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Topic Archives => Memorable Hunts => Topic started by: Mike Orton on July 29, 2008, 12:36:00 AM
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There is a young man, we’ll call him young Garrett, who was born about a year ago with a hole in his heart. This situation was entirely unacceptable to his family and friends…. Now, a faith in God and the power of positive thinking, along with a healthy dose of skilled surgeons fixed that problem, or at least is well on it’s way to being fixed. By the power of positive thinking the decision was made to get Young Garrett started as an archer, at the tender age of 3 months. Every archer needs a good bow to call his own, so a friend donated Young Garrett a 50 lb. draw recurve. Obviously Garrett won’t a have a need for such a bow for some time but a bunch of us from around the country decided that maybe we’d use Young Garrett’s bow, just to build up the MOJO so to speak. In it’s travels Garrett’s bow has harvested turkeys and deer, but right now they are out of season. So,,,,when my turn came up to give Garrett’s bow a stretch I took it fishing, errrr I mean hunting, except only it was in the Pacific Ocean…. I say I took the bow hunting in the ocean since what I do is not much like fishing, it’s a lot more like hunting. Hunting in the ocean requires the hunter to travel vast distances, scan the surface for the prey, set out a bait station, deliver that wonderful fishy scent, stalk that prey, make the shot, and unlike hunting often requires a fair amount of wrestling the critter aboard the boat. In short, Ocean hunting is about just too much fun for one man to have.
I am happy to report to Young Garrett, that I helped to put some MOJO smack on Garrett’s bow!
The ocean trip started out of Dana Point California. Dana Point is a small harbor in Orange County California. Due west about 30 miles is Santa Catalina Island. A quick stop off at the local fish market netted me the prior day’s fish trimmings which I use in a slop bucket off the swim step of the boat to create a chum slick. Then it’s off we go.
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0827.jpg)
The continental shelf lies from shore to about 2-3 miles off the coast. You can watch the depth finder go from 110 feet to over 600 feet in the space of just a few hundred yards. I don’t even know how deep it gets there since my depth finder only goes to 660 feet. The mornings are typically mill pond flat ocean surface and the afternoons can get snotty with the wind picking up. Today was no exception.
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0803.jpg)
The fishing zone for spotting sharks is from 10 miles out from the mainland to well past Catalina. How far do you want to go? How much gas you got in that tank? Now these big rascals can be seen sunning themselves sometimes with a fin sticking out of the water at the surface of 600 feet of water. Completely nothing around you for literally miles except water. Makes for a challenging stalk. Bob around the waves in a 20 foot boat 15 miles off shore, out of sight of land and you realize just how small 20 feet is.
As I am driving out toward Catalina on this fine sunny day I see a pod, herd, stampede, pack (call the group what you want) of thousands of Dolphins. Man they were just everywhere jumping swimming and having a good ole- time. They like to run 5 feet off the bow and surf in the boat’s wake Nooooo we don’t shoots at the Dolphins…….
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0831.jpg)
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A little farther along and…..hey there’s a sharkie fin.
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0804.jpg)
Flip that custom lever on my boat which turns us into stealth mode (yeah like the one that’s on Batman’s boat) and we put the sneak on him. Except when we got up close it weren’t a sharkie but an Ocean Sunfish. That’s okay, they’re fun too! Here’s some photos:
Just before the shot:
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0805.jpg)
Just during the shot:
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0806.jpg)
The fight is on!
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0807.jpg)
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0808.jpg)
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0809.jpg)
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0810.jpg)
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0811.jpg)
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Now Ocean Sunfish are some of the most interesting of God’s creatures. This one was 125 lbs. Imagine a freshwater Blue Gill on steroids, add 125 lbs to that and you get an idea of what kind of fish we were into. The raw power of this fish really cut up my hands with the string pulling him in. All hell and pandemonium broke loose when we got that rascal on board the boat. This is a strange looking fish. Check him out via this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish
Wikipedia says they get to be 2000 pounds so I must have shot a baby at 125 pounds but I’m thinking more like “Baby Huey” since this guy was a very powerful critter. He was so strong that he is the first “catch and release” fish I’ve ever done bowfishing. He didn’t seam any worse of the wear after he was in the boat. Sorry to say that my partner did not get a good trophy picture of the fish while in the boat but it twernt for a lack of trying. Partner was pretty excited, he’d never gone bow fishing before, never been around a bow at all. Fun stuff!
Fast forward two hours and “Thar she Blows!” I sees another sharkie fin on the surface!
This one turned out to be a 9 foot Mako. I got a 25 yard shot and connected!
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0836.jpg)
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0835.jpg)
A brief hook-up….sadly to say I got an arrow into the shark and the fight was on briefly but the danged powerful fish actually pulled the barb out and bent the four barbed arrow! The shank of the spear point is just a bent wobbler now!
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0812-1.jpg)
Garrett’s bow performed well, although she’s just not as powerful as my 70# ASC-CX. I had to shoot fiberglass fish arrows with Garrett's Bow…..I usually shoot my own custom made 9/32nd drill rod shafts (solid steel) and get better penetration than what Young Garrett's bow was able to do for me. She must be closer to a 50# draw, as I just couldn’t get the penetration I expected. But then, my kind of bowfishing is a bit extreme….
After the brief battle with Sharkie we took lunch on Catalina and cruised around the island a bit. We saw a bald eagle (never seen one of those out here)
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0825.jpg)
and a herd of Sea Lions on the beach. One Bad-A$$ Beachmaster Male Sea Lion letting everyone know to stay away from his harem…..wonderful critters.
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0830.jpg)
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p177/MikeOrton_2006/CIMG0821.jpg)
Did I happen to mention that it was a pretty good day well spent with Nature’s bounty?????
Well my last message to Young Garrett is that I hope and pray that he grows up to be the strong and healthy man who enjoys shooting his bow half as much as I enjoyed adding that bit of MOJO onto his bow…..
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Mike that is to cool, sounds like a great day on the water.
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solid steel arras!!!!! MAN they'll put the hurting on something :clapper:
Looks like a fantastic day Mike. Those Sunfish are cool as heck, ain't they! We get them sunning themselves very close to shore on our Atlantic coast. Make gooood eating too ;)
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awsome, just awsome!
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Very nice thread with some great pics, thanks for sharing this. Most of us would never get to see scenes like this if not for this forum.
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Man that was cool! Thanks for posting that.
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:eek: WOW!! That is some cool stuff right there. Thanks for making my day.
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I have never wanted to visit California....till now :D Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:
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that sunfish looks like it was the size of a VW beetle hood! wow
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cool!
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Thanks for sharing mate. Cool pics too. Many thanks for posting away.
AK.
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Cool Pics Mike, the ones you sent didn't come out. Looks like you had a blast.....
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That's great. Hope everyone keeps records/pictures and passes on to young Garrett the legacy of his mighty bow.
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Very cool!
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Nice story and great pics!! Thanks