Kayak & Yellowtail gear just wasn't enough....WOW! El Nino is here!!!
 

Today is a day that I will never forget. It started out fairly normal , I like many others have got into the saltwater frenzy with el nino producing fantastic catches for many. I am a longtime bass guy that has ventured into the saltwater a little bit from time to time but never very seriously. Recently I bought a kayak again, Hobie Oasis tandem, so the girlfriend and I could get out into the harbor and do some fishing. I kept seeing all of these posts and knew I wanted to get out there in the big blue for the big boys. I kept reading and put together a collection of gear and had this weekend all to myself so this was the time to do it. Saturday I went out of Newport Harbor after seeing the yellowtail post and made bait for the first time (cat food) and proceeded to cover miles of water without a single strike...bummer. I had one more day so decided to go down to Dana point after reading several posts that some good fish were coming out of that area, Iceman, Yani, etc. Went out to make bait with my confidence from the day before and had a tough time, 1 spanish and 1 small something so I swallowed my pride and went back into the bait barge at 8:30am for some sardines and off I go. Getting off to a later start I was conflicted....stay fairly close or just go for it and start pedaling out and see what happens. Out I went and this is what happened about three miles out... :reel:

https://youtu.be/xsR8CRDSI0g

Epic! That's sick!

thats frickin amazing! So did u land it?

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm

Omg!!


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Wow. Badass man


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Now thats an on the water report!!!!!!!:you_rock:

Next video please thats awesome

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Geeeezzz!!! Let's see it!


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is this guys still out there? that marlin could take you several miles and you can get caught in a bad rip.

Should be circling catalina by now! Update please!!!!!

Cool stuff right there...!

Holy crap.. I can't wait to see the ending results!

So as the title says I was just not geared up for a fight like this. I was very safe and had my jacket on, radio going, GPS, etc, but about a mile and a half into it you start thinking...is this beast even getting tired yet? how many miles is safe to be able to get back? Right about then a boat cruised up within shouting distance and I told them what was going on and they hung out for a while. The captain says you need to button down that drag to even have a chance on a fish like that. So I Buttoned down the drag and started fighting, they said they would hang out if I was going to make it happen so that's what I tried to do. That was another 30 minutes of totally getting my but kicked as I think that he just found out he was hooked. He headed straight down a couple hundred feet and started cruising again while I had a huge load on the rod and couldn't budge him. Finally 2 hours / 3 miles into it SNAP my rod breaks off at about the 4 1/2 foot mark...I tried to continue and SNAP my 65# spectra breaks right at the top eye with no more flex in the rod. The guys in the boat take off and I just sat there for a minute thinking about what just happened...awesome!

And with a big smile on my face pedaled back to the harbor.

Final Snapshot
 

Here was the track. Picked him up just before the waypoint....and lost him where the track turns around. :linesnap:

This year just got even more ridiculous. That's sooo dope. :cheers1:

I really admire your spirit to not give up, get out there a second day and then hook a marlin! We've all tasted defeat and it makes us think about cutting our losses. Too bad about your rod and lost fish but I think that's just as cool of an ending… glad you made it back safe! :cheers1:

Commendations! Good fight!

Great to hear you fight back from a skunk to hook up on the mother of all kayak hook ups! Just awesome, I'm very jealous.