My best day of fishing this month 5/5/10

[frugalfisher]

I was getting really excited about catching WSB everytime I saw pictures huge WSB on Big Water's Edge, however, I was really tired of seeing them without me holding the fish. I'd been paying dues with time on the water but hadn't come up with a trophy forever. A large halibut and several nice YT this year but no WSB. So I saved my fun money until I could pay for professional guide service. So I celebrated Cinco de Mayo with hiring Josh Pruitt, "The Darkhorse."
Hiring Josh was everything I expected and so much more. I cannot give Josh Pruitt a better referral that inviting my fishing buddies over for dinner (eating YT and WSB for 3 weeks now). Josh Pruitt is a Master Guide. Period.
We met after I finished work early at 3 pm. We went over safety and geared up on the beach. Paddled out to make bait, saw birds and crashing YT. Swing and a miss twice then BENDO!!- open water + surface iron = 18.3 lb YT!! Then we finished plugging our bait-tank's with Pacific "Greenback" Mackerel and headed for the kelp. Josh did his magical fish call or checked for the location of WSB central with his internal electromagnetic radiation sensors I'm not sure but he SHOWED me the fish I was going to catch! I was in cold disbelief! I hooked up my first WSB and successfully extricated it from the kelp forest with Josh's wisdom. I follow Josh's directions as best I could and hooked up again with a HUGE WSB but somehow my line wrapped around the tip an I had a short fight with a quick release. Josh was giving me a hard time for missing dinner with his girl but he was dedicated to helping me catch a TROPHY. We stayed until I missed a couple opportunities and then when I had enough he said let's move and run through the bait before we go. The next Mac was in the water for about 2 and a half seconds (seriously) and there was a huge crash and swirl 6 feet off my bow, line ripping and the fight was on. It took 45 minutes to remove the beast from the confines of the stipes and blades of kelp before I saw it. At first I saw only a sliver of silver through the mass of brown and said "it's small" but Josh knew better.
And now so do I.