Fished outside the harbor this morning. I Checked out the big ship...its not the same one that was there last week. Anyways, first fish was a sculpin...released. Next was a 18-20 inch also halibut, released. Next came a strong bulldogging fish that didn't want to come up. It made 2 slow but powerful runs back down to the bottom before I saw it. I thought I had a legal butt on, but it turned out to be a baby black sea bass. This was the first one of these I've caught. I'd saw it was about 8 or 10 pounds. A surprizingly pretty fish. Although I only lip hooked him, he proceed to roll belly up and lay still in the water. I tried to revive him for about 15 minutes, but he didn't even try to swim. Eventually I got enough O2 into him and he tried to swim away. But he bobbed back up. Now that I had woken him up, he was bobbing like a cork! I picked him up and stabbed him in the gut. Lightly rubbed his stomach to get some air out. Revived him some more and sent him off again. As he swam away...little bubbles came out of the tiny hole I made. I think he made it.

Next was a smashing strike. I short stroked the fish up a couple times, but he made short runs down to the bottom. Sound familiar?
I got him up and it turned out to be a about a 15 pound halibut. For some reason I completely lost my cool and took a truly crappy swipe at him with the net...somehow forgetting the rules of netting fish that are too big to go into the net sideways. Well that pissed him off and he made a magnificent run that ended up breaking me off of 15 pound test maxima. Released <cough>. We got the butts 2 weeks ago...I suppose that it was Mr. Big Flatty's turn to win today. I hold no grudge...hehe.

It is nice to hear that you made a persistent effort to save the black seabass. What was the fishing depth that caused the air bladder to fill? What did you use to make the holes? I have a bait-threading needle in my tackle box. Would this work or should I use something else if I catch a bsb?

Good job.

Only 50 or 60 feet of water. I did everything I could to save him. I think he made it. He really was toasted after the 5 minute fight. I didn't horse him, but I didn't drag the fight out. He was very stubborn coming to the surface. I just made due with what I had and poked him with a narrow sharp file on a pair of clippers I hang on my license cord.

I'm almost finished with my new gaff...I wish I had had it out there to make the perfect puncture. It would've nicely subdued that big angry halibut too.... I'm still surprized at the run he made that broke me off. What an amazing fish.

LAST EDITED ON Aug-28-01 AT 08:17 AM (PST)

(not to be taken as criticism of your actions, you did what you could with the tools at hand, with the knowledge at hand)

The current view is that puncturing the air bladder can lead to infection. If you start getting into these critters on a consistant basis, take a 3 lb ball tie a big barbless hook to it. Tie your main line to the bend of the hook so that it is pulled down by the weight. Hook the fish in the lips, and lower him back to depth. When you pull up on the wieght, it will pull the hook out of the BSB and they will be at depth, where they will be able to regulate their air bladder. Email me if you want more details.

http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/User_files/3b8bc39a18e5abc2.jpg

Marco Farrell
AKA Moondoggie
http://www.whiteseabass.com

Oh, and good job hooking up with the flatties.

Email me, lets get wet and whack some fish!

Marco
have2fish@yahoo.com

Frank,
Sounds like an awesome trip, buttery launch too, no surf! What bait are you using while ballin'? My dad and I have tried crystal minnows, hootchie skirts, and rebel minnows and we still havent hooked a legal. I think its time to break out the live bait.
Tommy

I am sooo lovin the .5 mile walk to the bait reciever with my kayak on bigass wheels. It is the SCHIEST! Anyone please feel free to email me and meet up. I'll be fishing many weekends from now on. I also am planning on going Wednesday mornings sometimes too, weather and work permitting. I have a bit a flexibility at work so I plan to maximize my fun time, especially fishing. Email me for my new phone number if anyone wants it.

I'm using live and dead anchovies in fairly deep water and experimenting with all sorts of funky complicated leader/weight setups. Marco I've heard of that trick and I should be prepared for that. I'm outfitting my yak and will be adding all sorts of crappola so I think I can manage that little dohickey you mention.

call me... wanna fish tonight?

marco

455-5362

frank, did not get your email, call me again 3:45 wed.

marco