Bass Beach (05-02-17)

[Pinoyfisher]

Hit the surf sans Binh. He stood me up! Now accepting applications for a sand hand 3 bags of sweet sweet Shelter Island mini macks and a lone ~10" mack shared the sand with me.

Tried a different area since I've been hitting up the same stretch of beach the last few trips. Greeted with piles of kelp and eel grass... ruh roh. I figured a test cast couldn't hurt. Cut the big mack in half and gave it a good heave. Stood there knee and watched it sail into the breakers... great 1st cast!! Feeling supremely confident I was gonna hook up with right kind after that cast. Within seconds, the critters attack. I get several hard thumps that shake the tip, you've got my attention! I pop up off of my cooler and stand next to my rod. Then my rod gets slammed and line goes slack! Vintage 7gill bite!! I grab my rood and reel in the slack and feel my line come tight. I put a bend in my rod and hold on. Yeehaw! I'm on for a hot minute and then slack. Ugh! I bring in my line and find totally smashed mack head. Why didn't I set the hook?



I rebait with the tail section of the mack and cuss at myself for a good 5mins before I get another grinner type hit. This one actually knocked the rod out of the spike. Luckily I was close enough that I caught it before the reel hit the sand. I quickly reel in the slack. No grinner and 1" piece of the tail section is left. A clean bite!! Damnit, 0-2. After that, it was non-stop kelp as the tide began to swing. Time to go for a walk.



I see a couple of head lamps in the distance and what I thought was some camera flashes. Tom and Steve? Tom claims no, but I know I keep my distance and luckily find a patch of beach that looks weed free. I set up shop and begin feeding the calicos. I don't bring enough bait for them. I went through 3 bags of mini macks in no time. Actually had to leave earlier than I wanted because I ran out of bait. But, I did get into a ripper of a calico bite! First time getting 10 calicos from the surf. Sizes were great ranging from 14" to 22". The last one was an absolute beast too!! Violent head shakes all the way. I only took a few pics as every one has seen calicos.

1st calico at 14"


19"


22" beast





2nd night in a row for me pounding the sand. The grinner struggle is REAL!

[xjchad]

Dang Mike, you're sure putting in the time!  They will come!
Super nice calicos!
At least you know you were in the right place 
Good thing for me is it gives me more of a chance to catch you 

[Latimeria]

Sounds like you made the right call by switching up beaches!  Too bad you were using rubber hooks and lost a few potential 7-gill bites.  That could have catapulted you up the list pretty good.   

Super sweet calicos you've been catching though. 

[Tim524]

I see redemption heading your way 

[Eric H]

Imagine if you got those on the bass setup, that'd be sweet.

[vdisney]

22" is a huge calico not matter where it's caught, boat or sand....................awesome

[lightline21]

Looks like you had a great night! Congrats!