Well, I might as well tell about my trip to San Clemente Island this week. I went on a two day trip with a mix of scuba divers (6) and freedivers (4) on a charter trip this Thursday and Friday. Swell was big and fish were few and far between. Kitto and another freediver got nice Yellowtail the first day and I got a small one (actually, I speared two with one shot from the same school, but they worked against each other and one eventually pulled off before I could land him). Kitto has an interesting story about how he got his fish - maybe he'll post the story.

Second day was my lucky day. I was diving outside the kelp with the blacksmith. There was current, so I had to swim constantly just to stay in one spot. It isn't easy diving under these conditions, but I knew that was the spot for Yellowtail. A school of nice Yellowtail swam by. I picked out the closest and fired. He sped off pulling the line off my reel until he vanished into the depths. I wasn't sure how good the shot was, so I played him gingerly until he tired and fought him up slowly just like I was fishing with rod and reel. When he got close, I grabbed his tail and he was mine. I put him on the stringer and he swam along side helping me stay even with the current. I only saw one lone fish swimming 25 feet away later that same dive.

Next two dives, I looked for White Seabass, but saw only monster Calico Bass and Baracuda. On the last dive, I hung outside the kelp looking for Yellowtail, but saw nothing after an hours, so I headed into the kelp looking for White Seabass. I was diving well. It's amazing how much your freediving improves on the second day of a multi-day trip. I aligned up on many monster Calico taking imaginary shots - just for fun. Then I drifted into a kelp room and saw a White Seabass hanging in the kelp room. I slowly turned toward him and he turned toward me presenting me with a nice shot. Boom! A nice shot but not a kill shot. He took off so fast he disappeared from sight. I swam after him as fast as I could while line still payed off my reel. All I could see is that white line stringing through the kelp. The line eventually stopped pulling. I saw a harbor seal swim by where my fish should be and I began to worry he might take it. I followed the line untangling along the way. I dove on the fish (after recovering from my excitement) at about 40 feet deep he was tied up around the base of a kelp stalk. I grabbed him by the gills and tore my shooting line from his body and ascended to the surface where I placed him on my stringer. It took me about ten minutes to untangle the line and restring my gun and then I could hear the boat fire up it's engines. We had to leave the island before 1pm because the Navy were going to start shelling and demolition practice. A nice way to end at trip.