How I spent my 50th dive!

[Jesster]

Dive# 50!
Corona Del Mar
3/18/07
Time: 8:00 pm
75 min
27 fsw
56 f
viz: 5' on the sand, 10' around rocks
Buddy: Morgan

Decided to give the Corona Del Mar Breakwater a shot for some end of season bugs. Saw many shorts and lot's of almost theres. Caught two legals on the way to the end of the breakwater. At the point where the rocks stop above the surface I came around a large boulder and saw the biggest bug I've ever seen. I was able to catch him by pinning on the top of his body (couldn't get my hand around him) then holding the base of his antenna (he then grasped my arm). We decided to surface and discuss what we should do with this thing. I didn't want to kill it because the meat would probably be to tough anyway and a lobster that size should be left to make more lobster. We decided to take it ashore for a picture and put it back. It took the two of us to get him in my bag (the trident spring type). He pushed the bag open several times and poked a few holes in it, felt like I was dragging an anchor the rest of the dive. After we finished the dive ( I caught one more legal) we took a couple pic's of him and then I walked him back into the ocean by the rocks and watched him swim away. A great night and I'll never forget my 50th dive.

Here is a picture, the one by his tail is 1/8th" over legal.

 

[orangelion03]

Nice catch Jes!!! And good on you for tossing granpa (or gramso?) back!!!

 

[Jesster]

Thanks man, looking closer at the pic (sucky cell phone pic) it may have been grandma, appears to be graspers on the hind legs. I didn't check the swimmerettes. Doesn't matter, I knew as soon as I surfaced and checked it out that I wasn't going to keep it for anything but the picture.

 

[headhunter]

Nice! That should help you remember your 50th dive!

Christian

 

[Jake]

Snap! That's a big animal.

 

[JMdiver]

Nice going Jes I'm supprised that thing didn't swim away with you.

John

 

[Bruce3]

kudos to you good man! i thought those monsters only existed in story books!

 

[Sam Miller III]

Congrats--your excitement is overwhelming

It is encouraging that divers are returning the bigger ones back into the sea to make more little ones.

Dale Shelckler recently published an E mail of mine, I think in the Jan/Feb issue of CDN about the oversized bug and the damage incurred to future populations by their harvesting. This is especially critical for the larger female population--The larger they grow the more eggs they produce etc etc check out my E mail ( which was Not to have been published)

Yes, I speak with a certain amount of authority I have a degree in Bio..

Might also want to read about son Sam IV on this thread,

SDM

 

[THelsley]

Hmmm....

Sounds like a big tail (or should I say big tale) to me.

Too bad you didn't have something else, like your mask, in the picture for a sense of scale.

Congratulations, and good job returning the fella.