Conditions looked too good to pass up and I was sure Squatch would have been too beat to fish after his 3-day. Unknowingly, Steve had to drop a loaner rod back to Mike and since he was down here, decided to hit the surf. I have a state audit at work, so there's no way I was fishing late. Plan was to stop at 9:00pm, and 9:30 at the absolute latest. All we need is 2 hours of soaking, right?
I bring my OG surf rod I got from Bill Batson this trip (It was Bill's personal Ulua Rod). Heavier line and shock leader on this rig... 50# main and 100# shock to deal with some of Solana's pain in the ass reefs.
I brought a single perfect bait sized bonito and a couple of big macs. I went straight for the bonito first.
About 20 minutes into the soak and I see my rod slowly load up. Then the clicker started going really slow, so I was sure it was just a kelp monster. I grab the rod and then it wakes up! There might be kelp on it, but there also was a shark!
After a good battle (It felt much bigger than it was with a big kelp stringer attached to the line), Squatch gets his hands on it and drags it up.
Incoming, Bonito, Waxing Gibbous, 2'-4', 70.5", Female
Not long after and Steve's hooked up! He fights it half way in and it pulls the hook.... Damn.... The funny thing is the steel leader was clean, but the sinker mono, and the shock leader was frayed to hell. Not sure what happened here.
We make a few recasts as there was some bait stealers out there and I see my rod not bending at all, so got up to check the line to see it hanging limp. I reel in as fast as I can to catch up the slack and finally get the line tight on him. It went straight to the surface and started thrashing. Felt like my first Sevengill of the year! I forgot what a pain it was to have them rolling in your line and slapping the line with the tail the whole time. In any case, I don't think I got a good hook set when trying to catch up with it in the beginning, so off it went.
Right afterwards, Squatch had a good run and was on! Definitely shark and ran like a smaller soupfin.... He got it in close, and then the saddles appeared! Wow!, It's been a while since I last grabbed a big leo from the suds. I think Squatch was happy, but also disappointed with this catch as it keeps him at 66.
Well, that was it. We had some more critter bites and called it at 9:30. Not bad going 2 for 4 on sharks in a few hours. I'll take that anyday.
Thanks for reading.
