The Mel Diver

This page is about having fun under water.
Nobody does it better than Mel

More than half a life time ago, in a place like Shangri La, I met a guy that wanted to dive. He had done some snorkeling in the Bahamas and wanted to try SCUBA. It might have been my suggestion, I do admit. Well, he wasn't certified and I was fairly certifiable, so we went to this spot I liked. Perhaps the dive spot was not the best for a beginner. I finally decided that it was too dangerous even for me. This was Greyhound Rock near Santa Cruz and it's easily about the most nasty diving in California.

Well, the dive went fine and that was that... or was it? More than 20 years later, I went for an invitational dive on the Truth and who should be there, but Mel. He said "now I are a dive nut". He was telling the truth. Perhaps he defines a dive nut the best way it can be done. Look at these pictures and tell me he doesn't have a great time diving. He even got certified.
I can only tell so many of his stories, but I know of a couple of doozies and there are a couple of them as he told them to me, so they will be here along with some nice pictures taken while he was funning.

I always know that if I see his light at night and it is not moving fast, go check it out. He's got a hold of something.

This is a different kind of page than most on my site. There is no way that I can tell his stories the way I can tell mine, but they are such great stories that I had to try.

I was swimming at Long Point Catalina, when this school of about 20 Yellowtails went by. They sort of made a curve as they went past, so it was an easy to get a good shot. The fish really fought, so I released line from my reel. It turned around and went in shallow. I was worried that it could get tangled in some kelp and get loose, so I grabbed the line and worked my way up it. I saw the spear on the bottom ahead and figured that I had lost the fish. It turned out that the spear had gone all the way through it and the fish was still on the line, but it was a ways up above the spear itself.
Another time near there, I shot a nice 10 pound Bonita, even though it was really Yellowtail that I was looking for. Later, I was swimming with the bait fish and sure enough some nice sized yellows went by. I shot about a 15 pounder and it wasn't on the spear well, so I decided to swim in near shore to deal with it. On the way, I passed over a Halibut, out in the open on a rock in about 25 feet of water. I kept swimming a ways and then got the Yellowtail off my spear and into the bag. Sure enough, when I went back the Halibut was still there. It measured 27 inches.

Then one night there was this Halibut in the sand, but I had no gun. What could I do? I knifed it of course.

These were from one of the night trips to Catalina in March 99.

This was from the March trip to San Nic with the Sea Sons.

It's Flatty for supper.

Or you can have White Sea Bass. There's enough for all.

Here is a letter he sent me, with a couple of minor adjustments. I thought it was just fun.

This is one story as he told it to me. This is the kind that you remember.

I was diving at the east end rock quarry, just past the rocks, over the sand. I was looking for bugs, when I saw a shark come out of the haze. This is a spot that I regularly night dive and this was a large Great White Shark. I moved over to the rocks and became part of the reef. This was something to see as it swam to about 10 feet away. It was grey and had the body flattened as it became the tail. No question about what it was. It was looking at me, but had no apparent interest. It was just went cruising along the reef. Hmmm. time to relax and check out the reef right here.
I continued the dive and saw it again about 30 feet away as it swam a bit off the reef. It was not something to follow.

He just keeps diving, so I just have to keep adding whenever he does something really cool. So here's a note I got from him the other day.

Hi again guys.....This Bug was caught off the Raider Sat. on a ledge I called "8 lb Bug reef" due to the results of my first dive there 2 yrs ago. Now I might re-name it "9.5 lb Bug reef". Thanks to the good example of my friends Donna & Shel, The Big guy was released after the picture and was last seen swimming back to the bottom in a hurry. The other bugs caught that day weren't so lucky. Take care....Mel

Update 01/24/04 - I just got a new letter

Greetings from Labugman.......The Rapture was at it again this weekend. Kerry, Guy
and I went to Catalina for night and day diving. Mostly the usual stuff until a
dive on Saturday afternoon. I was seeing thousands of lobsters at this spot, all
shorts. I was enjoying them, totaly mesmerized by them. as I rounded a large rock
there was a hole in the rockpile next to it filled with a bugs face. The pictures
tell the rest of the story. It was a new personal best, 11.5 lbs. After the photo
shoot he was let go, back to his harem. Lucky for various reasons wasn't he?
Take care.....Mel

New Report 06/06/04... He's been at it again.

Had a good day on the Rapture at Palos Verdes Friday. I got this 35lb White Seabass and my friend Daniel Carlberg got one 45lbs. Mel

Hi guys... This is disgusting. I had more good luck at PV this weekend. Since Friday I got several more fish. One was 40.5 lbs and the other was 49.5 lbs. I weighed them at 22nd st landing. Here are some more pictures. I know they just make some of you hate me more. Sorry.......Mel

Hi Mike....I have some shark wrestling stories for you. The first occured several years ago on the backside of Catalina at a place aptly named Shark Harbor. While hunting for white seabass a soupfin shark swam under me. Viewing it only from above, I shot it thinking it was a seabass. When it turned I realized it was a shark. I pulled it in and grabbed it by the gills and wrapped my legs around its' tail end like a wrestler. It was squirming in my arms while I got my spear shaft back. a friend swam up and said " looks like you got your hands full". He was right.....Now this brings us to the other day. I'm diving at a local spot when I shoot a white seabass. I dispatch it with a knife to the head and start to put it on my stringer when it slips out of my hand and sinks to the bottom. I dive down to the 40 ft. bottom to get it and found it seemingly alive. How could this be? Well, a shark had it by the tail and was shaking it violently. His head was waving back and forth. It was a 4 to 5 ft. blue shark. I tried to grab the fish and pull it out of his mouth but the shark yanked it out of my hand before I could get a good grip on it and started to swim off with it. The thought had occurred to me that this shark was not normally a threat to bite a person but that many animals will bite if you're trying to take food out of their mouth. At this point I needed to head back up for air. The excitement had brought my heart rate up. As I surfaced I saw that the shark had dropped the fish but was heading back for it. As I caught my breath at the surface I decided the fish was not worth the hassle of going back down after it. It wasn't a very big fish anyway. I let the shark have his feast and moved on. I've had enough with shark wrestling for now......Mel

I just got this note...

Hi Guys.....Just got back from my trip to Mexico tuna hunting at El Banco. We got hammered
by the weather on the first day. Skip still managed to shoot an average one, around 100 lbs.
I had many sightings but was not able to get a shot off at one. A couple of them must have been
near 200 lbs! They were difficult to approach. I did manage to shoot and miss at a 40 lb wahoo.
The water was so clear and the fish so big that it was hard to judge the distances. The next
day we saw very few fish. A dozen commercial fishing boats had pulled in and were working the
area. They had busted up the fish pretty good. I did manage to shoot and miss at a 200 lb blue
marlin! That was very exciting! At first I thought it was a tuna. As I dove down on it I thought
it was a shark, long and slender . Then I saw the bill and I knew it was a marlin. The next day
the fishing boats were gone and the tuna were back. They were easier to approach from above than
from the side. Finally I dropped down on one as a school came below me. I shot and landed my
first tuna, a baby one by El Banco standards at 46.5 lbs. It was a blast and all I can say is
"I'll be back".........Mel

07/15/05
Tom & I went to San Clemente Island for a two day trip this weekend. On Sat. tom got a 20 lb WSB and that was it for the day although we spotted several times. Next day we dove several new spots Tom got from fisherman sources. At the last spot of the day I found a school of WSB out in the sand. I shot and lost one just before Tom came by. We dove the area together for awhile and Tom finally got one of them. I was diving down to a 35 ft bottom and croaking to bring them in. Finally 3 of them swam by and gave me a shot. I landed my only fish of the trip. A great ending to a wonderful trip.......Take care...Mel


Start The Season Right.


Tom and Mel doing just fine.


Mel found a 29 pounder.


Here's a 48 pounder from County Line - July 05

On the second day, Mel again pulled the largest with Dale Lopez a close second. First day Mel got the largest and Carol Beck got the second largest

October 11-12, 2005 was the Dr. Death Invitational on the Peace to Tanner Bank, Cortes Bank, and Santa Barbara Island. Twenty divers during the 2-day trip pulled two hundred and twenty five bugs. The first day the largest bugs came from Cortes Bank, both were in the high 4 pound range. The second day produced bugs over 6 pounds from Santa Barbara Island.
Pictures by Chris Grossman

Mike....Yesterday while diving at a well know secret spot I happened upon a school of 6 large white sea bass milling about in the kelp. I dropped down from the surface as smoothly as I could and started to glide down towards them. They sensed me approaching and stated to meander away slowly. I picked up the pace with a couple of stronger kicks knowing they would swim away from me shortly if I didn't. Instinctively I knew it was now or never...I let a long shot go. The fish started to swim in tight circles and I new I had hit it good. Then the fish swam off into the haze. I expected to see my float line follow but it didn't. I looked and saw my shaft lying on the bottom. Although the tip had come out, I new from the movement of the fish that I had hit it in the spine. I reloaded my gun and began a search grid to find the fish. They don't go far in that condition. Ten minutes later there it was, lying on the bottom. I approached it with my gun pointed but decided it was "out of it" so I let go of the gun, grabbed it with my hands and brought it to the surface. Later I could see that the tip had embedded in it's spine and pulled straight out without toggling.But I got the fish ( 51 lbs) and the pictures.......... Take care...Mel

Shel...We had fun last night but it was a rough ride in the shallows with the surge. We went deep in the wall. I had my head banged on a rock and a fin sucked right off my foot. I was in the rocks when a swell came and the water flow between the rocks was so strong it was vibrating my mask. I held it with one hand to keep it on and had a fin sucked off. I never saw it again. I continued the dive with one fin. I was cherry picking for big ones passing on many legals. I ended up with an 8.2 lbs and a 7.5 lbs. I saw several close to 10 lbs and one definitely over. That one and I did a dance for a while with me trying to position myself for a grab and him moving just as I squeezed my way towards him. I blew it when I first came upon him. I should have rushed in for a quick grab but I tried to finesse it too much. It was fun. Jon got a limit ( only) and a couple of nice ones a little smaller than my 2. In my recent trips I've seen lots of big bugs in there. We have to go soon. I'll be in touch.........Mel

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