I took the boat out in hopes to landing one of the big 3 (WSB, YT, or Hali). I figured at worst, I'd just bass fish the kelp and maybe get a rockfish or two.
Got out at grey light. Funny, it was much darker than this, but the phone automatically adjusts so it looks a bit later.
(https://i.imgur.com/0wB2N53.jpeg)
I was fly-lining some Ranch 99 squid along the kelp edge. Amazingly there was a lack of bait stealers until the squid made it to the bottom. Every one that hit the bottom was a Brown Smooth-hound. Funny because I thought we only got greys around here, but I'm fairly certain these were all browns. I was hoping they were halibut... hahaha
(https://i.imgur.com/HxnyX2A.jpeg)
I switched to a weighted line with the squid and kept it off the bottom around 10 feet. I grabbed my bass rod and started throwing the Yozuri Hydrominnow. All of a sudden... BAM!!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
I was for certain I had a yellow and used the trolling motor to get it away from the kelp, but it didn't want to go in that direction anyway. Then it started leaping into the air! Holy crap! Thresher!
It was only like 6' with the tail, so a little guy, but a whipping tail and two treble hooks got me on edge, so I just sunk the gaff to harvest him. Beautiful fish!
(https://i.imgur.com/maGjS9B.jpeg)
I tried to get some fresh shots, but he wasn't having it, so I had to wait him out. Still, a nice surprise!
(https://i.imgur.com/xhVJ9KE.jpeg)
I look over and my squid rod line is moving! This definitely felt like a big halibut! The entire time I was confident it was my 40-pound butt! Nope...
(https://i.imgur.com/mj9dWZI.jpeg)
This is one shark I don't usually catch from the boat, so I was pretty amazed.
(https://i.imgur.com/ejED1kK.jpeg)
I move back over to the kelp line and drop another squid. As I was waiting, I cast out the Hydrominnow again. About 12 more casts and I'm hooked up again! This must be a yellow!
It pretty much jumped right away and I saw it was Thresher #2!!! About the same size or smaller but one hell of a fight. This one was hooked in the tail so I grabbed the tail and removed the hook. As I was trying to get a picture, he thrashed and was gone. I got a little nervous about that tail. lol
I get back to the kelp line and start again. This time the squid rod goes off! I thought it was another halibut, but I had a strange feeling... Well, it was what I thought it was. A Bigger 7-gill! I couldn't get him up the last 15 feet and he pushed his weight around on me and swam into the kelp. The line to the hook got bit off but at least I got my sinker back.
So a pretty crazy day. I didn't want anything shark, but wound up catching 7... I kind of wish they were YT, WSB, or butts... but I'm not complaining!
I had to get back and clean the boat before getting on the job hunt again. In any case, it was fun. It was a little bumpier than I would have liked, but thankfully it wasn't too far since I was going slow.
Thanks for reading!
That's a super cool day! The T is gorgeous.
I'm a little surprised we don't see more 7s caught from boats, as I'm sure they are in the kelp all the time. Cool that you got one into your boat. Although I'm sure that was as much of a trick as the thresher, since 7s are so flexible and bitey...
Enjoy that thresher meat!