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Topic: Monster Ling!  (Read 1508 times)

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Adam415

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  • Date Registered: Mar 2013
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It was the final day of DOTY and I was sitting pretty but knew I needed a few upgrades to seal the deal. Picked up Ryan at 5 and headed up the coast. Pulled in and got set up to launch. As we were moving the truck Gio pulled up and had a lovely experience with the campground manager and decided to leave. That was interesting. Anyways, launched into questionable surf and wathched Ryan get center punched by a wave so hard he ended up in his tankwell. After that pulled up to a kelpbed, geared up and paddled to our destination. The gameplan was to hunt chinas for me and reds for Ryan. Anchored in 50 fow and dropped in to 20 ft of vis. First drop I hit a china at 47ft. Move in a little and drop down to 45. As I hit the bottom I see a prime low lying cavern facing away from the swell. Shine my light towards it and nearly crapped myself when I saw the biggest Ling I had ever seen laying at the entrance with her head facing in the hole. Crap, thats a horrible shot! Stare at her for a minute in disbelief, leave my gun three feet away and surface. I tell Ryan what I had just stumbled upon and told him I was going to the kayak to get a more powerful gun. Pull out a 50cm roller Matt Lopez built for me in 2015 for the DOTY 2nd place prize. Swim back over to the float line and pull the band back. Talk to Ryan about my potentially crappy shot placement and due my best to breathe up. Tuck and drop telling myself the whole way down not to f*** this up. Land with my belly on the bottom and shine my light over to her den. Perfect! She is facing outwards staring at my gun clanking on the bottom because I had my scallop iron attached to it. Take 5 seconds to line up a shot because I knew I had to put it through her eye. Shine light, line up and fire. Direct hit right through the right eye and exiting her belly. All hell then breks loose as she runs straight to the back of her den. She had all the line out on a double wrap and the gun was pulled into the hole all the way to the handle. Ryan was at the surface and said he heard the shot followed by a ton of bubbles that floated up. Eventually I got a hold of the shooting line and started working her out, praying the line wouldnt snap. The fish pulled harder than anything I had felt before. Got a hold of the shaft and drew her out. Grabbed her gillplate and began to surface. Holy s***. What a rush! Gut her gills, brained her and threw her on the hoop stringer. Got setteld on the kayak, threw the measuring board on my lap and grabbed the fish. My board goes to 42" so I was in disbelief as I threw her on my lap and her tail hung over then end by 2"! Put her in the bow hatch and continued to pick off a few upgrades in terrible windy conditions. Hit the beach that afternoon and hung her on my 35lb spring scale. The scale went all the way around and settled on 1/2 a pound. Really? A 35.5 pounder? In disbelief we stopped by my folks place on the way back and used their digital bathroom scale. Sure enough 35.3! Measured her out and hit the Mayors house on the way back and he about crapped himself when he saw her in person. Cleaned her the next day and her stomach was completely empty, nothing! Oh well. What an epic fish to close out a truley awesome year. Big thanks to Bigjim and the rest of the AOTY/DOTY crew for all you guys do to run this event. Had a blast this year.

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BigJim

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YES!!!!!!!!!!!

Such an amazing fish, and great write up!!

 :smt007 :smt007 :smt007 :smt007

Congrats and very well deserved Adam!!

Stoked for you and look forward to seeing you at the Awards Ceremony!!

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim

~GS4  2010-1st~
~DOTY 2013-1st~
~T2B2 2015-1st~
*DOTY: 2012-5th~2014-5th~2015-4th~2016-7th~2017-4th~2018-5th~2019-5th~2020-2nd*


scottymeboy

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That must have been  a fish of a lifetime!
Good Job !


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2014 Crabfest - 1st Place -Rock Crab Division
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MooMoo Outdoors

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😮😮😮😮😮
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NowhereMan

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Wow! That fish would’ve been over 40 pounds if it had remembered to eat breakfast...
Born in Arizona
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E Kayaker

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Fantastic catch. What a way to end the season.  :smt007
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=42846.msg470404#msg470404

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mireland62887

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The underwater photo is awesome!!!!

Congrats on a beast of a fish!


Mienboy

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My biggest worry is that my wife(when I'm dead)will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it


Azkikr

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Good job! Thats huge!


Live2Fish

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dirkbeachman

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Wow! That's insane and what a write up as well! Congrats! All time stonker lingzilla!


fisheducator

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That's awesome  !!! Congrats
Remember to practice safe knots, because big fish don't just break your line, they also break your heart.


LoletaEric

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Awesome, man.  Thank you for sharing your story here.  Congrats on a well deserved DOTY victory.  :smt001
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Sir Rob IV

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Just noticed your pictures do this fish no justice since you are  7' lumber jack dwarfing the fish size. Congrats again fish of a life time.


trianglelaguna

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congrats on the top spot --toad of a ling...great pics as always
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