[dsafety]

Congratulations Eric, on catching the first big fish of the decade. That’s a record that cannot be broken. Unfortunately for me, I do not have a shaman in the neighborhood, but on the plus side, I have also spent a bit of time with Josh.

I arrived a little late to the launch on New Year’s Day. As I peddled past Eric with his beautiful WSB strapped to the back of his kayak, I was encouraged and hopeful that my day might end up in a similar fashion. I had not been on the water for more than a month and had missed the big bite that occurred in mid December. Based on all the chatter I had picked up, I figured that my best chance for success on this day would be yo-yoing some iron. So that is what I did. No love.

About an hour in, I ran across the Darkhorse, making bait. I asked him if he was planning to fish with bait. His typically cryptic response was that he wanted to have some bait on hand, “just in case”. That seemed reasonable to me so I decided to do the same. My first fish of the year was a 6” Spanish mackerel. Would this be my largest catch of the day? At least I was catching something so I filled the tank with a dozen or so macks, including a few greenies.

By this time most of the dawn patrol had given up and gone in empty handed. There were only a couple of us remaining along with several PBs. The weather was spectacular as I watched a couple gray whales cruise through the fishing grounds. I pinned on one of the greenies along with a slip sinker and sent my bait to the bottom.

After about 15 minutes of slow trolling, my bait started getting nervous. There was a bump, then another and then suddenly my line started peeling off the reel. I put the reel in gear and was rewarded. FISH ON! I knew that it was big, but what kind?

This fish fought hard. At first there were some very strong runs with a few angry head shakes thrown in. There were many minutes where we were at a stand-off. The fish was no longer taking line but I could not gain any ground either. About fifteen minutes into the battle, I was able to start making headway and retrieving some line. It started slowly but then became easier. At times, it felt like I was hauling up dead weight, like a big chunk of kelp.

Suddenly, the fish got new life. The reel was screaming as this thing headed for the bottom again. Then, just as suddenly the run stopped and I was reeling up dead weight again. What in the world had I hooked? We played this game a couple more times until about twenty minutes into the fight, I saw color. It was big. Easily the biggest fish I had ever hooked. Could I land it?

All of a sudden, there was hardly any resistance. I could still see the fish was still hooked but the fight was over. I quickly reeled in the last 25 feet and when the fish came to the surface, it rolled belly up. Catching a fish this big is new to me but I was fairly certain that in most cases getting the fish to the boat was only half the battle. I would have to carefully aim my gaff strike and hope that the fish would stunned enough so I could haul it onto my kayak. Not this time.


As Jay, the lone other kayker in the area closed in to check out the action, I simply grabbed this beauty by the gills and lifted it onto my lap. There was no need to use the gaff or even a club. I had landed my first White Sea Bass.

With Jay’s help, we secured the fish to the game clip and strapped it to the back of my Revo. I have no idea how I would have been able to accomplish this by myself. Thanks Jay for coming to my rescue and for the great photos.


This fish tipped the scales at 38 pounds. It was not only my first WSB but the largest fish I have ever caught. For a few short hours, it was probably the largest fish caught this decade in La Jolla. As I peddled in, I noticed that the Darkhorse was still out there fishing so I am sure that this record did not last very long.




What a way to start off the new year.
Bob