off-shore kelp
beds in search for the illusive white sea bass. After
20 minutes of hunting I managed to shoot a 30 pound
WBS, then followed by 2 more in only a few hours. My
friend Joe shot his first WSB!! It was only around
around 16 pounds, but it put up a good fight. I saw 3
HUGE black sea bass and wished I had my video camera
as they swam right up to the tip of my speargun before
turning away and disappearing into the green waters
below. I think they must be far-sighted, to have
swam that close to me, only to realize I am not food. Hahaha
While hunting WSB, I found myself engulfed in
calicos. At one point, the bottom seamed to be rising. It ended up being 50 calicos swimming up for a closer look. When I am hunting WBS, and the calicos swim up to me, I know I am in good standing to see a WSB. Every time I saw Black seabass, mackerel, barracuda, and calicos in one spot, I saw WSB.
Here is a picture of the fish I got this weekend.
Till the next adventure!!!
Dan Silveira
Story # 2:
The trips that are the cheapest, craziest, and just far enough away from home to feel like paradise have become some of the most memorable moments of my life, just like my most recent trip down to Southern California.
In past years, I have found the lush kelp beads off of San Diego to be a great place to hunt White seabass during the months of June and early July. While the Kelp beads are exposed to the swells, wind, and even red tide, I have developed a system of analyzing the conditions to find the ideal situations for spearing white seabass. While most of the kelp beads lay roughly one mile off shore, the currents can change depending on the wind and swell, so in order to find out what side of the kelp to hunt I look at various swell web sites such as www.magicseaweed.com
Fist thing in the morning I went out looking for ideal kelp beads with my friends, Mark and Tom. Once we got to a spot that looked good, I got in the water, and with in 5 minutes I saw White seabass. Unfortunately I could not get a shot at the WSB. So with determination and the thought of bagging a big fish I continued the stalk. During every moment of the dive I made sure that I was 100% focused and quiet.
Shortly after, Mark came to the boat with a bit of Motivation; a 20 pound White seabass. It was time for me to raise the bar now, and with in a few minutes, I had 2 beautiful 30-40 pound WSB swim right up to me. I took aim on the larger one, and squeezed the trigger. The shaft hit the fish in the spine just behind the gill plate, immediately stopping the fish in its path. I borough the fish to the boat were it weighed in at 38 pounds.
I quickly got back in the water and swam to the same spot and with in 30 seconds, 3 larger WSB came into my sights. I lined up on the first fish, since it was the biggest, and popped him right behind the gill plate. The fish took off at lightening speed and sounded straight to the bottom at 80 feet. I waited for my heart rate to slow down before making the dive through the murk to 85 feet, where I was able to untangle the fish and bring my prized 45 pounder to the surface.
What a trip!!!
Till the next adventure!!!
Dan Silveira
Story # 3
Catalina Island.
The trip to Catalina Island started out with a 5 hour drive down to San Pedro Harbor, where my friend Colleen and I hopped on the Catalina Express boat heading for Two Harbors. We had reserved our Campsite in advance, and we bought all the need provisions; tent, stove, sleeping bag, cooler and food. Once we got there, we went to the Dive shop and rented a couple Ocean Kayaks, dropped our stuff off at the campsite and headed out in search of Yellowtail.
We paddled 2 miles to a spot, off shore, that I had seen yellowtail before, but when I entered the water I realized that the visibility was incredible – about 70-80 feet!!!!! Immediately I saw a large Yellow some 50 feet away. But the fish did not want anything to do with me. I continued the day hunting without luck, but finally as I passed over a few stocks of kelp, one lone yellow came zipping by, at lighting speed, and I took the shot, hitting it in the back third. The fish went straight to the bottom, and tangled in the kelp. I yelled to Colleen for a back up shot, but she was in the kayak at the time, and the fish ended up getting off.
The next two days, I hunted the same reef finding the yellowtail. I managed to spear 2 more, and even with perfect shots right behind the gill plate the fish managed to get off. I was frustrated and bummed out, but with determination and persistence I moved to another place and found water with less visibility. Now I might have the chance to get closer to the fish and place a holding.
I made a dive to 50 feet where I spent 1:20 minutes waiting and finally I saw a glimpse of a yellowtail out in the distance. I desperately lunged off the ledge with my gun stretched out, but the fish was too far away for a shot, so I kicked a few more times before noticing that the entire school had turned around and the lead fish was directly under me. I re-adjusted my gun and pulled the trigger. “BAM” I hit the fish in the gill plate and temporally immobilized it. Now running out of breath, I headed for the surface, but it wasn’t long before I was battling a large sea lion off my fish. For the next 30 seconds I was anxiously fighting towards the surface. At 1:45 min I finally took a much needed breath of air, but the battle was far from being over. I grabbed the fish by the tail and with an explosion of energy, the yellowtail jumped out of my hands and shot back down to 40 feet. For the next couple minutes, I watched as the sea lion and yellowtail raced like cat and mouse. I was rooting for the Yellowtail!!!!! Finally the yellowtail wisely headed in for shallow water where it vanished into a cluster of kelp.
With the sea lion on my back I grabbed every the entire bunch of Kelp and held on for dear life. The sea Lion was confused and finally left me to land my prized catch. The Yellowtail ended up weighing 35 pounds!!!
Till the Next Adventure!!!
Dan Silveira