Hunting Mr.T a taste of victory....

[carbonbass]

Decided to hit up NP for some threshers since the recent dana report wasnt so great. What a great day to be on the water and a nice change from the last trips out. Glassy water, warm sun, no wind. For whatever reason I could not make bait to save my life, I guess I still have a lot to learn about the basics...

I saw some bait boiling on some junk on the surface just off wedge jetty. It looked like dines or spanish macs. I tried jigging the sabiki, mac stripping the tips, everything and for all of my efforts was a small what I believe midshipmen? Anywho thanks to andy at oex i had my new cuda SMAP 350 installed. I could see a few balls close to the bottom every once in a while but i could not get them to bite. Finally i said screw it and went to the barge to see if i could sabiki some there, not a single mac! Wow, hasnt been this hard to make bait in ages ;P.

I did however, notice another fisherman baiting up at the barge with his bait tank (i only have a bait tube, but i may pay the barge a few bucks to fill it next time). I asked if he had any macs and he said he only had some dines but that he had a ton. I asked him what he was fishing for and he said mr.t. We decided to team up and see what we could do. Within 5 minutes of dropping one down just outside the harbor in 85 ft of water my clicker goes off. I wait a good 10-15 seconds and put the reel in gear, it makes a few short runs and jumps twice before i pull the bait and hook out of his mouth, damn!

My new kayaking friend Steve is now super stoked to hook one. We troll closer to the kelp and then swing back around towards the harbor. About half way back Steve gets picked up. He swings backwards a few times, and i see a MASSIVE tail splashing like a skate across the surface, shortly after steves line goes slack, and he pulls the bait right out of this one's mouth, dang! I think i will try tomorrow, hopefully the barge will give me a handful of dines for my tube. Thanks for reading, its nice to finally have some action with this new style of fishing i have taken a liking to.

Can anyone ID this fish that hit my sabiki?