Another entry in the 40 inch club...

Plans A and B for weekend diving fell through so decided to stay local.

Left house at 5am, in water by 6am right when sun was coming up.

Saw a few nice sized fish right away but they were moving quick and on the edge of my visibility and I couldn't get a good shot.

Little bit later I saw a fish going by off to my right and I swung the gun around almost 180 degrees and managed to get a shot into her shoulder and the shaft poked through her opposite gill plate and she just twitched. 

When I went to get her another one of the same size swam right by! 

Solid fish and contemplated quitting while I was ahead, but hadn't even been in the water half an hour so strung her up on my belt stringer and reloaded my gun.

Not even 5 minutes later I see a BIG fish cruising by and take my shot...shaft must have hit her spine because she just stopped and rolled over, and I was easily able to wrap my legs around her, rip her gills out and shove my shaft all the way through.

She looked a little shorter than last week's fish but was much thicker. 

Admired her for awhile then swam back in through the waves.

Landed right next to a surf caster who had been there last Sunday as well! Super cool guy named Jose and he was stoked for me!! 

Hike back to car was hard with gear and the two fish, but I made it back there before 7am...less than an hour after I left. 

Snapped some pics and measured the fish...big one taped out to 42.75 inches and weighed 31 pounds on an old ghetto scale, and the smaller one was 33.5 inches.

Was back home before 8am and the wife and girls were still asleep. 

Spent the rest of the morning enjoying the process of fileting both fish, eating the hearts, getting the otoliths out and admiring what beautiful specimens they were.

Feel very fortunate and grateful to have had the chance to take these two beautiful fish, AND to still be able to spend the whole day with my family before they head to Honduras today!!

I'm a lucky guy. 

Here is a vid and a ton of pics.



 

Sincerely,

Jim

 

 

GPS coordinates please and thank you. Bigger then any striper ive ever caught! SLUGZ!!!!

DAYM!

cc me on those coordinates 

Wow Jim....Very impressive you shore dive that condition.

Bow down to the Master. 

Really enjoying your sharing of incredible experiences, bro.  WTG. 

That's an awesome plan B. 

Damn, son!

Fantastic  report and event. 

Nice fish and great video! That was a helluva spot that morning for sure. Nice job altogether.

ah ha, now i know why you fillet'd it.  you didn't feel like digging a hole to cook it whole 

congrats!!!!!  you da man!!!!!!!!!!!

Bro awesome job! Those things are massive!  I gotta get out there again and try to get one of those! Good job dude thanks for sharing! Quick question though do you think I would need a reel for my 75 or would a 30 foot float line be enough? Don't want to rip a shaft out of the fish and definitely don't want to lose my gun. Thanks bro congrats again 

DAMN, I am speechless I need to get out on that surf

Bro awesome job! Those things are massive!  I gotta get out there again and try to get one of those! Good job dude thanks for sharing! Quick question though do you think I would need a reel for my 75 or would a 30 foot float line be enough? Don't want to rip a shaft out of the fish and definitely don't want to lose my gun. Thanks bro congrats again 

Thanks Andres, and thanks again for the inspiration and advice back in May!!   

Hope you get a big one dude!!

I have heard they don't like floatlines...dunno if true or not...I love having the reel on my 75 and it has worked great and haven't felt like I was gonna lose my gun even on rough days...I would say get a reel and leave the floatline at home for these guys.

 

Sincerely,

Jim