Spooled twice in one night.

[Nebe]

Foul hooked fifty...
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Mr. Sandman]

Told my younger son about it and he wanted to go with me "to give me a hand if I got it again". We were talking about how the west coast guys catch those real big yellowfins on those 10 day excursion trips, they fight it on stand up gear and when they get to the end of the line, they lock up the drag and clip the entire rod and reel to ANOTHER rod and toss the first setup into the ocean and fight the fish on the second rod, when they wear down the fish, the first rod comes up and they reel it from that one. There was a guy on TV that had 3 rods in the water at one time! I told him I did not know if that would work that well from the surf and I don't really want to risk my new SEAWOLF surf rod w stella being tossed in the drink.

Slightly different night and different conditions, no sea monsters but he got a nice fish (bogoed@27) on a pretty light 7' st croix rod that I normally use for albies from the beach.

[SAUERKRAUT]

My guess: sharks. Probably duskies if you were fishing along East Beach over there. And yes, they do travel in small pods. I lost two freight trains within an hour of each other years ago like much of what you describe.. Both of them went through 45 lb. coated wire leader.

Bonds

[SeaWolf]

i'm saying a really, really pissed off scup.

[QUOTE=Mr. Sandman;700245]...and I don't really want to risk my new SEAWOLF surf rod w stella being tossed in the drink.QUOTE]

warranty void! do you want a 80#-class, 10' surf rod for a Stella 20k now? they do make spinning rod harnesses for that purpose.

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by SeaWolf

warranty void! do you want a 80#-class, 10' surf rod for a Stella 20k now? they do make spinning rod harnesses for that purpose.

The gear held up fine, just ran out of rope.



After thinking about it I think they probably both were seals. We have a bunch of them around (still). They could have been sharks but I think I could have landed a small shark and the mono leader was not cut. Whatever it was it still has me up at night dreaming about it. The put up a hell of a fight! Lets make seals a game fish! I would have loved to landed one of them just to see it.

As far as all the questions: The lure was a jointed X-rap w/ upgraded hook/rings. Drag pressure was... a lot. I had a high setting and on the end of the first fish and the entire second fish had put my hand on the spinning spool to the point of burning the hell out of my hand, seawater splashing up on the spool helped a lot. I would guess 30lb steady with 40lb near the end. It was a lot. The lure on my son's rod was a yellow bomber (he loves those..and even has his bomber hat on). I suck at night photo's I still can't take a good night shot (I am better in daylight in a plane.)

It is a sick feeling in your stomach when you feel the rod pull forward, look down and see the black tape and a knot tied to the spool.

[Swimmer]

Jim that big seal I hooked into on the south side two yeasr took conservatively 400 to 500 feet of line before it came up and turned around to look at me with the line coming out of its mouth where the hook was embedded in its jaw. What a freight train it was. I leaned back and yelled to my brother who was casting a plug. It was a real trip. Thought I had Al Mcreynolds record catch beat by a mile, before reality set in.