La Jolla 3/23 AMs

[lamb]

A couple of super inspirational timely reports on BWE lately!

I’ve got to join the party. Mad Lamb crew looking for lamb.
No it’s not on a kayak, but the report it is.

We fished on Sunday morning. Gotta love the spring. Yani said it in his award winning last movie piece – the temp jumped up for a couple of degrees. That usually gets the fish going, or at least that’s what I've always believed in. It can be uneventful, but there is nothing boring about working the kelp edge this time of the year. All that endless and abundant fin-bait boiling, all those birds moving from a place to place, looking like it’s going to erupt any moment. It’s hard not to be optimistic that something has got to be underneath, making bait nervous. And sure ting, pink fevah is on, so it is definitely the time on the water worth putting in.

We drifted by Bert Vega – he just roped lamb on his lap. We had a nice short chat. Sweet fish, it’s gonna be a good day!

Some many years ago Masta was writing up halibut article (btw - highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to learn more about halibut fishing). Andy asked me to chip in with some dope on The Browns family. I was super stoked that I even made the cut! All those other guys that I always looked up to and was soaking every word they’d say trying to improve my own game, what the hell am I going to add. I didn’t say much, but I did bring something up from my own experience that I didn’t see other people talking about:

"One thing that should not be overlooked is bouncing a heavy iron on the bottom. Especially when the visibility is low, halibut seem to be willing to hit the heavy jig on the bottom. A lot of these turned out to be foul hooked when brought to the surface."


So there I was on Sunday bouncing my big heavy Salas 6x mac pattern. Really hoping for a ghost, working mid and lower column… winding it up fast, dreaming to piss off that yella… to send it back bouncing on the bottom, just to have all my bases covered…

And then whammmmmo!

Weird fight right from the get go. I knew it wasn’t yella or cbass. I called it could be a big halibut, lot of weight fo’ sho, but it may as well have been lingcod or side hooked goat with a big kelp stringer attached over it (like on our last halibut tournament )… It was running, making these circular runs as I was working it up (?!). Didn't feel like ray though.
Color, Brad with a steady hand and perfect gaff shot - lamb on board!!!



Not my biggest, but it came in only ½ lbs short. Still one of those “send you in a Stokyland for a week” species it is really hard not to brag about.
Our scale crapped out, and I thought she may break 40, so we took her to Dana Landing for official weight.

42.7#




Foul hooked! Snagged on the lower white side, belly area below the lower jaw (?!?) No wonder the weird fight; I was pulling her up, but was not quite in full control of her steering – she was turning which ever way she wanted. I am sure I didn’t manage to slip my Salas underneath her though – she must have been turned onto it. I don’t know, I keep watching Greg’s awesome underwater videos to try to understand them brown beavers better. The verdict is still in the works, but I'll do what I like to do in the meantime.

Yes - just like majority of bigger beavers I get to examine the inside of, she did have the worms in her belly. More on Anasakis Simplex subject right here.

And finally – where there’s one brown, there’s Browns family. This big mamma must have had 4 or 5 smaller male servants swarming around her.

Go get yours!!!

I’d be stoked even more to hear this non-kayak report on BWE inspired you to connect with one.