Diving for Halibut,
continued from page 3
We swam toward shore towing the boats behind us. It was very easy since we were going with the wind and current.The bottom was very interesting and at about 70 feet we came upon Lingcod Alley, as Carol later named it. We spotted one ling and followed it. It went into a hole and a larger ling came out, it also went into a hole and another larger ling came out. This went on for 4 different lings. Carol finally shot the largest one and we spent 10 minutes getting it off her break-away halibut speartip. We continued toward shore and came upon another nice sized ling in about 50 feet of water and I shot it also.
After not seeing any halibut we finally surfaced and headed back to shore. It had been a perfect day diving. The sun was warm but not hot, the sea was calm with a slight breeze, the visibility was great, the water temperature was tolerable, the hunting was rewarding and the company was excellent. We had a nice halibut and ling BBQ dinner and headed back North to the city and the fog. We also set plans to return in two weeks to hopefully do a repeat of the great weekend we had just experienced. Hopefully, King Neptune will be favorable upon our endeavors.
Curt Haney, (still the BCD Lingking)
MORE Recent Diving Adventures
Eight club members met at the Mendocino cabin the weekend of August 7-8th. Diving conditions were amazing-the sea was flat as glass and the visibility was just about the best I've ever seen it on the North Coast. (About 40 feet visibility). Curt, Pete, and Carol pulled scallops, crab, abalone, red fish, rock fish, and cabezone just south of Albion. Their first dive was to 90 feet, with about a 60 feet average.
Proposed Changes to Abalone Regulations
are being discussed by the Recreational Abalone Advisory Committee (RAAC)
The question is: do we need a more conservative approach?
Some changes proposed by RAAC include:
- prohibiting scuba on board vessels with abalone (this means kayaks too!)
- implementation of stiffer fines and making abalone poaching a felony
- reducing bag limits to 2 or 3 abalone per day
- imposing annual take limits and using a punch card or tag system to enforce limits
- closing off some areas to abalone diving
The full text of the recent RAAC meeting and these proposals
can be found at http://www.abcamp.com/raac/raac.html
or try www.cencal.org
To make your voice heard,
contact your CenCal representative:
Steve Campi: scampi@dnai.com, 925-932-8838
Bill Gilarneau: 104247.2525@compuserve.com
510-451-2370