San Juan Ling Diving

[Alchase]

Jeep we use to camp at Westbeach resort and rent their boats to dive for ling of the little islands you can see from the dock. Some good times were had at that big bonfire by the beach, lol.

[TeacherMan]

Instead of putting your knife throw the head pinch the eyes, its a pressure point on the fish. Then pin it down to something and sever the spine. Nice fish, makes me miss diving.

[cohoho]

Shawn, I'm in for the re-cert anytime, miss bang sticking fish...  Found my precription mask the other day, other than that need to check out the new dive computers and BC's...  and re-diving with my extra mid section now days....  Besides, I want to see those pesky Sturgeon on the bottom of the Willamette..   Looks like you and the family had a great time in the sun...

[HawkenBob]

Looks like fun! So you dive alone?

I have all my equipment now. Need to get certified. I want to spear fish too. But I always have people say not to go alone? Im really not too worried except if I get disoriented from some oyegen issue or something that people can get?

Do you worry about that or just stay above a certain debth? I just dont have anyone else to dive with and Im on the water so much I feel I need to check out the debths...

[Geno]

There's nothing like that rush you get while trying to subdue a big ling that you've just speared. I'll be in the San Juans this weekend getting my "fix".

[popeshawnpaul]

My wife dives with me.  She wasn't feeling up to it so i did it alone.  I'm a master diver and have been diving for 21 years.  I was familliar with the area and stayed relatively shallow.  I don't like to dive alone but will do it in a pinch.  I've saved 2 lives in my diving career and helped a few others out.  I know my limits and keep it as safe as possible.  I'm always looking for dive friends but it can be frustrating diving with new people.  It seems they always battle equipment or don't have the ability to keep up and do it at my pace.  My wife is the exception and she is a good dive partner although she doesn't have a lot of experience.  Seems like everytime I turn around she is there.

Jeep, I've stayed and dove out of Westbeach resort many times.  None recently though.  I would love to go again as it's a great base area to dive out of.  

Big ling are aggressive.  I've come face to face with many ling in that 50-60 lb range.  Some in Edmonds and elsewhere.  Sometimes you will point your light in a cave and they come out to meet you face to face.  They feel fairly cozy in a cave so most of the time they don't run.  If they aren't in a safe position they usually swim away.  Most of the time ling are perched on top of rocks waiting for something to go by.  Because the big ones will stay there and not run most of the time I can get a brain or killing shot on the big ones.  It makes the fight much easier.  My tether is 20' long and most of the time I like that fish out there dying and not close to me.  I've thought about adopting a new system including a line that goes from my gun to a buoy on the surface so the fish canbe retrieved easier.  I've lost a lot of fish over the years due to the point slipping or some other happening.  It's a fun sport.  

I'm always willing to go diving so if someone wants to try this let me know.  

The only thing more fun than hunting a big lingcod is a big octopus...  

[HawkenBob]

I just ask cause Ive got a bunch invested and am going to pursue it. Buddy or not. Maybe we could get everyone together and have a easy dive somewere sometime.

Performance wise, I can keep up if its physical or mental. As far as gear issues. I need to do a few dives to make sure Im setup the way I want to be.

So do you dive Nitrox?

[popeshawnpaul]

I don't dive with nitrox.  I don't dive real deep so it hasn't been much of an issue with me.  I have steel 120 tanks so I can generally stay under about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Two of those long dives and I'm usually spent and exhausted.  I do spend a lot of time in the shallows at the end of a dive collecting lots of scallops for dinner as they are my favorite. 

I think the group dive is a decent idea.  I'd be willing to do an Edmonds dive with anyone.  I've offered to take Cohoho out and give him the rundown of the diving as he hasn't done it in a long time.  If anyone else is interested let me know.  I have always wondered while fishing certain areas what they look like and that is one of the reasons I started diving years ago. 

I've had a lot of dive partners that come and go over the years.  I have kept with the sport and love cold water diving.  I don't ever get cold except after the dive on the surface and that's not an issue with me.  You don't need a drysuit.  I dive with a semi-dry suit which is just a warmer wet suit. 

Many people don't get past the cold and rental equipment problems to get to the happy medium where you are comfy with your equipment and in your dive ability.  I make the analogy to taking someone hunting and they are unfamiliar with things.  It woudln't be that much fun if someone just dropped you off and didn't tell you where to go, what to look for, where to find animals, and handed you a foreign gun that you didn't know where it shot or whether it was accurate.  It wouldn't be much fun.  That's what diving is to many beginners and they never get to experience the good stuff.  Did you know we have king crab here?  They are amazing crabs.  Did you know you can regularly see 30 foot long octopus?  Huge lings?  Etc.  Cold water diving can be really fun. 

[boneaddict]

Not sure why I never got into diving.  I was going to be a Marine Biologist for God's sake.  Even got accepted to the University of Hawaii for it.  Took a wrong turn somewhere and landed in Ellensburg.  Probably had to do with scholoraships and Franklins.  I got to skin dive a bunch in Greece, befriended a local and hunted little Octs with him for a local restuarant.   I always wondered what the big blue was like.

[cohoho]

My last dive was in 1994 in Hawaii, but have close to 300 logged dives, both shore, night and boat.  I used to love it, obviously since meeting Pope it has began my interest here lately. Even though previously certified right below Dive Master as a Master Diver and rescue diver, I need a good refresher and time in the shallows to regain the lost experience that I once had.  It is a skill that you got to work up to, it is actually confidence that needs to be regained more than anything.  You bet I am taking Shawn up on a refresher dive till I learn the new stuff and man has the technology changed for sure...  Our fun times consisted of knocking White Tip Sharks with bang sticks then bringing them up fresh as fresh could be for the Barby....  Yummy...  One main goal, is to see the Sturgeon in action if possible...

[huntnphool]

I dove the Columbia Cohoho, the lower river looks like the beach at Long Beach for the most part, miles and miles of sand with an occasional log. We were searching for a rather expensive anchor lost the week before in 30' of water, took a bit but we found it.

[popeshawnpaul]

I wonder what it would be like to shoot a 10 foot oversize?  Let it tow you around until you run into air?  I would imagine they are real spooky and won't let you close?  One trick I use is to hold my breath for a while and search.  It's not recommended as you can really hurt yourself if you change depth at all.  That being said, you learn a few tricks for hunting animals after a while.

[robodad]

Hey Pope, maybe you and Huntnphool could take Cohoho on a dog fish hunting expedition, I hear shark is pretty good stuff    !!!   

[huntnphool]

Don/t need to dive for those, you can catch a hundred in a day.

[CastleRocker]

My wife and I used to dive a lot.   Heck, we did a dive vacation for our honeymoon.  

I can tell you that big sturgeon aren't as spooky as most other fish.  It's almost as if they don't care.  I helped a friend do a survey about 20 years ago at Bonneville Dam, and they just layed there until you grabbed their tail, then they would move a little.  That was the highlight of that dive though.  The vis was not very good and current by the dam is so unpredictable!  We both just about washed downstream by getting too far from the base.  A couple feet either way would make the difference.  I sure miss diving, but the kids take up all the spare time now.  

I think any big fish would give a wild ride.  Watched a friend of mine up in Kodiak pass on a perfect shot on a 250-300lb halibut.  He kept looking back up at me, and wrote on my slate; "it's your gun".  He didn't shoot it.  It was laying about pretty close to an edge that dropped from 10 into about 100 fathom and beyond.  I don't even know how we would've got that one into the skiff anyway.