efishent
06-01-2012, 04:41 PM
Intro:
Earlier in the week I approached seagulls near water edge that refused to move. When I saw what they were up to I also stood there looking down for a minute or so. It was a ‘freshly dead’ hali about 40”, it changed color a bit and did not feel as firm as a live one.
It was in a back of my mind since and with water temps getting up a bit from a recent dip and disappearing surf I made a quick run during/instead of lunch to test the action.
Action:
Well, the diagnosis on my fish camera was “get a new one, there is no hope”. So it was just me and the LC with 2 double and one treble hook – still returning salad on every cast. I was not bothered by this since the swell was so calm that I could clean the hooks uninterrupted standing firmly on the bottom.
The clarity was decent and I was just admiring the trough searching for few ‘clean’ cranks every time. On one of those clean casts I hang a fish that identified itself with headshakes. I responded with affirmative head shakes myself and worked it very gently with no drag noises In about 1 ft of water it started running and I couldn’t find an assist wave to land it– the conditions were as flat as the fish itself. I just refused to force it and finally got a set to beach the hali, hooked barely with one of double hooks in the lip. It measured at 23.5”, - another legal for the start of summer, released back with a massive tail splash that made me rub my polarized glasses for a while.
Called it a session at that as the tide was dropping. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another cold water stretch here but these warmer days with some fog and minimal wind are becoming more consistent.
Have fun out there during the weekend.
Earlier in the week I approached seagulls near water edge that refused to move. When I saw what they were up to I also stood there looking down for a minute or so. It was a ‘freshly dead’ hali about 40”, it changed color a bit and did not feel as firm as a live one.
It was in a back of my mind since and with water temps getting up a bit from a recent dip and disappearing surf I made a quick run during/instead of lunch to test the action.
Action:
Well, the diagnosis on my fish camera was “get a new one, there is no hope”. So it was just me and the LC with 2 double and one treble hook – still returning salad on every cast. I was not bothered by this since the swell was so calm that I could clean the hooks uninterrupted standing firmly on the bottom.
The clarity was decent and I was just admiring the trough searching for few ‘clean’ cranks every time. On one of those clean casts I hang a fish that identified itself with headshakes. I responded with affirmative head shakes myself and worked it very gently with no drag noises In about 1 ft of water it started running and I couldn’t find an assist wave to land it– the conditions were as flat as the fish itself. I just refused to force it and finally got a set to beach the hali, hooked barely with one of double hooks in the lip. It measured at 23.5”, - another legal for the start of summer, released back with a massive tail splash that made me rub my polarized glasses for a while.
Called it a session at that as the tide was dropping. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another cold water stretch here but these warmer days with some fog and minimal wind are becoming more consistent.
Have fun out there during the weekend.