Next Gear Size Up (5/20)

[Latimeria]

I've gone from 6 to 10 pound test gear and moving to bigger gear as my back heals.  Yesterday I wanted to give it a test with some bigger spinning gear to see if I'm ready to move up or not.  I basically was geared for leo's being the bigger of my targets and most likely going to get bass with how I rigged. 

I just wanted to sneak out for a little bit and keep it low profile in case I had to resort back to the little gear.  I drove up to Squatch's neck of the woods as he found a small area of beach that had weeds, but was very fishable.  The surf however was MUCH bigger than forecasted.  It said 2-3', but sets 5-6' were rolling through every 15 minutes.

Steve on his first cast said "WTF? My reel isn't working!".  He detached his reel and went to the truck to try and fix it.  He came back with a Donut in his hand instead of a reel.  Apparently, he shaved his brass gears through all of the heavy work that reel has had and brass shaving were all over in his reel.  The reel was toast, so he brought his donut down to practice cast.



Steve said he'll hang out while I fished which was pretty cool. 

I was baited with Big Eye Scad from 99 Ranch so I didn't have great expectations.  I chummed the waters with old bait I had in my freezer just waiting for something to come in.

Finally, at dark, I got onto a good bass bite.  I must have swung on a dozen of them, but only got two in with my first being the biggest.



I followed it with a nice mustache bass.



Followed by what I thought were weeds, but turned out to be a CPR lobster.



I had two VERY sharky hits also, but they felt more leopard shark than anything else.  In any case, I couldn't move fast enough to get them to stick, so that's where my story ends.  I had a long ass drive home and my back is feeling it today, but I think I might be slowly getting back to normal.  I'm going to push it a little more each week until I'm back at 100%

I'll tell you one thing, that was my first time in the surf in 6 weeks and it felt great!  Conditions were not the best, but I didn't care.  Thanks Steve for hanging out and watching me fish.
Now go treat yourself to a new surf reel!   

[Tim524]

Sounds like you are getting conditioned for productive summer 

[WheresMyBeer]

Almost there ...

[raychavez91]

Congrats guys, glad Steve was able to improvise lol
Hopefully 2/3 more weeks and we may see a soup or 7 upgrade lol

[sasquatch]

 As much trouble as you have been through lately, Tom, there was no way I would let a simple thing like a used up reel keep you from your chance to fish. It was cool to get some decent casts in with the yoyo, and hopefully I will be picking up a reel here quickly.

[HalibutJoel99]

nice outing guys! Movin on up. Soon we will see the big dogs from you Tom! 

[SevengillTheVC]

Nice session Tom! Glad you're healing

[Eric H]

 

[lamnidae]

Those were some nice bass, though. You'll reach "beast mode here very soon. Baby steps. The back is definitely a piece of equipment that you'll not want to rush the process. At least you're getting out there and not getting cabin fever.