Still Waters in California/West Coast

[BatRay]

What's everyone been up to? Any good, bad, or indifferent trip reports, or even old fish stories? C'mon now, what's everyone doing? The Wisconsin group is really active, and they are practically chopping holes in the ice to go diving! Can we let them show us up? (Much respect to them: Wisconsin folks are awesome.) But, I would love to hear what you guys are up to, even if you're just hoping for better conditions.

I'll start off: the winter season has been unbearably short on diving. To my dismay, the flopper on my NW Special is more floppy than ever, since the foam-rubber pieces that lift the wings have flattened to near-nonexistence. My boogie board float has seen more action on the snowy slopes than in the water, with the exception of a spearfishing demonstration in a recreation class. That demonstration was a one-shot, one-kill type deal. My prey was a gallon-size water carton. I stabbed it with my knife to prevent it from suffering, should it still be alive .

Lessons learned - button your jacket tail when lecturing right by a chain link fence . Weight loss is a bummer when your wetsuit was a good fit 25 pounds ago DB can get you through a dry, dry winter.

See you guys in the water, hopefully soon

[Marwan]

good on you to properly dispatch that water carton rache hey what species do you typically hunt in your waters, do you go after white sea bass like billmac, or do you get different species in your area (not sure if central california is close to where bill is or not) ive only been to cali a couple times, last was in 1994 in a 6 week summer session at UCLA, didnt get to do any spearing then too much partying , but really what species do you typically go after, what are the conditions like, i recall the ocean there was FREEEZZZING!! in August!..
cheers

[BatRay]

I'm located in the central area of California, about 3.5 hours from the ocean and in the middle of a valley Much of my diving is in local lakes and rivers, and you can't really shoot anything worth eating out of fresh water. You can shoot carp, goldfish, hardhead, and certain types of suckers They won't even let us shoot catfish or bluegill. The conditions in fresh water are generally nothing to write home about. The thermoclines can get pretty drastic, especially when you're in mountain lakes. The river gets to be a lot of fun, because the water temperature gets really low when the snowmelt starts to come down through the dams. There's a lot of current (of course, it's a river), so I learn good techniques for staying calm and making headway, as well as holding still and allowing the fish to get curious and come close. Of course, most of those are very tiny. They like to get up in my face, or sometimes they follow behind when I'm making my way upstream.

The ocean is pretty cold and the conditions can change in an instant. I've been on dives where the viz was zero, cleared up for a few seconds to perhaps five feet, then went back to zero. I've also been to Catalina, where the viz was at least 25 to 30 feet and stayed that way all day. You need a 5mm to dive comfortably. I saw wsb at Catalina, but did not have the chance to take one. Eventually, though...

[island_sands]

Batty I am going to have to come and visit I was thinking about doing DEMA this year and then maybe head out to the west coast...just for a couple of days. I have never dived in fresh water and Fondueset's pictures are always amazing.

Don't you get GWs out in Catalina?

[BatRay]

Hey Sara you are quite welcome! Let me know and we can meet up. I too am considering DEMA. Freshwater diving is a different type of experience.

There are GWS in California waters. Many attacks are north of Catalina, in an area called the Blood Triangle, which goes from about Santa Cruz to Bodega Bay to the Farallon Islands. I once saw a seal washed up on a beach that had had its head bitten off, and the neat crescent looked like a shark attack. That was at Marina Beach, where a shark attack happened relatively recently. I've been diving several times off a beach just a few miles south of there.

[island_sands]

Originally Posted by BatRay

Hey Sara you are quite welcome! Let me know and we can meet up. I too am considering DEMA. Freshwater diving is a different type of experience.

There are GWS in California waters. Many attacks are north of Catalina, in an area called the Blood Triangle, which goes from about Santa Cruz to Bodega Bay to the Farallon Islands. I once saw a seal washed up on a beach that had had its head bitten off, and the neat crescent looked like a shark attack. That was at Marina Beach, where a shark attack happened relatively recently. I've been diving several times off a beach just a few miles south of there.

Ha! And you want me to dive there?

So what are the areas where you dive, so I can look them up.

[BatRay]

Well, you won't hear of my most frequent dive spots in most dive logs The local river is the Kings River, just about five minutes from my house. I go there and claw my way along the bottom of the river because it's usually too shallow for anything else. It's a great workout and you never really know what you're going to find. I also dive at Hume and Shaver lakes. Those are both manmade lakes. Hume has better visibility because motorized boats aren't allowed there. That one is fun, because tourists drop stuff into the lake all the time. You end up finding keys, toys, swimming gear, and money Not bad hunting if you ask me. They also have a healthy population of bullfrogs, and chasing the tadpoles is a blast.

Shaver is a storage and recreation lake. It's fairly cold and has smallmouth bass, catfish, rainbow trout, German brown trout, Kokanee, carp, bluegill crayfish, and bullfrogs. The wildlife biologist encourages carp-shooting, because the carp are non-native and harmful. Shaver used to be a storage pond for a logging operation, so every once in a while you come upon trees that were felled over a hundred years ago that sank in the lake. They have an otherworldly look to them. I've also been diving in Monterey off of Del Monte beach and the Breakwater, and at Catalina. Those were nice, especially Catalina. The viz was quite good.

It's actually pretty rare to see a shark. My scuba diving instructor has been diving for over 10 years and has never seen a shark in California waters. Usually the attacks involve surfers. The worst spot for diver fatalities is Monastery Beach, near Carmel. That's not a shark issue, though.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by island_sands

Don't you get GWs out in Catalina?

We get quite a few at Catalina. I have never seen one, but several of my friends have, including one guy diving from my boat.

[BatRay]

I had my first dive of the season yesterday. It was a spur-of-the-moment trip to Monterey, with dive gear thrown in as an afterthought. The conditions were beautiful, the day was bright and sunny...until I got suited up and headed to the water. Then it became overcast, the seas became choppy, and the viz got a bit worse. To add to that, I brought a 3mm, nylon-in wetsuit that doesn't fit terribly well and forgot my weight belt That said, it was a marvelous time. In spite of the overcast and the chop, viz was probably 10 to 15 feet, which is a treat when you're used to 3-foot viz in the river. I took my sister, who had never been diving in the ocean before, and she enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm so proud of her - she went diving in a bathing suit and with just a mask and snorkel Conditions - air temperature around 60 degrees, water temperature around 52. We got out after half an hour or so because she was getting cold and I was getting nauseous. It was a good start to the season

[Bill McIntyre]

Good God! A 3 mm suit in 52 degree water is bad enough, but just a bathing suit is out of the question. You must be a couple of tough broads.

[island_sands]

eeeish - that's cold Batray. I'd be meeting the balls of a brass monkey down there for sure. I dont know how confident i'd feel in 10-15 ft vis knowing there might be sharks nearby

[BatRay]

It was very cold indeed. You get used to the cold, though. I used to boogie-board in those temps in just a bathing suit for hours at a time. I still would, but I've come to appreciate a layer of neoprene between my skin and whatever is floating about in the ocean. The Breakwater has a reputation for being an easy site, and I haven't heard much in terms of shark sightings there.