I
launched at around 4:45 am so I could make bait at Scripps Pier
and then head back across the canyon. I picked up a handful of
greenbacks at the pier and paddled back towards the point. Just
before sun up I dropped a greenie down on a 3-way swivel with an
8 oz. torpedo and a 2/0 ringed gorilla hook on 40# mono. I
didn't have to wait long before my bait got hit hard. I let it
run for a few seconds, set the hook, and I was on for a ride.
The SE wind was up and the wind chop was already pretty hectic,
so the sideways ride in the choppy slop made it even more fun.
The fish made a couple sideways runs and then it was all up and
down. I finally got the fish up about 25 minutes later and had
a big and chunky YT on deck. I was thinking 30#-35# and was
pretty ecstatic at this point. I distributed some bait to a
couple other yakkers out there and sent one of my last two
greenies out. I started paddling back to "the spot" when my
bait took a massive hit. This fish hammered my bait and spun me
around taking line at an amazing pace. I finally started
getting some line back when the fish decided to head for one of
the many lobster buoys out there. Luckily, it didn't want to
sit and circle around the buoy rope, so I was able to clear the
rope and continue the sleigh ride. At this point I thought
something was wrong with the drag setting on my Shimano TLD 15.
Even with the drag buttoned down I couldn't horse her in. My
arms and back were tired from the first fish so I had to break a
few times from the tug-of-war. About 20 minutes later I got her
to color and was amazed at the size of the fish circling
underneath me. With the one fish on my lap it made the gaff a
little difficult, but both the fish and I were tired by this
point so there wasn’t much of a fuss. I finally got her to gaff
and threw her on top of the other fish that lay bleeding on
deck. After securing her with my other fish I bled her as well
and thought this one could be pushing forty+. With its head
hanging over to my left, its tail was hanging in the water much
like the 43#er I caught in January - so I was stoked and ready
to paddle in. I
was all alone on the beach upon landing - no one to share my
prize with and no one to take pictures. When I stuck the tape
on the "smaller" one it measured 44 inches from nose to fork. I
got pretty excited about then since the other was a tad bigger.
I stuck the tape on her and I was shocked to see it top out at
just over 52 inches - and fat, too, with a 27 inch girth. I
didn't bother weighing them on my handheld - I went straight to
the bait/tackle shop by my office for an official, certified
weight. When I asked if their scale was up and running he said
yes, and could I bring the fish into the shop in a bucket - a
bucket I said?
The first one hit the scale at a whopping 39 lbs. 14 oz.
The second one floored me ....
52
lbs. 8 oz.
Arne Rovell |
arne@hedgeassist.com
Dennis Spike with a kayak fishing record 75# white sea bass in May 2000. The big croaker was 2" shy of 5 feet with a 32" girth. "Falcon and I were following the squid looking for white sea bass. I threw a small Krocodile and was busted off on 12 pound test. Flylining a sardine I caught earlier on a 20 pound leader and 25 pound line, I got picked up and pulled about 1000 yards in 3 magnificent runs. The fish was exhausted and easily landed. Falcon hooked up following me on the initial run and eventually landed a 58 pounder.
Spike & Falcon near the end of an epic day on the water. Brian "Falcon" Cambell of Newbury Park, California landed a 59 pounder.
29# Baqueta- Also called "gulf coney" and "red grouper". October 2004 launching off the beach at Rancho Leonero during a Kayakfishing.com trip.
Fishing deep for tuna, "Anacapa Bob" Kirk from Newbury Park California landed this rare catch he hooked at about 200' on a Megabait iron. As big as they get at 29#, these fish don't come shallow and are not targeted by sport anglers. It didn't take long for commercial and recreational take to effect the viability of all the world's groupers. We strongly recommend anglers adopt a no-take policy on severly impacted species and release all you can.
Dave Robinson-Sarasotta Florida, Estimated 130#Tarpon
"TANDEM RECORD CALIFORNIA HALIBUT-MONTY MOCK, KEITH JOHNSON" 53.8 LBS
JULY 5TH 2002 -
"CAMPING AT SAN ELIJO STATE BEACH CALIFORNIA, NEAR CARDIFF REEF, MY
FRIEND KEITH JOHNSON AND I (MONTY MOCK-CYPRUS,CALIFORNIA) WENT FISHING
JUST BEYOND THE KELP AT HIGH TIDE. I DROPPED A 12" LIVE MACKEREL TO THE
BOTTOM WITH MY 700XL CALSTAR GRAPHITER ROD WITH 25LB ANDE LINE ON A PENN
JIGMASTER. IN A COUPLE MINUTES MY LINE GOT VERY HEAVY. AFTER A COUPLE
SHORT RUNS I GOT THE FISH UP AND IT QUICKLY RETURNED TO THE BOTTOM.
AFTER A FEW MORE MINUTES I GOT IT BACK UP. I OPENED THE HATCH AND HANDED
KEITH A LITTLE HOME MADE GAFF. I GUIDED THE FISH TO KEITH IN FRONT OF
THE KAYAK. HE HOOKED THE FISH IN THE MOUTH WITH ONE SHOT AND LIFTED IT
UP WRAPPING HIS OTHER ARM AROUND THE HUGE FISH. EVEN AFTER THAT THE
HALIBUT WAS STILL HALFWAY IN THE WATER GOING NUTS. THEN KEITH STUCK HIS
HAND UNDER THE FISH'S GILL PLATE AND OUT ITS MOUTH. KEITH TOOK MY KNIFE
AND BLED IT, THAT SLOWED HIM DOWN. IT TOOK ALOT OF STUFFING TO FIT THAT
BEAST THROUGH THE HATCH. ONCE WE GOT IN WE TOOK IT TO BLUE WATER TACKLE
IN SOLANO BEACH AND IT WEIGHED IN AT 53.8 LBS AND MEASURED 50"."
Spotfin Croaker 7 Pounds, 26 Inches-12# test Shimano Corsair Reel, Abu Garcia Rod
Jerry Giberti- Alhambra, California- July 4th, 2004
Mike Rager from Houston Texas landed this 35 pound King Mackerel fishing in the Gulf of Mexico off of Galveston Island on Sunday, August 4th, 2002. The fish was taken on an 8 inch live mullet on a plain wire kingfish rig using a Shimano Bantam 50 reel and a 6 foot Rhino rod with 17# line. According to Mike's account, "Since the reel only held 220 yards of line, I was nearly spooled on the fishes first run. I was pulled at least 1000 yards straight offshore. The fish fought for about 20 minutes before it quietly came to gaff."
"SOLO RECORD CALIFORNIA HALIBUT"
Jeff "Rhino" Krieger, inventor of the Rhynobar, landed a 50 pound California halibut at the Los Angeles/ Ventura County line in 60 feet of water. Rhino used a bucktail jig on 15# test line. "I have always had good luck fishing on family birthdays and this fish was no exception. I had to get permission from the birthday boy, my eldest son Ryan was enjoying his 6th birthday, October 2nd 1999. The party was later in the day so he wished me luck and said "catch me a big one dad". I launched at the LA/Ventura county line and headed out to 80' where a squid boat was on anchor after fishing squid in that location the previous night. Sand bass were a fish a cast when the big halibut took my offering, a stripper jig 1-1/2 oz tipped with a squid strip, on 15lb Sufix clear mono line,Shimano Calcutta 400s on a Graphtech 7' medium action rod. The battle lasted 20 minutes and the fish came in without much commotion for a big fish. The hen (female halibut), weighed an even 50 lbs. on the State Certified Grocers meat scale at my local market Green Acres in Simi Valley. Measured at 54", it is still my biggest ever and probably will be for a long time."
Vivian
Oliva, Miami Florida. 41" snook. June 30th, 2001
Fishing the outgoing tide at one of the exits from shallow
Chokoloskee Bay, there was a lot of baitfish action. I started
trolling with a 1/4 oz cottee red head jig with a 4" rootbeer Gotcha
swirl tail grub. After about 100 yards, my kayak came to a halt and
started going backwards. A flash of silver and it looked like a tarpon
so I grabbed the rod and got a good hook set, at which point the fish
started taking me around faster into open water. Then it decided to do
what all snook do to get free... head into the mangroves. As the fish
was 5 feet from the mangroves I opened the bail and took the pressure
off the fish. It stopped and started swimming out into the open again.
Great! I let it go and started picking up line slowly until it was
clear of the shoreline and I resumed the fight. I finally tired it
out. Paddling around for what seemed like hours to find CBK, Tom and TJ,
I finally spotted CBK and he had a camera to record the fish. It
measured 41" but the girth was not taken so we will never know how much
it weighed. I was fortunate to have been able to get the fish back in
the water and it swam away.
Tackle used:
Shimano 4000 spinning reel with a Falcon med/heavy action rod
FS-5-16. Line: Ande 10lb test with a 30lb mono leader tied to line with
a
surgeons knot. The lure is tied to leader with a loop knot (very
important).
Vic Van Wie, Studio City,
California. 256 pound common thresher shark.
"The thresher shark hit about twenty minutes after I started soaking a
live mackerel. He ripped off all 80 yards of mono top-shot and was
into the spectra backing within a few seconds. Even with my bait bucket
in the water I was still getting pulled at a pretty respectable clip.
After about an hour and a half, and one spectacular jump it turned into
a stand off with him about 20-30 feet below the kayak. For about another
half hour we played tug o' war. When he finally came up Rhino was there
to grab the leader and tie him off to his "monster shark catching rig".
Rhino then dispatched the shark by clubbing it soundly and repeatedly on
the head. I tied off it's tail to my bow and then we heaved it into my
boat. Game over.
Gear: Daiwa 6'6" Sealine-X rod and Daiwa Sealine-X SL-X30HV reel with
30lb. Izorline and Power Pro backing. I used a 5/0 mustad circle hook
with a 300 lb. mono leader.
The fish weighed in at 256lbs. and 10ft.10in on a physicians scale.
Justin Rascoe from
Texas-Speckled Trout
"Caught this one in my 10' Coleman Ranger. Lit a smoke while she was
tearing out drag and by the time I was done, she was just breaking the
surface. I spent another 10 minutes unweaving this monster from the
anchor line, then my little net would only get the head. Three tries
later, I landed it and when she hit the deck the lure popped out of her
mouth. LUCK!!!
Allstar rod, Curado w/6 lb test, no leader-using a
4" white baby flappin' shad-caught in Trinity
bay. wt. 9.42lbs after she puked up a 12" mullet."
Larry Laumann from La Jolla, California with a 53"- 50.65 pound California Yellowtail-October 30, 2005
Sunday was a great day. Everything went right. I got very lucky.
Headed out around 8:30am on my first trip from La Jolla Shores (California) since Spring to chase some halibut with some heavy gear. Sunny beautiful day out... The plan was to head over to Blacks and cover some sand trolling mackerel. At the pier I got a few greenies (Pacific mackerel) and a sardine into the bait tank. Headed north, "around the buoys" area off Blacks Beach. The water depth goes to 70 feet+ pretty quick, so I was goofing around with my rigs to keep the bait near the bottom while moving. Caught a couple leopard sharks up to probably 4 feet long. Good warm up. Couple hours of trolling, circling and waiting, enjoying the view and the sunshine. Suddenly in about 20' of water, the fat TLD30 two-speed starts screaming full speed, straight away off the stern. I still had to clear my other friggin' line by reeling like a madman with the hooked up rod under my leg while getting towed (?!) I hate that part. By the time I started winding on the fish (80#spectra, 80# mono topshot, 30# fluoro leader, 3way swivel, 8 oz, with a circle hook), it was probably 100+ yards away - she was angling a big circle around a distant lobster buoy. I remember thinking Bat Ray?, Black Seabass?, and maybe another shark but, they don't swim that fast. I dug my paddle hard numerous times to keep my bow pointed at the fish, my trusty kayak and I were "catching up" slowly. After 10 minutes of battle, we were finally out in deeper water and I got straight up and down for the real battle. The fish started sulking straight down, and I HAD TO SHIFT THE REEL INTO LOW GEAR to make any progress! Impossible sized head shakes(or, wing flaps?), and even more relentless runs for the bottom. Full bendo with my heavy tuna stick for "a long time" out there. When I looked over to suddenly see deep color in the clear water, I knew it wasn't a BSB or mud marlin. Shiny and, BIG. Got a few more cranks here and there onto the reel. Whew, felt more like "long-range" fishing. Finally saw a huge silvery belly, green back, and the tail ..... a YELLOW tail! Um, Yellowtail??! Fighting back full-blown panic, I screamed "Holy @$@#$@ Mother of God" at the top of my lungs - grabbed the gaff and stuck her on the first surface circle. Nice, a solid gaff shot right into the gills/belly and I pulled hard on the big gaff with all my remaining strength. I stabilized the ol' Scupper Pro, legs overboard, and held on tight through the furious bucking and shaking that followed. Grabbing onto the gills inside, I noticed a fat blood trail from the gaff shot, thinking 'yeah that's a good thing' as she weakened slowly. I held on and just drifted with this death-grip for quite awhile, being patient, waiting for the right moment to attempt to dig out my stringer (buried behind me, ugh). By the time I had a rope through the gills, I had to start paddling, as a set wave almost broke on me. Looked at the meter ... 12 feet deep !!!!
53", 50.65 lbs. on the La Jolla El Pescador Fish Market scale.....
Dan Curran / St.
Louis, MO-Tarpon
Attached is a photo of me with a 47" X 23"
girth TARPON caught in the backwaters near Naples, FL. I was using a 9
1/2 foot, 7 weight flyrod, 25# shock leader, 2/0 white streamer fly. He
pulled me ~ 1/2 mile, luckily towards where the car was parked and near
where my partner was fishing. Almost an hour later I finally grabbed
his lip and my partner took this picture. As you can see from the
picture it was nearly dark by the time I landed him. According to the
calculations, he weighs 35#, using 700 as the fudge factor, 23 X 23 x 47
/ 700 = 35.5#.