Tag Archives: free diving

Kayak and Free Diving Timber Cove with Ken Jan

Met Ken Jan at Timber Cove for some abalone diving and spearfishing off our kayaks. We launched just after 8am and paddled out of the cove to the one just north of the point. A little bit more swell in this less protected cove but as we moved in it was pretty calm. Not a lot of kelp to clip to so I just towed my boat around from the float line for a while. Finally found a stalk near enough to the surface to clip onto. Plenty of abalone over here. I pulled three pretty quickly wanting to try out my new speargun. I love my Riffe Euro but it’s usually too long for the viz and a little too long for checking out holes in the reef. My Riffe Competitor series I am thinking will be a good all arounder. Well I did a lot of poking in holes and there were no fish to be found. Of course in doing this I fine massive abs all over. I did finally shoot a couple greenlings that suffered from surface shrinkage. Probably won’t shoot any more greenlings. Was a great time. Beautiful day and got to really take the kayak on a longer adventure. Will look forward to more dives with Ken and probably learning to fish with a rod. All those folks were killing it out there, bringing in huge lings, cabs, and assorted rockfish.

Free Diving off my Ocean Kayak

Met Steven Liu and his two friends Tim and Jerry at Ocean Cove, morning of May 12. I’m looking forward to my Ocean Kayak Trident’s maiden voyage. After many hours setting up all my gear and figuring out where everything will go I’m eager to give it a try.

Tim needed to rent gear so we headed up to Gualala where there is a hardware store that does day rentals. After we got Tim all set up and got sandwiches at the market we headed north towards Point Arena. Steven joined me to navigate and not far north he indicated a spot to turn off. A small dirt lot at a place called Moat Creek. There’s a dirt path to the beach. We walked down to see the conditions and it looks pretty good.

Steven couldn’t find his kayak carts so we need carry our kayaks in pairs down the long path which is a lot more work than I was expecting. I’ll be buying my own wheels now! Finally I get in the water while the three of them are finishing preparing. A harbor seal bobs nearby checking out the newcomers. Soon Steven joins me and is paddling straight out with me following. We go pretty far out and finally decide to drop down and check it out.

I put on my fins, mask, and snorkel, and take my iron attached to a float line to explore before clipping on to some kelp. I dive a few times and the viz looks pretty good, maybe 8-10 feet. Seeing abs and I pull a legal one right off. Drop that in the bag and tow my kayak a little deeper towards Steven. I pull an 8 inch ab next, it’s in the bag, move out more towards Steven. Now I dive and see lots of BIG abs. As usually regret pulling the first couple I see but seems like I do it every time. I find kelp close enough to the surface to clip to and start diving. One huge ab has a starfish on it. It is clamped down hard though and can’t get my iron under it. Don’t want to kill it so leave it. Soon I do pull a 9 inch one for my personal best. Drop that in my bag and pull out the pole spear.

Not seeing any fish just schooling so am going to poke around in the rocks. Not seeing much. Steven is again way out there. On one surface I look for him and see him pulling a big fish out of the water. I’m going to go join him. It’s on! Unfortunately as soon as I go to unclip my kayak I hear Tim yelling in the distance. He’s drifted 100 yards or more south and seems to be having a problem. I get on the kayak and head over to help him. Looks like he can’t get back on his kayak. I paddle around and come alongside his to hold it for him. He manages to get on. We start paddling back north but we’ve drifted pretty far now. Also his kayak seems to have taken on water as it’s riding low in the back. I escort Tim back to near where we launched and consider going out to join Steven but quickly decide to just stay with Tim all the way in.

We paddle back in and drag our kayaks up the rocky beach. I would have liked to have shot fish with Steven but consider my first time out on the kayak a major success. Got my abalone limit with a personal best. The kayak should be a great dive platform for both free diving and maybe some line fishing too.

Later when cleaning my Abs the largest one has my first pearl! A small teardrop shaped one a little smaller than a nickel. I get to try my new slicer on these and it makes some perfect abalone steaks we simmer in butter, white wine, and garlic.

Free Diving Timber Cove

Met Jerry Hong at Timber Cove. He’s up from LA with his wife Lillian. We’re in the water around 8am. Gorgeous day but not great visibility and a little big of surge and swell. I found my three abs with some difficulty. And as usual saw many many more bigger abs while hunting for fish. Jerry got his first three abs pulling some nice sized ones. Was great to get back in the water again and encouraging to see a lot of good sized abs at such a popular easy dive location. Looks like things are looking up for the abalone population finally.

Did not see a lot of fish out but managed to first get a calico with my pole spear. Kept at it ignoring the perch and greenling, flushed a big ling that got away, and finally found a good sized blue in a hole. Was a great day to get my limit and a couple rock fish under some challenging conditions.

Abalone Diving at Fort Ross

Went Ab diving Saturday. Folks on the net had warned of poor visibility but I just felt like diving so ended up back at Fort Ross. I decided to take the steep trail down to the south cove, the one with the rope your use to back down the trail. Got in the water about 9am. Several harbor seals were sunning themselves on the rocks. As suspected the visibility was pretty poor, maybe 3 feet at best. Appeared to be a plankton bloom. My first dive I find a legal abalone upside down in the sand so picked it up, was over 7 inches, dropped it in my bag. Second dive two more abs upside down, both legal, one about 8 inches. Wow can’t believe my good luck, was thinking it would be hard work to find some legal ones at Fort Ross with poor visibility.

With my limit in the bag I decide to look for fish with my pole spear. Literally every rock hole I peer into; abs upside down on their shells! Starting to get a little concerning. I must have seen over 25 in that state. Was thinking maybe they were feeding on the bloom but probably the bloom is killing them. I hope that’s not the case, reports form Timber Cove north of Fort Ross also said many abs were seen upside down there too.

I searched for any sign of fish for an hour finally with one darting out of the hole. I looked up to see a nice blue leaving and just as I took aim he turned away and I just missed him. After that decided to pack it in. Would have loved to have a nice rock fish filet to go with the abs but had to stop at Robert’s on my way home for some Halibut instead.