Abalone Tips

[D_O_H]

So... I've got my fishing license, ab card, ab iron, wetsuit weightbelt, etc.

I've got a mental picture of what a red ab looks like.

I've got a decent grasp of freediving safety practices and ab regulations.

I've got a buddy who has been diving for abs once before.

I've got a burning desire to get at least one (though three would be nice).

And I've got a sneaking suspicion that we are very unlikely to be successful.

Does anyone have any tips or tricks that might increase my chances for success?
We're going to be camping at Stillwater next weekend (4/8 - 4/10). My experienced buddy has some sites in mind, though I'm not sure where they are. I've seen a few abs on scuba around Monterey, so I've got an idea of the sorts of places they might be hiding, but other than that, I am completely clueless.

Oh, and I was thinking of trying to get a dive or two in as well (obviously leaving the poor abalone alone while on scuba). Would it be a really bad idea to have scuba equipment as well as (god willing) abalone at our campsite?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

There is no comparison between Monterey and The North Coast when it comes to finding abs. Monterey is almost completely devoid of abs except a few way back in the cracks where otters can't get them.
If you are staying at Stillwater then try going right there in the cove and go either to the right side or around the left side. All you need to do is be able to dive 5 to 15 feet for 20-45 seconds and once you get the hang of it you could have your abs in no time. It's the easiest thing I've ever done. The secret to a successful freedive is to stay relaxed and if you get on an ab don't get into a race to pry it off. All that will do is get you to choke for air. First thing I would do is take your mesuring device and dive down, find a few abs and put the caliper on them (lengthwise) so you know how big they have to look to be legal. When you go to make a pry make sure you slide the iron UNDERNEATH the FOOT, not under the shell before you push in because if you cut the meat and they come up short meaning that you have to put them back, they will die by bleeding to death.
After you get really good you may not even need an iron if you know how to sneak up on them and pull them off by surprise with just your hand. This causes no damage to them at all.
Also when you get out of the water be sure you fill out your report card as soon as you get out because they like to fine people for taking to long to fill out their cards.
I wouldn't let it go for any longer than 5-10 minutes.

Another thing about spots. There are hundreds of abs at virtually any place you can get into the water, so don't worry about some secret spot. Avoid getting into the "greener grass" syndrome thinking that every spot you see looks better than the last spot. You will drive yourself nuts. Just get in the water somewhere and have fun.

Good luck

ZKY

 

[JustinW]

I have never dove stillwater cove, although if it is much like the rest of the North Coast I have a good idea of what it is like.

Process and what it will look like:
You and your buddy will dive out, probably with an ab tube (innertube with cover) and get into the kelp. I'm not sure what its like now because I usually dive closer to june and august and haven't been there this early. But anyhow we swim to an area that has intermittened kelp stocks coming up. I find this to be important, because it shows me that there are rocks sticking up out of sand, its shallow enough to dive, and I know that the abs will be clustered towards the bottoms of these rocks, and that the rocks are generally of a shape that its easy to pop the abs off. I then follow a stipe down to the holdfast, and swim around the base of the rock, shouldn't take more than 15 seconds or so to spot an ab. At this point, especially if you are new, you will generally see an abalone that looks like a giant hubcap. This thing will be huge, I promise, so you line up, and quickly wedge your iron under it, prying it up all in one motion. You will bring it to the surface elated that you found a monster abalone that you know is legal, you will then measure it and find that its only 6 inches long. Remember things look 25% bigger underwater. So a barely legal ab looks like a big 10 incher. You will swim back down, replace it and try again, this time you will measure first, pop second. Do not let your gauge touch their shell, or they will clamp on, and you will not get them off, I've tried before and had fragments of the rock pop off with them, or had the shell chip off chunks. If you touch them before putting the iron under them, they are not coming off that rock for a while, move on and try another. Repeat until limits, then go to Rocky's website and prepare as he has described, cook in olive oil, no more than 20 seconds on each side. http://www.sonic.net/~rocky/abrecipesbreaded.htm


Important tip: Do not even think of bending the rules, overlimiting, having your buddy pop one for you, putting them all in one bag or anything else like that. You must have separate game bags, and you each must have a regulation ab bar and gauge. Big Brother is watching from a spotting scope, and there will likely be road blocks checking everyone with diving gear on HWY 1, they do it every year. Read the regulations and know the rules. It is ok to have SCUBA gear in camp, or even in the truck. Heck one time when I forgot my weight belt, I threw my weight pockets into my BC and used that, but the tank stayed with the vehicle. If you are taking scuba, try your hand at rock scallops.

Life saving tip: DO NOT HYPERVENTILATE BEFORE YOUR BREATHHOLD.

Take slow relaxing deep breaths, try to float at the surface, shut your body down and relax, signal to your buddy and then decend, dive in depths that the diver at the surface can always see you, or a steady stream of small bubbles. SWB is deadly.

Second life saving tip: Buddy skills are extremely important here. switch between dives, dive in one spot and always watch each other, if your buddy gets tangled in kelp, you can help him or vice versa, people die every year.

My buddy, or buddies (3 max generally) hang onto my float tube and signal to each other when going down we keep track of everyone constantly. This gives us recovery and each a fair turn.

One last thing, have fun!

 

[D_O_H]

Thanks guys - this is exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Ishie]

Cool!
Me too!
Regulation question. If you are diving with a buddy, when you're popping them, can you have them in a single innertube or does each buddy need to bring their own innertube? Or do you need catch bags (like the mesh ones we have for lobster) where you can dump one per buddy in the innertube? First ab dive will be in about two weeks!

Thanks!

 

[JustinW]

Good question Ishie, my understanding and practice is to use one float tube, with a gunny sack inside, one of us dumps our abs into the tubve, the other puts his in the sack in the tube, they just have to be separated, can be a plastic grocery bag or anything. I try not to hang them on the outside, its too much drag, also get some sort of kelp clip for the tube, so you can clip it off to kelp if you decide you want to let go of it for a bit. I use a 5 pound weight attached to cord as an anchor.

 

[D_O_H]

Any thoughts on weighting? I'm thinking I'll use about what I use to scuba (same exposure protection, BC and steel tank are basically neutral).

I guess I'll have a lungful of air, which would require a bit more weight, but then I don't want to be horribly negative when my suit compresses at 30' (or however deep I'm able to get).

 

[JustinW]

a nice guideline, 10% with a 7mm, whatever you actually need, you should be eye level in the water, slightly positive on the surface and slightly negative at the bottom, its a tight balance.

 

[renpirate]

A useful way for beginners is to have an anchor and line. I keep the anchor in my left hand when I dive down. I search around on the botom to find the biggest ab, pop it if I have enough air or mark it with the anchor if I don't. This allows me to go straight back to the ab. This is especially useful in murky or surgey water. When I go out with buddies who can't hold their breath very long or are very new to ab diving, I will mark spots with the anchor for them. In this way all they have to do is swim down the achor line.

Note of Caution:

It is possible for the guy who is swimming with the anchor in hand to get the line caught on a fin or wrapped around an ankle. I use spring straps on my fins to prevent any snags and carry an easily accessible knife.

Another way to prevent this problem is to just drop the anchor in one spot, swim around it looking for abs, if none are found, pull up anchor and drop in a new spot.

I aslo second what Justin said, good buddy skills are imperative. Don't get tunnel vision for the hunt, work with your buddy. The other advantage of the line is that if your buddy is staying close to it, then you can find him more easily if there is a problem.

 

[D_O_H]

A useful way for beginners is to have an anchor and line. I keep the anchor in my left hand when I dive down. I search around on the botom to find the biggest ab, pop it if I have enough air or mark it with the anchor if I don't. This allows me to go straight back to the ab. This is especially useful in murky or surgey water. When I go out with buddies who can't hold their breath very long or are very new to ab diving, I will mark spots with the anchor for them. In this way all they have to do is swim down the achor line.

Note of Caution:

It is possible for the guy who is swimming with the anchor in hand to get the line caught on a fin or wrapped around an ankle. I use spring straps on my fins to prevent any snags and carry an easily accessible knife.

Another way to prevent this problem is to just drop the anchor in one spot, swim around it looking for abs, if none are found, pull up anchor and drop in a new spot.

I aslo second what Justin said, good buddy skills are imperative. Don't get tunnel vision for the hunt, work with your buddy. The other advantage of the line is that if your buddy is staying close to it, then you can find him more easily if there is a problem.

Sounds like a neat idea. Is it okay to carry a knife while ab diving? I had the impression it wasn't allowed, but am not sure where I got that idea