Original plan was to hit the surf with Andre, but truck issues kept him in LA. I relegated myself to staying home with the family and do research on my next phone to get as my is on its last leg. Doesn’t hold a charge, I sometimes receive texts, screen will go black out of the blue, and that’s just some of the random issues it’s having.
Put kids to bed, found my next phone, and I’m laying in bed wishing I was fishing. It’s 9:45p and I decide I need to soak a bait even if it’s late!
First bait hits the water at 10:30p and the grunion are making a small showing. Sweet, chum! Narrow window for success, so I’m hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Fishing 2 rods to increase the odds. Trying different rigs and baits to see what’ll work. 3way on one pole and a pulley rig on the other. Mackerel on the pulley, store bought sierra on the 3way. Went through a surprising amount of bait for the short time I’m on the sand, critters were hungry. Finally got a real take down at 11:15p while tending to the other rod. Run over to see slack line. Lots of reeling in to recover line. Hmm... line is completely parallel to the beach. Kelp? Reel the line tight and set the hook just in case. Game on! Head shakes and a pretty impressive run going south. Still, it’s a strange fight. Still parallel to sand and now some herky jerky feel like bad drags in my reel. Decide to chase it down the beach and risk not being able to see my second rod. Ran south about 30yds and I see the darndest thing, my 7gill somehow beached herself. She was still in the skinny, not completely caught. Quick tail grab and a well timed wave made it the fastest landed shark ever for me.
She threw this up, any guesses? Oh yeah, she went 79”.