I'm speechless. Today was a great day. Everything went right.
Headed out around 8:30am on my first trip from Shores since Spring to chase some Halibut with the big gear. Sunny beautiful day out.. The plan was to head over to Blacks and cover some sand trolling mackerel. At the pier I got a few greenies and a sardine into the baittank.
Headed north, "around the buoys" area. I could see the parking lot at Blacks nearby, the water depth goes from 15 to 70 pretty quick, so I was goofing around with my rigs to keep them near the bottom. Caught a couple leopard sharks up to probably 4 feet long. Good warm up. Couple hours of circling and waiting, shark, shark, shark.
Suddenly about 20' of water, the TLD30 goes screaming full speed .... an insane rate of clicker speed. I clear my other line by reeling like a madman with the hooked up rod under my leg (?!) I hate that part!
By the time I started winding the fish (80#spectra, 30#fluoro leader, 3way swivel, 8 oz, with a circle hook), the fish was probably 100+ yards away, and angling around a lobster buoy. I remember thinking Bat Ray?, Black Seabass?, and maybe leopard??? but, they don't swim that fast.
After 10 minutes of battle, we were in deeper water, fish started sulking straight down, and I HAD TO SHIFT THE REEL INTO LOW GEAR! When I saw deep color, I knew it wasn't a BSB or mud marlin. Few more cranks, saw the huge silvery belly and the YELLOW TAIL! Yep the real deal!! I frantically grabbed the gaff and got a good shot right into the gills/belly.
I stabilized the ol' Scupper Pro, and held on tight through the furious bucking and shaking that followed. By the time I had a rope thru the gills, I had to start paddling, as a set wave almost broke on me. Looked at the meter ... 12 feet deep !!!!
Here she is, 53", 50.65 lbs on the La Jolla El Pescador Fish Market scale after being bled, and on the deck for an hour plus ....
DADDY'S FANCLUB
Larry
www.LarryL.com