After reading about the reports of the grade of YT being caught off LJ, decided it was prime time to give the Fishcatcher another shot at one, after a couple unsuccessful attempts.
Woke up like a true fisherman at 5 am, and on the shores by 6 am. As I was loading up the yak on the beach, he was already trying to pull it to the water.
Paddled out and once we got a bit past the yellow buoy, we witnessed the biggest bait melee I have ever seen. He wanted to catch some bait, so I had him load us up with some pretty Spanish macs and a couple greenbacks.
Paddled out a bit more, and he cast out his first bait, a nice size greenback that instantly got him bendo, only to bring back a raked bait. Took him off, and pinned on a fresh Spanish, only to have that raked as well. Decided some trolling was in order, moved around, and still no takers. Had a couple yakkers comment when they saw Clay out there that they need to take their kids out...get busy fellas. Decided to do a drift in front of the hotel...patience...
After a couple more rakes, we were down to 2 baits. Decided to head to the NW corner where other boats were, and as we got closer, we could see some boils. Found what I thought was a good spot, and told Clay to cast the bait as far as he could towards a cattle boat. The bait started swimming nervously, when Clay finally goes bendo.
Watching him play a tug of war with the fish, I started telling him that it was a YT, and the battle was on. With the fish peeling line of off his spinning reel, I had to tell him only a couples times to hold on and keep the line away from the yak, as I was nervous that too much rubbing would lose his fish.
He fought it well, the whole time the fish pinning him to the rail, and when he finally got it to color about 15 minutes later, I then realized why it took so long - the fish came up engulfed in salad. Took the most important gaff shot in my life, and got him perfectly, right through the gills, and quickly made sure to get him on the game clip.
Told him we had another bait left, and asked him if he wanted to try for another one...no way, he was ready to head in. Got a couple on the water shots from a fellow yakker, and began the long float back to shore..
Here is the epic shot, and although this YT is but a firecracker, not too bad for a 6 year old...Clay the Fishcatcher's first YT...
Next targeted species - WSB.... :lol: