La Jolla 11-16-2020 Big Fish hookup on the Solo Skiff and........

[FISH11]

Sorry the post is a little late, between fishing and issues using the windows software to edit the GoPro9 video, it took several attempt to get video finished. Went out on Monday the 16th and after trolling and drifting I saw nice mark on the FF that where on the bottom so I switched to my Shimano 7' Terez rod with the Avet MXL 2sp reel that had a Carolina type of rig and 6'+ 40 lb fluorocarbon leader with circle hook and a nice greenback mac. After drifting over the marks in 100' of water a couple of times, the rod in the rod holder starts pulling line. I grab the rod wait a couple seconds and engage the lever drag to strike. At that point the fight of trying to gain line begins. I kept having to increase the drag until it was on full. I even put the reel in low gear and sometimes the handle could turn and the drag would just slip. It seemed that every time I thought I gained line it would just pull it back and the marks on the FF would stay near the bottom. After approx. 10 minutes the braid ended up breaking. That's where the Profanity really starts. So if you are offended, sorry, just hit mute. Went back out on Wednesday to try again and although I saw the same marks, I could not get another strike. Next time I hope to have better luck and a little more patience. It did feel good to have such a nice tug of war with a big fish on the Solo Skiff.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Always nice to have something to pull on! Patience can be tough to maintain when the adrenaline is pumping. If you had to guess, what do you think it was?

[FISH11]

My guess is that it was a large Hali. The spot I was at, I have fished that area many times in the last 6 years. I have been fishing within 30-40 yards of others, doing the same thing and been there when twice a 30-40 lb Hali was caught and another when guy I met and took his picture on the water after he caught a 50ish lb WSB.

[katchfish]

Looks like a BSB.

[Ggiannig89]

Fish don’t just break your line, they break your heart!!!

[mrlar13]

Thanks for the video. Better luck to you on future tries and maybe next time we will see a video of that HUGE hali.

[jruiz]

Doubt that's a halibut. I've brought up 50+lb pacific halibut on single speed reels with reels only capable of 10-15lbs of drag. What you get alot of times with a sizeable halibut is an initial run along the bottom but once you get them turned around it just like a wet blanket with headshakes. You occasionally get a second run if they see the boat or if you let up on the pressure. I agree with another posters assessment that it is likely a BSB. But hey, if you feel good about saying it's a halibut, go ahead.

[FISH11]

Originally Posted by katchfish

Looks like a BSB.

Thanks for the input, I think you are right.

Originally Posted by jruiz

Doubt that's a halibut. I've brought up 50+lb pacific halibut on single speed reels with reels only capable of 10-15lbs of drag. What you get alot of times with a sizeable halibut is an initial run along the bottom but once you get them turned around it just like a wet blanket with headshakes. You occasionally get a second run if they see the boat or if you let up on the pressure. I agree with another posters assessment that it is likely a BSB. But hey, if you feel good about saying it's a halibut, go ahead.

I appreciate the input, I tend to agree with you guys, at this point. When I think about how at the start I was able to get it up a little and thought I was making headway, but each time it was totally over powering to just get back to were it was. I have fought and lost 40 lb Yellowtail at the surface and as strong as they are, they could never pull like that. The only thing I've fought that pulled that strong for a long time, was a approx. 130 lb Thresher, that broke a Terez rod as I cut the leader when it was up against the side of my kayak. It sure would have been great to see it and get a picture.

[Salty]

I can relate to the profanity... Some lost fish hurt more than others. One in particular haunts me. After a long day on the water, our crew of 3 finally hooked up to a massive bluefin on the kite rig. We saw the strike and it was big. This thing fought harder than any other BFT we've had on a the line and we've landed up to 300lbs. We fought it for an hour and we lost it at color about 20' under the boat due to a tiny abrasion on the 300# braid. There was much profanity from all 3 of us... All you can do is replay any mistakes in your head over and over, then get back out and do it again! Plus, when you land that next big fight, that bit of redemption makes it that much better Doesn't make it suck any less in the moment through!

[GregAndrew]

Mark, I am going with a good sized YT that eventually wraps you on something. A bit hard to tell for sure with the rod tip not in view much of the time, but pretty sure that is what I think.

[FISH11]

There were was never any runs and that rod has brought up some good size Yellowtail and 35+ lbs YFT. Had some head shakes but it was always straight down. My line was straight down and about 5' from the bottom while drifting in almost no current at the time. The whole time it was straight down, it was hard to get up, but 3-4 times I started to get it coming and would gain about 10-15 feet and then it would just pull full drag and thumb on reel to get back to just off the bottom. I've always been able to get then moving and up the water column, this was so hard to lift and impossible to keep the line gained. What ever it was the bottom was clean and was not hung up. There were next to no swells so the skiff wasn't even going up and down. It was steady and then it would just pull straight down every bit I could gain after I would gain about 15' maybe more. I did look at the video and realized that after the breakoff, I wound in the braid and the reel was still in low gear. I could tell that there was no way I had reeled in 80' of braid, provably more like 50'. So today I checked the reels and found that a few reel had the braid sun bleached for the UV rays while sitting on the kayaks and now the Solo Skiff. I removed about 120' of braid and replace those sections with new braid. I think that the top section of braid had been weakened and that is why it broke instead of the 40lb fluorocarbon leader. This was stronger than even the approx. 46 lb Yellowtail I lost after getting to the surface 3 times in 100' water about 3 years ago. It would go straight down but I could bring it back up each time after about 20 minutes on the 3rd time it came up a Sea Lion popped up at the back of the Hobie Kayak, it puuled one more time and as it was going down the circle hook popped out cause during the fight and me pulling very hard caused the circle hook to come out. At least that time I got to see it at the surface 3 times. I'm not sure which feels worse, seeing it or not.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Definitely worse to see a good fish and then lose it. If it's unseen, we can justify in our minds that it was not anything special.

[Nobody]

Definitely a BSB

[the dude]

Sorry man, but really looks like your stuck on the bottom. The current can make if feel fishy. We've all done it...just my opinion.

[jorluivil]

I'm willing to bet it was a lizard fish

[pistol]

BSB- caught three last year.

[FISH11]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

I'm willing to bet it was a lizard fish

Thanks Jorge, those lizard fish do give some great head shakes.

[h2ofishfo]

Originally Posted by the dude

Sorry man, but really looks like your stuck on the bottom. The current can make if feel fishy. We've all done it...just my opinion.

Just beat the guy when he’s down huh 😂😂

[NICKWORN]

I'm thinking it was a Black as well, gain 10yds, lose 10yds, it goes that way for the first half hour or so. I had one drag me from the Pier to the NW Corner, 1.5 hours later i got him about 5ft from the surface and cut the line, quick decent he went.

[Direct C51]

Originally Posted by the dude

Sorry man, but really looks like your stuck on the bottom. The current can make if feel fishy. We've all done it...just my opinion.

I hate to say it, but this is what it looks like to me too. I’ve fought some snags for much longer than I want to admit, it happens.