First 22# Halibut on the Hobie!

[Sheephead]

Fished San Diego bay yesterday near the Coronado Bridge for rays but got swamped by a school of perfect bait sized mackeral, 7"-9". I decided to drift a 8" mackeral to the next spot. Seven minutes later I heard my clicker scream and knew something attacked my Mac! After letting the fish munch on my bait for three minutes I reeled it up to the surface and then... slack! The halibut spit the head of my Mac out so I raised the rod as high into the air as I could and luckily it came back and nailed it on the surface! I wasn't going to let it spit the hook again so I waited another few minutes and this time got him up to the yak after two very short runs. This was the first time I had landed a sizable fish from my yak and was unaware of these fish's power when I pulled it onto my lap. It flopped around like CRAZY! Once I got it under control and started to bleed it I was disappointed it didn't fight like it did out of water. On my way in it thrashed about a lot and would have flipped my kayak over If I wasn't paying attention. Ironically weigh's as much lucky number 22#.