Legal Halibut and A New Personal Best AM Report 5/20/17

[HalibutJoel99]

Headed out yesterday morning and was determined to get some quality fishing time in. Conditions were just perfect. Fished the 4.1 high tide at 5:15 AM. Second cast got a 10 inch Halibut. Tide was dropping fast and after that, I didn't get another bite for 2 hours. Decided to regroup and take a break. Headed out for some breakfast and thought of a new plan to fish the low tide.
Again the conditions were just ideal! Finally. No wind, clean water. low surf. And not much wind out there either. Armed with the LuckyCraft 115MR Aurora Black I started fishing 2 hours before low tide. About 20 minutes of continuous casting I felt a hit. Ended up with this nice Calico Bass.




Fished the same spot for another 30 minutes and no bites. Weather was perfect and there was crowds of people out enjoying the weather.
Decided to try another spot that has produced for me in the past. I just had no idea what was coming up for me next. Retied my lure and headed out casting. First cast I felt a bump and missed it. Second cast Same thing again. Didn't give up on the 2nd cast, and about 2 feet in front of me I saw this Halibut chase my lure. I paused and waited. Luckily the Halibut kept after the lure and I set the hook when I knew the Halibut had it! What an amazing battle this fish was. I almost fell down a couple times bringing this fish in and even lost a flip flop on the way in. I just remembered to keep the line tight the whole way in. The feeling of power that this Halibut had is something i'll remember for quite some time. After a solid 10 minute battle I reeled in my prize. A new personal best 32.5 inch Halibut. Fish weighed out at 13.9 pounds. The battle is still fresh in my mind. Its a great feeling!

Here are some pictures, and its so nice to be back out on the sand.













I was pretty happy!



The season is just beginning! Cant wait to see what happens next! Fish was pretty heavy too.



Thanks for reading my report and good luck out there.

Until next tide!

Joel 

[sasquatch]

Nice fish Joel

[Gage949]

Huge butt!

Where can I get one of the those big measuring tapes?

[vdisney]

Once again, congrats on the PB Joel................

[Latimeria]

So that's where the halibut are at!  I couldn't sniff them out in my boat the past few trips.

Congrats on the PB, Joel!  That's a prized halibut from any boat, jetty, bay, inlet and especially surf!  Well done boss!  Well done!

[Tim524]

That's a nice Hali, congrats

[SevengillTheVC]

That is a legit butt! Nice going man! Wish I had the patience to chuck lures!

[LONGCAST JOE]

That is a legit butt! Nice going man! Wish I had the patience to chuck lures!

What are you talking about Adam? Chuck lures is what I'll do when I become impatient waiting for my clicker to go off on the long rod.
Joe

[LONGCAST JOE]

That's a brut of a but Joel. Wow...
Are you saying you hooked into it when it was only 2 feet in front of you? If so that must of been one hell of a powerful first run it made.

[1morecast]

Great job......Joel!