Since we had eaten all the lobster in our possession, figured it was time again to go bug divimoby kate.jpgng. Thus Cindy & Pat and I slipped out of MDR this morning despite the Small Craft warnings – and to our joy, there was only a mild NE Santana wind blowing. Small 2 foot swells were rolling in gently from the west so we decided to go south to the “Iron Box” area and look for bugs. Not a bad choice. Pat & Cindy took 8 on their first dive. I kicked over to a near by rocky area and took several as well. Vis was OK, 10-15 feet and considering the swell last week, it certainly could have been worse. Most interesting thing was the gorgonians – they were festooned with squid eggs but there were no squid eggs anywhere else. Usually, with squid eggs, there are masses everywhere but that was not the case today.
We then decided to run north to the Venice rocks where found better vis of 20 feet and willing lobsters so we closed out our limits for the boat. At this time, the wind had died completely and it was a gorgeous sunny flat day. Unfortunately, these low rocks don’t hold calico, only lots of really big sand bass so we then went up to the North SM Bay rock piles to find Calico. However, now the wind had swung around to the N and was really starting to blow. I quickly got my gear on and made a jump to get a calico for the admiral’s dinner. Just as I pulled back the rubber on my pole spear while aiming the first one, it snapped. No fish and no pole spear rubber. However, by just wrapping the broken rubber around my hand, I was able to get enough “push” in the spear to get a couple of “the right size” calicos for the Admiral. The crew quickly got me back onboard and we headed for home in a stiff N breeze off our stern quarter.
I’m definitely a better lobster diver than Chukar shooter.
Cindy with the catch of the day.jpg
Bugs for the day for the three of us.
Last edited by asaxon; 12-03-2011 at 07:13 PM.
wow thats alota bugs make sure to spray RID on them lol
Congrats, u must consume a lot of Bugs,![]()
WOW thats alota bugs in your basket,nice
( Trying like hell to live the dream)
Hoyt carbon element 70#, 5 pin spot hogg, spot hogg wiseguy release, 340 grains FMJ, G5 montec 100 grains, ripcord rest
Let me clearly add, we took 21 lobster, the legal limit, no more! We are very very careful about staying within the limits (both size and number). You can count the bugs in the picture with Cindy - 21.
I once had a short on the boat (it must have gotten behind a bucket when we were measuring) and I "put my hands up" for it since I was skipper. The fine was not pretty plus I had to go to court to find out how much to pay it since one could NOT pay on line like a traffiic violation and the clerk's couldn't find the fine either. The only good part of that was since everyone else there was pleading vis a vis traffic tickets, the judge was offering all the driving miscreants "traffic school" and I got to ask the judge if I could go to "fishing school". He and the bailiff both offered to come with me if it existed...
Wow, nice bugging bud! I want to do that!!! Where do I start? I love me some lobster!
WoodGrain
Semper Fi!
You mess with the bull, You get the horns!
" fishing school " now that's funny don't they have one at bass pro shop
( Trying like hell to live the dream)
Hoyt carbon element 70#, 5 pin spot hogg, spot hogg wiseguy release, 340 grains FMJ, G5 montec 100 grains, ripcord rest
You are too funny. I love hearing your stories and comments!
I sent you a PM. Andy
As for the court thing, it is all true - I don't even have to exaggerate in this case. The judge had to get out 'his book' to try to figure out the fine as it was a big change from "failing to stop at a red light" etc which he knew by heart. So during this rather long pause as he flips through the papes, I pipped up. 'Your honor, I don't think this is fair?" and of course everyone now looks up and looks at me - there is tension in the air. That is when I said, "Your honor, you have offered all the other plaintiff's traffic school, I think I should be offered the opportunity to go to fishing school." There was general laughter in the court and the bailiff offered to come with me and then the judge said he'd come too. A bit of a smile for the court in an otherwise edgy day.
I also had another fun moment in the court. The judge actually asked me how long I'd been lobster diving (40 years) and I told him it was the first time I'd every been cited. He than asked what happened and I explained about the lobster -that one of my partners must have brought it on board and not getting it properly measured (it was a female that was literally 1/64 in too short but definately short) and since we put them all in sack together, I put up my hands as skipper as no one could tell who took which lobster. So after he told me the fine (he had no descretion in the matter, it is set by law) of $104 (with the fixed extra court costs, state budget bail outs etc I think it was close to $500, ouch!), I said in open court with a smile;
"Now I'm going to go and kill the guy who caught and didn't measure that lobster."
The judge looked up at me from his bench and said;
"That will cost you more than $104"
To this day, I am fond of telling that I threatened to kill one of my boat partners in open court. It was almost worth the $500.
Last edited by asaxon; 12-04-2011 at 01:24 PM.
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