I was surf fishing East (South) of Goleta Pier after work last night. I was using a 1 oz. Krocodile trying for seabass. The water was nice and clear but had quite a bit of scattered kelp and eel grass so it was kind of a pain to get a good retrieve without it getting hung up. I started off just reeling straight in, then tried crank/stop/crank/stop. Then I tried crank very fast/stop/crank very fast/stop/SLAM! - first cast it gets nailed and I pull in a 26.5 inch halibut. Kept fishing but couldn't buy another strike - of course it was a rare occasion that my lure didn't come back with a strand of eel grass on it. I tried some plastics and jerkbaits but the same thing. As I was walking back to the car I noticed a "cleaner" looking patch of water closer to the pier so I waded out and gave it a shot - nothing. I started walking out and as usual I was shuffling my feet to avoid being stung by a ray. Then as I got closer to shore (water about half way up my calf) the current was strong and there was some thick kelp so I started stepping over the water and kelp. Bad mistake. I stepped down, felt something hard against the side of my foot and then a sharp pain. I walked out of the water to see a tiny hole in my diving bootie with blood pouring out. I took off my bootie to find a small puncture wound which was starting to hurt very bad. By the time I got to the car it was hurting worse than anything I'd ever felt (or that I can remember). I drove home in immense pain and it took everything I had to get my diving bootie off. My sister took me to the hospital. That was fun - with all the shark attack stuff recently I thought for sure I was going to limp into the hospital with a wetsuit on and they were going to think shark attack. They instantly stuck my foot in some hot water with some soap & betadine and it almost instantly felt better (relief). On the way to the hospital I was actually using some of the breathing techniques we learned when my wife was pregnant for labor and by god they work! It helps to relax but it's almost impossible to do so. Anyways, as the water cooled the pain would come back so they kept switching it out with new hot water. After about an hour they took an X-ray to see if the stinger was in there and the doctor checked it more closely (no stinger). The doctor said that most marine venom is neutralized by heat so if you're ever stung by something in the ocean - trust me - get it in hot water fast - that was more painful than I can possibly describe.

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You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.