heartbreaker Lj 5/27

[William Novotny]

Got a late launch at 1:30 for the afternoon bite. Spanish macs galore but I did find a school of greenies to fill the bait tank. Worked the kelp line out to the south west corner then moved out to deeper water and started my drift in 120'. Had one mac flyline straight mono and was getting ready to tie a butterfly jig in my new jigging setup when my bait rod goes off. Peeled half the spool off my avet sx before I got it in gear and started working him. Im thrilled at this point. I get straight up and down on top of him that's when I see Eric and give him a little war whoop announcing that I'm on the right kind. He then yells back that I need to get that fish in, there's a dog headed right for me. I've got my fish maybe 25 feet under me and closing then, WHAM! That knothead slams my fish and runs with it. The next half hour or so is spent keeping pressure on the fish hoping that dog let's go Long enough to reclaim my prize. Every time the dog surfaced I could see what looked to be about a 25# class fork tail gripped firmly in his jaws. At this time my reel clamp on the avet is coming loose and I'm having to hold it in place to keep it straight on the rod. After about 10 more minutes of tug o war were he actually let go of my fish several times only to snatch it back 10 feet from my yak, my clamp comes completely off and I'm now I'm holding the reel in my hand. That's when I decided to just cut my losses. I cut the line with hopes of getting back in the zone with the bite still active but no luck on a redeeming fish for me. Well maybe next time. I now understand the urgency of getting that fish landed in a hurry and will up the pressure a bit next time.