Upcoming urchin dives

[Still Kicking]

we are GOLDEN!

I assume you are talking about this shade of gold?

Kudos for your efforts leading the charge on this!

One further note about the California fishing license: Starting this year it's a 365-day license not a calendar-year license. That means it will expire next year on the same day you bought it this year. I usually buy my new license around Christmas but from now on I will buy my license the day before I plan to go fishing (weather stinks now so no need yet). It's a small thing but it makes sense to me to get the most out of it.

You can buy a license online and you get a digital copy good for immediate use:

Sport Fishing Licenses and Report Cards

The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages California's diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.

wildlife.ca.gov

 

[lostsheep]

I wish I could hit the like button about 20 times reading this!
This is fantastic!!

Make sure they know it’s removal and have a way to haul them out, and we are GOLDEN!

Shoot me a DM, looks like I can't start a Dm thread with you.

 

[chthonicly]

Excellent thanks! I will start investigating my local hardware stores.
If they wore out your kevlar gloves, mine definitely would not work! I will try to get something more robust. Look forward to doing some urchin harvesting come Feb!

I'm also interested in coming up for some urchin dives. Question on the gloves, does anyone have any good recommendations?

Besides the gloves, bag, prying instrument, regular cold water dive gear, what else should folks plan on bringing?

 

[suricatasuricata]

I bought these gloves based on some old threads here on Scubaboard. At $11 a pair, worst case I use them at home for something or the other.

 

[Still Kicking]

I bought these gloves based on some old threads here on Scubaboard. At $11 a pair, worst case I use them at home for something or the other.

These are great but I think I have come across something maybe even better at Harbor Freight:

Nitrile Dipped Water-Resistant Gloves, X-Large

Amazing deals on this Nitrile Dipped Water Resistant Gloves Xl at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

These gloves are water resistant. Not quite a dry glove but they certainly slow down the water exchange in and out of the glove and keep my hands warm enough in So Cal (>52 degrees). I never feel cold much in my hands though so YMMV.

They are tough as nails and I have yet to wear out a pair grabbing dozens and dozens of bugs over multiple seasons. Price is right too.

 

[chthonicly]

Awesome, thanks for the links!

Could one wear the nitrile dipped over say 3mm wet gloves (i'm a medium in my 3mm gloves, so maybe an extra large would fit over)? It seems like that would get some of the insulation from the neoprene, but remain thin enough to move fingers, and get the added protection?

When I dive in so cal, I'm fine in my 3mm, but it Monterey I usually will go with the 5mm glove (which I hate, but the 3mm I have are just not enough up here). I guess if I go I'll just bring all my gloves and see which combination leaves me able to feel my fingers and dexterous enough to grab urchins.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I learned that handling urchins doesn’t need to require a real hard grip. The idea is to gently pick them up with almost no pressure and drop them in the bag. Where I forget this is when then are stuck down on or in between rocks and I end up gripping harder trying to dislodge them. I get a good pace going and don’t want to get the iron out to bust them loose first so I can gingerly handle and bag them. This is my fault, I get impatient. So now I concentrate on loosening a whole bunch in one area then bag those up and so on. I’m also going go get a small hand held gardening rake and see how that works. I’ve also pushed them into the bag using the ab iron.
BTW, I have several old ab irons I’ll bring for people to use. I just stuff one in my waist belt.
The only problem I ran into with thicker gloves, in particular a 5 mil pair that had a bunch of goop spread out on the fingers from past hole repairs, is that I loose too much dexterity and can’t feel the buttons on bolt snaps. During this procedure there is a lot unclipping and clipping going on so feeling is pretty important. My lift bag lives clipped off on my butt D-ring and I have to be able to unclip it by feel, so if I have too thick a glove on I can’t do that.
I suppose I could find a place to clip it off up front but real estate is already pretty scarce on my front side with three bags and all sorts if tools.
I’ll figure it out, this is a work in progress.
Another thing to keep in mind is only one hand gets hammered, for me it’s my right hand since I’m right handed.

I’m going to look into those links on dipped gloves.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm also interested in coming up for some urchin dives. Question on the gloves, does anyone have any good recommendations?

Besides the gloves, bag, prying instrument, regular cold water dive gear, what else should folks plan on bringing?

Bring containers to haul urchins. You could also just leave them in game bags but you’ll need to figure a tote of some sort to place the bag into depending your vehicle so you don’t get purple salt water everywhere. Unless maybe you have a pick up and just throw the bags of urchins in the bed? I bring a wheel dolly for people to use and that makes it very convenient.
The other thing that might be nice is some lunch, high calorie snacks to keep you warm, a thermos of hot tea or soup is nice too. Mornings in the winter are cold on the North Coast, dress accordingly. Layer. Another thing I like is a little piece of carpet or mat to stand on while changing.
They have a few picnic tables there which is convenient.
But once you get suited up and getting everything down the beach you’ll be sweating anyway so getting in the ocean will be nice.

 

[Bigbella]

I frequently carry a small collapsible hand truck and "bungie" both large Rubbermaid tubs and plastic garbage cans for hauling, uh, "purple invasive things."

It's quite lightweight; strong; folds completely flat; and lives behind the bench seat of my truck . . .

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I might add to bring some sticky rice, wasabi, and some soy sauce, if you are so inclined to take part in relishing a delicacy?
Uni.