I'm too smashed to go into all the details but let me tell ya all that for me...this was a breakout day in the surf. I started around 11:00 a.m. and grubed until 2:30 p.m. Caught over 20 BSP but the payoff was a brut that measured just over 15" and was realy fat! Must have been close to 3lbs! No swollen uterus so I don't think it was a female.

Spent some drag and at first I thought I was playing with either a Ray or a nice sized Corbina. When I realized what it was, I got really nervous because I could see that it was hooked by a prayer!

Shore break gave me a break and I beached him.

No camera shot but believe me, (King Neptune curses liars about the size of fish) this babe made my day!

Equipment Breakdown:

Fenwick Salmon/Steelhead Rod HMXS 90-L-2
Shimano Symetre 2000FH
P-Line 4# test/6lb P-Line CFX Flurocarbon Leader.
Carolina Rig/ 1/2 oz slider, bead, #7 barrel swivel #8 Mustad bronze baitholder. The grub that nailed him was the Kalin's 1.5" Motoroil Gold Flake with Smelly Jelly (Shrimp)

By the way, he's swimming as you all are reading! :D Life is good!

Tight Lines!

Aztecwin

Nice work Aztecwin! Those pigs sure do give you a fight don't they? ;)

Tom
www.tacklethief.com

I thought about you Catfish landing that beauty up there at Zuma a few days ago! I'm stoked. Maybe the babes are on their way in. Lrts hope so!

Tight Lines!

Aztecwin

Nice fish! The chances are very likely that it was a female. Perhaps it hasn't started spawning yet. The spawn is just starting with a few months to go so it might be a late bloomer. The reason for me saying it was most likely a female is because males rarely live beyond 12" where as a female if given the chance to live a full life can reach 17". Another interesting thing about perch is that they are short lived with a life span of only about 6 years. They don't move around a whole lot either. Most will not move more than 6 miles from the beach where they leave the womb (live birth also very cool). I read about on some site for which I can't remember the address. Do a google search on barred surf perch and it will come up. Interesting reading.

JerryG

I intended on commenting on the retrieve but forgot. So here it is as it is not something that I had tried before. It's the one that I used for the largest fish of the day.

After the cast, I would begin by cranking like hell (really fast) for about two to three seconds and then pause for a second or two. After that, I would give the tip of the rod a twitch about three or four times at one second intervals. After that, I would repeat.

I got bit the most during the pause and the twitches. It worked well Sunday. Who knows about the next time.

Tight Lines!

Aztecwin

Catfish,

Thanks a million for the link with tacklethief.com. They have the Fenwick Salmon/Steelhead Rods on sale. $30.00 off. That 83ML-2S is an absolute steal at $69.00!

That babe will be my summer Corbina/Spotfin stick for fishing warm evenings. I'm going to marry it to my Shimano Stradic 4000 Spinner.

Stay Bent Everyone!

Aztecwin