Very late WSB report

Forgot to do an annual WSB post at the end of last season so here’s a story of my best day of 2025.

2025 Halloween Ghost Story:
Many, many spooky full moons ago I was lucky enough to shoot two beautiful ghosts.

Overall, 2025 was an incredibly hard year for me with these fish…I skunked 13 times and my family was pretty much over me not coming home with any fish.

Fortunately my luck changed on this day, and after only about an hour in the water I found a beautiful 50.38 pound 52.5 inch fish that I shot and had back to my trusty Kraken quickly. Since it was still early on in the day I decided I would jump back in and hunt some more…while reloading I noticed the mono on my Pathos 120 that I got from Matt Lopez years ago was nicked so I pulled out my backup Meandros 115 and swam back out with the first fish on my belt.

I told myself I would hunt for another hour or so….after an hour and right when I was about to start swimming back towards the kayak I found a beautiful thick fish and put a solid shot in her. I put good pressure on but she still ripped a ton of line off my reel…I chased her down pretty quick though and after hanging the first fish from the carter float my buddy Parviz gave me I was able to cut her loose from where she had tied up at ~45 feet and bring her up on my first try.

I could tell right away she was much thicker than the first fish, and she ended up going 60.3 pounds and 57 inches.

I stopped by my in-laws on the way home and gave them all the meat from the 50 pound fish and brought home the meat from the 60 in my Orion 85.

Once back to Watsonville I was stoked to be able to share the meat with multiple family and friends.

This day more than made up for all the unproductive hours and skunks in 2025, and I am grateful to have gotten at least one fish over 60 for the third year in a row.

Looking back, I remember the 13 skunks as much as I remember these two fish. They reminded me that white seabass don’t owe us anything. Every dawn hike or launch is another chance, and on this morning, after weeks of empty-handed missions, everything finally came together. Those two hours made every one of the previous skunks worth it.

Also grateful to have had these memories and pics to think back on for when I had my second heart surgery on 11/24 and while I was recovering.

Stoked that the heart surgery went well, and that I am still able to chase these special fish.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

That' amazing!
And my wife would never let me process a fish of that size in a kitchen that nice.

Big Jim !!!
 
Glad you are recovering well and enjoying your time out in the water ..productive too …damn nice Ghosts

Man getting gray there kid ! Well earned and deserved !

Hope your family is well.

Sending positive vibes for good health for you and the family!

Vic/Spiffy 

Better late than never  . Thanks for the "ghost" story and pictures Jim.

Legend.

Beautiful pair of fish!  Absolutely worth the skunks to earn those

Amazing and inspiring. Keep it up! Love your stories

Gorgeous ghosts and an even better story...

Wow - beautiful fish and great story. And glad to hear the recovery is going well! Best, Stewart