Bass fishing is hard and Hali fiishing is Boring!

[steveooo]

Not today though

Short Story
Dana Pt
Live Dine
BIG Grump
12-13 lbs
29 inch long
22-23 inch girth

Longer Story

Decided to try Dana Pt for some butts in the yak this morning. Was supposed to rain starting at 6am, but I decided to try it anyways. It was sunny and cold from gray to when I got off the H2O at 10:30. Picked up 2 scoops of bait at 5:30 and caught a small grump after having lines in for only about ten seconds. Skunk off. At about 7:30 I was starting to get a little discouraged, no raked baits, no nibbles, nothing. I drifted from about 40ft to as little as 8 feet for nothing and was trying to decide to call it a day or not when my line starts singing off the reel. I set the hook and began the fight; the fish immediately turned the yak around and the California sleigh ride started. I knew immediately that it wasn’t a butt, but I had no clue what it was. I was first hoping it would be a big butt, then I was hoping it was a leopard (somehow I have avoided catching one and I need to check it off my list). I was in 16 ft of water so the fight was relatively quick. At first color I saw a stripe on a BIG body, so I thought I was going to get my leopard. Then I could not believe my eyes as I got the fish to the surface again. It took me a second to even figure out what it was, because you never associate something this big with a sandbass. This was the mother of all grumps! After she settled, I put her on the boga for a quick weigh. It was bouncing between 12 and 13 lbs. I put her in the H2O and called my buddy to see what the record was. He said 13.3. The weight never went above 13 but never went below 12 so I decided to trust the boga and set the beast free. Took some quick measurements, snapped a few pics and got soaked as she swam back down. Incredible fish the pictures do not do her justice. I hope one day I can catch her again. Not a bad day of Hali fishing as far as I’m concerned.

No I do not have Midget Hands. I’m 6’2”

Just wanted to show perspective, so I put my fist in her mouth. Don’t freak out, I asked her and she said yes.

Before the release.