Personal Best Vermilion

Short version:
I went out with my good buddy Steve and a visiting Canadian freediver and we shot some decent lings, giant blacks and a Monster Verm. Pics and vid below.

Long version:
Been working hard since October to recover from a partial tear of my quadriceps tendon...have done a few dives so far in 2017, and got a few decent Lings etc but nothing too fancy...

Dove last weekend for my 41st birthday and was really hoping for a big sexy fish, but my dive buddy and I got blown off the water by the wind almost right away and came home with empty stringers...

Forecast looked awesome for this Saturday so was hoping to get out again to see if I could get my first nice fish since my injury, and for a belated birthday gift to myself...

A Canadian freediver named Magali reached out to me during the week to let me know that some other Canadian freedivers were gonna be in the area and that one was hoping to get out to try spearing...I said she was welcome to join when I went on Saturday.

Steve (lorikay2) and I met up with Cali and her husband Ken in the AM, and Ken decided he was gonna hang out with the rest of the group and that Cali would come out and try spearing.

Super nice woman, excellent freediver who has competed for the Canadian National Team in the past, and a very quick and attentive learner of everything Steve and I shared with her. Felt a little weird trying to teach somebody cuz I usually feel like I barely know what I am doing   

Kicked out to the chosen area and right away Steve spots a Ling and Cali goes down and nails it! First speared fish and she is stoked!! 

I start looking for a school of BIG (really big for Monterey County) Black rockfish that I have seen in the past here...no school today, but still some large ones hovering around...

I take one nice one and call Cali over to get another one I had seen...she drops down and I follow her to make sure she sees the fish...she sees it, but misses! DOH!

I give her my gun to go right back and get it while I reload hers, but the area we are has a lot of water movement and we both get washed out before she can get it.

I see a decent golden Ling swimming around and take him. Nice bright blue colored meat to go with his gold skin. 

Decide to head to a slightly calmer area and start looking around...I see a single black chilling in the palm kelp from the surface, and drop down and take him. Beautiful 20 inch fish and my second biggest black ever!

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2606

Keep looking around the area and notice another big black cruising around...I know Steve had been looking for a big one for several years...he would have placed much higher in DOTY the past two years if his blacks hadn't been so puny LOL, so yelled out to let him know there was a nice one in the general area...5 minutes later he comes up with a HUGE 22 inch black on his spear!! His biggest ever!!

So stoked for him...he is a great guy, excellent dive buddy, and deserved that fish for sure!!   

Decide to explore out deeper, but didn't see anything too exciting, so head over to where I have taken some Verms in the past....

Found a patch of kelp where I thought the spot was, but the bottom was all sandy and barren...

Moved inside a bit for a few drops...still sandy...

Moved north a bit and after a few drops found some good structure that looked kinda familiar so called Steve and Cali over...

Do a drop and cruise down the side of this large pinnacle to the bottom at 45 feet, and right when I hit the bottom I see a BIG verm spook and dart a little ways away...could tell right away it was the biggest Verm I have ever seen underwater and my heart stops....luckily the Verm pauses and turns and gives me the perfect shot...aim and pull the trigger and the shaft goes right through her gill plate and out the other side.   

Verm takes off and pulls out my reel line, but I know the shot is solid so grab the line and pull her up and prevent her heading underneath a boulder and start heading back to the surface, and get my hands on her before I get there.

At the surface Steve and Cali and I freak out when we see how big and beautiful the fish is, and I can tell right away my adrenaline load has been shot for the day so take my time stringing up the fish and packing away gear before we make the swim back to the shore.

After a grueling death march back to the car with the weightbelts and gear and fish we have some well deserved cold beers, take some pics and see that the big Verm tapes out to 23.5 inches...my PB by over an inch, second biggest Verm so far in NCKA DOTY history (behind Jwilliams), and 6th biggest Verm in NCKA AOTY history (behind fishshim, Mooch, FisHunter, Freddie and Live2Fish).

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2605

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/speciesleaders/list_by_species/1

http://aoty.norcalkayakanglers.com/speciesleaders/list_by_species/1

After a few more beers, we dropped Cali off with the rest of the Canadian group, and gifted them all the fish except for the Verm and Steve's giant Black so that they could have enough for a fresh fish dinner for their whole group.

From looking at pics on FB I saw they had enough for everyone, and even had some leftovers that they made into some yummy looking fishcakes!! Stoked that we were able to show some visitors a good time, and help them go home with some positive memories of diving our local waters and the tasty fish that can be found here.

One the way home Steve and I stopped by Phils' in Moss Landing for a chavela and to get an official weight which came out to 8.76 pounds. For reference the California State Diving Record is 10 pounds 6 ounces set in 1983 (world record is 10.8 pounds set by young stud Ariel Merhav in 2015).

Back home took some pics with Steve and my girls, and later on fileted up the Verm which had some eggs in belly AND a whole blue rockfish.   

Took the ear stones out as well to add to my collection.

Cooked up the scaled collars and belly meat in the nuwave (just sprinkled with some salt and Tony Chacheres) and served it with some ponzu sauce and lemon...delicious and plenty for my wife and I.

Feel EXTREMELY grateful for this beautiful fish....have gotten a lot of help and support over the years from people and try and do my best to pay it back to the community when I can...maybe the karma points or whatever helped me drop right on her...or maybe I just got lucky like a blind squirrel finding a nut...who knows...but the level of gratitude and stoke I feel is off the charts.

Here are a bunch of pics, a YouTube Vid and an InstaVid for ADD folks.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Few more pics

You've beautifully captured the feel of spearfishing in that area. Nice vermillion!

Excellent write up Jim thanks! I always enjoy living vicariously through your diving adventures. Happy Birthday & take down a Chevala for me too!

Hugh

As always love your videos. Looks like you couldn't of had a better birthday.

Fantastic video and write up! Thank you!!
How do you cook the head?

Jim, besides being an absolute fishing god that you have proven to be, you take gathering food for sustenance to a very respectable level.  You completely dissect fish down to each edible part and go at it.  No wasting of the fish really is a goal all of us (including myself) should strive to achieve.

Oh, and HOLY CARP that's a monster Verm, bro! 

BRAVO!!! 

Amazing video, thank you.
How often I have wished to be able to lay hold of those tantalizing crescents on the fish finder!  What a fantastic fishing method

Nice job Jim! I miss going down there for the shelter cove events and hanging out with you guys. I think my hands are finally recovering from you handshakes.  . Take care bro!

Thanks for the kind words guys!!

How do you cook the head?

I just sprinkled some Tony Chacheres on it, squeezed some lemon on it, put some whole peeled garlic cloves in it and put it in the NuWave Oven for 20 minutes....have also done heads rubbed with olive oil and stuffed with cilantro and garlic and wrapped in foil and in BBQ or Oven...super yummy both ways. 

Cooked the last of the Verm last night...meals 8 and 9 from that one fish.

Baked tail filet, rubbed with EVOO, topped with lemon and Cajun spice, served over a bed of spinach with asparagus and tomatoes, accompanied with a nice bottle of Sones Cancion Del Mar.

Stupid good lol.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

YUM !!   

Dude you need to open a kayak themed fish restaurant and hang a certain kayak up in it.  Wolfgang "hockey" Puck song got notin on you Big Jim oh maybe  "Wolfhead Chef"

Nice start to finish coverage!

-Mark-

Awesome video, love the music and mood. Great fish. I never get tired of your videos.