Epic Spearfishing Day
Paddy Hopping
After an exciting Blue Water Meet put on by the San Diego Freedivers, I was fortunate to hear a fellow diver had a spot on a boat he was not able to take advantage of. I jumped at the opportunity and I’m glad I did because the adventure was beyond my expectations!
In case you are wondering what a patty is. It is composed of part of or if we are lucky a whole kelp stalk that has broken loose and is now drifting on the open ocean.
Leaving Dana
We met at [5:30]am and were on our way by [5:55]am. The water was smooth and glassy almost all the way to our first dive spot. We saw dolphins (the mammals) and some whales in the distance along the way. The sun came up and now the horizon in all directions was pure blue water. Now we look for paddies.
Video Spearfishing Dorado and Yellowtail
Enjoy the video!
My First Yellowtail and Dorado
Matt jumps in on the first paddy and 5 minutes later hes heading back to the boat with a nice Yellowtail! I’m up. I jump in the water forgetting the camera and life is good. I see a school of Yellowtail mixed with Dorados (aka Mahi Mahi, Dolphin) What a beautiful fish. The colors are amazing. They gradually come closer to investigate and even though Matt told me…
“Let them get real close. You are going to want to shoot to early…”
… I shot to early and missed. I reloaded and waited for them to settle and tried again. I floated around without making eye contact and soon enough they came to check me out. I snuck a look here and there and had my gun pointed in that direction. When they were close I looked, picked one, adjusted my aim and blasted my first Dorado! What a rush. I put it on the boat and Matt jumped in.
Later on a different patty I jumped in and tried to close distance on a school of Yellowtail. They were near the surface so instead of looking away I just poped my head out of the water and would look down briefly to keep my gun tracked in the general direction. Soon the school came in within range and I shot my first Yellowtail! I had the camera on my head but since my forehead was out of the water it’s hard to see the shot in the video (below). Awesome day.
