Trophy fishing...

[THE DARKHORSE]

Originally Posted by bob

Your classic. I have also caught many big fish. Your a great fisherman. I have had the luxury of fishing gill nets as a kid with my uncle from oceanside to lj. Ya Ya gill nets I know. Sorry fish huggers. Oceans version of tree hugger. I hope the fish huggers dont bother you. We would pull up hundreds of white seabass that were trash cause eels would eat them from the inside out in the nets. I can tell you I have seen our boat so full of white seabass we had to take two trips. That massive haul was not in lj it was north. My spot for big toads is north. Its funny how the sheepal flock to the corner of lj. . I will bet the bank you are sitting in the thick of the kelp with heavy gear. maybe a white iron with a greeny pinned to it. Light drag and wait till it gets wraped in the kelp. Then you deal with it. The fish are getting much larger than the gill net 80s. I can tell you guys that are bummed at this guy for catching 5 10 or 50 of these fish your nuts. I have seen first hand the fish are more and bigger than ever. Since the gill nets are gone. No joke I caught a 70.3 lbs hali at my spot. Maybe a record but no claim to fame. Get real fish huggers and learn how to fish. Thanks for sharing.

I appreciate your views, and I believe you to have a past with gill-nets as it sounds as if you speak the truth. I too, know more than one old time netter and I've heard all the stories of wasted toads full of holes. Although, I've heard missing stomachs were thought to be from Sealions or Sharks. Apparently many creatures love the internals of White Seabass over the body. Either way, I respect your opinion, and I would bet your a pretty kick ass fisherman yourself. I doubt thousands of hours on the water hurt your success ratio today.

As far as technique goes, close, but no cigar. As a matter of fact my two largest White Seabass this spring weren't caught in the kelp, and fewer have been in the kelp every day. I know this because 98% of the WSB I've caught, I watched them eat, and I keep a close eye on the number of fish I see (location, size of schools, paired up or not, and agression level towards food). Like divers, I've learned how to track them daily...they have tails so each day's different though. I caught 75% of them on squid and the last 25% on Mackerel. My gear isn't really heavy either, and I don't just let them wrap up. I've found them to be masters of shaking the hook when wrapped, and I prefer to use heavier drag to cut the kelp and shorten the fight for release. I use hooks that straighten out under a certain load, a load that's similar to what the line I use can handle. Maybe back in the day heavy gear would have worked, but the fish I catch won't touch heavy line. I've done the experiment many times, watched them laugh at heavier flourocarbon, switch to the lighter stuff...Boom. If only I could get bit at greylight farther down the water column, but I specialize is sight fishing and I only caught three I didn't see first. The best part about this technique is you pick your target, let the smaller grade swim by, and if you know what you're doing 99% of the time hook them in the corner of the mouth. I only had one fish under fifty that I kept because she was hooked a little deeper, a 42.5 lb fish. I would have released her, but I couldn't get the hook out safely and she was bleeding (not gut hooked). This was the only fish that I hooked deeper than I would have liked, it broke my heart to accidently take the wrong fish. It's an amazing, stressful, tight rope fight which some fish win, and nine straightend out hooks to show. Most fights last just over a minute, and like any fight there can only be one winner. Some will say "WTF, now guys are going to duplicate your technique and wipe out the WSB population"...good luck, I could write a book with all the other details you'll need for this technique to work. And anyone who can't tell the WSB and Yellowtail population has exploded over the years isn't looking.

Should I assume that spot you hold dear and secret lies straight out from Cardiff Reef, from the 100 fathom line working in...how many tons did you take from there?