Monster White Seabass and New Personal Best

[Fishbones]

Ive been on the search for mr seabass for about 6 trips now with no luck except a big yellow a few weeks ago but finally i caught my long awaited seabass. I had made plans with Ron "Fishinone" to take him and his buddy bong & scott out to hook them up with some yellows was the plan. We met up around 3am in san pedro and launched the boat under the bridge and the journey almost came to a end in the bay. It was super low tide and as we left the launch ramp we noticed the water was really low,.,., how low you say,.,.,when we finally realized that it was a bad situation when we looked over to our right and seen the boat that just launched before us stuck in the mud...we were trippin big time...depth finder said there was 1.5 feet of water under us....which was hard to believe....so i stuck my rod over the side of the boat and sure enough it hits ground just feet under the boat. If we wernt in a flat bottom boat we would have been stuck too...lucky us,.,. so after out little scary few minutes we made it to the bait receiver where we loaded up on sardines since they had no squid. Ron and bong had bought some squid from a market they said so i didnt worry to much then.. were on our way across the channel and to set up on the west end in the bait grounds with the rest of the fleet sitting in the fog with no sun visible but the island and lots of boats around us.


we anchored up the boat and started setting up our gear and watched the fish finder for signs of life
under or around the boat, with good signs on the screen i knew it was only time before hook up.
I saw a few hook ups through many boats around us but nothing crazy or wide open.

I casted out a sardine on my first pole and went to set up a dropper lope when i found the squid they had bought...it was pink and stinky stuff,.,.squid that i have never caught anything off of before in my life but i pinned on one anyway and gave it a try i was thinking nothing would eat this bait,.,,.

sure enough ten minutes later my rod gets bit and starts to take clicker....i engage my reel and set the hook....it starts peeling drag and start thinking its a batray but it didnt fight like a ray and that got me pumped up big time within a few minutes it heads for the anchor line and had me on it for sure...i could feel it rubbing against it and thought it was a goner but to my surprise it goes under the boat and comes up next to me...i yell to the guys get the gaff its a big seabass, bong grabs the gaff, a old freshwater shakespear fishing rod that ron had converted and gaffs the seabass, i didnt want to trust it so i reached down and grabbed it by the gills and lifted it over the rail.,.,then started shouting like a lottery winner and screaming yes!!!!

this thing was creepy and looked like a dinosaur/dragon, all it needed to do was breath fire


Mr Seabass representing with FNN PRIDE sporting the fresh gear
i was super excited and the blood was flowing big time...within minutes of that Rons pole goes off in the bow but ron was in the stern so bong grabs it and sets the hook the fish starts taking line and the fight was on...it also tried to wrap him in the anchor but i quickly got up there for the assist....we cleared the anchor line and then it went towards the stern so i handed the rod off to ron and he started fighting it for a few untill it tried going under the motor so i jumped back there grabbed the rod got it under the prop and cleared it free.,.,i started to short pump it next to the boat and saw a big flash, felt the line break and it was gone.,.,.aw man what a bummer that was ,., and so much fun climbing around the boat and running back and forth fighting this fish.
We sat there for a hour or so and made another move to where the fleet went.

with no more bites or runs as it got time to leave we made it around the west end to find what looked like a mile of mackrel boiling on small sardines so we slayed the macks for bait and started across the channel. On our way back we stopped by the horseshoe for a quick barracuda slayage on the mint tady45 of coarse and decided to call it a day and head home, we arrived to a high tide "phew" and had the boat to the dock with no problems heres our sweet ride for the day



Me and my new personal best white seabass at home with the last pic before fillet time and stone removal.
White seabass have these stone is there head which acts as there equilibrium
and helps them swim right side up. If you have ever caught one you must keep the stones, either have the
deckhand get them for you or try it your self but i must warn you its not easy.

after such a great trip there must always be a victory dinner and tonights menu was blackened seabass with some fresh pasta,, it was delicious, the spices were unreal and it was so tender and juicy one of the best if had in a while, but the tuna are coming so i dont want to speak to soon.

[fisherman from long beach]

damn alex,congrats on the slayage,and helping out the guys with their fight.sweet pics and report as always.

[BIGRED KILLA]

Nice job on your PB WSB sucks about the lost fish but at least you landed your ghost.



Bigred

[Big Daddy]

Congrats on that fantastic WSB Great report and Great pictures

[BrandonFish]

great great WSB!! i knew you guys would get one just didnt know it would be that big! lol congrats on the PB wtg out there great report and pics
"after such a great trip there must always be a victory dinner and tonights menu was blackened seabass with some fresh pasta,, it was delicious, the spices were unreal and it was so tender and juicy one of the best if had in a while, but the tuna are coming so i dont want to speak to soon." looks delicious!

Mr Seabass representing with FNN PRIDE sporting the fresh gear

[troutdog]

Awesome catch, congrats on your pb wsb....nice report too!


TD

[elevated]

cheeeehuuuuu nice report and wsb!

[TroutOnly]

MAN ALEX ITS LIKE YOU GET ON THE BOAT AND BIG FISH GET DEAD ,GREAT JOB AGAIN ,I MET BONG WITH RON AT CASTAIC ,HES A COOL GUY, WELL SO IS RON,,,,,,,,,,,,,,t/o,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[bassmeister]

Now thats a very nice ghost. I'm still waiting to pop my ghost cherry.

[diamondbear]

What a GREAT Adventure , awesome report with pics . NICE PB KILL . Good looking dinner .