Beware Fri. the 13th!

[Vikingj]

It started out a typical LJ morning – calm, slight fog, overcast skies, 1-2 ft waves, water temp 62*F, easy bait, slow fishing, etc. It was a sleepy morning where I did not expect the calamity that was soon to develop. I was drifting through the kelp wondering if my introduction to La Jolla 4 ½ yrs ago by Greenjeans & Yani was a curse or a blessing. After getting bit that 1^st day (and having the granny knot to my hook fail!) I was inoculated with an infectious contagion (aka the “LJ Bug”). Here it was 25 trips later with a trophy fish tally of 0-25. Just as I left the kelp, deep in thought, the reel sent out its musical zzzzzzzzzzzz. Whoa! This was definitely not the aggressive kelp snag I was so accustom to hearing. My brain jumped into overdrive- wait or don’t wait to set hook?, 3 sec. or 10 sec. wait? , too much drag or not enough? , pull hard or medium/fast or slow?, Pedal toward running fish or away? T-shark or wsb or..? The monster took off on a straight run near the surface toward my buddy, JB. John quickly tried to reel in his line to prevent a tangle, but it he wasn’t going to make it in time. Our lines crossed and his bait/sinker caught on mine. After frantically throwing off the tangle, my line went slack – another fish lost! Oh, well, isn’t it better to get bit and lose than to never get bit at all? I started to reel in my slack line when it came back to life! After 10min of runs, dives, short kelp tangle, and JB’s helpful coaching & encouragement, my 1^st wsb came to color. Now a whole new set of questions arose- where to gaff?, bleed or not to bleed?, how to get this monster aboard without tipping? Where to grab it (Thanks, John for the warning about the sharp teeth & gill rakers!)?, how to load it and tie it down on the yak? How to pose for that otw photo!?, why is my leg twitching up and down like a sewing machine afterwards? Finally sorted all out and headed in.
Passed a couple kayakers just going out and heard a “Hey, nice fish!”. Looked up and saw Josh and his buddy- asked them how much they thought it weighed. Josh came over and took a closer look – “45 lbs” and his buddy nodded in agreement (right on-after bleeding the scale recorded 45 lbs 1 oz at 52").
OK, enough babbling. Pics can say it all.
PS – Damien: sorry I couldn’t wait!
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