Capitola 7/27/07: Get your 'butt outta there!

Launch at Capitola at 8, drizzle, good vis, no wind/waves.  10: Along Pleasure Pt, 45 ft deep, on kingfish on drift (ate apple and did nature break while the line just freespooled off), 35" flattie, easy to get up, hard as hell to kill.  No wind til 1 or so. 

Nice Tom, you were certainly due a flattie.  Amazing how fish know to hit when you least expect it.

way to go Tom!!

good to see the nice guys finishing first, well done Tom!

How did you kill/deal with it? Recommendations?

Allen's suggestion: After it did a few runs, it was pretty calm on the line in the water. I used the gaff, just take care to line it up and near the head end of the fish, gaff vertical, you might only get one chance. Pull it up so the head is out of the water, keeping the gaff vertical,  insert fish clip (tied to boat so you can use it mid yak), beat it with club (I guess it's brain is on the edge near the eyes, maybe between the eyes - I hit both spots, but I think I only stunned it), cut it's gills , stabbed it every place on the head it's brain might be( If anyone knows where that is, let me know) Someone said to cut the backbone, but my little knife wasn't going to have enough leverage to do that, especially if it started flopping), tied it close to the boat, and after a while, I lifted it into my long milk crate after looping a rope stringer onto it ( I was expecting (hoping)to use the clip on another 'but!), and tied the stringer to the crate so that when it revived it couldn't do any damage to me with it's teeth, and it's tail was toward the rear - it did flop a couple of times, and I beat it on the head some more. 
I think it will be obvious to you, but you don't want one of those things alive and flopping around in your lap and snapping those teeth, so give it working over before you get it in.   

Well earned, FT.  Congrats!