The one that got away..... ALMOST !!!

[-scallywag-]

After seeing "The Jewel" shine for two or three weeks of insane WSB fishing mixed with a steady pick of larger grade yellows, I decided to switch my focus to only targeting YT as I have no intentions of targeting fish I only plan on releasing. Not only that, but I knew with the fine local bait selection that was available that there had to be some trophy YT around, if you could get away from the hoover-like WSB.

I noticed early-on, during a couple "WFO" days that the bare iron fished just a little outside the bait beds would yeld a YT instead of a WSB almost every time.On one particular morning about a week ago the YT's came thru pretty thick and everyone with bait in the water got hooked up, the boat next to me boated 4 YT's....while my bare iron gets the only WSB in the hood.Luckly after a short fight, she shook the hook boatside and swam off. Now I'm back in the game with little time lost....worked the iron for the next hour as I watched the bite slowly die off.....I took some pics for all those that hooked up, and watched as the sun came out, the wind picked up, and the yaks and bait disappeared. But not me baby!! I'm here all day!

Here's a pic I took of my neighbor Trevor (whitedog), he hooked up early on dropperlooped bait with everyone else and disappeared right after I took this photo. I guess he was hungry?




After metering around the area in the hot sun, and knowing the signs of a bad investment, I decided to peddle back across the reserve and go get some lunch at that little Italian place by the launch. I was suprised that it only took two hours for the marine layer to blow back in and the winds to calm down. I pick up a six'er of Ballast Point YT ale on my way back to the launch for good measure, and enjoyed one or two as I made the rare detour to peddle by the caves enjoy the beauty that I regularly take for granted as I fly thu the reserve to fish. From any angle, "The Jewel" shines bright.

By now it was around 2pm and overcast, I was able to snag a couple pieces of bait on the iron and put them in the bait tank for good measure. There was about four or five yaks and one skiff in the area when I hear a rod on the skiff go off and they quickly get dragged into the kelp. Then the guy next to me gets picked up on a carolina rigged mac and gets towed strait into the kelp. A couple minutes later the same skiff and yak are getting towed into the kelp again!So I drop down a bait and bam, I'm on and going strait to the kelp, I turn and start trying to turn the fish and peddle it off the kelp but it was too strong and eventually kelped me. DAMN!

So I set up a further outside the kelp, and my bait rod is now out of commission, so I go strait to the iron. Just then the water explodes against the kelp and I see what looks like huge BFT boils. A couple more yaks get bit and either break off or get kelped. I see the skiff slowly motoring by me with a guy on the back trying to keep his fish out of the kelp, while another yaker is struggling to get his fish out of the kelp.

I make the mistake of working in closer to the kelp again where all the action was, and as soon as I get 30-40yrds from the kelp, I get picked up. This time I'm in better possition and on the iron with #40mono. I know better than to crank the drag down before the first run, but I didn't feel like I had a choise, he was headed strait for the kelp again!! So I button down the drag and try to stay over the fish. After a quick minute of a stailmate the fish explodes, quickly accelerates the yak and peels of a few yards of line before I feel a streching thump that kinda felt like a knot failure, the fish is off, and I'm freakin out. Pull up my line to find the 6Xjr still there, but after closer inspection one of the hooks was completely broken off and another one was bent way out.....CRAZY!!!

So I peddle back out a little further from the kelp and start talking to another yaker who was set-up waiting his turn, just then both his poles go off at what seemed to be the same time, luckly they went two different directions and he called another yaker over to grab the other pole.
At this point I'm like WTF ??? My bait rig is almost spooled, my YoYo rod has a thrashed 6xjr (and I didn't have anymore irons onboard), my only choise was the Ulua that had a small blue/white fishtrap iron. Not that I was worried as that setup had landed plenty of YT's in the past, but seeing those straitened hooks on the 6xjr was really bothering me.

I watched the guys with the double hook up get theirs, and the yak in the kelp was paddling back out with a HUGE tail hanging off his deck. I dropped the iron and get sidetraked watching the guys in the skiff, who just broke off, fight about who's fault it was that they lost the fish. So, I'm in autopilot iron fishing mode, having a good laugh about the skiff with the yaker next to me (StoneAle ??), when... BOOM!!! I'm on again! This time I stayed ontop of it but with lighter drag, and I was much further from the kelp. Luckly it's first run was away from the kelp and I was able to play it out after a couple blistering runs and a close call with the only achorline in the area (the skiff dropped anchor right next to me while i was on??) I get the fish to color.....holy crap!!! This thing is huge and....no gaff!!
Luckly the other yaker (stoneale?) was in the area and lent me his gaff. Finally the fish I was looking for, a solid 10+lbs heavier than my previous PB.

A big thanks to Stone Ale, or whoever it was that let me use your gaff, and took some time to take some OTW shots....I OWE YOU!!!









After getting the fish in the boat I realized that it had broken a tine off my fishtrap iron too.