This report is a bit delayed since my friends who know where I was wanted me to wait a while so that others who think they always know where I dive wouldn't crowd the spot. But anyway, I'll start on this board as a reward for those Californians who have come over.

I went out with Dam Nguyen and Joel Olenik to a place between Point Conception and the Mexican border, somewhere between San Nicoloas Island and the mainland coast. When we arrived, we found two other boats full of friends there, and none of the guys has seen any white sea bass. One of the boats left before noon in disgust. But then when we went a half mile down the island to pick up Dam (he doesn't always observe a close buddy system even by California standards) he reported that he had seen a 50 pounder but couldn't get a shot. This inspired us to anchor one more time.

I was feeling old and cold, so I sat it out for a while. Then both guys came back for a break and reported seeing fish, and they told me "over there on that edge of the kelp bed." I jumped in, but didn't last all that long in the 55° water, and for some reason I was feeling at least my age and was very tired, so I went back to the boat and sent the first team back in.

I took a hot shower, dressed, and went in the pilot house to run the heater and warm up, but after a while I thought I heard a faint voice, so I went back out into the cockpit. I'm deaf in one ear so I can't tell which direction a sound is coming from, but I could hear some shouting, and now and then I thought I could hear "get Dam" so I presumed that the shouting must be coming from Joel. Finally I spotted Joel waving from way down the island, and then saw Dam in the other direction. I didn't think Dam had a chance of hearing or seeing Joel from in the water, so I decided that I had to pull anchor, pick up Dam, and deliver him to Joel. I got the anchor up and headed toward Dam, and he came swimming out of the kelp bed. I told him that Joel had a fish and needed help, and he said that he had a fish too. Then I focused on the massive fish, stoned, that he had beside him.

I got him and his fish into the boat and we took off toward Joel. It turned out that what Joel really had wanted was a gun for a second shot since he thought his fish was about to tear off, but he had managed to grab the fish and bring it up before we arrived.

With the electronic scale bouncing on the boat, we got weights of about 70 for Dam's fish and 64 for Joel's. But since we are so frigging honest, we left the fish whole until we got back to my house where the guys cleaned them. With the scale hanging from a beam, the weights were 68 and 63, which were personal bests for both guys.

Dam was using a Wong 50" GR hybrid with three 9/16"bands, a 9/32"shaft, and a Mori slip tip rigged with Spectra. Joel was using a Riffe 130Cm Euro with three bands, whatever shaft comes with it, and a Mori slip tip rigged with Specta.

Joel is my next-door neighbor, and the last pic shows when he brought his new daughter over for an early introduction to spearfishing. She didn't seem impressed.

Just to show how long secret spots last- the next day there were several boats full of divers there, including mine, and as far as I know no one got a thing.

Dam just never does anything right. Everyone knows that camo is the way to go, but he wears a black suit. Everyone knows that a 9/32"shaft doesn't have enough punch to go through the spine of a large fish, but he stoned this 68 pounder. What the hell can I do?

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Email at wsbhtr@cox.net

Hell yeah!! Way to start the season high. Prick!!

Thanks for the report bill

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Congratz Bill!!! Tell Dam to eat a cheeseburger!

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WWW.SPEARINGMAGAZINE.COM

Damn nice!!!

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Steve Moore 305 849 0866
steve@keysmobilediving.com
www.keysmobilediving.com

Nice fish guys!! Thanks for posting Bill!

Here's a few more. Note Dam's stone shot placement. Also note how dark his fish is compared to Joel's. I'm thinking that might be because he hit the spine.

Dam sent me a bunch of underwater shots that he took of Joel, and I'm including a couple to show you east coast guys what it looks like in thick kelp.

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Email at wsbhtr@cox.net

Awesome. Great way to start the season. Cool pictures in the water.

Awesome report... beautiful fish. I want to see the kelp forests one day in my life but spearing in em, no thanks.

Wow what a day! Congrats Bill and crew!

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See you in the Bluewater

Congrats guys. Those are some serious fish.

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Zero Bycatch

Those are some great shots! I love how the kelp makes it look like you're in some sort of underwater tree stand. Fantastic.

Also, monster fish, congrats to the guys.

I think diving in kelp would be amazing. It looks like magic to me

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What! If you were there, how could you resist?!?!?

Being tangled in stuff like that scares the crap out of me, thats why.

Breakaway rig, man...

Duct tape knives to your ankles, maybe. Not the inside direction, though.

And a set of these

Those are some beautiful fish. I have yet to see one, let alone shoot one this season. The times I've been seabass hunting, I only saw bait and heard some croaking, but no ghosts. I am heading out Sunday in the early morning to see if I can come up with my own.

If it makes you feel any better, I've been back a couple of times, and there was no vis, no bait, and no fish that we could see.l

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Email at wsbhtr@cox.net

Bill,

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad there are more of you West Coasters being active and sharing here versus other places.

R

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St. Pete Underwater Club www.stpeteopen.com

Pretty magical and also the kelp for me acts like a big camo blanket to hide in. Makes me feel safer then just being out in the blue water completly exposed.

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Check out one of my blue water videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei8iseAa6qs

Nice to finally see you over here Ben... Bring the other guys!

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