LJ 8/3 - Mystery Sea Monster or Dog

[The pelican]

Launched at 5 a.m. with a friend. Saw some "signs" but didn't follow them because I was fishing with a buddy who didn't have the time required to go on an adventure (he had a wedding to attend at noon).

Trolled a few greenbacks around for most of the morning hours. Sea Lions were all over the place, I think because of a half day boat in the area. Lost a mac to one of the dogs.

The most interesting part of the day was a battle with a mystery sea monster. Here's the story:

My mac gets hit on the troll and I think sea lion. I'm a novice with only a half dozen YT under my belt but it doesn’t feel like a target species on the line. Much more weight. But it runs down in the water column and not just out along the surface as I would expect from a sea lion. My drag was pretty tight and it ripped off line easily. I fight it for a bit and eventually it’s almost directly below me and the line stops ripping off my reel. I pop the kelp stringers and immediately reel as fast as possible. Sure enough, I feel weight again! The thing on the other end is hard to feel but it’s still there pulling, somewhere between dead weight and a fight. I pop another kelp stringer and reel fast. Again, I feel the weight (but no fight) after cranking my reel a handful of times. Repeat the same process again. Finally I’m directly over my line pulling on dead weight. It’s not fighting. I would think I’m on kelp again but there’s no feeling like the spectra is sawing through the kelp. I pull and pull but nothing. I eventually decide to let the line go slack to see if that helps. Nothing. I pull so hard that the hook just comes out of whatever was down there. Does this sound like a dog to everyone else? Maybe it wrapped me up in the kelp, took the mac off the hook and I fought with a small kelp paddy for a bit? Any other ideas? Like I said, I'm relatively new at this, so I'm curious to hear the thoughts of others.

-Pat

[Dannowar]

BSB? coulda gone kaput right at the top?

[lowprofile]

thresher or 7 gill maybe... they bulldog like that and then get lazy. you cant lift a 200lber very easily. i fought one for over an hour that had to be 6ft to the fork plus the tail and it would just sit down towards the bottom and not budge. eventually the hook pulled.

[bigbarrels]

with kelp popping, slack then fish, kelp popping then slack and then fish......sounds like YT to me

[driftwood]

These things are all over La Jolla. Maybe you had one of these... Humuhumunukunukuapua'a? Pig face fish????

[the dude]

I think you snagged a kelp stringer on the troll and then fought it.

[vincentek9]

BSB, or shark. the sharks i hook on do quick runs forward, but mainly shoot straight to the bottom. i've never hooked a BSB yet though.

if you say the fish STOPPED MOVING entirely.... then its not a shark. sharks have to constantly move in order to breathe (water flow through the gills). if they stop moving, they stop breathing.

[maui jim]

Originally Posted by driftwood

These things are all over La Jolla. Maybe you had one of these... Humuhumunukunukuapua'a? Pig face fish????

Taste like Bacon....MMMMMMMMM

[TJones]

[T Bone]

Well the dogs breathe air so if one didnt surface,I would rule that out.You would not be the only person who has fought kelp for a bit.Sigmund fights hard for a while...

[dorado50]

I think your buddy pulled" the water in the bucket" trick on you....... probably had a large wsb on ...u freaked out and it beat you

[The pelican]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It was probably the pig fish. I'm still mystified. My best sleigh ride yet, followed by kelp popping and reeling, followed by dead weight that might have just been kelp after it got off the hook. In any case, the initial run was awesome. Got a bsb a couple years ago and this thing swam faster than that. But no head shakes like a yt. Guess I'll never know.