Posted by Rich K on February 06, 2003 at 06:37:55:
Went out last wednesday evening right at dusk for a long overdue freedive off flatrock. I got in the water at about 4:30 to crystal clear vis and flat seas. Vis was anywhere from 20ft. at the worst to 40ft.+ at the best {better on the outgoing tide}. Was looking to grab a few lobster as I hav'nt been in for quite a while and the white sea bass are'nt here yet. Headed north towards hag's working the 20' range checking holes, only saw a few shorts on the way up, worked into the shallows and eel grass for the return trip and started seeing better numbers but still mostly shorts. Got a 'vibe' from this one area and went down to check under this van sized boulder in 10' of water, {so this is where you all are} the hole was loaded with bugs, mostly legal, the biggest one {of course in the back} was easy 8lbs.with a harem of 5's all around him. The hole was about 10-12 ft. back and I can't hold my breath for 3 minutes so getting to the big ones was'nt much of and option, although I was able to get a few nervous enough to try to run for it. Bad idea on their part, {got 2 of them}. Also to my suprise, laying at the front of the hole was a beautiful {blue} ling about 3' long, don't see too many of these guys around here. Anyway it was dark now about 6:00 and I was getting tired of waiting for the big boys to head out to feed, so I headed back into bluff cove to work the eel grass inside, should've started here, they were thick in the lava tubes and eel grass. I farmed a couple grabs at 3lb'ers but was able to pull a couple nice 2lb+. I had been in the water for almost three hours now and and cold was becoming a factor so I left a few for later, finishing off with 4 bugs. Should've taken a pole spear though, I could have stuck a couple nice 3-4lb calico too. All in all a great dive and finaly got my gills wet.
Have fun,
Rich