So 3 am rolls around Sunday morning and Tommy and I decide to start planning the Sunday runabout to Santa Cruz Island... Of course we had orignally planned an early morning but the thresher shark party was a bit too fun to hit the hay early so we found an EXCELLENT excuse for making it a late morning... the tides, yeah, that's it, the tides! They sucked. So we convinced ourselves we were geniuses and caught some zzzzzzz's for a few hours.
I woke up early enough to call it morning and late enough to know we better hit the water soon if we wanted a chance at getting to the island and back. Found Baker Boy over at Flipper's and rousted him up... he obliged and after a quick fuel fill-up we were off to VTA to launch for SCI...
Of course we stopped for BURLY finbait at Dave's Fuel Dock... month and a half cured dines, OH YEAH! Those things had some shoulders.
Made a B Line for the front side to get the lines wet and maybe zip around to the backside later for WSB in the previous day's lucky spot...
Either way, the plan was set: We're gonna try to stay awake while baking in the sun drifting for halibut and maybe pick off a seabass or six.
No swell... no wind... no worries... healthy bait... fresh line... and KTYD 99.9 on the radio...
This guy must have liked the music because he came aboard on the second drift!
On the third or fourth drift Tommy decides he's gonna hook up after getting raked at least once already and unfortunately, doesn't get a keeper... but he got to have a heckuva fight with this hefty black seabass...
Musta like the music too!
We work the area for a bit and notice there's quite a bit of sardine in the water so we find a finbait free zone and I manage to get a black seabass too. Not even close to the size of Tom's hundred-ish pounder, but a good fight at about 20-25 lbs on 15 lb nontheless.
A couple more drifts and I up my BSB count to two with a nice eighty-ish on 20 lb... a decent fight.
So what's up with the darn nest of all these BSB??? Fun fight regardless.
Finally decide to pack it in and go grab a couple calicos and then mosey home.
No sooner did I throw on my sweatshirt for the ride than I hear my clicker go zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP
I hear Tommy say, "that's a biggun jackpot!" (That's Bakersfield-speak for "Get yer arse on that rod and get to work son!!!")
LUCKY FOR ME I'm hooked up on the 6480 beefstick Flipper recently wrapped, fresh 30 lb Big Game and the trusty AVET JX... so off we go to do battle!
I couldn't tell exactly what I was fighting because she ran under some kind of rock structure. Had the feel of a slab halibut for a minute then she made a really fast run and was either a darn seal that finally took the hook or a seabass. Why not a batray??? I just refuse to accept such karma anymore!!! LOL Plus the run, even across the rock, was not smooth like a ray.
Asked Tommy to fire up the motor and make a quick move to get us clear of the rock. He made the move with PRECISION!!! We were clear in no time and I continued putting the wood to her.
Floyd on the radio... big fish ripping drag... and I'm not at work... any questions?
Sure was a beauty of a creature!
Conservatively somewhere between 150 and 200. Definitely the biggest BSB I've caught and nowhere near the 600+ pounder my uncle caught in 87 so I'll just chalk it up to a great BATTLE!
All BSB CPR'd (Caught, Photographed, and Released)!
I was quite surprised with a couple things when thinking back on the catch. First, there was about 100 feet of line abrasion with a couple deep cuts in the line... never broke! And, I had not yet caught a decent fish on the 6480 since I got it yet I instantly laid into that fish trusting that Flipper said it had great backbone... it stood up to the test with authority! Of course, the AVET held up as well.
We then went in search of some calicos on the rubber
...
Ripped home and made it to VTA Harbor in 30 minutes flat at 45k just in time for Mary's niece's bday party.
Carved up a couple fish and crashed.
Good fishing, good times, good friends, and a damn good sunburn... what else do you need?
That's my story and I'm sticking to it...
Jackpot!
Forever!)
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