These are from 2 dives at the end of August, 2010. Visibility was 15-20'. The vermilion rockfish are back. This is the first time I've seen them here in over 3 years. There were several of them at the base of the wall. I also saw 2 Irish lords, which I haven't seen here in awhile. The amount of fishing line and lures near the corner of the point is really getting crazy. A california sealion swooped by, but it was too quick for my camera.
I came back the next week (Sept. 3, 2010). Visibility was still about 20' on the wall. Before the dive, as I was standing on the rocks judging the current, I saw a fisherman lose two lures (and attached line) in the kelp. After the dive, in the time it took me to walk down the rocks and carry up my camera, I saw 3 different fisherman breaking their line and losing their hooks/lures in the kelp. So in the total time of less than 5 minutes, 5 sets of fishing gear were added to the tangle on the bottom. Now I understand where the hundreds of lures underwater at Ten Mile came from. I still find it hard to understand why people come here to cast their lines into a forest of stalked kelp in an area (the shallow ledge) with almost no fish.
