No Squid, Lots of Bat Rays.

[SquidJig]

Hit the water around 5:30 this morning. Just the faintest hint of light was in the sky. The surf was about as small as I've ever seen it. For once in a long time, not a drop of water got to my seat. Not that that was a good thing today. It was so warm even then, a wet seat would have been refreshing.

I saw a few lights on the squid grounds so I pointed my yak in that direction. Got disoriented when suddenly the lights were really close. Turned out to be three swimmers with "bite me" lights. I wonder if they made it back to shore.

Once on the squid grounds there was enough light to see and I saw dozens of bat rays swimming under me. I've never seen so many. One of the coolest things I've seen out there. (As you can see from the photos, it was glassy).

And sadly, that was the coolest thing I saw today. Squid was scarce and tiny. Good thing I brought a couple of frozen full-sized squid just to have something on while making bait. I should have brought a full bag. One of the dead squid gave me my first strike in weeks. Thanks to Drake for the hook. I think it was a 7/0 mutu something-or-other. Big sucker. Obviously, I've been using the wrong hooks.

Anyway, it's been so long and my confidence has been shaken. I freaked. I threw the reel into freespool then tightened the drag too tight. My bait has been ignored and rejected so much I thought I try lighter line. I guess it worked. Too bad about the drag, though. I had the pleasure of fighting the fish for about three seconds. But, as a measure of how pathetic it's been for me lately, I'm very happy just for the hook up. The fish have been ignoring and rejecting my bait for so long I've been wondering about my personal hygiene.

That was around 6:30. Aside from that moment of excitement, I landed two short barracuda and a third spit the hook. For me, a pretty good day.

I had to take my mom to an appointment so it was off the water by 11:00. Good thing, too. It was getting hot. Too bad I'll be out of town for a while.

Good luck out there. Things could get very exciting.