Not an April Fools Prank

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I was planning on writing an entertaining, (if not factual), April Fools Day fishing report after going out this morning. It turns out that the events that actually happened today might be more entertaining than anything I could make up.

First to the fishing report. It was beautiful on the water. A little bumpy and breezy outside but still quite comfortable. I got skunked again as usual but I saw two huge WSB on the beach and heard about another one. I also saw a guy with a whopper of a YT strapped to the back of his kayak. I will leave the details about these fish to folks who caught them.

The good news is that there appears to be some nice fish out there for those skillful enough to catch them. The semi-good news is that there is lots of bait out there as well. So much bait that I bet that many of the target fish have gorged themselves to the point that they are not going to be all that hungry.

Bait was boiling everywhere for hours this morning. The birds were working from the air. Dolphins and seals were thrashing around all over the place. Something must have been driving the bait to the surface but I did not see any telltail marks on the FF.

One of the great things about fishing La Jolla is that it seems that I always see something new when I go out. Today was no exception. Seeing acres of boiling bait was something new for me but the following story is even more interesting.

I met a couple of guys today named Mike and Clarence. Mike rides a Pro-Angler, Clarence was on a paddle kayak. The action was slow so I watched as Mike reeled in a small greenie that he snagged on some iron. The greenie was only a bit larger than the lure. He pinned the mac on his bait rig and sent it back down.

Within a few minutes, I looked over and noticed that Mike was hooked up big time. He had a pretty heavy rod which was bent about as far as it would go. Whatever he had hooked was taking line at will. It was a very big fish.



A number of other yakfishers cruised over to watch Mike fight this fish. Everyone was handing out opinions as to what it was... WSB? BSB? Thresher? Lobster cage? North Korean Submarine? Whatever it was, it was the super-sized version.

About 20 minutes into the fight, Mike had the fish straight below him in about 60 feet of kelp infested water. Mike was getting worn out, the fish... not so much. All of a sudden the fish started circling Mike's Prangler. Mike moved the rod from one side of the boat to the other as the fish turned him in circles. Then it happened.

While Mike was in an awkward position, the fish bolted away from the boat at warp speed. Mike was caught off balance and did something that I thought was impossible. He flipped his Pro Angler and found himself in the 60 degree water.

Somehow he managed to hang on to the rod. Clarence quickly came to the rescue and grabbed the rod from Mike before it slipped out of his hands. While Mike climbed back into his kayak, Clarence took over the fight.



At this time, the fish decided that it wanted to head west as fast as it could, with Clarence in tow. Clarence's kayak was putting out a significant wake. I clocked them at 4mph. The fish was taking line all this time.
After a sleigh ride of about 10 minutes, Clarence handed the rod back to Mike. By this time there was a small crowd of onlookers cheering Mike on. He pulled and pulled. The fish pulled back, taking line as if Mike was not there.



After another 15 or 20 minutes, Mike had the fish back to the boat. It was straight down again but appeared to be getting tired. Slowly, Mike started making progress. The fish was coming up. Everyone had their eyes on the water looking for color.

After a while, I heard Mike say softly, "I think the fish is off". He reeled in the limp 40 pound mono which had broken off near the hook. You could see the disappointment in everyone's face. Bummer!

So for your April Fools Day enjoyment we have a story about one that got away. I have seen a lot of big fish being fought over the years. Given the amount of bend in Mike's rod and the speed at which it towed Clarence out to sea, this thing had to be huge. We all would have liked to at least caught a glimpse of this monster but even without without the money shot, the foreplay was very entertaining to watch.

I almost forgot to mention this. I saw no bees out there today.

Until next time.

Bob