allright- I fished one of my favorite late season spots this evening. With the full moon, the tide was humping through the small channell that i was bouncing bucktails in and I hooked something large- I set the hook hard and she started to take a bit of drag. I figured she had to be 40 plus pounds by the way she would slowly move.. my rod was doubled over and my braid was making that sweet singing noise as it cut through the the 6 plus knots of current. As I steered her into the rip, she started peeling off line like a freight train. My drag was almost locked down and i could do nothing to stop her, so i was forced to leap from my standing rock and fight her down the bank of the channell until it opened up into calmer water. After working this bohemoth fish for about 60 feet down the bank she started taking line and i was able to start gaining back all of the line she had taken from me (about half my spool) After A while i was certian i had foul hooked this moose because she wasnt doing any head shakes, but i could feel it pulsing as i slowly worked her along the edge of the rip.
About what seemed like 10 minutes went by and I got a glimpse of her and i was greatly surprised- It wasnt a bass, but it had a wingspan of abut 4 feet. The back of the fish was battleship grey and the wingtips were fluttering away and i could make out the pure white belly- Also i could make out the long tail swaying in the tide..
I was crushed, i was hoping for a wall hanger bass, and wasnt sure what i was going to do with this giant ray, but as I got it within 20 feet of me i thought it looked a little flat, like it was 2 dimensional, or it was an extremely thin ray to say the least. When it was within 10 feet of me i finally realized what i had battled for so long with- I had hooked the corner of a grey bath mat.. the kind with the white ruberized bottom. the long tail turned out to be a 4 foot long piece of kelp.
sadly this was the best fish battle of my life.
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