Ditched work early as the tides looked good for an MB Bat session. -.5 to a 4.5 from 3p to 8p. The winds were pretty light too with 5-8mph early, then pretty calm for the evening.
Picked up Paul and hit the Bat Fight spot around 4. Set up with squid / fresh caught macs and didn't take 5 minutes to MISS two nice hit-n-runs. Re-bait, cast out, then my Mac goes screaming, only to go slack as I reach the rod. Bummed! But pretty stoked for the instant action.
At this point an angler from down the beach walks over to check out what we were fishing for, baits, etc. He was watching us race back and forth and could hear the clickers rip. Talked story for about 10 minutes when the mac goes off again. Run down, give a TOM hook set, and I'm on. Could feel the tail thumps and knew it was a good LEO. Few nice runs back an forth and tell Paul "Hey, this is a Leo". He and the other gentleman gave me a "yeah, right" ... Get the head turned to shore and start my slow walk backwards to beach. I finally get it to water's edge (expecting Steve to be there for the assist - OH Wait) and look over at Paul. He's still chatting away then **SNAP**
... I glare back over at him and he says "What? You wanted me to grab that?" ... LOL (fugger)
Good deckies are under appreciated
Was a nice 4-5ft kitty. Awe well.
As I'm retying my squid gets hit with a solid run. BAT !!! YES!!! Great fight too with air, runs, and a good hunker down for 5 minutes. Finally get her up and Paul helps with this one. Didn't measure but would guesstimate 45"
As we snap a pic Paul's rod then volleys for a bat of his own.
Gave him a few good rips then realized he was knotted up mid-spool. Gave a shout "oh crap" and buttoned down. Fortunately it wasn't too big and he muscled it to shore.
The bite shut down for a good half hour ... then my parade of smaller critters starts.
First up a SNGF
Gotta give it the Hendrix
Then a Butter ...
Greedy SBB - took on a large mac head ...
We hit another lull from 6:45 to 7:15 and agreed "let's go in 15min at 7:30". Sure enough, right at 7:30 on the button, one of Paul's rods starts to sing.
Has a good fight with a medium sized Leo and beach it. As he's removing the hook for a picture, his 2nd rod goes off. He fricken doubles up at the buzzer!!!
This time another small Bat, but worth the double photo!
Super fun night with multi-species success. Can't wait to get out again over the Holidays!!
Tight Lines everyone, and thanks for reading!
Aloha~
WMB