The Fish Gods Looked Kindly Upon Me (4/14)

[Latimeria]

Well, basically Steve and I did a lot of driving to find a clean beach that didn't have any kelp monsters.  We finally found one that looked promising just to quickly find out it was all hidden and if you got a 2-4 minute soak, you were lucky.  It is my last fishing trip in a while since I'm having my back surgery on Thursday, so Steve was kind enough to keep me company through the miserable conditions.

Steve also used a twist on a zip tie rig by using a piece of grass to tie the tail on the hook.  It worked out pretty good as his casts got about 5-10 more yards per cast by not having the bait flail around in the wind.



Big Casts...



Rods high to keep the cabbage off the line as long as possible while bringing the rod to the holder.



Pretty much as I suspected things were hopeless, I saw a bump, then line screaming bendo on my rod!  Definitely a fish!

It was a nice little fight especially since she sought out every possible floating debris out there, but I beached a pretty damn nice leopard.  It's been a while since I've gotten a decent leopard so I was pretty stoked.  I payed homage to the fish gods and considered the day a success.

Long skinny thing...





The weeds got worse and worse so we called it early, but well worth the trip (for me at least)

Thanks again Steve, it was fun.  I hope these weeds lay down and the fish start jumping onto your hook.  I'll be an armchair fisherman for a while, so everyone better start catching and posting their fish!!! 

[xjchad]

Wow, I'm envious of how often you guys get out there!
Congratulations on that gorgeous leopard!

[Tim524]

Glad you got one before you become a couch potato Hope all goes well

[raychavez91]

Nice stuff guys, I hope you have a very speedy recovery so you can get back on the water man

[j.rasta]

There u go boss! sorry for jynxing you with the Leopard Squatch will start slayin again once your outta commission again B) nice work again guys!

[WheresMyBeer]

 

[sasquatch]

I'll be fishing, but I'm not even going to tell you what I catch for at least a month. I don't want to be any part of luring you out to fish too soon.

I was surprised as hell when you actually had a fish. That thing was pissed off and tough to tail.

[WheresMyBeer]

Tail tie with grass ... love it ...

Put annoyance to good use!!! 

[Eric H]

Best of luck with your surgery Tom.

[HalibutJoel99]

Nice done guys! Nice pictures too. Take care, Tom!