Brewfish
05-23-2008, 02:16 PM
I did something today that I've always wanted to do: try to catch a fish during a normal, one-hour-ish lunch break from work.
Jumped in my car and drove down to East Beach in downtown Santa Barbara. Put on a 3" Big Hammer in Key Lime on a 1/4 oz. leadhead (natural lead color, with eyes) and started casting. Plenty of surf pech taps and then finally, fish on! Turned out to be a decent sized perch, so mission accomplished. Kept casting. More taps, but no connections. At about 12:45 I'm thinking it's time to head back to work, when I get another tap. Fish on! You all know the feeling of how a hookup quickly goes from "another fish" to "nicer fish" to "wow!". This is one of those times. I'm using 8 lb P-line Fluoroclear and it's a little beat up, so I had to back way off on the drag. Took a solid 5 minutes to get him in, but it turned out to be a 25 3/4" halibut; my first legal in years. Gonna be a nice cocktail, dinner and Laker game tonight!
Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend. Have fun, be safe, and remember the reasons for celebrating Memorial Day. Oh, and hit the surf!
P.S. Major props to Wingnut for all the great posts. Had to keep this one fish to quell my demons, but I'm going to follow your lead of placating Poseidon by letting the next ones go.
Jumped in my car and drove down to East Beach in downtown Santa Barbara. Put on a 3" Big Hammer in Key Lime on a 1/4 oz. leadhead (natural lead color, with eyes) and started casting. Plenty of surf pech taps and then finally, fish on! Turned out to be a decent sized perch, so mission accomplished. Kept casting. More taps, but no connections. At about 12:45 I'm thinking it's time to head back to work, when I get another tap. Fish on! You all know the feeling of how a hookup quickly goes from "another fish" to "nicer fish" to "wow!". This is one of those times. I'm using 8 lb P-line Fluoroclear and it's a little beat up, so I had to back way off on the drag. Took a solid 5 minutes to get him in, but it turned out to be a 25 3/4" halibut; my first legal in years. Gonna be a nice cocktail, dinner and Laker game tonight!
Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend. Have fun, be safe, and remember the reasons for celebrating Memorial Day. Oh, and hit the surf!
P.S. Major props to Wingnut for all the great posts. Had to keep this one fish to quell my demons, but I'm going to follow your lead of placating Poseidon by letting the next ones go.