05-04-08

[Handymansd]

The ultimate fish story of the one that got away...

Launched at 3:00pm for a nasty, cold, rough, windy, paddle with my wingman Darren. I have had many reports of T's to motivate me to keep trying despite the miserable conditions. We paddled until I finally had had enough. At approximately 8:30 pm, as I accepted defeat, yet again, my low mac exploded! My Accurate blew through about 250 yards of line before I could even get it in gear!! I finally stopped the bleeding line and got my FND moving. As I left my wingman behind, despite his trying to catch up I realized that I was actually water skiing in my yak...! probably have a damn sea lion or something. No thresher could do this, right? Just as that thought planted itself in my mind the line went slack, and I desperately tried to wind in line. I came to the conclusion that it was gone whatever it was, as I cranked to my leader at about 15ft from the hook. Suddenly right in front of my wingman Darren, the biggest T I have ever seen launched itself directly in front of my bow. I sat in stunned disbelief as it almost spooled me again before getting it turned around. We continued this fight for almost 40 minutes until I finally had his head in front of my bow and his tail at my right side ready to grab. As Darren and I worked to get the rope out and get situated for the "rodeo", the T decided it had had enough and "pop" just like that it was gone. It Broke the 65# spectra with it's sudden surge and went on his merry way.

After sitting stunned at the whole thing for a few minutes we discussed it's probable size... Any thoughts on approximate weight would be appreciated!

Approximately 24+" across at the dorsal area, maybe 7-9 ft. white on the bottom with a stripe of tan, and the beautiful purple top! A picture I will not soon forget. Sorry no pics for everyone else, I was sort of busy, and Darren had no camera anyway. Maybe next time!