On the sand by 10:30pm, needed to see what recent rains and surf did to the beach. Brought 2 rods. Recently had another reel magged, so I wanted to play with it a bit and do some dialing in.
Surf was forecasted to be 3-4’ and it was spot on. Was a bit rough too, choppy and confused. The first hour was tough and go. Mix of boa kelp, surf grass, standard kelp was plaguing me. Almost called it early. Reeled in both rods and just spent 30mins practicing casting for distance and figuring out the best setting newly magged reel, Release Reel SG that I bought several years back.
Dialing it in was easy and I felt like I was getting some great distance, equal or even rivaling my little SM. Anyhoo, I only fished the SG and was sure I finally hooked into something to test it. Drag was screaming as this clicker is a hell of a lot louder than all of my other reels I use for the surf including my Fathoms. Was also nice that since it is a lever drag, I already preset the strike and full strike settings so all I had to do was push the lever forward and I knew exactly what the amount of drag I wanted to fish with. No pushing the star drag forward and pulling line off of the soool throughout the fight.
Back to the fish, it was definitely a grinner and i could tell it had shoulders. For the first few minutes, I couldn’t tell if it was a soup or a giant leo. Once it charged the beach, the guessing game was over. Slid him up into the sand and I knew it was a PB. Taped him out to 60” on the dot and boy was he slimy and still green. Writhing around the sand like he was on fire.
Picture doesn’t do it justice, he was SOLID. Took the one pic and quickly released it. Got another bait out hoping my luck would improve and it kind of did. Bait was picked up within a minute or so and it was on its way to the 9. Vintage bat run. Not huge, but unmistakable. A much better tussle than the leo. Looks like the surf is starting to produce for the bat fight. Taped out to 40”.
It’s now almost 2am and the tide will be peaking soon, but I’m falling asleep while sitting on my cooler. 10mins and I’m out. I start breaking down the other rod and get things in order then my clicker goes clicks for about 3 seconds while my back is turned. Turn around and focus on my rod tip to see my line is slack. Game time! Reel in the slack and I come tight to a grinner. Herky jerky fight and I see tail slaps about 10yds out. 7gill for sure and a decent sized one too! I apply a little more pressure and push the lever to full strike and I get it turned and my hook pulls
Phuck!! Got to excited and should played it out a little longer. Damn and that was my last bait. I packed it in thinking of how big it was, but happy I didn’t skunk out. Things are looking up!!
