Hit the beach for a solo mission on the first night of the 4/20-4/23 grunion runs. Decided to hit an OC soup spot that I almost never fish because the kelp gets very unfishable here especially later in the year. Had high hopes for a biter though since the water was finally into the upper 50s and it was a grunion run. Conditions looked good other than a little bit of salad was washing up but there wasn't much past the white wash.
Had my first bait in the water near the end of sunset. Soaked it about 30ish minutes before I checked for bait pickers. Bait was perfect still so I recasted. Only took a few minutes before my line went slack. Pick up my rod and it turns and starts peeling line. Set hook and it's obviously the right kind. Long runs, big headshakes, walking me up and down the beach and a couple jumps. After about a 10 minute fight I got my hands on her and slid her onto the sand. Got it unhooked, took a pic and released it within about 40 seconds.
Kept fishing for a few more hours with only one more bite that didn't get hooked a little after the high tide. Packed up around 12am.
Was stoked to finally get on a surfcasted soupfin again since it had been a while because I was busy playing with sevengills and prickly sharks. Happened about a month later than I expected the first one to bite but oh well.
4/20/23, Soupfin, *72 inch approx, Female, Bullet tuna, 3ft surf, 58 degree water, Incoming tide, New moon, OC
