If you've been following the West Coast Whoppers tournament, you may have wondered how Sharonkayak has been able to burst out of obscurity and shoot straight to the number two spot and hold it for months. Well, I have her secret.
I was out Wednesday with Sharon as usual. The La Jolla Shores launch was partially closed again, the tide was high, the surf was a little rough and it was dark.
A pre-dawn breeze was blowing all the kayakers out to sea making squiding hard. Then some PBer motored within a few yards of me, (thanks for at least not throwing up a wake), then dropped anchor on my drift line.
It turned out to be a favor. I'd paddle toward the boat until they started throwing irons at me then I'd drop my jig on a tiny spot with squid. If it weren't for the PB, I'd have lost the spot.
Since nothing was happening on the squid grounds, Sharon and I moved toward the kelp. A bit outside of the crowd, Sharon shouts my name and I look up to see her pulling away. She's on again!
I waited for a few minutes just in case Sharon's fish had any friends then I started after her. By now she's already 100 yards away and moving fast. When I finally catch up, Sharon's bitchin' and moanin'. The fish is too big. She's sure it's a BSB and she's trying to break it off. Her fingers are jammed against the spool, the drag is as tight as she can turn it and she's pulling up as hard as she can but her line and knots are holding.
It's an epic battle. She struggles to gain a few yards of line only to have several stripped off. I watch this again and again. Her sticky drag is making her rod tip jerk violently up and down whipping up white water. She bares her teeth as she strains backwards using her entire body to lift the rod a few precious inches for a just a second or two. Then back down it goes pressed so hard against her knee, it's bruised. The unknown beast is towing her around in circles then backwards, which gives Sharon a laugh. Then it's back to cursing and threatening to cut the line. But she's just letting off steam. There's no way she's letting this beat her. Then she reveals her secret technique.
And this is what she brought up.
It took both of us pushing on the fish with our paddles as hard as we could to get its head down. It only needed a couple of feet then its mighty tail rose up and gave us a good spray as it swam back down.
Nice job, Sharon.
And thanks for letting me post your fish.
Tight lines, smooth drags and good luck with the secret technique.