$40 dollar Halibut
Mission: Locate, Close with, and kill a legal California Halibut for wife's birthday dinner (5/24)
Date/Time: 5/23/12 - 1200-1400
Location: Exact locations is classified, general location North Camp Pendleton MCB
Conditions: Partly cloudy, air temp 65 degrees F, water temp 64-67d degrees F, surf; *1-2 ft*knee to thigh high occ. 3 ft., water; clear and blue with lots of salads, tides;*11:56 AM 3.39 feet High Tide*
Gear: Phenix Recon PHX-C754 with Abu Garcia Revo SX. Izorline 30# spectra top shot with Izorline 12# mono.*
Ammo: LCFM110 Ghost Green Smelt, R.I.P. and LCFM110 Metallic Sardine, R.I.P.*
Report:
Finally got done with the move and unpacking at the new place. I decided to fish the high tide this afternoon in a new AO. Got good intel from a reliable source the night before.*
The wife went up to Long Beach for the day and that gave me all day to fish. Well, it didn't take all day. Only 1.5 hours to catch the right kind to bring home to dinner tomorrow night for the wife's birthday.*
When I got to the beach, parked my truck and thanked the lord for a beautiful day, another day to enjoy it, and hope to kill one of his creations today.*
When I walked down to*the sand and surf was dark with salad. I thought to myself, " aww crap, maybe we're going to have take out again for diner!" But I had a mission and didn't want to go back home empty handed and to "straighten up" the apartment at 1215 in the afternoon.*
So I toughed it out and kept walking south while making a few cast past the surf hoping to get past some of the salads.*
After 10-15 cast I got a big bump but it came unbutton. The next cast I saw a short halibut jump after my LC.*
Feeling good about what had just happened I fan cast that area some more for nothing but salad.*
It would be cool IF I'm a vegetarian, but today I'm out for blood!!*
Pulling up salad got very old very fast so I decided to go on a short hump and look for "better fishing conditions"*
After about a mile of hoofing it I finally found a 100 yd stretch of water that looked very promising. Still had salad on every cast but something about this area looked and smelled "fishy".
To my 10 o'clock I noticed 2 young men fishing on their surf boards using plastics and pulling up 1 short and one legal halibut so I decided to poach it.*
4 cast later and I was hooked up. At first I thought it was a huge piece of underwater kelp. But when I got it into eyes view I noticed the tail. "hell yeah!" I said to myself, "this is *definitely a legal fish!!"*
*
Just when I though this was going to be an easy fish she made a few short runs and gave me a little fight.*
She measured out 24.5" when I finally go her to shore.*
I was happier then fly on crap right now because this is my 1st San Diego legal and my 1st legal halibut in about 3-4 years!*
Took a quick snap and continued to fish some more.*
This is where it went down hill and I knew I had to stop fshing for the day, go home, and be thankful with what I got. *
After that fish I thought if she's there her girlfriends and boyfriends are close by also.*
3rd cast and I noticed a bird flying low from my left to my right. I remember thinking to myself, "man it'll be cool as crap if I can cast and hit this SoB." and sure enough I hooked it by the wing and the bird comes crashing down and hit the water. As it hit the water my line breaks!*
Realizing I can't do anything about it and thinking that was pretty cool I took out another LC and tied it on. This was probably the worst knot I've ever tied in all my years of fishing. But I was still excited from the fish and wanted to catch more I didn't think about the knot.*
1st cast. The LC and the bird goes flying!!!!*
Lesson of the day: Buck fever can be costly! Take your time and tie the right knot.*
I guess that's my offering to Poseidon, maybe Lucas will find it one day...hahahaha.*
After that I "PSMO" and took the long walk of pain and joy back to my truck!*
That's my report, thanks for reading and God bless. They're out there, go get 'em!
**
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Originally Posted by Mr_Dunev
