Tommy does Scuba

[GregAndrew]

Well, let's start at the beginning. My mother wants me to come down for a family get together in SD on Easter. So I say sure, it is a good excuse to get in a little fishing and video time at LJ. So, of course I have to go out early Easter Sunday to check the water level, salinity etc. By the time I get to her house and spend a bit of time with the family, I only have time to watch maybe 30 minutes of a few hours of video. I see some of the usual characters, but also get only my 2nd YT footage from the bottom.

So I go back the next day, intent on getting some more video. And I have got another couple hours worth before I am ready to pack it up and head home to sleep before work. I release the line from my downrigger clip and start to reel up the camera. The clip I connect my downrigger to my ball assembly gets right to my fingers when the knot breaks. Well, before my downrigger ball even hits the bottom I am marking the spot on my FF. Two hours later, after dragging everything on my kayak that could possibly grab the assembly or the line from the ball to the camera I gave up (for the day).

During the next week, I thought and planned and devised what I thought would be the perfect snagging rig. It ended up being a 6' threaded rod with an eyelet on either end. I attached 10 large weighted treble hooks to it on lines that were about 12-14" long. I connected the 2 eyelets with about 15' of braided line and made a loop in the middle to keep it dragging square to my direction of travel. Unfortunately, an emergency came up at work and I had to work Saturday night for 10 hours.

So, Sunday morning, fresh from 10 hours of work and 2 hours of driving I get to LJ only to see that the launch is close to kayaks until after 10:30 I tried to rest, but that never goes well in my truck. So I get up and rig up hoping that the 1/2 marathon will be done early. I did manage to sneak across the track at the restrooms a bit after 10 and headed out into some surf that was entertaining. I spent the next 5 hours trying to black out the screen on my FF/GPS. I snagged Snails, Kelp, Starfish, Salps, Squid eggs and even a creature I have never seen before. It looked like a potato skin on top of a Abalone foot surrounded by Urchin feet (wish I had got a pic). As I began to fall asleep while paddling, I decided to come back fresh the next day with a modified setup.

Back the next day, with shortened leaders to the trebles (so they are not catching each other constantly) I hit it hard again. About an hour into the morning, I had to erase my tracks for the 2nd time on this trip to see the mark. Another couple hours and not even a whiff of a decent snag, it was time to roll up again and head back home. So I put away the "perfect" snagging tool and dropped my other downrigger camera down. I had time for just a small circle around the mark and it was time to roll up. I made a loop around the mark at about a 40' diameter and then drifted through the middle. Just before I pulled up the camera, there it was, sitting there in the upright position on the bottom. A few pregnant Squid had found it, but it was very easy to see, and right where I had marked it.

That is when I went home and put out the distress call for a Scuba diver. A few days later I get a Facebook message from Neil that a buddy of his (a Navy Diver) Tommy would help me out . I met Neil and Tommy out on the water on Neil's boat and me on my kayak after work the next Saturday morning. I marked the spot and Tommy jumped in the water. It was hot and humid that day, but after a short drop, he came back for his hood and gloves (weird how all that heat in the air does not penetrate more than a couple feet down?). Anyway, he heads back down, while I think I am documenting the whole rescue on film on my other camera (my brand new one that does not work) which I am using to mark the spot (cause I left the marking buoy in the truck). While it seemed like forever, it was probably less than 10 minutes from top to bottom to top. And there she was, my beautiful camera, but was she still water tight and not broken from the fall? I open it up and find no water, so I plug in a new battery. She fires right up and I connect the wifi to watch on my phone (Bingo).

Went out filming the next day with the lens filter I had not been using. it does a much better job when the sun is out than without. Anyway here is most of the good footage from the trips except the surf video I have already posted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBd1nmVYyt0