Posted by seahunt on November 03, 2003 at 04:38:24:
In Reply to: How big do abs have to be to be legal? posted by Elaine on November 02, 2003 at 22:53:11:
As Chris said, 7 inches is legal, but I'm not likely to take one that small. Really, just taking abs is not too challenging and you can get them pretty quick. Then what do you do?
I spend time looking for big ones and it gives me time to explore while free diving. In ways, it's not really about the abalone. It's about the diving. Looking for bug abs just presents more of a challenge and gets you to look in the hidden spots where the strange stuff tends to be. If you want a big one, it also gives you the excuse to swim into holes and cracks that you probably wouldn't get into otherwise. You want to look where no one else has. It's quite a challenge to get into a small hole with waves breaking over you or to swim under the kelp instead of above it.
It's great fun.
Enjoy the diving, seahunt