bobabocker
03-10-2015, 03:45 PM
Hi guys,
Long time reader, seldom poster; went to FHS this last weekend as a little birthday treat decided to splurge a bit picked up the torium (unfortunately the 20 was a very popular model it was sold out by the time i got to the booths picked up a 16 instead) the guy at Sav-on hooked it up with spectra 65lb ultra vis complete spool up for $20! I ended up pairing it with a newly purchased Phenix 809H. Fast forward a few hours full of excitement and anticipation and I found myself and my cousin (more on him later) walking down the landing at berth 55 for a twilight run with Captain Gabe and Crew on the Liberty. The run out to izors was quick and smooth the sea was pretty much glass. We anchored up and started fishing... first part of the night was a pretty slow pick at chunky sculpin and a legal bass or two. Captain Gabe motors over to a new spot and resets the anchor things start getting interesting.
My cousin who gets deathly seasick everytime he goes out, but loves me enough to go out with me regardless of how sick he gets hooks into a monster sculpin talking a good solid 15 inches and all full of piss and vinegar when he came up. Well my cousin bless him had just picked up a pair of pliers at FHS; being excited that it was a calm day and he wasn't sick rushed taking the sculpin off the hook BOOM!! the fish nails him on the pinky and gives him a nice size inch long gash. Everyone on the boat looks at him in horror; he nonchlantly walks into the head and squeezes as much blood out as he can and hangs out in the galley dipping his pinky in a cup of coffee. He eventually gets back out and casts a few more times but his night was pretty much over.
Ok Back to the part where I was testing out the gear; as I mentioned the first part of the night was pretty much a bust; as soon as we rolled over the new spot and my cousin got nailed my setup gets nailed! I'm fighting this thing and the rod has a nice little bend in it and as it gets to the surface I'm looking at what I think is a long super skinny Calico as I'm in the middle of bouncing the darn thing the deckie looks at me with incredulity and exclaims "what are you doing bouncing sharks on my boat?!" turns out it was a preggo swell shark about 24 inches long (released to fight another day). The bite suddenly turns on and I end up getting nailed by a big Grump that was handled quickly and efficiently by the new setup it ended up being a just shy of 7 lbs and the jackpot of the night. We get back in to the dock around 145 am I slept around 330am.
Got up at 6 am for the turnaround to get on the half day wonder known as the NDM the morning run turned out to be pretty amazing after chasing the bait around for about an hour or so we were able to finally get a school of macs to play we made about half a tank then we went hunting! After a short look outside; We hooked up on 6 yellows and landed 5. After a bit we ended up fishing some micro rockfish to fill up the sacks. I didnt get to fight a yellow on the AM trip.
on the PM turnaround myself and 20 of my closest friends came on board ( I was really thinking that I'm not going to be able to get more than a few casts in due to having to help out all my buddies and socializing and what not). We didn't need to make bait; Thanks to morning run. We went straight to the grounds and started drooping down. As my jig hit the bottom on my very first crank BOOOOOM! "HOOKUP!!!" The reel and the rod worked in perfect harmony as the fish started taking line the deckie (Eric) was right on it clearing the rails and coaching me to relax and to pull one roll one. After about 15-20 mins of that arm burning action my first Yellow came to color. There is nothing more satisfying in seeing that gaff get sunk into the side of that fish. As it laid there flopping on the deck and defeated I had one last task. I asked Eric to do the honors of removing the heart. And there in front of 20 of my closest friends I joined the Heart eaters club! to top it all off only yellow on the PM run... back to back days of Jackpots!
All in all I have to say that the Torium did its work and the Phenix 809 did its Job!
Sorry for the wall of text I hope you all enjoy the read!
Long time reader, seldom poster; went to FHS this last weekend as a little birthday treat decided to splurge a bit picked up the torium (unfortunately the 20 was a very popular model it was sold out by the time i got to the booths picked up a 16 instead) the guy at Sav-on hooked it up with spectra 65lb ultra vis complete spool up for $20! I ended up pairing it with a newly purchased Phenix 809H. Fast forward a few hours full of excitement and anticipation and I found myself and my cousin (more on him later) walking down the landing at berth 55 for a twilight run with Captain Gabe and Crew on the Liberty. The run out to izors was quick and smooth the sea was pretty much glass. We anchored up and started fishing... first part of the night was a pretty slow pick at chunky sculpin and a legal bass or two. Captain Gabe motors over to a new spot and resets the anchor things start getting interesting.
My cousin who gets deathly seasick everytime he goes out, but loves me enough to go out with me regardless of how sick he gets hooks into a monster sculpin talking a good solid 15 inches and all full of piss and vinegar when he came up. Well my cousin bless him had just picked up a pair of pliers at FHS; being excited that it was a calm day and he wasn't sick rushed taking the sculpin off the hook BOOM!! the fish nails him on the pinky and gives him a nice size inch long gash. Everyone on the boat looks at him in horror; he nonchlantly walks into the head and squeezes as much blood out as he can and hangs out in the galley dipping his pinky in a cup of coffee. He eventually gets back out and casts a few more times but his night was pretty much over.
Ok Back to the part where I was testing out the gear; as I mentioned the first part of the night was pretty much a bust; as soon as we rolled over the new spot and my cousin got nailed my setup gets nailed! I'm fighting this thing and the rod has a nice little bend in it and as it gets to the surface I'm looking at what I think is a long super skinny Calico as I'm in the middle of bouncing the darn thing the deckie looks at me with incredulity and exclaims "what are you doing bouncing sharks on my boat?!" turns out it was a preggo swell shark about 24 inches long (released to fight another day). The bite suddenly turns on and I end up getting nailed by a big Grump that was handled quickly and efficiently by the new setup it ended up being a just shy of 7 lbs and the jackpot of the night. We get back in to the dock around 145 am I slept around 330am.
Got up at 6 am for the turnaround to get on the half day wonder known as the NDM the morning run turned out to be pretty amazing after chasing the bait around for about an hour or so we were able to finally get a school of macs to play we made about half a tank then we went hunting! After a short look outside; We hooked up on 6 yellows and landed 5. After a bit we ended up fishing some micro rockfish to fill up the sacks. I didnt get to fight a yellow on the AM trip.
on the PM turnaround myself and 20 of my closest friends came on board ( I was really thinking that I'm not going to be able to get more than a few casts in due to having to help out all my buddies and socializing and what not). We didn't need to make bait; Thanks to morning run. We went straight to the grounds and started drooping down. As my jig hit the bottom on my very first crank BOOOOOM! "HOOKUP!!!" The reel and the rod worked in perfect harmony as the fish started taking line the deckie (Eric) was right on it clearing the rails and coaching me to relax and to pull one roll one. After about 15-20 mins of that arm burning action my first Yellow came to color. There is nothing more satisfying in seeing that gaff get sunk into the side of that fish. As it laid there flopping on the deck and defeated I had one last task. I asked Eric to do the honors of removing the heart. And there in front of 20 of my closest friends I joined the Heart eaters club! to top it all off only yellow on the PM run... back to back days of Jackpots!
All in all I have to say that the Torium did its work and the Phenix 809 did its Job!
Sorry for the wall of text I hope you all enjoy the read!