Congratulations Adi!

[FISHIONADO]

Excellent work Adi, racing in with a winning halibut 30 seconds before the weigh-in limit.

[gary sullivan]

Here's a glimpse of the proud winner and his fish.

[nmbrinkman]

I heard he landed near the life guard station and came running up in the nick of time, ready to blow chunks ops: . That's dedication....

$2200 is well worth the effort, beers are on you....

[MKNOTT]

MAN ON FIRE 8) 8) 8) . Great job my friend. MKNOTT

[Peter Otto]

Nice Adi. Good job on still working it to the very last second.

[Holy Mackerel]

Dave good seeing ya at the BBQ! 8) You da man Adi!!

[tylerdurden]

Nice last second victory Adi! It was even more cool because of the timing of it. They were counting down the seconds when you ran in. I thought it was over. Victory was well deserved. It was good to see the people that put the time in getting the rewards.

[kareem korn]

That was a nice fish, congrats. Uneventfull day, till that nice finish. That's classic.

-Tim-

[Razorback]

Congrats Adi -


Way to bring in a respectable catch on a tough bite.

That is some high dollar butt you nailed 'der.

[Dan]

I'd like to think it's all because of the little bits of squid that I gave you to tip your sabiki!


CONGRATS MAN

[Iceman]

Stand up and say ADI! Well deserved, 0ne hack :lol: of a nice guy.

[hooked]

what a way to blow out the competition, Grea fish on a day where it was tough to make bait, little lone a respecable fish.

[Useful Idiot]

Nice flatta-chiva Adi, very dramatic finish.

[ski]

Right on Adi! Sweet fish indeed!
Congrats to all the wieners too
Mark

[lamb]

THANK YOU very much everyone!

I’m stoked. Talking about drama… :shock:

Awesome picture there Gary! You even made me look pretty and cool… Or is that Photoshop job?!

Ready to blow chunks is very true; landing near the Life Guard station is a bit of exaggeration. I better put my report before it gets blown out of proportion … :lol:

We all pretty much knew it was going to be a tough game. Yellows seemed to have abandoned their LJ home, at least for right now. The chances of finding one during the tourney were slim to none.

Big halibut looked like the ticket. But you know how it works with dang halibut – you can never count on it.

Attempt to make live squid was unsuccessful, so were my efforts to stock up my bait tank with greenies. It was slim pickings for all of us around the Pier. I managed 2 pieces before Dan unselfishly shared lil’ piece of squid to tip my sabiki. That helped for 3 more, than ventured out deeper in front of the pier to look for the beaver. Dan and I have this special bond – we caught our first yellers from kayak on the same day. It almost happened with WSB too… if damn keys didn’t get locked out inside of his car… It happened within a couple of days though. Thanks Dan!!! BTW - that squid was definitely loaded with some karma. I gave a little piece I had left to the guy (sorry, I forgot the name); I saw later he later won a kayak in a raffle! 8)

I started fishing figuring I was going to go back to the pier to load some more bait when the crowds thin out… I never did. Those 5 pieces were all it took. 2 of them were brought back alive in my bait tank. I handed them off to the guy who was launching for the PM shift. I wonder how he did…

I combed the sand in front of the Pier trying to decide whether to fish North or South. It was a tough call. Roughly about once an hour, I was getting bit by the right kind. They just left their toothmarks an inch or two above the tail of my 10” greenie, waaaay below the treble hook I rigged up. That is what kept me in the area.

I mostly worked the drop off + making rounds in shallower water, 30’-50’ depth. I managed 1 right kind of a wrong size (short halibut), and 1 wrong kind of the right size - something heavy picked up my bait around 8:30 AM. It fought weird; it took off from the bottom as I hooked it and almost surfaced about 50 feet away from the kayak. I did have that happen with halibut (caught in real shallow water though), so despite it didn’t fell like what I was looking for, my heart raced when I caught a glimpse of a lot of brown under my kayak. That quickly vanished as I saw the wings and the tail. When I brought it to surface, I realized I lost my pliers – must have fallen out of my pocket. :roll: Ken came to rescue letting me borrow his, and I was able to take the hook out of his mouth. Big ray swam away unharmed. Thanks Ken!!!

It was 11:40 AM when I checked the time on my GPS. I figured it’s a 20 minutes paddle back to the launch…So I thought that was it as far as the tourney. I decided to stay and fish maybe an hour more. Since I’ve put so much time and effort into it, it just felt like it ought to pay back.

As I was paddling in 55’ line, the area in between the 2 depth avenues that I hammered the whole morning, the tip of my rod bounced twice… I grabbed it and pulled – nothing. I let some more line out and waited 2-3 secs, and got picked up again. Another swing - I was on.

I felt lots of weight and unmistakable headshakes. I knew it was halibut. I knew it was sizeble. I knew for a tiny chance of making it back to weigh-in station by the cut off time, I had to make a quick work out of that fish. I tightened up my drag, the opposite what I always do when suspecting I may be pulling up a flat kind… As soon as it surfaced by my kayak, in one swift motion I ran a gaff through it’s stomach; pulled her on board and ran my game clip through her gills. I made that final “game over” snap on my clip (on a rope already tied to my yak) as she started violently thrashing on the side of my kayak. The hook came out of her mouth. I grabbed the knife with my right hand but then instinctively pulled out his gills with the bare left hand fingers. Todd and Randy took a quick picture; I put the fish between my legs and started paddling like a mofo. I heard them yelling behind me – go, go, paddle…

I think that was the fastest paddle in kayak history. People that watched it from the beach must have though I was being chased by GW or something. I made it maybe 70-80 yards North from where we usually land when I checked the time – 11:58AM. Still not comfortable with my landing in the surf skills, I always stash my rods inside of my eX. There was no time for that. The matter of fact, I didn’t even snap the leashes on my rods… I saw Brad running towards me and started making left turn for landing… I lost all the speed and momentum doing that turn, bad news… I managed to stay afloat on the 1st small breaker, then jumped out in waist deep water before 2nd way caught up to me… I heard the “One more minute…” announcement as I struggled to unclip the fish. Brad grabbed my kayak and I started running towards the scale with 26 pounds of halilamb on my back…

I felt like competing in those first Olympics games in ancient Greece. As I put that halibut on the scale, I realized how much I really put myself in overdrive… I immediately felt sick, all dizzy, and almost threw up… It was just too much…

I was late at the ceremony as it took me a while to put myself together. I guess all that insane paddling was worth it.

I would like to thank WCW & OEX for putting together a great tourney. Brent, his family and the rest of the crew did a hell (not a hack, finally got that ) of a job. Not having to stand in line at the launch, having hot coffee, having Brent walking around offering help and keeping everyone informed was awesome.

I would like to thank everyone who was there to support the event. Kayakers are just great group of people. It was great to meet all the new folks – I wish I had a chance to meet every single one of you in person.

I’d like to thank Brad for spreading his insane fishing drive as well as helping me out on the beach. Those may have been precious seconds that could have worked me out of the money. Though sometimes too much of a smart ass, so intelligent that he has the ability to argue pretty much anything on any base, Brad has a big heart and is hell (not hack ) of a guy and fisherman.

Now, the part it took me a while to justify to my wife…

I’m stoked that I won this tourney. Tourney prize $$$ is great. Having quit my full time job to start my own business about a month ago - it could not have come at better time…

But still - I’m a righteous guy.

It is amazing that everything unfolded the way it did, with such a dramatic ending. I don’t know if it was good karma paying back for all the reports I posted over the years… Or that ridiculously long one from a recent San Carlos trip… If that halibut jumped out of my lap just once… If that tourist guy on the beach, all excited and freaked out about seeing a leopard shark, in effort to “save my life”, stood in my way and insisted that I land someplace else (I hear he called the lifeguards later on… :lol: )… If the fish decided to bite only 1 minutes later… Just too many things that could have gone wrong, and didn’t.

I’m not superstitious or anything, but I figured I better not challenge all this good karma – I want and strongly feel I need to give some back.

I thought about donating money to Hubbs – SeaWorld WSB program... Then I figured something better.

WCW (year long competition) 2007. I know people have their own reasons for (not) playing… Sure thing that bragging rights are priceless, but sadly - the $$$ payoff is rather small. I understand the average fisherman’s chance to win against these top-gun pros are small. But for the symbolic amount of entry fee – is it really something you feel you can’t support?!? There’s much more in WCW year long competition than winning it. I struck real good friendship with a lot of great people. I personally feel year-long WCW is more of a kayak community event that really bonds us all together. It provides a venue to have a fun when online and “offwater”. Think about the motivation you get while reading the board the night before your fishing trip. The excitement that person who catches their 1st yellow is waaaaay bigger than the one from people that slay then on daily bases. It would be great to have those new people play WCW, and read about their success here. And don’t ever forget – we’re out there in open seas floating on 40lbs of plastic… We may have to save each other’s ass. :!:

I don’t know much, but I happen to know that Andy & Corey, with the help of OEX, are looking into ways to change the rules for WCW 07 to engage more folks to sign up.

My good deed - I’d like to donate $1000 from my winning prize of this tourney to WCW Year Long 2007 fund. Hopefully, that will inspire more people to join.

Remember, part of the proceeds from WCW are donated to Hubbs – SeaWorld WSB program. No one can stand up to us kayakers when it comes to killing WSB, no one. Despite how awful it sounds, I proudly proclaim that.

Good fishing to all!!!

[Dan]

Adi....classy move man. I dig.

[sterling]

Great report Adi! I've known of you for some time but only slowly meet the regulars since I only get out 12-16 times a year. I guess you can call me a regular since I've been kayak fishing Lj for 4 years. The kayakers that fish LJ all seems to be quality people. I am very impressed with your donation!

It was me whom you graciously shared the squid with. No fish for me yesterday except for 2 pieces of Mackerel, and one beautiful kayak!

[dmr]

Adi, great way to end a wonderful fish story. Top notch.

[MKNOTT]

Bravo, Bravo. Generosity at it's finest. MKNOTT

[Grego]

Nice job Adi....guy had it going on today. First he's the first one to win at the "On-the-Water" raffle (nice freestyle tide watch) and then he sticks the butt at the end. What a start and finish!

Nice paddling circles with you Adi..congrats and see ya next time!

Grego