10/10 And I did NOT get eaten by a white shark...

[Smudge]

Originally Posted by SAGE

Yeah MATT !!!!
Great job, I was really hoping you’d make the drive and give it a try. I know it's not easy to get pumped up for a solo dive live that.
I love the way they can stay alive for so long. Get a hold of a deli slicer if you can , it really makes cleaning them much easier.
How was the temp and clarity ???

Water was mid to high 50's and vis was 1-2'. Crappy conditions really but I said fuck-it. I went all the way up there, and wasn't gonna turn around without at least trying. It was definitly the spookiest dive I've done in a long, long time. Solo is NOT the way to do it this time of year. I was sketched out the whole time and I'm sure my bottom time suffered for it. At least I was able to stay shallow. My deepest dive was probably 15'.

Originally Posted by apneanaut

Great read, really makes me want to go up there and try it myself. I once heard a story of an ab diver who was decapitated by whitey, which makes the idea less appealing. I used to eat abs as a wee kid when they were abundant and my dad would pry them off the rocks at SCI. Back then they were my favorite food and now I haven't had one since before the socal moritorium went in place. They really are tasty snails, maybe I should invest in a thicker wetsuit and a bigger pair of testicles.

Funny, at the bar a week ago Sage and my roomate were telling me about the diver who got the white shark guillotine. I figure if it's gonna get me, that's the way I want it. No limping up the beach in the middle of nowhere with a bloody stump or my guts in my hands!!

I say do it once, just to say you have and get some good snacks while you're at it. I probably won't go again for a while if ever. Long drive and a very limited resource. I think I've been very lucky to have the opportunity to do it at least this once in my lifetime. Awesome experience. No regrets at all, but now that I've got it under my belt, the next time I think I'll just take pictures.

[Cory]

nice haul Matt. I bet you didnt want to leave SF though.

[Smudge]

Here's the empties...

[?? fisherman]

Nice!!!

Thats some of the best eating there is outta the ocean IMO!!

Pop them outta the shell, trim the funky chit around the main foot untill you have a super clean looking solid roundish piece of meat and then slice into thin pieces, then pound it with a tenderiser hammer bread it and cook it and make the best damn abalone sandwiches you have every had!!!

Gawd im hungry! Its been a long long time since I have eaten ab....... we use to eat it monthly as a kid.

Congrats!

The unknown fisherman

[fishnfool]

Way to go Matt, and thanks for the morsels. Can't wait for dinner tonight...been a couple of years since the last time I had some.

[Fishing Addict]

Great report, Matt! This makes me want to try ab diving even more. I am definately going next season! The name of the diver decapitated by whitey was Randy Fry... and he was in only 15ft of water.

[rancanfish]

Yes, it was Randy Fry, the Nor Cal rep for Recreational Fishing Alliance. He was an incredible asset in the fight against assaults on our rights to fish. The jokes made me cringe a little to be honest. I sat and held his Mom's hand at a bbq after a memorial for him. But not to thread jack here, I respect your guts going ab diving solo. Not in a hundred years would I have big enough cahones. Besides, I don't taste good, so I would just be wasted. The guys at Hi's are usually pretty cool, maybe the guy had a gf on hormones that day, lol.

[Smudge]

Originally Posted by rancanfish

Yes, it was Randy Fry, the Nor Cal rep for Recreational Fishing Alliance. He was an incredible asset in the fight against assaults on our rights to fish. The jokes made me cringe a little to be honest. I sat and held his Mom's hand at a bbq after a memorial for him. But not to thread jack here, I respect your guts going ab diving solo. Not in a hundred years would I have big enough cahones. Besides, I don't taste good, so I would just be wasted. The guys at Hi's are usually pretty cool, maybe the guy had a gf on hormones that day, lol.

Don't cringe about the jokes. The people who died on Everest died doing what they loved. Ab diving for me was a sort of Everest. I am dead serious when I say that if whitey gets me, then that's the way I want it. Notice in my post I never said that I wouldn't do it again because of the sharks. I said I would think twice because of the fact that abs are a limited resource.

I am a waterman, through and through. Wherever I go in my life I do my very best to experience the water. Whether it be grabbing lobsters here in SD or fishing permit and bonefish on the flats in the FL Keys. Or cleaning hulls and changing zincs in the St. Johns river. Or fishing for carp, roach and tench in England. Fuck, I had a blast catching robin fish anchored up at Cannes, France.

I had a rare opportunity to dive for abs, so I took it. Anyone who truly knows me, would know without question, that if I was in Nor Cal, I was getting in the water. Period. It's just what I do.

I don't know Randy Fry and would never claim to. But I'm willing to bet he died doing what he loved. I feel for his mother because no one should out live their children, but I know my parents would still love and respect me if I died doing what made me happy. And that's enough about that.

As for the guys at Hi's, it was just the one clerk that was odd. Seemed like a hippy lost in a tackle store. The shop itself was very impressive considering the location. I mean, it was like Fisherman's Landing and Angler's Arsenal had a baby with Squidco as the afterbirth. Very organized with tons and tons of stock.


Please don't take any offense from my statements Harold. None were meant to be offensive or disrespectful in any way at all.


-Matt

[Balluga]

rub some baby oil inside the shell every year and they will look nice forever...

[Smudge]

Originally Posted by Balluga

rub some baby oil inside the shell every year and they will look nice forever...

Thanks, I'll remember that... They do look pretty bitchin' right now, it'll be nice to keep em that way.

[Jaydog]

Way to go Matt!!! It seems to me that this journey might have taken a little courage and to me that is as good as life get's!!! I grew up in Bird Rock and was an avid free diver at the age of 6, every day we would be down there pokeing our heads around, Abs used to be so abundant, on a good negative tide we could walk out and just stick our heads under shelves and score nice legals without even getting our bodies wet... Thank's for bringing back memories, I got a big smile just reading your story!!!

[JiGGZ]

I'm DROOOLIN Over here man WTG!!! All the time your thinkin WOW look at all these ABS OL Wonderin WHY there aren't 100 guys out there scoopin them up : )??? Cool thing they (GW) didn't get your ass. Maybe next time.