Attack of the KILLER ling??

[Amphibious]

are there any small, easily intimidated fish in your neck of the woods (sort of
speak)?

that's the kind of fish i like

Flounder, flounder are your friend

 

[H2Andy]

Flounder, flounder are your friend

ah, ok, well... let me redefine "small"

i mean, guppy-size, or smaller (preferable)

flounder are still too big for me. and unpredictable. them's got crazy eyes,
look at you funny, like they're trying to decide whether to suck your blood
or gouge your eyes out

creepy, man

 

[mweitz]

ROFL Andy.

I like to get real close to lings. It is my "practice". I slowly descend and get about 18" from their face. A lot of them have cool little parasites running over them. I haven't had any get aggressive towards me yet (I do the same with Cabs, but give the ones with eggs a bit more distance). We came across a 3' or so ling last weekend with a big egg mass (my first Ling with eggs). I kept a good 5 of 6 feet away from him

Mark

 

[Snowbear]

In one of my many fish books, it lists them with a maximum size of 5ft.

The book's wrong :11:

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've seen one that had to be bigger than 5 feet long on Renate's Reef (Barkley Sound) ... darn thing had a mouth wider than my shoulders.

Needless to say, we gave it a respectful distance ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MarkH]

have had more trouble with big Cabs then lings. they also seem to bump us freedivers a littler more then scuba, or so I've found. it sure wakes you up in a hurry when you get bumped by surprise.

I was taking pictures at Ogden Point of a cabezon on eggs and he suddenly charged and smashed into my camera, breaking the (pretty sturdy) strobe mounting bracket. Lingcod seem to like "bumping" into me more than biting. On a few of my last dives recently, I felt them ramming my legs (not too hard, though) after I swam past their egg masses. I've never felt them bite me though. The tiny, inch-long tidepool sculpins (related to Cabezon) can be pretty brave too. If you put your hand down on a rock near one in the shallows, they often will charge right up to it (although I don't know if they're defending their space or looking to eat whatever stuff was dislodged.).

 

[Hyper-limits]

I was taking pictures at Ogden Point of a cabezon on eggs and he suddenly charged and smashed into my camera, breaking the (pretty sturdy) strobe mounting bracket. QUOTE]

Was it held together with Aquaseal, sorry Mark I couldn't help myself

 

[Amphibious]

I took a rookie saltwater diver on a dive trip off nanimo a couple years ago. 10mins onto the wreck of the breton he got hammered by a big cab. then the next day a harbor seal at Snake island shat on his head while the other humped his leg. I have dove all over the world, but nothing beats BC diving esspcially when you have a rookie to get beat up a bit

 

[bcsean]

I took a rookie saltwater diver on a dive trip off nanimo a couple years ago. 10mins onto the wreck of the breton he got hammered by a big cab. then the next day a harbor seal at Snake island shat on his head while the other humped his leg. I have dove all over the world, but nothing beats BC diving esspcially when you have a rookie to get beat up a bit

ROFL, damn, that's some great diving. I thought seaguls were bad for crapping on people before the dive, but never imagined a seal doing it during. That's funny stuff.

 

[Amphibious]

swam right over his head and let go a big cloud of chunky brown. was awsome! snake island is one of my favorite dives. can;t get enough of those seals