Giant Sea Bass hunt

[MaxBottomtime]

Kevin, Merry and I trekked out in search of Giant Sea Bass for Dr. Milton's first annual GSB count. Merry saw the only one, a large adult. I dragged my wide angle setup around all day, wishing I had my macro lens.
We began the day on the Hermosa Beach Artificial Reef. GSBs and groupers have been spotted there recently, but not today. Even a huge baitball of mackerel didn't bring them in. At least the visibility was decent for a change. We had easily twenty-five feet.
We motored over to the edge of the kelp off Haggerty's for our next dive. I found a small polyclad worm, Eurylepta californica but couldn't get it with my large setup. Merry and Kevin handled the macro today. Visibility here was a cloudy fifteen feet. The only thing we saw of interest was a large diameter hose. I've seen them at the Olympic II wreck and the Redondo Artificial Reef.

Merry's shot of the Eurylepta californica

Red algae resembling Dead Man's Fingers. I'm not sure what this is.

Lobster condo in a kelp holdfast

The hose

Kevin confiscated my camera so I could model for him

Concrete and springs make up the Hermosa reef

Brown rockfish, Sebastes auriculatus

Holy mackerel!

 

[Merry]

To hunt for GSBs, we opted for different sites today. The second site, offshore Haggerty's had a primarily sand/silt bottom with occasional kelp, some low-growing algae, and a few scattered rocks. Vis was ~12-15 hazy feet, and 57 degrees.
This habitat made all three of us wish we were back at Golf Ball Reef. However, just when it looked like a total bust, a robust GSB (~4 ft) came from behind and passed within 10 feet. It traveled at a steady clip into the gloom before I could get a shot. For the rest of the dive, I set up my rig to catch one in the act, peered longingly into the haze, but no luck.


Based on our sightings, on Golf Ball Reef, near where we were, we have a 44% chance of seeing GSBs.

Small shrimp photo-bombs Navanax.

 

[FrankPro1]

Nice write up and captures. Dig the mackerel swarm and the shrimp photo bomb. What's the size of that Eurylepta californica?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

It was about 3/4". I tried, but knew I couldn't get it with the monster dome port.

 

[drbill]

Since this time of year I dive almost exclusively at night, I don't think I'll report any zeros because they could be out there in the darkness beyond my video lights! I know the great whites are.