I haven't been out in about three weeks because my back has been giving me fits. In the last couple of days, I've felt that it was at least well enough to give it a try. I almost never go on weekends, but one of my best old dive buddies, Jeff Bonisa, finally had enough of a break in his routine starting a new business and he said he could go yesterday. And he promised to bring some of his magic goop, Mud Energy, so that was incentive enough.
And then Friday night I got an email from a guy I didn't know- Randy Kaufmann. He lurks on Spearboard but never posts, and wanted me to know how much he missed my posts siince my banning. He is sort of a beginner, but wanted to know if he could ride along some day on my boat just to see how the "experts" did it. I said "how bout tomorrow?" Another guy to share gas is always welcome, especially if he says nice things.
When I got up, my back wasn't as good as the day before, but I took 800 milligrams of Ibuprofen and it seemed to perk up, so I had high hopes. So what if I burn a hole in my stomach?
So we left bright and early. The fog was so thick that we had to spend a lot of time off of a plane, but it finally burned off. At the first stop, the water looked blue as near as we could tell in the poor light. Jeff was the first in, and before he could dive, he saw a school of about 20 white sea bass from the surface. He couldn't quite tell what he was seeing, and thought it might be a few blacks, but he dove on them and didn't quite get a shot. This was sort of encouraging, so I jumped in and cocked the gun. Unfortunately, we never saw them again. By the time I was heading back to the boat, my back muscles started seizing up again, so I took another 800 milligrams.
At the second stop, it looked like paradise. You could hardly see through the schools of green mackerel, Spanish mackerel, sardines, and barracuda. There had to be game fish there, but we never saw them. Jeff did see one yellowtail, but it didn't want to play. But my back was OK.
At the third stop, it looked great again- blue water, mild current, and almost as much bait as the previous place. We anchored up-current from the bed. I was cruising the up-current edge and occasionally going down into the bed. On one dive I was cruising along at about 20 feet and saw a white sea bass off my right shoulder, heading in the same direction that I was. There was some kelp close to me that made it hard to swing the gun, so I went forward a few feet hoping the fish wouldn't turn. When it came into sight again, it had turned away and was at a 45 degree angle to me. I was carrying my 60" Wong Super Magnum so I was pretty sure I had the range, but I was afraid I would miss. But I'm not in a position to be selective, so I pulled the trigger. I was so happy to feel that float line running through my hand. I was not sure of my shot, so I didn't put on a lot of pressure as I normally do, but it seemed to stop fairly soon. Jeff happened to be close by, and I told him I had a fish on. My line was going straight down under some thick kelp, but then I could see it on the other side running horizontally. Jeff swam over there and said he could see the fish. He asked if I wanted him to take a second shot, and I told him it depended on how good my shot looked. He dove down and then came back to say he couldn't see my slip tip on the far side, so I told him to shoot it. I didn't want to lose this fish over some sort of pride. He strung it, so after that it was just a matter of sorting out shafts, shooting lines, and float lines. Randy showed up and got to watch "professionals" at work on a cluster---k. He even got to tow some of the mess back to the boat.
No one saw any more game fish, but Randy got to see a couple of molas and his first few big black sea bass. I hope he didn't pick up any bad habits from us. All in all, it was a delightful day, with calm seas, clear and warm (66°)water, and great company. If he comes again, we'll even let him carry a gun.
It was great to get a late-season fish, and I owe it all to ibuprofen and Mud Energy.
And then Friday night I got an email from a guy I didn't know- Randy Kaufmann. He lurks on Spearboard but never posts, and wanted me to know how much he missed my posts siince my banning. He is sort of a beginner, but wanted to know if he could ride along some day on my boat just to see how the "experts" did it. I said "how bout tomorrow?" Another guy to share gas is always welcome, especially if he says nice things.
When I got up, my back wasn't as good as the day before, but I took 800 milligrams of Ibuprofen and it seemed to perk up, so I had high hopes. So what if I burn a hole in my stomach?
So we left bright and early. The fog was so thick that we had to spend a lot of time off of a plane, but it finally burned off. At the first stop, the water looked blue as near as we could tell in the poor light. Jeff was the first in, and before he could dive, he saw a school of about 20 white sea bass from the surface. He couldn't quite tell what he was seeing, and thought it might be a few blacks, but he dove on them and didn't quite get a shot. This was sort of encouraging, so I jumped in and cocked the gun. Unfortunately, we never saw them again. By the time I was heading back to the boat, my back muscles started seizing up again, so I took another 800 milligrams.
At the second stop, it looked like paradise. You could hardly see through the schools of green mackerel, Spanish mackerel, sardines, and barracuda. There had to be game fish there, but we never saw them. Jeff did see one yellowtail, but it didn't want to play. But my back was OK.
At the third stop, it looked great again- blue water, mild current, and almost as much bait as the previous place. We anchored up-current from the bed. I was cruising the up-current edge and occasionally going down into the bed. On one dive I was cruising along at about 20 feet and saw a white sea bass off my right shoulder, heading in the same direction that I was. There was some kelp close to me that made it hard to swing the gun, so I went forward a few feet hoping the fish wouldn't turn. When it came into sight again, it had turned away and was at a 45 degree angle to me. I was carrying my 60" Wong Super Magnum so I was pretty sure I had the range, but I was afraid I would miss. But I'm not in a position to be selective, so I pulled the trigger. I was so happy to feel that float line running through my hand. I was not sure of my shot, so I didn't put on a lot of pressure as I normally do, but it seemed to stop fairly soon. Jeff happened to be close by, and I told him I had a fish on. My line was going straight down under some thick kelp, but then I could see it on the other side running horizontally. Jeff swam over there and said he could see the fish. He asked if I wanted him to take a second shot, and I told him it depended on how good my shot looked. He dove down and then came back to say he couldn't see my slip tip on the far side, so I told him to shoot it. I didn't want to lose this fish over some sort of pride. He strung it, so after that it was just a matter of sorting out shafts, shooting lines, and float lines. Randy showed up and got to watch "professionals" at work on a cluster---k. He even got to tow some of the mess back to the boat.
No one saw any more game fish, but Randy got to see a couple of molas and his first few big black sea bass. I hope he didn't pick up any bad habits from us. All in all, it was a delightful day, with calm seas, clear and warm (66°)water, and great company. If he comes again, we'll even let him carry a gun.
It was great to get a late-season fish, and I owe it all to ibuprofen and Mud Energy.
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