Don, Andrea and I met up on Friday evening out at Sekiu. We went over the diving plans and what to expect since I had never been on the Washington coast before. Saturday morning we left the dock at 06:00 bound for cape Alava. Once we arrived the fun of choosing a dive site began. We tried to anchor up on a pinnacle but the current was running too hard. We then moved over in the lee of some rocks and got the anchor to hold. With our gear on and some last minute coaching for the spearfishing newb (me), we rolled over the side and met up at the anchor line. We made our descent and checked that it was hooked in. Then the hunt began. I watched Don take the first couple fish and then made a couple practice shots on some black rock fish. The viz over all was good until you got within five feet of the bottom. The place looked like it had a ground fog but it was krill. I didn't score any lings that day but Don did. We fished with hook and line during our surface interval to help fill our limits. By 14:00 the sun had come out and it was a darn nice day to be on the water. We headed in and cleaned that days catch for a total of about 30 pounds of various fish.
Sunday we left the dock at 05:30 and headed for Point of Arches to some rocks we had scouted the previous day. We geared up and headed out. This is when things started to go sideways. On the surface my spear still had a tip. At the anchor it was just a threaded shaft. On the plus side there was no krill here and about 12 feet of viz. Rather than give up I decided I would be the designated goody bag carrier and see if I still couldn't get a fish. This site had a lot more fish to choose from than Saturdays location. Don drew first blood on a Cabezon that I had swam right past. Dope! Five minutes later a spotted a nice ling and moved in on it. As soon as I fired a got my hand on the spear and held it to the rocks until I could get my other hand below the fish. It worked! I had my first ling! Don Shot three more fish and I missed two. After this dive we were both really tired and decided we would finish out the day fishing with jigs. Sundays catch was about the same as Saturdays. We headed back about noon so that everyone could get on their way home.
I can't wait to go spear fishing again and given the chance it would be with Don.
I did manage to get out and do a bit of crabbing for opening day though... That was pretty entertaining...
