The inshore fishing is still extremely slow for halibut and/or white seabass in the Santa Barbara area but I did get a nice surprise this morning south of Goleta Pier.

I was fishing for about an hour and a half for nothing when finally I got this very light tap on my Sardine Fish Trap. I cranked down and slammed him and he slammed back - hard! At first I thought I might have snagged another bat ray but I was sure I felt an actual strike. After a few minutes (the initial run) I was sure it was a fish just because of the way it was moving. Heavy head shakes, kind of like a white seabass but different. I forgot to time it but it was at least 15 minutes before I got my first glance. I've never seen a black sea bass before but assumed that's what it was. I saw how immense the thing was and knew there was no way it was going to fit in the net so I started kicking toward the beach. I got the fish on the beach, quickly measured it, took some pictures near my tube, tried to weigh it (bottomed out my 50 lb. scale), and let it go. It only took a couple seconds before it gave a powerful thrust of it's tail and took off. It was 43 inches long and had a 32 inch girth. A lot of fun for slow day!

Anyone have any ideas on what it probably weighed? The G x G x L/800 formula says 55 lbs.