White Seabass- Survey

A while ago, the SDF newsletter editor did a small survey on hunting white sea bass he chose 4 well-known WSB spearos.

1. What is your go-to gun for hunting WSB?
2. Favorite tip?
3. Do you use float line or reel? Reason? Type?
4. What type of gear do you use?
5. What depth do you find most of your fish?
6. What signs do you look for when hunting a bed?
7. What is your preferred way to approach the fish? i.e. from below, from above, etc.
8. Do you use any special gear?
9. What is your preferred tide to hunt WSB?
10. Do you pay attention to the moon?
11. What is your favorite time of day to hunt WSB?
12. How important is your network during WSB season?
13. Any additional tips?

Joshua Liberty

1. My go to gun has been a Riffe island, 5/16 shaft, three 5/8 bands. I just finished a custom 55", 5/16 enclosed track mid handle that is going to be my new go to gun.

2. Mori pencil point with spectra.

3. Float line, because you have much greater control over big fish. If you know you hit them good you can short line them and keep them from wrapping up to deep. It is also safer you don't have to worry about a reel jamming or getting tangled in it like reel line.

4. Static bungee 100'

5. Usually top 20 feet

6. Current- I like a light current and I usually try to work the uphill end of the bed. Also things like bait and other fish sign is always good.

7. At level presents the largest profile and usually the easiest shot, but the fish don't always like to play by the rules. For example when the water is dirty, particularly red tide, and the fish are @ that 15-30 foot depth I like to get a little deeper and try to silhouette the fish. There are also times where you have <8' vis and the fish are at the top of the water column. In this case I will surface shoot fish. I Know some people frown upon this but I find I can cover water and stay very quiet and not spook as many fish with this technique and in fact taken some of my biggest fish this way.

8. Riffe utility float is invaluable.

9. Incoming

10. I do, if you can get the right conditions I like the few days before a full or new moon.

11. I like the gray light AM but most of my diving is dictated by when I have availability and that is usually afternoons.

12. Important, if you hear the fish are in it is definitely motivating. I rely on it more so though for the conditions. I have a small network but if you know Nathan Lee you pretty much know everybody!

13. Nothing like spending time in the water, learn how to be very quiet and how to move like part of the ocean. If possible have somebody mentor you or ask lots of questions. This will definitely speed the learning curve.

Tomas Lewsadder‏

1. What is your Go to gun for Hunting WSB; I use a Mori 62" teak gun with an 11/32nd shaft. This gun is a little long in the kelp but it packs a heck-of-a punch.

2. Favorite Tip ; Mori slip-tip w/ spectra. I like the spectra because in my mind it tears less meat than cable.

3+4 type of reel and reel line / if float line type Bungee /Hard Length ; .. I use a 50' bungee with an egg float AND a Riffe popper float at the end. You would think that the popper float would hang up alot in the kelp but it doesn't.

5. What Depth do you Find most of your fish ; . I find most fish early in the season to be in the upper part of the water collum, may surface to 15'. Later in the season after the breeding is finished I often find fish in 25-40'.

6.what signs do you look for when Hunting a bed ; Sometimes we see fish from the boat, if we don't then I don't want to spend all day in a kelp bed that isn't holding fish. So we usually jump in and swim different dirrections intil a fish is spotted. We hurry through the kelp bed while being realativily quiet and move on to the next bed if no one sees fish. My method for hunting is: Drop down about 10' and grab a kelp, look in all directions and swim forward about 10-20' and grab a kelp and look again. If I don't see anything I swim about 10-15 yards on the surface while I'm breathing up and repeat the process (it is very important to clear the kelp from your path of vision when you surface because this is when the fish will come into check you out). Using this method we can move quickly and quietly through the bed and while you are suspended holding onto the kelp, you can listen for croaking or tail booms or see if the bait is being pushed.

7. What is your Preferred way to approach the fish =i.e. from bellow, from above ,etc ; The fish are where you find them and the shot that you have available is mostly a result of what the fish did and not the diver although their are times that you catch them sleeping or hanging in a kelp-room. But the most important thing to me is to make some kind of dive to get off the surface before I shoot. Surface shots add to the complexity of the shot especially when there is any wind chop at all. My biggest wsb to date is a 62 fish that I saw while on the surface, she came into a kelp-room and I dove on her. She was nerveous but didn't bolt and I was able to glide down close enough to get the shot. If I would have taken the shot from the surface, knowing my past history, I would have missed.

8 do use any special gear ; I use ankle weights and a Riffe pop up float.

9 what is your preferred Tide to Hunt WSB ; I only hunt WSB on a slack tide. When the tide chart shows little movement from high to low and back again.

10, do you pay attention to the moon ; . I know that the moon phases affects H/L guys but the only way that it affects me is the big swings in the tides because of a full moon in which case I don't usually go out.

11 what is your favorite time of day to Hunt WSB ; . I find fish at all times of the day so I don't care...To me it is what time of day are the tides slack.

12 . How Important is your network during WSB season ; . Networking is most important to me during the 1st and last part of the season, when fish are spotty. When they are "in", then it doesn't matter as much if you know your spots you can usually find them.

13 any additional tips ?? ; . I have 1 tip and it is a "sour pill" to swallow. Let the fish run...don't try to horse it in and instead let it run and swim after it as fast as you can. A big WSB usually tires and loses hope within the 1st 20-40 seconds. If he ties up deep then call someone over to help/watch you dig him out. If everyone is waiting for you, let them wait or cut your line and leave the fish. There are some things in life that you cannot rush and digging out a wsb that has tied up deep is tops the list!

Gene Emory‏

1. What is your Go to gun for Hunting WSB; Favorite gun is 60-65" wood gun, Alexander type, 3/8" diameter shaft, slip tip with either tri-cut or pencil tip. Spectra type material on the tip to shaft attachment seems to have less drag than cable, and no kinking issues.

2. Favorite Tip ; Mori Slip tip 3/8

3. do use Float line or Reel = reason ; Reel only. I've used both and like the reel setup best, with a C02 float available in case of big fish or leaving the gun.

4 type of reel and reel line / if float line type Bungee /Hard Length ; type of reel and reel line / if float line type Bungee /Hard Length ; I currently have a riffe reel with kevlar line, my favorite type is the Potts design with nylon tuna cord minumum of 200'

5. What Depth do you Find most of your fish ; . Most fish I find within 30' of the surface.

6.what signs do you look for when Hunting a bed ; Signs such as mackeral/bait, usually I hunt upcurrent on the outside edges, occasionally swimming 100' or so into the kelp bed.

7. What is your Preferred way to approach the fish =i.e. from bellow, from above ,etc ; I approach fish usually on level, or above during a dive.

8 do use any special gear ; no special gear, other than a shoulder harness weight belt. I've considered installing a hydrophone speaker on my boat with seabass croaking to attract fish. If I can find some good sound bites of croaking it would be interesting to see the results.

9 what is your preferred Tide to Hunt WSB ; slack tide generally seems better, more current usually less sightings.

10, do you pay attention to the moon ; . any moon seems to work

11 what is your favorite time of day to Hunt WSB ; . Usually hunt the mornings, but have seen big fish middle of the day, and evening.

12 . How Important is your network during WSB season ; . Networking can be very valuable, not always but it can help. If I know there are fish around I will stay and work the area longer.

13 any additional tips ?? ; . Being quiet seems to be the most valuable tip, and lucky. Sometimes I see more fish just floating on the surface, but they are not easy to approach from that position and usually spook. I think once you find some fish, quietly work and dive the area and eventually you will get in position for a good shot. Dont shoot unless you think you can hit the fish and land it. Exceptionally large fish need a very good shot or they will be lost in most cases, I usually consider that before taking the shot. Look around also, sometimes the 40lb fish you are considering shooting is not the biggest one nearby.

Bill Macintirye‏

1. What is your Go to gun for Hunting WSB; ,55" Wong hybrid, mid handle, with 9/32" shaft and three 9/16" bands.

2. Favorite Tip ; .,Mori 9/32" diameter tip rigged with Spectra.

3. do use Float line or Reel = reason ; .,I prefer a reel. I'm lazy and don't like to mess with getting a float line in and out of the boat. Also, I can have far more line on a reel. My reels have from 145 to 180 feet of line, and I could never use a float line that long. And I don't have to keep track of the whereabouts of the gun as I do with breakaway. Its always on the other end of the reel line.

4 type of reel and reel line / if float line type Bungee /Hard Length ; .,I've got Riffe, Rob Allen, and Aimrite reels. I like the drag system of the Riffe, but now I've become accustomed to the pancake style of the others, and feel that they swing a little easier. On the Rob Allen, I have about 170 feet of the 2.5 mm Spectra that Mori sells. The Aimrite is not as big, so it wouldn't hold enough of that 2.5 mm line, so I use 145 feet of the 1.9 mm yellow Spectra kite line that Daryl offers with his reels.

5. What Depth do you Find most of your fish ; .,From the surface to 20 feet.

6.what signs do you look for when Hunting a bed ; ,I look for white sea bass.:-) But I do feel better if there are lots of barracuda, mackerel, and sardines around.

7. What is your Preferred way to approach the fish =i.e. from bellow, from above ,etc ; ,I'd prefer to be level because its an easier shot, but I'll sure take the surface shot if its offered to me. In most cases, I'm afraid to dive on a fish that I can see from the surface for fear of spooking it.

8 do use any special gear ; ,For years I've used the Riffe double popper float, and find it indispensable. I'm not a good enough diver to spend a lot of time down deep in the murk cutting kelp, and the float saves my bacon by ripping the shooting line right out of the kelp in most cases. But even when it doesn't rip it out, it brings the fish up tight so that its easy to see what kelp to cut under it. The deepest it has worked for me is 63 feet, and it brought the fish up even though I hadn't had time to detach the shooting line from the reel line. Now that Carter has come out with a similar float with more lift, I'm using it.

9 what is your preferred Tide to Hunt WSB ; .,I guess I've had more luck at high tide, but I'm not sure. And I usually just go when I can go, and take what tide I have to. 10, do you pay attention to the moon ; .,Only to the extent that there are places I might not go on the full moon or new moon because the current might be too strong to dive. In particular, there is a spot on the back side of Clemente where I take the moon into consideration. I've seen it with current that made it undiveable, and its just too far to go and too expensive to find I can't even get in the water.

11 what is your favorite time of day to Hunt WSB ; .,Late evening

12 . How Important is your network during WSB season ; .,Its vital

13 any additional tips ?? ; ., additonial tips ?? Yeah. Next time ask someone who actually knows what he's doing. The fact that I post a lot of Spearboard may fool you, but I'm not that good at this stuff.

Scott Defermian LBN‏

1,Well for many, many, years it was a Riffe islander, that I had installed a set of wings on to increase accuracy along w/ shaft hold down brackets that I made out of Delrin. But, it was a very inconsistent gun and from time to time it would drive me crazy until I would figure out what was causing the inaccuracies. Two years ago Mori and I started to work on a new design, laminated/enclosed track guns. have fun! After all, that’s what its all about right? We made a pair of 67” 11/32 shaft, enclosed track guns that are a great all around gun as well as capable of landing some very large tuna. Ever since I started using this new gun I seldom miss anymore, and it is great for the longer shots too!

2. Favorite Tip ; Well I’ll have to say after using the Alexander cable slip tips for many years I was skeptical about Mori’s new spectra slip tip, but now I am a firm believer in them, especially the new slim design.

3. do use Float line or Reel = reason ; I use a reel, the older Riffe generation II design, it is made out of the phenolic material it is loaded w/ the yellow 2.5mm nylon coated spectra. The reason I’ve chosen the reel is that I HATE towing around a trail line, trail lines hang up in the kelp and they also wrap around your legs, they are very frustrating! I tie a Riffe CO2 hot dog float off to the end of the gun w/ a piece of tuna cord w/ a lovers knot, I never even notice its there when swimming through the kelp.

4 type of reel and reel line / if float line type Bungee /Hard Length ; see above

5. What Depth do you Find most of your fish ; .Probably, on average, most of my fish have been between 3’ and 20’ I usually hunt around 15’ but depending on visibility I’ll go deeper if I can see further. Say the vis is 15’ then I’ll dive to that same depth, this way I can see everything 15’ above, below, and around me. You want to make every dive count and be able to cover as much ground as possible.

6.what signs do you look for when Hunting a bed ; Water temp, conditions, and vis I think are the most important signs that you can use. WSB like water in the 59-65. What Depth do you Find most of your fish ; degree range, and they really prefer dirty water so that if they are in hunting mode they can get close to their prey. The same applies to them when their in the mating mode as well.

7. What is your Preferred way to approach the fish =i.e. from bellow, from above ,etc ; Well, I love the broad side shot the most, who doesn’t? but I’ll take them any way I have to.

8 do use any special gear ; As I mentioned before I think the perfect combination is an enclosed shaft and the ideal 11/32 shaft!

9 To me, tides don’t matter, I/we get so little time to dive throughout the year I just go when I can, and dive hard all day. Eventually, you’ll run into one J

10, do you pay attention to the moon ; .,Not too much, like I said before I go when I can! The only time the moon phase is important to me is when the grunion are running, but were not talking about that fish are we J

11 what is your favorite time of day to Hunt WSB ; ., Well all day! But my most favorite is the last two hours of daylight when the wsb are coming in to the beds to get a good bite to eat and a snooze.

12 . How Important is your network during WSB season ; . My network is important all year along! It just depends on what it running wsb, yellows, halibut, lobster, I have some great friends that share info with me and I w/ them. Networks are very important.

13 any additional tips ?? ; ., Wow, I could go on and on along time w/ this question, but I’d have to say I think the most important thing anyone who is seriously hunting wsb needs to do is relax, and not concentrate on “Hunting” wsb, the fish can feel your vibrations when your on the hunt, you have to learn to hunt w/out broadcasting the fact that you are.