Epic mob to Dank Hunting Grounds

Kyle (K5Reefer) was generous enough to invite me to accompany him on a hunting expedition across the Santa Barbara Channel today.

Motoring out of Santa Barbara Harbor at 6am the 4stroke Honda outboard roared to full throttle against the onslaught of sea. Bashing the lil 15ft craft against the crests and troughs cold ocean spray lashed our exposed skin and soaked our previously dry warm cloths while the sun remained hidden behind the fog, I could only hang on for dear life, clinch my teeth and pray to god my body could withstand the occasional jar as the craft landed after becoming air born.

24 nautical miles later we arrived at our destination.

After draining the vain it was time to don the dive gear. Hurriedly we retrieved our tools from the hold. The capn was first in the water.

I splash into the luxurious hunting grounds, decompress my suit, adjust my weight belt and observe.

Many critters roam this reef. None that I can immediately make out to look tasty. Many female sheepshead, one in particular is very adamant about requesting I impale her. Jail Bait

Thorn back ray drifting lazily through the beds...there! A large kelp bass hanging in a semi circle of stalks. I slowly extend my hand, grab a trunk and pull myself forward gently floating toward the creature. He turns about shyly but then comes around to broadside me. All the while I am slowly drifting closer and closer! Eye to eye I aim center stage.

I let fly!

The spear launches high entering the fish between two rays of its dorsal fins. Naturally he escapes to freedom.

The Hunt is afoot! Although I did not land what would have been my first calico bass a specimen is landed aboard the boat nonetheless by capn Reefer!

As we make ready to check some new turf, kyle observes the scene propagating a little offshore. A cloud of birds frenzies the sky with members dive bombing the ocean. A congregation of humans circles the activity.

Must be a bait ball being hunted...

Still in our wetsuits we waist no time throttling it to a little miniature point holding a reef. This time I am first in the water.

My first visual cue was a group of white spots against a background of green.
Opal Eye!
Curious blue eyes examine my addition to their habitat. Choking on my snorkel I rush to retract my horizontally aimed pole spear into something that resembled a firing position and haphazardly thrash downward in a vein attempt to execute a dive all the while the creatures circle each other in two overlapping circles taking turns to say "hello".

A good solid breath of fresh air from my home world straightens me out.

I dive into the group, extend my blessings and wait. The largest of the immediate group floats facing me then slowly arcs across my field of view. With it's blue eye trailed by its monstrous portion of black and blue sheen and the tell tail white marking beckoning... I swear my stomach growled.
But patience is key...I tell myself..
One by one single file they flaunt in front of me. Finally I can take it no more. My pole orgasms right into an unsuspecting opal eye!
Medium sized, sure not underage. I quickly add the dying fish to the stringer and continue diving.
Sure enough I locate the still unsuspecting school and the drama plays out once more. This time I nail a fat old fella. Instead of adding the fish to my stringer I take advantage of the wound in its belly to gut/gill and de-scale the fish. Blood, guts and a sprinkling of corn kernal sized flakes rain on the kelp forest from above.

So much for surprise. The only opal-eye I found from then on was small little children, and only then as they hurriedly swam purposefully through the kelp being damn sure not to talk to strangers.

Saw a large female sheepshead who looked like male. Fish these days

Aboard the "kick back" Kyle informs me that we are going to attempt to catch fish the good ol fashion way.



Kyle hands me an impressive setup of salt water tackle (lure+weight) and throttles his engine to its lowest speed. I watch the reflector flash in the boats wake.

"Did you see that?!?" I exclaim

"yea I saw that what the hell was it?"

"Looks to me like small shark or something" says I

No sooner had my weight hit bottom than my line had given a sharp shake. Excitedly I wrangle in line. Nothing...but maybe? Still new with a heavy weight shaking at the end of a long length off of a moving craft I wasn't sure.
There! a pull this time!
"Fish on fish on!" I exclaim.
But my lure comes up empty...

Feeling like a kook I pay out line once more. Immediately after feeling my weight touch down I feel the unmistakeable sensation of a fish at the end of the threaded line.

Woooooooooeeeeey! Hes fighting!
Kyle readies the impaler hook and my poles tip gets sucked into the sea more than once. Finally I have him near the surface. The creature is brought aboard.

A fearsome barracuda! With gnarly teeth. He must have been playing with the flashy lure since I first put it in the water.



Guess what I catch next like 10 minuets later!!!

WSB


Kyle then hooks a fighting monster which we are sure is it's 50lb brother. After toiling long and hard to fight it up, it ends up being an unwanted batray

Still, he then lands a Ling in the zone where we kept catching kelp from the depths.

With grins as big as jackolanterns we jet into the exposed channel and I gleefully hold on for dear life as we slam, turn and roll, ocean spray drenching everything including my happy sunburned wetsuit wearing being. Way better than any roller coaster.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Kyle