Mendocino County
I've been fixated on freediving since my last trip to Mendocino county in June. The idea of popping abalone and shooting fish in the kelp forest consumed my thoughts for a couple of months. Because of the cold water (50F) I had to invest a small fortune in neoprene and lead weights. I also decided that my old snorkeling gear wasn't going to cut it anymore. Here is a picture of my delicious sea lion suit and pole spear (Abalone iron, gauge and license sold separately).
I drove to a spot in Mendocino County where I knew of a good launch site and protected water. While gearing up o
n the beach I met a guy who was diving out of an inflatable kayak. After a short conversation about abalone diving I confessed that I had never been before. I expected the guy to bolt but to my surprise he invited me to dive with him. We anchored our kayaks in 20' of wa
ter and jumped out. My new dive buddy pulled his limit of 3 abs in only 2 dives. It took me quite a few dives even though the floor was littered with them. There is some technique to prying these snails off a rock. You don't want to give them any warning or else they clamp down so tight that you can't get an iron under them.I went back out in the afternoon to shoot fish with my pole spear. Visibility was 15 - 20'. I had lots of opportunities but I kept missing them or shooting low. I eviscerated a few fish before my aim improved and I managed to drill a few small fish. I did one more dive on Sunday morning. I chased a large black rockfish around for a while but I could never close the distance on him. While catching my breath on the surface a smaller one suspended directly under me and I speared it through the top of his head. While swimming back to my boat with the fish kabob I realized I was beat from diving, kayaking and hauling my gear across the beach for two days. I packed up camp and headed back to the bay area.
I had to watch videos on how to clean abs before I got to the dirty work. I did ok but I wished that I had trimmed off more of the foot. Cooking these things also takes a little practice.
posted by brian | 4:05 AM
6 Comments:
I wish you had a picture of the fish-kabob.
I have some good friends here that used to farm Abalone commercially in South Africa. if you want, I can get some good recipes and cleaning info from them.
An inflatable yak seems illadvised if you are gonna be running about with stabby and pointy things. I guess it works if you leave the whiskey back at base camp.
I gotta echo Steve that the fish-kabob picture would have added nicely to the post.
Sorry about the lack of pics. Maybe next time.
Alan, find out how they cook abs over there. Standard method here is to slice thin and pound on them for a while before breading and frying.
The guy in the inflatable didn't have any sharp objects although he almost got the tip of my spear while it was secured to my boat.
it seems as though abs are cooked the same everywhere. They did suggest an alternative -- beat on it for a while, put it in butter and bake really slowly it until it's almost done, then take it out, season it up and throw it on the grill to finish it off, but they said if you don't do it just right it will either be VERY tough or VERY dry.
yeah, so far the ones that I have cooked turned out pretty tough. I cut the steaks too thick and didn't pound on them enough.
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