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[-scallywag-]

After getting my fill of watching “the guy next to me” hook up in the same area doing the same thing, then to watch whitedog land his 60.lb’er I was feeling a little left out….especially since a large low was scheduled to move thru that evening, surely ruining any chance I had to hunt my ghost for the next couple of days…..if I wanted fresh WSB I was gonna have to beg for it.

Well just as predicted, it dumped that night and all the next day, over 3”s of rain with 20-30 kt winds and 8-10ft windswell really had things shook up out there, but going to sleep that night all the weather reports where predicting partly cloudy sky’s and light winds and zero rain for the next morning, the surf reports showed the swell would be dieing off rapidly too!!! Maybe I would get a chance to fish in the morning after all.

Excited to actually, maybe, get a chance to fish on one of my days off, I called around looking for someone willing to get up at 4am and fish….not such an easy prospect on a rainy, windy Saturday night, I heard every excuse in the book “it’s a full moon and raining out dude, every swamp donkey in PB is gonna be out gett’in drunk and you wanna go to sleep”, “you know you don’t catch anything in the morning on a full moon”, “I’ve never caught anything after it rain’s, the waters gonna be nasty”, “the waves are gonna be too big”, “there’s gonna be south wind tomorrow, we never hook up with south wind”, exc…..

And I couldn’t agree more, I had never had much success after storms, but with the swell (current) in the water I was hoping I could find some clean water, but I really was not expecting much more than a wet launch.

So I get up at 4am, not a cloud in the sky and the wind is dead calm, load all my crap, make a lunch and get to the launch at 5am….still some morning sickness (leftover wind chop) and 3-4ft windswell at the launch….after watching my hobie do it’s best impression of a submarine a couple times I got past the breakers and set my sights on the yellow buoy I could barely see bobbing in the distance between the rollers….after a little weight re-distribution to avoid constantly taking waves over the bow and I was off.

It was looking like a it was going to be a particularly nice day as I peddled over the bait balls near the canyon edge, deciding to forgo the bait making rituals and put all my confidence in the iron…. a technique that has paid off many times for me in the past.

As grey light filled the horizon, I watched the moon set, just then the tranquil mood was broken when I saw birds circling high above the area I was headed for....a feeling of excitement crept over me as I got closer, the bait barge smell, the popping bait, the big marks, the wait,,,,what is that? glitter in the water?? with not a soul in sight I felt like a detective who just got a solid lead on a case that has been cold for years…I damn near dropped my pole in the water trying to get my iron out. Drop after hook-up expecting drop I fished that area, but it just didn’t happen. I fished that area and the now scattered bait ball for over two hours until my confidence started to drop, it was well past sunrise and the bait had scattered into small fast moving schools.

I was just about to loose all hope and reach for the sabiki when I remembered a fishing article I had read a while back about confidence and how the only thing that separates us from the guys consistently catching big fish is confidence! I knew I was in the right spot with the right bait (iron), all I needed was the confidence to keep fishing it. Drop, after drop, after drop, changing the speed, the angle, concentrating on making the iron do that perfect little wiggle, kick or shimmy in front of those giant ghosts that I know are sitting there watching my iron swim by, waiting for it to make that one move that overrides all their common sense and triggers a violent strike….then I heard it…rain!!!

Actually popping bait, just outside the kelpline so I peddle over and see some marks, I almost dropped on them but I decided to make a u-turn since I was so close to the kelp. I turned around over the bait and then dropped my iron so I would be peddling away from the kelp as the iron dropped thru the school….well the iron stopped about 30' short of the bottom and I was already cussing as I put the reel in gear thinking I dropped on some submerged kelp….until the kelp swam away!!! It was at that point that I realized how unprepared I really was. No rope, no game clip (gave it to whitedog ), no camera, no gaff….only a cooler of beer, a sandwich, and some chips…..after a short fight with a locked down drag and #40mono (I was way too close to the kelp to worry about soft lips) I was in hand to hand combat with a green 40+lb seabass, luckly the iron had two hooks buried deep in the jaw hinge and after a spectacular surface tailwalk demonstration I was able to wrestle it aboard. If that fish was any bigger the outcome may have been much different. I had to pop the gills and hold it for a while before shoving it into the front of the yak.

I spent the rest of the day peddling around offshore in the middle of huge schools of bait feeding on krill or some little swimming shrimp lookin things, I was getting good marks under the bait but only connected with a log barracuda. It was about noon when I finally saw someone else on the water, I made it a point to make 10 more drops on marks before calling it a day and peddling over to the only other person I saw out that day to beg for pictures.

Luckily Jerry (jgoertz) decided to fish that afternoon and had a camera so I could get a OTW pic outta the deal…..The moral of the story is, if you get a chance to fish and you are comfortable with the conditions (and forecast) then go for it!!! The next day (Monday morning) a few more WSB’s including Moyer’s #58 and at least one YT where taken in much nicer conditions….while I was at work. Glad I made it out on Sunday or I would still be loosing sleep over the fish whitedog and moyer caught.


Thanks again Jerry & “that guy” who wrote the article. If you haven’t read it I think it was in kayak fishing magazine, if you have a link please post it, I would like to read it again.


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