BajaNomad - That ultimate hook up

That ultimate hook up

baitcast - 1-9-2007 at 07:52 AM

If you have been fishing very long this has happened to you maybe more than once,that hook-up that brute that you have no control over,and a fight thats seems to last forever only to lose him,maybe never even getting a look at him,its that one hook-up that you will never,ever forget.

The one that sticks in my mind most was 1963,on the stern of the old red rooster,Guadalupe Island,12:00 midnight soaking a big mac just off the bottom,my weapon of choice was an old black 6/0 penn loaded with 60#,I remember everything about the encounter,including losing him at 1:30!! 90 min. of hell but loving every sec. of it,felt like I had been in a train wreck.

Now lets hear one of yours,I,m sure there are some great storys out there.
BAITCAST

Cypress - 1-9-2007 at 08:29 AM

Hanging on anchor in a pass between two islands in the Gulf of Mexico onboard a heavy 23' Thunderbird in a strong current. Had a 6/0 with 120 dacron, large hook with live croaker at or near the bottom. Something picked it up and slowly began moving with it from left to right crossways to the current. Set the hook, whatever it was just kept on going, It began to spool me and I dogged it off. It began turning the boat while still on anchor against the current, the hook broke, had a flaw in it.

baitcast - 1-9-2007 at 10:11 AM

Thats what I,m talkin about :lol:

very funny :bounce:

BAITCAST
" It is acceptable to abuse ones body has well as ones equipment in the pursuit of that ultimate hook-up"
baitcast

Osprey - 1-9-2007 at 12:03 PM

Mine is the oposite of Summanus. Thought I hooked the bottom, yelled at the captain of the 36ft Grand Banks we chartered for a week out of La Paz. that he should shift out of reverse. We fished the down current end of all the islands north of La Paz and on one of them I struggled mightily with good 90# mono and a tuna stick forever -- when the brute saw the boat, he just shook his head and ended the fight. I never saw the fish from the fighting chair but the crew and my pals put it right around 375 pd jewfish.

Fishing with a buddy in his panga on the San antonio end of Bahia San Nicolas

vgabndo - 1-9-2007 at 02:18 PM

We had been pretty well skunked by the yellows at Ildifonso, and our carnada was gone or dead so we had been drifting cut bait across the bottom in about 80 feet of water. I was fishing a joke under the circumstances. A Penn 9/0 with 80 lb. dacron and 8' of 60 # SS leader. Very slowly I was aware that I was hung up, and when the drift got beyond my drag setting I eased off and told my partner I had the bottom.

We had come to the end of the drift so he fired up the little kicker and started to back us up wind of my snag to see if I could save my rig. In the process of keeping a tight line and adapting to my buddy's wild attempts to back up (!) I was watching the line and the shore and the boat and came to the inescapable conclusion that the bottom was moving.

We positioned the panga to let me get my knees against the gunnel and I started laying some pressure on it. LOTS of pressure. There was never a surge, no headshake, no dipping of the massive roller rod tip. The pressure was relentless and slowly moving from my left to my right. Then it turned directly away from us and wandered away. When the spool was half empty I laid on the rest of the drag until one end of the stainless 60 pound leader failed.

There was a lot of talk about Russian Subs, but I suspect I must have snagged a big Manta.

Like the man said...you never forget.

[Edited on 1-9-2007 by vgabndo]

Memorable in a different way

Skipjack Joe - 1-9-2007 at 03:03 PM

The most memorable fish I lost was probably my first tarpon on the Yucatan.

My ex and I were traveling by van through southern Mexico back in 1983 when someone at a resort (Boca Paila, are you familiar with it?) recommended that we camp on a spit of land that connects the Carribean with an enormous lagoon.

I waded out there with my Mitchell 300 spinning reel and a 5 inch rapala and started casting in the shallows, by the outflow. Finally I come up solid on something out there and out comes this fish that looks to be the size of a canoe. I mean, I am standing in knee deep water and expecting snapper size fish or a snook or something. My jaw just dropped.

In the beginning the fish jumped a lot and I thought I had a chance. About a half an hour into it he stops jumping and there is no movement whatsoever.

"What now?", I think to myself.

Then the line starts to go out slowly ... out to sea. I put all the pressure I can on that fish. I hold the rod straight level so that all the pressure is on the butt of the rod. Still he goes out.

I see the knot starting to show at the bottom of the reel. Finally it's at the knot. I start to wade deeper and pull back. I keep going deeper and deeper. I am finally neck deep in the water, holding the rod above me as I keep hoping. Finally the line breaks ....

I wade out of the water, wet T-shirt and all and plant my butt down on the shoreline. I sat there for about a half hour with a big smile on my face.

Usually you don't know you've had an experience of a lifetime until it's long gone. That was not the case here. I knew this was a very special day in my life.

Hooked and lost

baitcast - 1-9-2007 at 03:53 PM

Well so far we have hooked and lost a huge rock,a russian sub,a big jewfish,a tarpon trying to pass himself off as a canoe,and something!........Not a bad start
BAITCAST

Skipjack Joe - 1-9-2007 at 05:31 PM

Here's another one.

We were fishing for yellowfin tuna on the backside of Angel de La Guardia (I almost wrote Giardia) on one of those Tony Reyes trips. In fact Tony was on board with us. There were lots of tuna in the 15-25lb size and we were trolling for them from his pangas at maybe 10 mph.

I was doing OK. Better than most, I guess. I no longer remember how, but somehow I managed to get the line tangled on the reel. The tangle was quite far from the end of the line. Being pretty lazy by nature I decided to untangle it by releasing line from a moving boat and have the water just pull it off the reel.

Having reached the tangle I realized that I might actually hook something as I worked to free the line. So I started working frantically to get it loose.

As I looked down at the reel I thought I saw from the corner of my eye a head appear behind my lure. I yanked the lure as hard as I could to escape the jaws of the mighty fish.

For a split second there was nothing and I thought my fears were unfounded. Then suddenly there was this tremendous force on the end of my rod. My shoulders lurched forward and I came flying out of my seat heading over the transom. Do you know what it's like to have your arms jerked out of your shoulders at 10mph?

I remember thinking, "Oh no you don't. There is no way I'm going to lose this rod". I pulled back with everything I had.

Well you guessed it. The line suddenly snapped and I just went flying backwards. My legs caught the middle seat and I just rolled over it backwards to the bottom of the hull between the bow and the middle seat, legs in the air.

My fishing buds were dumbfounded. They just stared in amazement. You see, it all happened so fast. I checked all my body parts but except for a painful spine everything was fine. I think my pride suffered the most damage. I was much younger back then. I'm humbler now. Otherwise I wouldn't post this recollection.

[Edited on 1-10-2007 by Skipjack Joe]

Towed to sea

baitcast - 1-10-2007 at 07:46 AM

Not being able afford a boat in my early trips to willard bay,just next door to Gonzaga I did all my fishing from the beach, punta willard and walking distance from Papa Fernandez,s campo and it was there I met my first rooster-fish.

Every morning first light you could hear them coming,hunderds of mullet would be out front with a dozen or so huge pez-gallo in hot pursuit, the noise would wake us up every morning and if it didn,t my daughter would,"WAKE UP DAD THE ROOSTERS ARE HERE" and I would jump up and grab my rod and start throwing everything I owned at them and never a touch,what to do?

I began to put together the master plan :light:

no boat,what could I use to get off the beach? then I remembered a friend who had a one man life raft,problem fixed.

The following took place in front of PaPa,s casa 1966 or 67,I had the raft inflated and in the ready position,two outfits,one for snagging a mullet and the other for fishin,and here they come just like I knew they would,my heart rate started to climb just like I knew it would.

It didn,t take long to snag a mullet,pinned him on a hook an jumped in the raft and shoved off,I hadn,t went 50 yds when two big boys crashed the bait,an I was hooked up to a fish I had dreamt about for two years,everything was going to plan,but then he had other ideas an started steaming east toward the mouth of the bay doing a easy 40 knots.

I began hearing cheering from the camp "Dads got a rooster ya ya"but I think it was the other way around.

One man life rafts do not tow straight I found,they do slow spins and things were getting out of control,the line was heavy enough so no problem there,and as the man said "getting towed to sea by a large fish what a hoot"

To shorten the story,after he cleared the point he headed south with me a couple hunderd yds behind,sharp rocks an fishing line do not mix! and that was that.

I will never forget that morning and think of it often.
BAITCAST

bajarich - 1-11-2007 at 01:42 PM

Before I bought my tin boat I fished from my sea kayak. At Los Frailes I was paddling in toward shore when something hit that took my line so fast I didn't even have time to grab my rod before it reached the end of the line and snapped it off the reel. Could have been anything. I'll never know.

Skeet/Loreto - 1-11-2007 at 03:34 PM

Vagabondo: Seems as if we have had the same type of Experience of of Ildifonso Osla.

Fishing with Enrique Murrillo in his Panga for Shark. 8 Ft. Road with a Penn 6/0 when I got a Hit and in front about 50 Feet out, the largest Dorado I have ever seen came out of the Water in 3 Spectacler Jumps with the Shark bait in his Mouth!!

On his 3rd Jump I saw two Large Shadows head his Direction and in an Instant one large Shark took his Head, the other his body and tore the Dorado in Half and Swam off!
The 120 Lb. line had been cut along the Way.

I still wake up dreaming about the Incident.

Skeet/Loreto

What fun

baitcast - 1-11-2007 at 06:08 PM

The next best thing to hooking one is reading or hearing one,sea stories about the one that got away,Skeet I knew you would have one or more,be they rocks,subs or canoe,s....................Great stuff :bounce:

BAITCAST

Skeet/Loreto - 1-13-2007 at 11:43 AM

Baitcast: A few More;

As I mostly fished with a 9 Ft. Rod, Penn 500-Loaded with 40 Lb. Test-3/4 full it was exciting to lose a few!

One day trolling a small Lure North off of Carmen I hooked a Marlin! Fought him about and hour, finally bringing him into the boat about 10 Feet down. My young Son Todd, went into the Water with a Mask to get an Actual Size, as he was checking the Marlin from top of the Water, the Marlin gave a huge lunge, came out of the Water, went over the front of the Panga at about 10 Feet, breaking the line, back into the water and Swarm off.
My Son decided he would not again get into the Water with a Fish that close.

Skeet/Loreto

LOLOLOL I LOVE THIS STUFF!

M - 1-15-2007 at 08:39 AM

I was on the Ensenada Clipper for A 4 day Tuna Trip.
While draging a cedar plug during my troll rotation, I had to use the head. The guy next to me, a real character agreed to watch my rod. Knowing full well that I would probably get hooked while otherwise occupied, I hurried back and sure enough, I saw my rod bent and line racing off the spool. The guy handed back my rod and GOOD GRIEF! There was a SERIOUS fish on the other end. Everytime I gained a little line it would make another run and take off all the line I had just pulled in. The boat was stopped and all eyes were on me. Being the only girl on board, my performance was always under intense scrutiny by the fisherMEN. I was really exhausted being up most of the night catching giant squid, my back was burning, my arms felt like spaghetti and I would have liked nothing better than to just hand off my rod. OBVIOUSLY, that simply wasn't an option if I wanted to get through the rest of the cruise without some serious teasing and grief. I just sucked it up for another 20 minutes and FINALLY, saw color, a flash of a big white belly told me that fish was flipping around for another run so I pulled hard while backing up, gained some line, then rushed forward to reel it on. I couldn't believe it! 35 agonizing minutes fighting the toughest plastic collapsable bucket you ever set eyes on.

:wow:

bajadave1 - 1-16-2007 at 07:59 AM

M,

Did anybody "fess up"?

:lol:

I still got it...

M - 1-16-2007 at 11:40 AM

I was gonna be darned if I was going to give up a $3 bucket that I sweated and broke my back on for 35 minutes! I caught a 180Lb. marlin that gave me less grief!

Speaking of marlins, Graham and I were down near Los Frailes putting around in good ol Porta Bote, about a mile and a half off shore when Graham spotted a fin. At first I thought it was a bird, but getting a little closer, sure enough, it was a marlin resting on the surface. I didn't have any marlin lures, or anything but my 7' jig stick but I did have an 8" zuchini type gizmo that I quickly tied on. I had Graham take over the bote and we circled around as we drew closer. Eventually, the marlin did wake up and charged at the lure. He struck hard and I was trying to set the hook while yelling at Graham to turn the boat and gun it, but while trying to shift, he hit the lever that raises and lowers the motor; thinking the motor was going to fall off, he leaned over to 'catch it", he let off the gas and the sudden change in speed threw us both off balance. Amazing with all the slack and mucking around he still was hooked, however after about 5 minutes getting towed around, he shook it loose and took off. Graham and I laughing our butts off. With the soft rod, I obviously never did get a decent hook set, but, it sure was fun while it lasted.
M

[Edited on 16-1-2007 by M]

Bonefish

Skipjack Joe - 1-16-2007 at 12:51 PM

This is part of a diary entry:

Every trip is punctuated and later remembered by an unexpected adventure. This one occurred at Submarine Flat. One afternoon my guide and I almost stumbled upon a tailing bonefish before I saw him. A fortunate delivery placed the fly a couple of feet from him, and, after a couple of twitches, he was on. The fish bolted and roared off the flat into the deep water. Next thing I know, he’s back, screaming across the flat in 2 inches of water with a four foot black tipped reef shark in hot pursuit. Their dorsal fins formed rooster tails as they sliced the water surface. I released the drag on the reel as the shark started to close in. Meanwhile, Ari, the guide, grabbed a chunk of coral and hurled it at the shark. Miraculously, it fell between the two fish with a loud splash. In the turmoil and excitement the shark lunged forward, bit into the coral, and then slowly swam off. I reeled in my fish and resuscitated him. He had a few teeth marks and missing scales from his back and sides but looked as though he would survive the ordeal.

Cypress - 1-16-2007 at 02:28 PM

Good story Skipjack Joe, :yes:

baitcast - 7-20-2015 at 07:40 AM

Another rerun that was fun! Bump

durrelllrobert - 7-20-2015 at 08:22 AM

Quote: Originally posted by vgabndo

We had been pretty well skunked by the yellows at Ildifonso, and our carnada was gone or dead so we had been drifting cut bait across the bottom in about 80 feet of water. I was fishing a joke under the circumstances. A Penn 9/0 with 80 lb. dacron and 8' of 60 # SS leader. Very slowly I was aware that I was hung up, and when the drift got beyond my drag setting I eased off and told my partner I had the bottom.

We had come to the end of the drift so he fired up the little kicker and started to back us up wind of my snag to see if I could save my rig. In the process of keeping a tight line and adapting to my buddy's wild attempts to back up (!) I was watching the line and the shore and the boat and came to the inescapable conclusion that the bottom was moving.

We positioned the panga to let me get my knees against the gunnel and I started laying some pressure on it. LOTS of pressure. There was never a surge, no headshake, no dipping of the massive roller rod tip. The pressure was relentless and slowly moving from my left to my right. Then it turned directly away from us and wandered away. When the spool was half empty I laid on the rest of the drag until one end of the stainless 60 pound leader failed.

There was a lot of talk about Russian Subs, but I suspect I must have snagged a big Manta.

Like the man said...you never forget.

[Edited on 1-9-2007 by vgabndo]

Since you were in Mexican waters it probably was one of these Cartel subs rather than Russian:

OK, here's my real story

durrelllrobert - 7-20-2015 at 08:45 AM

When I lived at Half Moon Bay I was trolling for salmon next to the Faralon Islands with a 8" flasher a deep diving quick release thing folled by about 8 ft. of 30# line with no steel leader and a fozen bait. Suddeny I was hooked up with a great white and he was as surprised as I was because he let me get him close enough to my 19 ft Grady White to see that he was half a boat length long before he bit off the line and swam away.

chuckie - 7-20-2015 at 08:54 AM

How come no one has mentioned Mermaids? Why I remember.......

AKgringo - 7-20-2015 at 10:42 AM

Does the fish have to win to post on this thread? I would hate to hijack it with a success story.

A few fish stories to liven things up

baitcast - 7-31-2018 at 01:00 PM

One more time bump plz
Rob

A few fish stories to liven things up

baitcast - 7-31-2018 at 01:02 PM

One more time bump plz
Rob

2004 from San Lucas Cove

Skipjack Joe - 8-1-2018 at 06:23 PM

By early noon we were heading back to the campground satiated from the day's fishing. Alex was dozing in the bow when the fish struck my lure and ran about half of the line off the reel. Alex woke up in time to shout "Papa, it's a huge bull dorado!" after seeing it jump. I tightened the drag as far as I dared in an attempt to prevent being spooled but realized that I just wasn't going to stop that run. The mighty fish had stitched it's way through the weeds and was pulling entire weed beds in its run for freedom. It seemed hopeless at first. I ran the boat towards the fish while Alex stood on the bow and removed clumps of sargasso from the line. Miraculously we got a direct line to the fish and a long battle ensued.

At times it felt as though my struggle wasn't tiring him one bit. A wind came up about a half hour into the battle causing waves to lap over the transom. The taught line made an eerie whining sound in the wind. An hour into the fight he showed color off the back of the boat. To my amazement he appeared to be as long as the transom, somewhere in the 50lb-70lb range. After more work than you can imagine I got the bite tippet into Alex's hands and laid the rod to rest. I had no idea what I was going to do with that huge fish thrashing in the 14 foot boat. I had no club to dispatch him. I was, frankly, too tired to think clearly or care. I grabbed the base of the tail and felt no movement from the animal - he was equally spent. His peduncle was so broad I couldn't get my fingers around it. I slid about 1/2 of the fish over the side when it started to slip. Back it went, as it had come in. Alex let go of the swivel, the rod tip doubled over and the 20lb test line parted. He looked at me a bit guiltily, but it really wasn't his fault. My only regret was not having a picture of the beast. It had been the biggest fish I had ever caught other than the billfish. I felt a curious sense of power and invicibility as we motored back through the whitecaps.

alex_baja2004_8.jpg - 28kB

Something to read

baitcast - 8-13-2020 at 10:23 AM

Its a 1005!! and Bullhead city may hit 119 or 120 this weekend

bump it for something to do")
Rob

[Edited on 8-13-2020 by baitcast]

amigobaja - 8-14-2020 at 08:05 PM

Im sitting on Blanca's porch in La Bocana enjoying a beautiful sunset and a little vino blanco reading these great fish stories. Spent the last two days watching my grandson catch (and release) at least 40+ fish. Caught his first two huge Groupers and a mess of Yellowtail. Was able to give Blanca 30 to 40 pounds of fish for her local families.
Heading to BOLA maÃ±ana to hopefully continue the fun.
Can't get the smile off the grandsons face.
Best day ever.

AKgringo - 8-14-2020 at 08:16 PM

You force your grandson to catch all the fish? Shaaame, shame on you!!! :no: