LJ 9-27 First Yellow

[LipYanker]

Water Temp 69 degrees, calm early with some wind in the afternoon and good water movement.

Launched late at about 9 am. Made my way towards the pier to make bait but didnt see anything on the ff. Finally made bait, once I found it, there seemed to be acres of it, from the surface to about 30 ft down. All Spanish. Filled up my tank more than usual so I was sure to have lobster bait leftover. (awesome seminar on saturday at oex KM, by the way) Once I was happy with the amount of bait I had, I tied one on and paddled my way out. Since I have never fished with anyone in LJ I've got no idea where the "spot" is. I like to do things the hard way until I get fed up. I've been systematically fishing all the spots that have no fish so maybe some day i'll be able to dial 'em in. So I paddle, and paddle, and paddle, fishing the edge of the kelp til i'm in about 100-110 ft of water and out of nowhere comes the largest ugliest monstrosity I've seen to date, and of course he has my bait in his mouth and is laughing at me. At least he left me the head. At this point its noon and i'm starving so i pull into the kelp to get out of the chop and eat lunch. Decide to head the back the way I came since i've been paddling with the current and know its gonna be a few hour paddle home. As soon as I get a bait out and swimming the way I like 'em to, my clicker lets out this noise i've never heard it make before. That thing had some urgency in its tone for the first time. This was no calico, or piece of kelp.

I reach back and pull the rod out of the rod holder, thumb the line a little to see if I can feel anything. Is that a head shake? Disengage the clicker and put it in gear, BENDO!!! Just so you know up to this point i've fished LJ maybe 15 times and have never caught a Yellowtail mostly just calico. I didnt realize how strong these fish are, I've caught 60lb Dorado and massive Sails in Costa Rica (all off a sport boat) along with Tarpon and snook in south Florida and pound for pound I think these yellowtail hang with the best of em. I was praying that this fish would not take me to the kelp, I run 65lb power pro but I didnt want my first yellow to be a disaster. The fish complied, and went straight down, and out. My poor Torium 14 was definitely getting a work out.

After about 10 minutes I get him to color and realize, ALL THAT AND HES JUST A LITTLE ONE!!! little, but not too little to eat, I slid him into my lap and just like I've read he sat there and let me pet him. Oh and secure him to my game clip. The hook was barely in his mouth, hanging by a thread! I'm sure you can imagine my excitement at finally catching one of these guys after quite a few hours learning by trial and error.

Sent another bait out and did my slow paddle back to the launch. No hits on the way in which didnt seem to bother me much. I had the fish on the deck when I landed and had lots of onlookers and questions as to where, on what, and can I show them. Got the truck and once I got back to load up the boat a rep from the DFG asks if I can answer a few questions for a survey. Why not, I'm in a good mood. The good thing was he measured and weighed the fish for me. 26 inches at the fork and 8 lbs. I know he was little (compared to some of the 40 pounders i've seen on here) but he was mine and I loved him.

One last thing to mention, there was an emergency on the beach when i was walking back from my truck prior to launching. I think a diver had a heart attack or drowned. The life guards performed an awesome rescue attempt and were doing CPR on the beach for about 10 minutes until the Fire Crew and Ambulance showed up. I'm not sure if she made it or not, but I said a prayer and left the professionals to their often thankless job. Thanks guys (lifeguards) for looking out for everyones safety.

I'll post a pic when I get out of work tonight.