SEE SICKNESS!

[THE DARKHORSE]

We've all been a victim at some point in our life. I'm not referring to motion sickness, either. I'm referring to those awkward times in a man's life when somehow, someway, your sitting on the sidelines as a spectator. When spectating is the last thing on your mind. What could be worse? Yeah yeah, work, death, the nagging wife, etc. It's relative in the grand scheme of things. I realize. I'm no voyeur, though.

No, this is not a photo from the East Cape---it's your back yard!

I caught this particular fish on rod and reel; he met the filet knife just last night.

Water Temp: 76 degrees.

visibility: 40 feet at times and a clear blue.

Location: From below the Mexican border to North of Dana point.

structure: constantly moving and typically void of life.

Distance from shore: six to twenty miles off the beach.

Keys to succes: first and foremost find the life---and make whatever adjustments necessary.

Disclaimer: this is in no way written with the intent of getting kayak anglers in over their heads---in search of gold. Dorado are incredibly beautiful fish. Majestic even. But, not worth getting into trouble without the proper safety gear. Or worse, the common sense and nohow to keep from exceeding one's own limitations. If you do decide to head offshore in a small fleet of kayaks, use your head. Even better: have a friend (who himself is capable of offering assistance) on a skiff in radio range the whole time. Take my advice with a grain of salt, but there's a big difference between two and twenty miles offshore. Especially if we're still talking about being on a kayak. I've traveled over forty miles in a day from the plastic craft, more than once. Been there done that...

For one there's Whales. Freaking giant Whales that can, and will, come flying out of nowhere. And I'm not talking about little 'ol, Grey Whales---Blue Whales!

You know the largest mammals on the planet? These things are scary as sh!# from a thirty foot center console. All one hundred and ten feet long, 360,000 pounds of him.


This one winked at me. Seriously. I looked at it as a sign from above. A chicken skin moment, indeed.


And, of course, there's Great White Sharks. Here's a photo of one from a month or so ago. Accept this photo was taken off La Jolla---my fourth encounter.

It is the Pacific Ocean, you know? How on earth this stuff ends up on the news is beyond me.


Anyway, back to the local paddies---that just might have presents under the tree. I'm sure you've seen what a piece of kelp looks like before. While we're all looking for a huge paddy with birds and jumpers, sometimes the smallest stringer will hold fish. The biggest Yellowtail I've caught offshore came off a two by four. A skinny board in the middle of nowhere, so, you really never know. The first two Dorado I saw this season were two giants. Well, by Southern California standards, anyway. The bull looked to be around 25 lbs and the hen was a solid twenty. They were on a tiny stringer and disappeared to never be seen again. This was twelve miles off of Encinitas about a month ago. I had nightmares of these two fish. We also came across a larger model Striped Marlin on this day. So the hunt was on...

Expect to find one dry paddy after another. Sometimes it's just easier sending a diver down to check out what's, umm, really below. With a gun, you know, for protection? When searching the big blue time-management is a major factor. In essence, if you fish every dry paddy for an hour you'll never hit the mother load.

My friend, Travis, assured me that there were no Dorado below this tiny piece of structure we found.


That first kelp with a couple Yellowtail was found within twenty minutes of looking---a couple miles out! The next eight hours of searching were utterly fruitless. Everything we found was void of life. We keep at it. Right at the end of our time window, we finally struck gold. After searching trash-can size kelps for hours on end, I see a real-deal-paddy in the distance. The kind that holds fish---lots of fish. We decide to throw baits on our first pass. None of which were touched. Then we quietly returned and brailed out some candy. We see a couple jumpers shortly there after. The stars looked to be aligning for us and anticipation mounts. You'll quickly realize there's no guarantees with Dorado, though.

On our next pass, Travis, gets the first Dorado of the season with the light line. The colors on these fish are straight up Discovery channel/ cartoon character.

It's just a fact: there's no prettier fish in the Sea.

Unfortunately, the rest of this school apparently had udder and complete lock-jaw. Yes, I broke down to the light stuff---with live squid as bait!

Which brings me to my next disclaimer: Spearfishing is f'n dangerous!

Being an expert sight fisherman and tracking White Sea Bass for a living, I've never once thought of spearing one. I've even free-dove with giant White Sea Bass a few times. It was an incredible experience swimming with those fish and something I'll always remember. It was as if they knew I wasn't holding a gun. Something I'll most certainly be doing again. I've dove at night in search of Lobster for the last fifteen years, too. I'm very much at home below the surface. But, I've never so much as picked up a speargun until this day. I'm reluctant to admit, I had a near-death experience within five minutes of picking one up for the first time as well.

True story: after watching lock-jaw fish swim around with zero interest to our offerings, I decided to just go for it. Why not? I searched the big-blue for days to find this thing and these fish were giving me the finger. Not to mention, time was running out. After trying every trick in the book from chunking fresh baits, to brailing live squid, to using ridiculously light line I had seen enough. The only thing these fish were going to eat was steel---and I was going to give it to them. I jump in with my mask and ask for a few pointers as I strap my Go Pro to my head. I vaguely remember my friend say something along the lines of, "watch out for the recoil", as I attempt to load the gun. I think to myself, recoil, sure yeah got it---blindly focused on trying to film something for the Discovery channel. What's the big deal---it's only 3,000' deep, right? What could possibly go wrong?

Little did I know at the time that, of course, the camera wasn't recording video. It was capturing still photos instead. Anyone with a Go Pro knows exactly what I'm talking about here. With a loaded gun in my hands I quietly approach the paddy. The fish are swimming just down current from the only shade in town. It's without question, one of the most breathe taking sights you'll ever see. There's this giant Mola Mola guarding the paddy. Thousands of Salp in my face and just as many micro baits in every direction. Through the haze, I see the school of Dorado come into view and begin my stalk. If you know me you'll realize I'm pretty competitive. In essence, I wasn't coming up without a fish. Or so I thought.

I lined up on what looked like a nice Dorado the same way I'd line up on a Billiard shot. You know, a game with money on the line? I control my breathing and try and minimize my movement. I'm staring straight down the barrel and aiming for the eyes as my target turns broadside---then I pull the trigger and am knocked unconscious.

When I come to, I had just started to swallow water and I'm coughing and gagging. I clear my breathing tube and am surrounded by Dorado. Instinctively, I grab the gun and line. I then realize that my fish had sunk to the depths like a rock; unbeknownst to me I had stoned the fish. A dead center perfect shot right at the gill line. When I shot the fish she was on the surface, but was straight down by the time I realized what was going on. I proceed to swim back to the boat and keep what had just happened to myself.

I'll just blame that on a weird concoction of pride, adrenaline, and determination to redeem myself. A truly selfish moment that I'm not very proud of. Apparently the gun slammed me in the face pretty hard. In a freak, last second decision, I brought the weight belt back to the boat before swimming off. That split second decision, apparently, saved my life. I had never worn one before and felt like I was struggling to stay near the surface. I had put way too much weight on there and the fish were on the surface, anyway. Had that weight belt been around my waist, I'm 100% positive, that I wouldn't be telling this story.

Kind of sketched and for very good reason. I slowed down my breathing and immediately developed a new level of respect for spearfishing. Gnarly. Instead of filming a clip for the Discovery channel I almost filmed my last catch. The thought of my camera floating to the surface. The floating gun attached to a stoned Dorado. A confused friend searching through the night freaking the f--k out! A lot of reflection was going on in the minutes to follow. And rightfully so. I snap out of it, regroup, grab a different gun and swim back to the paddy. Otherwise I might have never picked up a gun again. If anything, an attempt at redemption felt necessary at this juncture in time.

This dive was similar, but my perspective had completely changed. As cliche as it sounds, all the colors seemed even more vibrant. The 400 lb Mola Mola is guarding the up current side of the floating city. It was as if I never left. I look off in the distance and slowly through the haze, I see my targets. They're curious by nature. And eventually swim a giant circle behind the paddy. I'm waiting and really trying to find a larger model this time. This might be my second time holding a spear gun, but after all, I'm a fisherman. I then spot the particular fish I'm looking for and prepare my stalk. To my amazement the school changes direction as I'm pointing at the largest fish I could find. Then BOOM---I fire off my shot. Only this time I'm prepared for the recoil---and my camera is actually recording. Video to follow.

My second shot and my second Dorado!

I'm stoked out of my mind as I swim back to the boat. Like I said, you'll never see a prettier fish in local waters. They're not worth dying for, though. Whether you're a kook who's never held a speargun (like myself) or an unprepared kayak angler blinded by gold, it's just a fish. An incredibly beautiful fish.
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My advice to anyone with access to a skiff: Being that we've had a few cold water years in a row now (with ridiculous Inshore fishing on offer) I'd suggest giving the Yellowtail, White Sea Bass and Halibut a rest. If you haven't caught your fill of these species that's another story in and of itself. For Pete's sake, those fish are available all year long---so prioritize! There's a lot of life right in our backyard---within kayak range. Something about here today gone tomorrow...

[MrM]

Glad you are still here to tell the story. Great report, and a great word of caution to those of us who are less experienced.

[kayakhunter]

Sick.

[dmrides]

Sickness! Glad you took off the belt. There is nothing like warm blue water that's swarming with dodos.

[seriola_killer]

Awesome post, Josh. Only one small critique, though...

You need to write MORE of them. They are the best reads on this site (Wade and Greg are really close behind). The cryptic clues to your whereabouts and/or methods that accompany most of your reports are awesome! Try not to get yourself killed so that we may enjoy your musings in the future, though!

[FlyFishinYakr]

Originally Posted by seriola_killer

Awesome post, Josh. Only one small critique, though...

You need to write MORE of them. They are the best reads on this site (Wade and Greg are really close behind). The cryptic clues to your whereabouts and/or methods that accompany most of your reports are awesome! Try not to get yourself killed so that we may enjoy your musings in the future, though!

X2 always entertaining.
FFY

[Old Man in the Sea]

Cool Story - great pictures - Thanks Josh!!!

[Gigafish]

Hair raising, Jaw dropping experience, even to the novice things can turn bad real quick. Glad all is well. Congrats on the exotic Dodo.

[The Freediver]

Wow man! That's quite a story. There was a guy last year or the year before that was loading or unloading a gun down in mex on the side of a panga and it went off. The recoil from the gun in his chest actually killed him. This is exactly why I am a HUGE advocate of making my guns with just the right amount of ballast and mass so that there is very manageable recoil on the gun. Unlike most Riffe guns that come overpowered and packed with recoil out of the box. I've been knocked in the face a couple of times too and it sucks. Congrats on those beautiful fish. I recently speared my first dodos as well and man was it an experience.

[taggermike]

Spearguns aren't firearms but still demend respect. Sure, they're just rubber bands, but they're really strong rubber bands. You've still got your eyes and your teeth. Spear gun recoil has claimed many of both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D60-Ml67xHU

Never load or fire a speargun out of the water and never be this guy. Mike

[carbonbass]

do those GWS ever come check you out?

[Dennis]

Glad you're still around, josh. Crazy story..

[DanaPT]

Now I know what to expect should I ever give a spear gun a whirl.

[steveooo]

Cool report. Especially liked the whale pics
I want your skiff pretty bad...

[PE.rider]

You are a lucky man to have survived that ordeal... It's ok to push the envelope, but make sure to take precautions or have a few practice runs to get the hang of the tools in a more controlled environment.

Glad to see you are safe.

[Sully1]

Amazing pics Josh, the breeching blue whale shots are epic. That's style: fishing in a button shirt without a spot of blood on it, shooting mahi mahi on your first time spearing, and stoning your first fish. Way to go!

[Pat]

That's a hammerhead.

[smithers]

Thanks for the awesome report and free safety lesson.
Caught my first dorago couple weeks back. Broiled it with some mango and peppers yum.

[pistol]

Incredible story, Josh! The view below the paddy is incredible...the most dangerous predator to the spearfisherman can be the inexperienced fellow spearfisherman. Stay safe.

[Fiskadoro]

There you go!!! So Cal offers some outstanding fishing especially this year