De-Skunkification Down South

[wavster]

I was having a rough time in LJ over the past several weeks. Only 1 YT to show and
it was a measly 7lbs. I decided a little cleansing was in order...

Here's the Story... it's a bit long winded, but I have to tell it...

...Mid morning Saturday: Left Jimbo's house 3 times (just to be sure). We headed South
of the Border for some tasty tacos and time on the water. Jim's brother flew in from
Michigan (he'd heard about the tacos down South).

After more than a couple of hours driving south, we ended up at our fishing destination.
It's a completely secret spot that no more than several thousand people know about...

Sunday morning we took a deluxe 25' Pilot House Parker to the fishing grounds
with 2 Hobie Outback (maybe Mirage) kayaks aboard. There was a great White siting
the day before, so the captain was really nervous about putting us in. He really didn't
want to loose his kayaks...

By 7am we were in the water and I got picked up right away by a couple of huge slimers.
By far the biggest I've ever caught. Dumped them and casted my trusty secret iron -
can't tell you what it is, but it rhymes with Salas 6x Jr, B/W...

Bam! I'm hit up pretty quick with a nice little yellow at around 11lbs. Jimbo's getting
hooked up, as well and Todd's hitting them from the boat...

This scenario lasted for the next 2 hours as we quickly had limits on YT. All were in
the 10-15lb range, with Jimbo getting the largest at 21lbs.

There was some real excitement (and vengence was served) when Todd was fishing
from the yak and scored a nice yellow. Knothead must have followed me down from
LJ because he (or his brother) was there and had Todd's YT by the tail. Todd fought
the fish/seal combo for a good 20 minutes while the boat ran interference. After
a tiring battle, the sea lion dropped the YT momentarily and Todd quickly brought it back
to color and flipped it on the yak - gaffless.

Vengence was just too sweet when I had the same scenario about 30 minutes later. I
too won the battle, thanks to the Captain running interference for me.

To rest up after an exhausting morning, we headed closer to shore for some halibut
action and to work the kelp. No luck for me on the halibut, but casting some plastic
into and around the edges of the kelp, I hooked into a sweet 7lb. calico. That was
my personal best for calicos...

Sunday was a bit windier and cold. With the surface chop, it was difficult to see any
boils and the birds were no where to be seen. Very little visual clues for finding
fish.

After an unsuccessful morning, the others moved in to try for some halibut. I stayed offshore
to search for more YT. I was determined to thoroughly cleanse myself, even though
it was easy at our "Secret Spot".

I hooked into a small 8-10lb. YT and after awhile, the boat came out to tell me
that Jim had hooked into a halibut of around 15lbs. I added a bottom rigged live
mac and headed toward the beaches.

As I was headed toward shore, there was a clam boat diver stirring up lots of debris.
I thought I'd troll my bait through that when a single gull dropped down to check out
the water about 10 yards away. As it did, I saw a flash of yellow and grabbed
my iron and tossed it that direction. BAM!! As soon as it hit the water, the reel started
screaming. I set the reel, adjusted the drag slightly and I was on. I started getting towed,
then ran into my bottom rigged live bait. Then kelp was tangled around the line with the fish
on...

The boat saw the boil and the strike and came over for the assist. Todd grabbed my
live bait rod from my yak while the Captain took a gaf and helped remove most of
the kelp from my line. The fish was still running and the kelp was actually suspended
in the air between me and the fish. I adjusted the drag again.

This guy was headed straight for the kelp growing near the rocks. I saw potential doom
coming my way and this was by far the best fight of the weekend. I didn't want to
loose this fish. I had visions of WSB in my head...

As I was fighting this fish, I got pulled into the kelp, which was only about 10-15 yrds from the rocks.
The fish was still on and still running, but now my line was really wrapped and the
peddles of the Hobie were caught up in the kelp. Exhileration and stress all at the
same time. I was loving it.

For the next 10-15 minutes, I was dealing with kelp, short runs and trying to stay
off the rocks (as the wind was blowing me into them). Finally, I see the end of
my spectra and the mono leader was about 8-10 inches above the kelp entanglement.
By this time, Jim had peddled over. The boat was about 10 yards away trying to
stay out of the rocks. Jim starts pulling at the kelp while I'm keeping tension
on the line.

Jim looks at me with dismay and says "I think you lost him. I don't see any fish".
The leader was only about 3 ft. long, so I certainly was bummed...

All of a sudden ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...the fish is off and running again, this time the Spectra
broke through the remaining kelp. The fish makes a quick U turn back toward the
kelp, but I've had a chance to reel in some line. The fish is just below Jim's
kayak, while I bring him to the surface and the gaff bites into his side and he's brought onboard.
He's landed and he's a personal best for me.

Though not a monster by any means, this guy was a beefy Yellowtail.
While only 38.5" fork length, he weighed in at 29lbs.
By far my most challenging fight and my biggest yellow. Words do not express
how stoked I was...

My Personal Best YT - 29lbs. 38.5" Fork.