LJ 4/16 Dawn Patrol in Search of a Home Guard

[Gflann]

Paddled out at gray light. Water temp around 63 degrees. Showed choppy on SwellInfo and it was a bit. Not much of a swell so it was bearable.

I apologize in advance for a long write up. I’m interested in some more experiences guys take on what went on.

Made about six greenbacks right off point la jolla in about 60’ of water. What caught my eye was the last greenback I pulled up. He was a feisty bugger and about 14”.

I knew he was the chosen one. Put him on a fly line and headed out to NW corner. He was so feisty that I stopped seriously trolling and just went to a few pumps on the pedals and a short drift off and on. I figured I’d let him dance and do his magic.

I had him on a trolling level wind reel (Picsifun Salis 3000x) instead of my normal Jigmaster because I knew with Picsifun he wouldnt be pulling the clicker unless something really was about to go down.

At the corner still letting him do his thing swimming around and then came two short spurts on the clicker. Put it in free spool just as something partially breached the surface and ambushed him from below. Didnt see the mark. 3 potato count in free spool and then I put it in gear and off we went.

Went straight down and almost made my first mistake by not being more aggressive with the drag. Had 30# mono and probably only had 5 pounds of drag set. I worked to get vertical on him and then whatever it was sat on the bottom. I pulled and wound he took it back. I might have been partially wrapped around a rockpile or something. Remembering a guy’s story on here about a possible BSB that hung him up on the bottom I decided to hit record on my sonar. I’ll post it later when I get it off the card.

Did some pedaling around to get out of what I thought was snagged. Still no mark. Cranked down the drag to start pulling and reeling. Every bit of line I took went right back out. It really felt like I was hung on the bottom.

Finally I start gaining some traction and holy crap was there a huge mark on my sonar. Started pumping and winding, got it up to 20 feet then back down to the bottom which was around 90 feet. Pumped again and back down he went the same. Finally I just put the rod on my knee and wound non stop taking what line I could in. Got color and the size refraction of a monster YT showed up. I had to gaff and grab the gill plate of what was a torpedo shaped lunker of a YT. Dunked my reel in the process... Line was a little frayed above the hook so perhaps he took me into a rockpile.

Pedaled back in, offered my remaining 5 greenbacks to another guy but he was headed in so I released those guys.

An absolutely incredible day at LJ. It is such a great fishery that has rewarded me with YT in the summer and all kinds of goodies year round. It just felt so great to finally land a Home Guard.

Measure in just over 50”. Weighed it at Dana Landing which rang in at 38.6 pounds. Perhaps I shouldn’t have bled it out or I would have broken the 40 range...