7/21 LJ am - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

ratdog · 07-22-2012, 01:01 PM

Couldn't make any squid sat morning, so I tied on a scrambled egg 6x and headed toward the NW corner hoping to find a nice YT. I was simply drifting with the current over some real flat bottom when I felt something tap my iron and give a few small head shakes. I knew it definitely was a WSB or YT because it came up heavy with no fight. As it started to show I had a flood of instructions rushing my brain from watching Greg Andrews videos on here on the proper Halibut technique. The lasttime I hooked a bigger halibut I totally blew it and lost the prize like an idiot. So I see this flatty and as I got him close I put my real in free spool and readied my gaff, I left his head in the water and gently coaxed him to the side of my kayak, put the gaff in the water and guided the butt close enough to make sure my one and only gaff shot would work, pulled with everything I have "up" and the gaff sunk with hardly any fight. I didn't know if it would work but I reached for my game clip and while his head was still in the water I was able to slip the game clip into his gills and secured the 39in. 21lb butt.
I was shaking because I kept expecting him to go nuts, its a first butt from the yak for me, and not a 40lber but still exciting. Thanks Greg Andrew for posting the video.

The Weather Channel was on the beach at the launch, so if you this picture and video on TWC's "Lifeguard" next season, the dork is me!

07-22-2012, 01:01 PM	#1
ratdog Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 424	7/21 LJ am Couldn't make any squid sat morning, so I tied on a scrambled egg 6x and headed toward the NW corner hoping to find a nice YT. I was simply drifting with the current over some real flat bottom when I felt something tap my iron and give a few small head shakes. I knew it definitely was a WSB or YT because it came up heavy with no fight. As it started to show I had a flood of instructions rushing my brain from watching Greg Andrews videos on here on the proper Halibut technique. The lasttime I hooked a bigger halibut I totally blew it and lost the prize like an idiot. So I see this flatty and as I got him close I put my real in free spool and readied my gaff, I left his head in the water and gently coaxed him to the side of my kayak, put the gaff in the water and guided the butt close enough to make sure my one and only gaff shot would work, pulled with everything I have "up" and the gaff sunk with hardly any fight. I didn't know if it would work but I reached for my game clip and while his head was still in the water I was able to slip the game clip into his gills and secured the 39in. 21lb butt. I was shaking because I kept expecting him to go nuts, its a first butt from the yak for me, and not a 40lber but still exciting. Thanks Greg Andrew for posting the video. The Weather Channel was on the beach at the launch, so if you this picture and video on TWC's "Lifeguard" next season, the dork is me!