LJ 11-22: bent hook

[Arne]

The day started off weird enough as I was heading toward LJ on 52 west at 4am - I looked over to my left to see a wrong-way driver headed west in the east-bound fast lane. Hope no one got hurt - what a kook.

Hit the ankle biting surf and went straight to the pier. Met up with Fishtrapper and his broher-in-law from Washington. I could see lots of bait in the clear water, but it was tough to get them to bite. Finally left after about 45 minutes with a handful of the smaller greenies and headed back over the canyon. No wind, no current, hardly anyone on the water and a beautiful day - here's a pic of what seemed to be a fire off Blacks:



Got out to "the spot" drifting a greenie on the bottom. I decided to try for some more bait and sent the rig down for a sand dab and a few monster lizard fish. I've had decent luck with the Butts on lizard fish so I re-rigged my flyline to a 3-way swivel and a light weight treble and sent one down. About 10 minutes later I felt a nibble-nibble like a sand bass; I let it sit for a few more nibble-nibbles and then started reeling up. I was expecting an easy retrieve - but NO! The rod went back down wicked-like and I was on for the ride.

With just a light weight treble hook I had to handle her pretty easy and soon got dragged toward a lobster buoy. Just short of the buoy the fish stopped and just sat on the bottom. I thought I had another BSB so I wasn't too gentle - since it would be ok if the line broke or the hook bent - and I started a little tug-of-war trying to get it off the bottom. Well, the line didn't break and the hook did bend, but just not enough for the fishy :



I'm guessing my weight got stuck somewhere on the bottom and kept me from getting the fish up. Once the snap swivel broke this yeller came up and totally surprised me :shock: :



I love fishing for sand bass this time of year.
Arne