i hear about guys using jigs and irons as weights for sabikis and catching yt or wsb, but this was something else.
made it out of newport harbor and tried for 30min to catch macs, no luck
started my way towards the rockfish grounds when i land on top of a thick school of chovies. drop down my sabiki setup (7' custom bay bass rod, 100' of 10# mono with spectra backing). and started catching chovies. cool. i decide to go for a cast because the bait ball moved out from under me. hooked a chovie and was bringing it in when the rod loads up, line shot out straight, and this punk ass jumps out 10ft in front of me. great...
10lbs mono with sabiki is not ideal for this type of fish AT ALL. so i just hold on, let my drag do whatever it can. wave hi to boats and kayakers staring at me. smoke some cigs. call my friend. took some pictures. and fought this thing for 1hr. i get it to the yak and turn it sideways. its a male. cool. it slaps me in the head/shoulder. not cool. i get it to the yak again and pull out my knife. slit its gills. let it bleed itself out and yank it on the yak. 1 hook of the sabiki was in its mouth. the other 5 were scattered around its face. legit hooked. i put a rope to its tail and then paddle in.
