Oyster Point Sat

I'm not gonna spoil the report. I will let Ben reply. But I will tease you all with the following action shot. Weather was un-freakin-real. Great bunch of yaks on the water (plus another 70 pb's). I'l post the rest of the pics once Ben chimes in (I know you all are cursing me right now) but its worth the wait!

What could it be????

Thanks for that pic Eric.

Here's my report.  Same as the week before, dropped off wife in the city and met up with Shicken at Oyster Point and saw a new member Ron over there too.

We launched at around 9ish.  I started off trolling sabikis for smelt with no success.  got a few nibbles on it but nothing stuck.

Trolled pretty much the whole day with not even a scratched bait until I turned it to start heading in.

On my way in, the rod doubled over on me.  At first the line was pulling out smoothly so I thought I might have been stuck in the mud or on a rock or something.  After I picked it up, I realized that my line started to move some, but the fish was just swimming with me so no problem.  My brother was paddling near me and he stated that I reached for my net but thought better of it.  Well the reason for that is the fish started to fight back - HARD - I called up Eric on the radio and told him I was hooked up.  He offered his help and I was glad to take it, because whatever I had on the other end was definitely not going to fit into my small net.

Eric paddled over and watched me do battle with the beast for a little while.  I mentioned to him this better not be a big frickin bat ray.  The fish stayed deep and made short, hard runs, so I thought it may be a hali.  But I was worried.  So I finally got him off the bottom, and when I saw my leader, I noticed it - BIG hali.   I called Eric over and he got on my port side to assist me with the net job.

Luckily the net was clean, no problems, I got the fish up and he stabbed it the first try!  Thanks Eric!

Of course we know that getting the fish into the net is only about 1/3 of the battle.  We had to get the hook out, get it strung up, etc.  That bastard tried to eat me.  And of course neither of us had a bat.  Asked shicken for it but he was on shore goofing around (just kidding marv) so we just strung it up and tried to bleed it out.  After that the wind kicked up so we headed in, but of course that fish was dragging so I put it into my lap.  About halfway in the *(&@#(* came alive and tried to chomp my jewels off so I tossed him back into the drink.

30 7/8" hali (with mouth closed on dfg ruler), 12 lbs on DFG kirk's scale.

Eventually marv showed up (late as usual) and we were able to beat the fish into submission.

Some pics for your approval:
My brother trying to look cool.  He borrowed Shicken's yak for a ride today.


Genentech/Roche FAC:


EWB the fishin machine:


Surf Hunter in his new X13:


Shannon in her new X13:


I was going to install a new set of rod holders up front next to the sonar shield but decided to install one of these instead...


Fat bastard:


Two butts in one pic:


Looking like a tool:


The results:


Thanks again to EWB for the help, to shicken for the bait, and to everyone else for enjoying a beautiful day out on the water with me!

All of my other pics are posted here:
http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/bassmanben/Oyster%20Point%20032809/

OK as promised....NICE work. Happy to lend a hand!

More Bendos!



There are no fractions on a hawg trough....31 inch

haha, the thing wouldnt fit on my hawg trough so I had to go to the professional for a measurement.

Kirk said it was one of the few times someone actually tracked him down to report a catch.  I guess he didn't know I was just using him for an accurate measure and a weight =)  (just kidding since Kirk is now a NCKA member too)

Ben, congrats on the big fish.  The other guy in the P13 got a 29in halibut, I forgot his name, sorry, his handle was kinda cryptic, a mix of letters and numbers?  I was approaching one of my gps waypoints that I marked for having a concentration of bait, saw him there as he hooked up.

Fishing was a bit slow, but weather and company was good.  Lots of fishing pressure, even saw a party boat around for a bit.

Good job Ben. That is a really nice fish.

That is a solid but, super nice work.

WTG Ben, nice butt!

Way to go Ben.  Nice Hali, nice weather, good company.
I should have hooked up with you instead of still having "ZERO" AOTY points.
Thanks for the all inspiring great picks from all involved.

Paul

Nice fish Ben,
It was great meeting you all.  Shannon and i had a great maiden voyage, no fish, but Shannon got hit and robbed twice and i pulled up half a bait on one hit. 
Great weather and really nice meeting some of the crew.

Tom

Beautiful fish, WTG!!!!  2 butts pic is the best,,,,,,   simple things for my simple mind

Excellent! 

Great report and pics.  I love the teamwork.   

great report ben, congrats on the butt, looks like it was a great day had by all out there, fish or not, cameron

Good job Ben on the halibut. BTW, what did you used for bait and did you follow
Marvin's rig setup? Congrats again.

WTG Eric with the net.

Jedmo