3 Months on Catalina-Island Fever

[injunspearo]

I got lucky enough to land a job on Catalina, I'll be living on the northeast end there this summer and I'm curious about how I should go about hunting and what not. I will have a kayak at my disposal, as well as a Riffe Competitor #3X, 9/16 x 3 bands, hawiian flopper shaft, and horizontal reel w/ 200ft of 650lb test dyneema line. Any input on spots in that area? What fish I could expect to see (if different from the mainland)? MPA's? And any general knowledge I should have about this area.

Thanks

[unkabonka]

Originally Posted by injunspearo

I got lucky enough to land a job on Catalina, I'll be living on the northeast end there this summer and I'm curious about how I should go about hunting and what not. I will have a kayak at my disposal, as well as a Riffe Competitor #3X, 9/16 x 3 bands, hawiian flopper shaft, and horizontal reel w/ 200ft of 650lb test dyneema line. Any input on spots in that area? What fish I could expect to see (if different from the mainland)? MPA's? And any general knowledge I should have about this area.

Thanks

Northeast end? We have no idea what you are talking about. More specific please,,, where are you working?

Congrats on the gig... working on Catalina is still on my bucket list. Should be a good time.

Your set up sounds good to me!

[injunspearo]

I'll be working as a Dive Master (Bubble Blowing) at the Boy Scout's Camp Emerald Bay, unkabonka. I'm going to be hitting the water 3-6 times a day on SCUBA for work, and on the weekends, I'm going to be doing as much serious hunting as I can.

[dustyyoungblood]

That is going to be rad. Up to 6 dives a day? Man that is some work. You are going to know every crack in the reef.


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[Spear n Surf]

Hell yeah! Definitely going to have to check out Catalina this summer then!

[32Juan]

You're going to be on the West end East end is the Avalon side. You'll have plenty of great areas to dive at within kayaking distance. You'll be right in the lion's head to arrow point invertebrate reserve (ie: no lobster, scallops etc.) Have fun with the boy scouts.

Oh, learn how to bend your elbow when taking pictures. It gives you more street cred.

[injunspearo]

Dusty,i'll be putting the some of the sturgill gear to the test, i was on the phone with you today man! i just placed an order today to get my gun ready for the summer! and Spear n Surf, Yeah bro! get out there!

[injunspearo]

Originally Posted by 32Juan

You're going to be on the West end East end is the Avalon side. You'll have plenty of great areas to dive at within kayaking distance. You'll be right in the lion's head to arrow point invertebrate reserve (ie: no lobster, scallops etc.) Have fun with the boy scouts.

Oh, learn how to bend your elbow when taking pictures. It gives you more street cred.

I took my avatar pic before i learned the elbow rule. Thanks for the general report, 32Juan.

[spear007]

Lots of clear water around emerald bay, lots of calico's but also YT and WSB.
i took my open water there last summer, and typically spend a few weeks out there every summer.
lots of mpa rules, make sure you study the areas, the agents are there on a daily basis inspecting boats and divers.
they gave us a real hard time last summer becuz we were scuba diving in one of the mpa areas and my wetsuit is green, they thought we were hunting..searched the entire damn boat for gear.

[32Juan]

If you want the official info on the MPAs out here, check out this link.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/mpa/mpa_summary.asp

Hmmm... it just reminds me that there are 9, yes NINE separate MPA's on Catalina. That's about 20% of all the MPAs in Southern California.

[Albondiga]

Originally Posted by injunspearo

I'll be working as a Dive Master (Bubble Blowing) at the Boy Scout's Camp Emerald Bay, unkabonka. I'm going to be hitting the water 3-6 times a day on SCUBA for work, and on the weekends, I'm going to be doing as much serious hunting as I can.

You may want to look into the dangers of freediving after scuba. It can cause some added DCS risk. Do you have DAN insurance? It will save you a ton of money if you have a problem over there.
Have fun, that side of the Island is a blast, when the wind lets up.

[injunspearo]

Al, Im only going to be spearfishing after some pretty long surface intervals. The soonest i'll be able to freedive after scuba would be an 8 hour surface interval, but just in case, my job includes DAN's Professional insurance package. Thanks for the heads up, I did a research paper on DCS but now i need to understand this aspect of the risk that I'm going to be exposed to.

[32Juan]

Are you going to be doing certifications for the Boy Scouts? That sounds like herding cats I'm sure you will not be doing any seriously deep dives, but if you are going to be doing multiple dives, I highly suggest keeping an eye on your residual nitrogen level. Don't trust your computer to do all the math for you. Keep a log, fill it out and use your tables. If your computer dies on you, then you will have an accurate record of your diving activity. Also, be sure to HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE!!! Trust me, I work as a volunteer for the Hyperbaric Chamber.

[injunspearo]

Yes Juan, I will be the cat shepherd. Hahaha, I'll be sure to keep a solid record of my dive activity as a backup.

[arice]

Originally Posted by injunspearo

I'll be working as a Dive Master (Bubble Blowing) at the Boy Scout's Camp Emerald Bay, unkabonka. I'm going to be hitting the water 3-6 times a day on SCUBA for work, and on the weekends, I'm going to be doing as much serious hunting as I can.

I was just at that camp a month ago with my son's class. In the winter it functions as a marine science camp for school kids. That's a beautiful spot.