Early action was all on the surface and jacks, Bonita, Spanish and Cobia came to the kayak. One king had the hooks suddenly pull during a long run, but I couldn’t find another this morning. Spinner sharks were clearing the water as they preyed on bait balls and the smaller Spanish. A hundred yards away from the rig I was working, I had a good hit and quickly knew that it wasn’t a king or jack. I hoped it wasn’t a shark, but as the fight wore on I grew pretty sure this was a Cobia. I began to really hope the fish would be over 40” and was relieved when it finally surfaced beside the kayak. The fish was stocky and about 43”, which was perfect. I got out the bat and popped it on the head twice and suddenly the fish calmed down. The gaff went into the gills and I got the fish quickly inside the hatch. After securing the hatch there were periods of rumbles as the kayak shook around, but it was too late for the fish- he was securely in the “sleeping bag”.
Water was pretty dirty with about six feet of visibility offshore, but it didn’t slow the fish down. Surf was great, rolling gently, and the second bar only offered slightly higher waves but they weren’t usually breaking.
You reminded me of a hilarious true story about ling fishing. My banker asked me to to take him on my next fishing trip. He had never been fishing off shore, and said it was at the top of his bucket list.
I arranged for a charter, and my partner, my banker, and I took to the high seas one beautiful, but windy Sunday morning. The seas were choppy, and the ride was quite "bumpy", but, upon reaching good water, we almost immediately, began to hook up and boat some very large kings. Our entire attention was, of course , focused on the fishing.
Allow me to interrupt my tale to say that I had never caught a ling, but having tasted them on several occasions, always hoped there would come a time that I had one on the end of my line. And, that time came to fruition on this trip. I was using relatively light tackle, so the ling was giving me a terrific fight. I had to follow his movement all around to the other side of the boat before bringing him in close. The captain came to my side with his 357 magnum revolver and proceeded to shoot my (28 lb) ling in the top of its head. The fish, of course, became docile, and ready to be boated.
Immediately after the loud report of the captain's pistol, we heard a tortured groan from my previously unnoticed banker, who was lying, green faced, on the deck a few feet away pleading for the captain to, "please shoot again for my head and don't miss". He was not kidding.
Having served my military obligation in the coast guard, and having spent countless hours involved in boating, I had never seen anyone as sea sick as this poor man. We wrapped him in blankets to diminish the shock he was suffering and made a rapid return to shore. He managed to step off of the boat by himself, walked away without a word and drove off. A thought flashed before my mind that he was going to call my loans, but we remained good friends for many years thereafter...,never mentioning anything about the fishing trip.
Being there and ready. Congrats on the score, and thanks for the nice photos.
Next bucket list item, you might want a 10-wt, TS-350 sinking line (Backing), and some saddle-hackle streamers.
(it's just like catching white bass, only bigger)
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