WSB double

TLDR: I shot two fish that weighed 47.64 pounds and 64.42 pounds.

Full story:
My heart has been acting up again so haven’t been in the water recently, and not sure when I will get greenlight to get back in…so figured would take the time to write up a story about a fun day much earlier this year.

I paddled out in the dark, and arrived to the kelp bed I wanted to explore well before first light. I spent some time relaxing and enjoying the stillness of being out there on the kayak all alone in the dark before quietly getting geared up and slipping into the water just before sunrise.

After about 45 minutes of searching I was on the surface breathing up and keeping an eye on a nice little kelp room when I saw a shape appear…the shape got closer and bigger and it became apparent it was the head of a nice seabass coming right towards me…

Once it got close to me it turned broadside, and I could see there was one behind it as well…didn’t really have to move the gun, and just pulled the trigger and hit the fish right behind the pec fin and it took off through the kelp to my right, and the other fish took off down and to the left.

I kept pressure on her and she stopped running after a little while and I was able to retrieve her pretty easily from the bottom.

After I got the fish bled and onto belt stringer (shot had gone in by pec fin and down and out throat and was easy to just thread shaft all the way through), I decided I still had plenty of time and conditions were good, and the fish wasn’t huge so would keep on hunting…

Reloaded and started working along an edge and saw a fish right at the surface up ahead but it saw me and swam off before I could get a shot off…

I headed a little more into the kelp and from surface I saw two fish swimming under me down at about 15/20 feet…I dropped but they were gone before I got down to them…

Obviously there were a lot of fish around so I stayed calm and moved slowly and then I saw another fish swimming very slowly under me…I dipped just a little bit under the surface and extended my gun and hit her right in the shoulder…she took off and I tried to keep good pressure on her but she ran for what seemed like forever and my reel was really getting low on line before she stopped.

Followed my reel line and eventually figured out where she had tied up. Once I was above her I went to inflate my brand new Neptonics float to put the first fish on…and it failed and the release valve broke off the bladder…exactly like the first one I had did…this one was the replacement they had sent me and my first time using it. Last time I will use one of these floats from them because I just don’t have faith they will work when I need them.

https://neptonics.com/product/co2-auto-inflating-white-seabass-float/

Was way too far from my kayak to swim the first fish back there so was just going to have to leave it on my belt for the retrieval of this second fish.

When I got down to her at about 35 feet she was wrapped up good in the kelp, but still not dead so brained her and then went back up to breathe. Was hard kicking with the fish on my belt so rested for a while before going back down.

When I got to her I could tell she was dead, I cut the kelp beneath her, got my hand in her throat and did the struggle kick back up to the surface.

Bled her and swam back to kayak and took my time admiring her for a bit before getting out of the water…the shot had gone in her shoulder but the slip tip was lodged in the meat and hadn’t gone through the other side. I’m glad I didn’t horse her too hard because the shot might have pulled out…

Once on kayak I was able to cut the meat a little and get the tip out, and then slide both fish inside the center hatch of my kayak and paddle back in. So cool that I could get both fish inside my kayak for the paddle back in through the surf.

Amazing morning for me, and from when I slipped in the water until I got back to kayak with both fish was less than two hours…such an awesome two hours!!!

First fish was 47.64 pounds and 53.5 inches, and second one was 64.42 pounds and 58.25 inches. My biggest before this year was 59.82 pounds and 56.25 inches.

My goal for a long time has been to shoot a fish over 60 pounds, so really stoked that was able to achieve that goal in 2023.

Incredibly grateful for these fish, the awesome experience of hunting them, and the many meals they provided for my family and friends.

Here’s a little vid of some footage I got from the day and a bunch of pics.

https://youtu.be/VrgCsUij8hQ?si=4v4TNnk17gSo8NYJ

 

Sincerely,

Jim

That is awesome Big Jim. Great write up! Hope you get better soon bro!❤️

Wow!  Thanks for the great report and pictures Big Jim 

Congrats my slaying friend on conquering the ocean likely a direct descendant of Poseidon.  Those fish are incredible!  I'm starting to wonder how many total you got this year    Thanks for the cool story 

Congrats on the fish and conquering your goal.  I still have White Sea bass to check off my list some day.

Amazing Jim! Huge Congrats!

Amazing catches!  I wish someday I can catch one those.

Thanks guys!

I'm starting to wonder how many total you got this year    Thanks for the cool story 

It was my best year hunting them for sure, and I got more and bigger fish than any previous year...probably mostly because I spent more time hunting them up and down the coast (put some serious miles on my new truck lol)...

I explored a bunch of new (to me) areas, shore diving and kayak diving, and the extra time spent in the water paid off.

The harder you work the luckier you get I guess...

It was also a year of trying to prove to myself that I could still paddle and dive and not end up back in the ER...I needed to show myself that I could still do all the things I loved doing without any help from anyone else...even just simple things like launching/landing, paddling, hiking out with fish and gear on my back, wheeling yak back to truck with fish inside, processing fish after a long day of diving and driving etc were all little challenges that I needed to do to try and convince myself that I wasn't too broken or weak...

For the most part I was successful, and even though I am still having some arrythmia issues I am definitely feeling more confident about the future than I was at this time last year...

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Most of use cooler for our catch. Some use a kill bag. Big Jim has to use body bags to fit his catch. Amazing.

Thanks for sharing. Amazing stuff.

Didn't think they were going to fit in the hatch!

Damn big croakers!
Live life to the fullest!