Spearfishing Massacre

*** This is a repost from Spearboard. I thought it was appropriate given the kayak and me running into one of your members before jumping in the water. Sorry I forgot your name on here already. If you see this please remind me. Short note on the Santa Cruz SOT Raptor... it's badass for spearing. Probably great for line guys too. It was super stable, tracked well, and cut through the surf like butter. I love this thing.

Wow!!!

Today was beautiful in every respect. The sun was out, the surf was mellow, and the fish were plenty.

I met with John at about 10am and began gearing up. We hit the water around 10:30 which was close to low slack. Getting out was effortless. I was in my brand new Santa Cruz SOT Raptor. That yak preformed even better than I hoped it would. I also had my newly purchased Kelp Clip rigged to the front of my kayak instead of using a traditional anchor system. The kelp clip was so much easier to deal with. I recommend getting one for those who don't already have one.

Now the viz, oh the viz . It was by far the best I've ever seen it out there. I'm being conservative but it was easily 15ft+, maybe closer to 20ft. I could actually spot fish at the surface, that's how nice it was. And let me tell you about the fish. Not only were there loads of fish, there were BIG fish everywhere!!! I didn't even have to go very deep. I think my deepest dive was 32ft. Most of the fish were hanging out in the middle of the water column around 15-20ft. I just dove to the bottom, looked around, picked my fish, and BAM! In the words of Josh, "today wasn't fishing, it was harvesting."

I quickly got my limit of big fat blacks (the largest was 22in), helped John get a few fish, and started hunting lings. I told John I learn something almost every time I come out here. Lesson I learned today? DO NOT CELEBRATE BEFORE THE FISH IS ON THE STRINGER!. Did I ever learn that the hard way. At this point I already shot a barely legal ling and was going for my second. I found one laying next to some rocks and blasted him good in the head. I got to the surface and told John I had another one. On the swim back to the kayak I didn't notice that the flopper was folded down. Big mistake. That ling trashed a couple times and was gone. So disappointing. After losing the ling John and I packed it in.

Once we got to shore I was greeted by the ever friendly ODFW girl. She was doing the typical "pinch the eyeball" thing she normally does and then asked me a funny question. She asked, "Did you try for any salmon today while you were out?" I was like are you serious? I thought she was joking. Apparently she had no idea it's unlawful for us to spear salmon Sorry guys, I did inform her about the law. It's times like that I wish I was quicker on my feet haha. Anyway, she did mention another interesting bit of information. She said the past week has been ripe with big blacks. Apparently all the Dory guys have been hauling in monsters too. Does anyone know why this might be the case?

So there's your report guys. Below are some pics and the video is coming. The video isn't going to do the conditions justice though. My filter I used wasn't sealed properly and it got all fogged up. So the footage is a bit soft and blurry. But it's still watch-able and you can see what's going on. Enjoy!






My bounty



22 inch fatty

looks like PC.

Nice stringer full!

Aww yeah!  Good stuff!  Thanks Mike!

Nice haul.  Camo wet suit is bad ass! 

Sick harvest! We were seeing schools of those monster blacks down here a few weeks ago.Great report...those Raptors look like sweet boats!

Nice haul/pix - thanks for the reports! The ODFW girl's job isn't enforcement; i.e. she doesn't need to know what the rules are. She is just tallying numbers for the records. Now if the sheriff in his little zodiac had asked you that I'd be scratching my head.

Nice haul.  Camo wet suit is bad ass!

+1 That suit is bad!

Hey Mike,

That was me that said howdy before you launched. Nice to meet you. You have just about convinced me to leave my rod and reel in the truck!  Great haul, and best of luck in your next bout. Those Brazilians are going to be chanting "Pierce, Pierce, Pierce!"

  Wait, holy shit, you're THE Mike Pierce? WHOA!

Good luck in October!

Those stringers look heavy! Nice report.

Nice haul/pix - thanks for the reports! The ODFW girl's job isn't enforcement; i.e. she doesn't need to know what the rules are. She is just tallying numbers for the records. Now if the sheriff in his little zodiac had asked you that I'd be scratching my head.

Yeah well the Oregon State Fishing Regulations are hosted on the ODFW website. You'd figured the field agents would at least know the rules. I know they're not there to enforce anything. But she could call the Sheriff to enforce undersized catches, native salmon, etc.

Hey Mike,

That was me that said howdy before you launched. Nice to meet you. You have just about convinced me to leave my rod and reel in the truck!  Great haul, and best of luck in your next bout. Those Brazilians are going to be chanting "Pierce, Pierce, Pierce!"

Yeah it was good to meet you too. I'm telling you, freediving/spearfishing is awesome! I grew up fishing traditionally and just got sick of waiting for fish to bite. Of course good beer helps with that but I love HUNTING under the water. Plus you get to explore and see things most people don't.

And the Brazilians won't be chanting my name lol. I'm fighting a Brazilian. I'll be the enemy walking into that arena. But I'm cool with that. I'm just there to kick his ass, piss off the crowd, and collect a pay check.

Those stringers look heavy! Nice report.

Yes, the stringer was very heavy. It would have been even heavier had I secured that last lingcod. Oh well, lesson learned!

Dang! Hunting sounds even more fun than fishing. Gotta research this, I need more pastimes. Any suggestions where to start, Mike?

Nice post. Good luck in Brazil.


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Finally a diver I *LIKE* !   great report, keep 'em coming!

Dang! Hunting sounds even more fun than fishing. Gotta research this, I need more pastimes. Any suggestions where to start, Mike?

Nice post. Good luck in Brazil.


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Start here: http://www.spearboard.com/forumdisplay.php?f=101. That's the Pacific Northwest section of Spearboard. We're a super friendly group so feel free to ask anything. And this is something that just about any age group can do. Hope to see you over there.