Breakwater fishermen, love em or hate em?

[melfox26]

I'm so jealous of the great viz you had. If it had just been myself and my other two DM buddies, we would've dove Monastery anyways. However, we had 4 people with us that have had 6 dives at Monastery experience total, combined. 4 of those dives being in "lake-like" conditions.

Mel

 

[ShakaZulu]

North or South? How was the entry and exit? Must of been a bit wild if you were on the north side.

We were on the North side, yes I did fall twice...........

 

[Scubaroo]

We have a similar problem in Melbourne - the best shore dives are pier dives, and there's a plethora of fishermen on any given day. What sh!ts me is that they AIM at your SMB or bubbles with a squid jig, because they think you're scaring the fish away. I I ever get hooked by one and I'm flying a flag or SMB, I'm filing assault charges. It is a bit different here, the divers are certainly the minority, and we work around the fishermen. Haven't met a fishermen here yet who didn't give a dirty stare or mouth something at us under their breath while we gear up.

I honestly don't ever recall seeing fishermen at the Breakwater in Monterey, I did around 20 dives there. That's a lot different though - it's a known dive spot, there's stores on the water catering to divers there, and it's a marine sanctuary. Surely the fishermen are the ones who need to work around the divers there.

My wife and I also fish - only ever encountered divers once while fishing from shore, it was no hassle to wait for them to enter and the bubbles move off.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

The gate on the Coast Guard Pier is locked when the 9/11 condition is Yellow or lower.

If divers are scaring the fish, the divers should learn how to dive. If you are laid back,
and slowly finning around, you won't scare them. Clinton Bauder shot some wonderful
video of me being a member of a big school of Blue Rockfish. I have macro eyeball
pictures of monster lings and cabs.

It does seem to me that the there are more fishermen on the CG Pier the last year or
so. No conjecture as to the reason.

 

[CALI68]

Clinton Bauder shot some wonderful
video of me being a member of a big school of Blue Rockfish. I have macro eyeball
pictures of monster lings and cabs.

Do you have a link to the vidoe or the those shots? Sounds cool. Are they on BAUE web site?

 

[jumsted65]

Clinton Bauder shot some wonderful
video of me being a member of a big school of Blue Rockfish.

Hey Chuck,

Ya think that video is on Clinton's site? That's one of the few I've not yet seen.

Josh

Guess it's not posted anywhere

 

[scubasean]

The gate on the Coast Guard Pier is locked when the 9/11 condition is Yellow or lower.

But, even if it isn't locked, aren't civilians supposed to stay out?

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

If the gate is open, civilians can walk out. It was almost always open before 9/11.

I don't know if Clinton has posted that video or not. He gave me a DVD of it.

I don't have much of my own stuff posted on the web. I'd rather go diving than feed
my scanner or sort slides. I do give shows for dive clubs now and then.

 

[Dryglove]

If divers are scaring the fish, the divers should learn how to dive.

The majority of them are learning to dive. The place looks like a scuba zoo on the weekends

The gate has been open quite often lately at least the days i have been there. My kids really like to walk to the end and check out the sea lions at the end of the breakwater. I also seem to notice a lot more fisherman than usual. I wish a game warden would patrol that area on a more regular basis as some of the catch i have seen such as lingcod and cabezon were way undersized and am not even sure if they are even in season right now. I dont fish so i dont keep up with that part but am positive some of the cabezon and lings were undersize.

 

[Scubaroo]

Would it be worth approaching the City of Monterey with a proposal to regulate fishing there on weekends, when most of the problems would arise? The city surely recognises the millions that must get spent in the area by divers each year.