BigJim:
Haven't taken a "big" Ling in awhile despite diving a fair amount...
Got a window of time and the greenlight from wife/daughters so decided to charge down to a shoredive spot in Sur with the hopes of finding the Ling that I KNEW was out there just waiting for me...
The area I planned on hunting was blown out with white water and waves, so hunted an area in 45-55 feet where I have taken nice Reds in the past...
Took a nice bright blue 29 incher, and passed on several others in the same range...
No Reds seen this day and after about 50 drops I headed to a cluster of kelp I had passed on the kick out that had a lot of blues up high...
Started doing drops and it was a bit shallower (40 feet), and I saw some of the blues had what looked to be bite marks on them... :smt003
Coming up from one drop I saw a nice looking deep dark cave and made note of the kelp stalk right by it...
This area does not have a ton of good holes so was optimistic that such an attractive feature would be holding a nice fish...
Dropped down and started working my way along the crack....when I got to the darkest looking part I shone my light in the back corner and there was what I was looking for...big old nice Ling head. :smt007
Took aim and shot her right in the eye ball and headed back to the surface letting my reel line out.
I was confident the shot was solid so took my time resting on the surface and just keeping gentle pressure on the reel line....
After awhile I felt a change in the pressure below and could tell she had come out of the cave and pulled her up, got my hands in her gills, and admired her beauty before ripping her gills out, knifing her in the head and stringing her up. :smt003 :smt004
By now the seas were getting rougher, I had a long swim back, and a steep hike out so decided to call it quits and head in.
The hike out was not so fun, but I made it and rewarded myself with some frosty cold C- back at the car.
Ling taped out to 38 inches, my biggest since 2015, my third 38 incher and I have only taken one bigger ever which was a 40 incher back in 2012.
Here is this latest fish:
http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/2883
And my other two 38 inchers from 2013 and 2015:
http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/685
http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/1632
And my PB 40 incher...I love being able to track my fish over time on DOTY! :smt002 :smt005
http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/133
Wanted to give a shout out to Matt from RedTriangle who sent me the latest version of their awesome 1000 Lumen Dark Waters light the day before this dive. The light did an EXCELLENT job lighting up this fish. The light now also comes with a handy USB charger, and a cool case to keep everything safe and sound.