Took last weekend off from fishing to take care of some side work and do some Xmas shopping. Pops and I hit the bay on Saturday round 11, no real tidal movement from 10-230 but we put a hurtin on the grumpy bass.
I out fished my pops easily we ended the day with about 75 bass. I put over 50 on the boat, but pops managed to put his 1st corBina in the the boat on an underspin! Jus b4 we were bout ready to go, I got a Hali that was right at 22" so I let her go B) not a bad sesh by any means and we were off the water by 330.
My Lil bro got himself an early Xmas gift he wanted to try out, Abu Revo Sx inshore. So after they got outta church, I had the boat hooked up and ready to roll, we only had til bout 445 to be off the water, had to get to my grammas bday dinner by 6. so we headed to where we caught the majority of the bigger bass the day b4 and proceeded to slay some grumpy bass for the 2nd half of the 1st drift and most of the 2nd drift after I figured out where they were.
Right as we were about to reset for the 3rd drift I got slammed and lay into a decent sized fish that ran str8 for the surface and jumped! Tripped me out since it was too far to get an ID, til I got it to the boat and I realize it's a Lil vina! I boat flipped and tried the major league fishing line catch b4 it hits the deck lol she wasn't hooked well enough to make that happen and flopped on the deck so I tossed her back quick to avoid further stress on her fragile lil self. It was 330 and we figured we had time for one long or two shorter drifts. there was almost no wind so we opted for a shorter drift and I used the trolling motor to make my own slow steady line for where we wanted to end up. My brother and I started putting doubles of grumpies in every few casts and I started talking $#!t to my pops in the back of the boat cuz he couldn't get anything to stick for a good 3/4 of the drift. Bad idea lol not even 5 mins later I jus hear his lil quantum accurist's drag zzzzzziiiiiinnngging and that lil 6'7 medium spinning rod was BENT! -WTF you got Ole man? Bonefish? It's big son! I'm thinking it's a bat ray. It's ripping line and it looks like wing flaps but it's hard to tell with his bass rod doubled over like it's never been b4. He starts to gain some line and she's moving up in he water column. And it seems to flip like a small bat as you get it pointed up off the bottom and makes a directional change. We start Goin around in around circle with it with the trolling motor, still haven't gotten a look at it when it comes up after 5 spins of the boat. Oh My God! Look at that Son! Holy $#!t pops it's a Big ass Leopard! Definitely not what I was expecting him to pull up on an underspin of all things, thought maybe he snagged it, nope fair hooked as could be! Right in the corner of the upper lip. She made a few more runs after she saw the boat the 1st time. I'm trying to stay calm, my dad and brother are freaking out, neither have seen one in the wild lol, I've never hooked or landed one from a boat, its about to get interesting real quick, told pops to stay calm loosen his drag and wear her out more. Had my bro get everything off the front deck and hold him to get back. I knew I only had one shot at grabbing her and had to make it happen or I'd never hear the end of it! I had my pops guide her up along the side of the boat and as soon as she was within reach I knelt down went for the tail grab! She went ape $hit and tried to gator roll outta my hand b4 she hit the deck. Luckily I'm a bit stronger than your average deck hand B) she made it over the bow onto the deck and my pops 12lb P-line proceeds to snap instantly! I grabbed her again and tossed her gently onto the floor of the drivers seat lol my bro and dad were shocked at how easy I made it look X) she was still pretty green so I played fish model for my pops' 1st Leo!
She wanted that blade bait! Good Ole new penny swimmer!
After the release I burned some tree and recouped after the stressfulness and my adrenaline rush came down a bit, they were like what do you do after something like that. I said there's after legal halibut waiting to get caught still and we got bout 30mins of prime fishing time to do it! 1st cast I get slammed and reel in a chunky grump. Which seemed like a dink after having a 35+lb leopard in the boat lol. My bro makes his 1st cast and gets slammed few cranks in, I look over and his 13 envy rod is bendo! Good one? YEAH! it's HEAVY BRO! I see serious head shake. THIS AIN'T NO BASS BRO! Ok keep her head off the bottom, she's pullin him around a bit, you feel flat hard pulls and shakes? YEAH! that's her bro. I'm trying to keep him calm, he's saying his prayers, asking for any help he can get, I'm coaching him through it gaff in hand, she stays down for a few mins, he's $#!ttin bricks, I see her finally, no sign of the underspin, she inhaled it, she's doing the slow circle of death to the surface. Keep her head in the water, next rotation I'm gonna stick her, don't reel up any more jus pick the rod tip up til she's in the boat. Last half circle and I sink the gaff right in her stomach!
My Bros 1st legal Hali! 31" beauty
Well I knew I probably wasn't gonna top that so I told me they got me
merry early Xmas to the both of em and we headed for the dock. Not a terrible way to end a weekend.
Rastafar-gone B-)<==*~~
