Wilson 7/9 & 7/10

[Big Water]

Fishing Report

Your Name / Boat Name:

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TRIP OVERVIEW

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Date(s):7/9 and 7/10

Time on Water:7/9 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm 7/10 7:00 am till noon

Weather/Temp: Hot sunny low 80's

Wind Speed/Direction: NE

Waves: <1 ft

Surface Temp: mid 70's

Location:

LAT/LONG (GPS Cords):

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FISHING RESULTS

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Total Hits: 7/9 - 4, 7/10 -7

Total Boated: 4 & 5

Species Breakdown:Kings & Steelies

Hot Lure: 42 Second F/F, Green Dot Spinnie w/ green fly, Chrome Froggie w/ meat

Trolling Speed: 2.2 - 3.4

Down Speed: 2.2 - 2.6

Boat Depth: 100 - 400

Lure Depth: 70 - 125

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SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS

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Went for a short trip and only fished Monday evening and Tuesday morning with my wife and my best friend, Mr Autopilot. Fishing had slowed from a few weeks ago and the temps were all over the place with the NE wind. Found 42 degree water 100' down in 150 FOW. As we trolled NE and deeper, the temps continued to rise into the upper 40's at 400 FOW. Bait scattered here and there from 40-50' down to 110' down. Set up a five rod spread with two wire lines set at from 150 to 300 pulling spin docs. One had a fly and one had meat. The riggers went down pulling spinnies w/ fly or meat from 60 to 125 over the two days, but the best depth seemed to be 80-90. The 300 copper pulled a couple of steelies on some green/silver spoons and took a lot of hits with no one home.

Monday evening we took three steeleies up to 8 lbs and a 12 lb king. No hot action, just a slow grind. Best depth was 300 to 400'. Tuesday we decided to start at 100' early and see where the fish took us. It wasn't long until we had a 15lb king on a 42 second F/F. Continued out NE and picked up a few steelies on the copper and a Carmel Dolphin F/F set at 75'. When we hit 325', the 250 dipsey with a green dot spinnie & fly took a hit and was off to the races. 20 minutes later my wife landed a 16lb king. Not too bad, but here comes the heartbreaker.

Before going out Monday afternoon, I tied 250' of 30 lb Flea Flicker onto the 30 lb mono rigger rods. Figured I'd never have more than about 200' of line in the water on the rigger, so the rest being 30 lb mono should be fine. I tied blood knots between the lines and had my wife help me cinch them down. Even added a couple of overhand knots for good measure. Pulled hard to test it and there didn't seem to be any slippage. I was content. That was until today just before noon. In 350 FOW, the 85 rigger with the 42 second F/F took a hard hit and was off to the races. I tried to hand the rod to my wife, but she was still played out from the 16lb king. This fish burned past the 200' mark in an instant.......then 300.....then 400.....then 500 and still wasn't showing any signs of tiring. I yelled to my wife to clear the rods, because I thought we were going to need to chase this one down. After it hit 600', I started putting a little more pressure on him because I thought I was going to get spooled. I finally got him stopped at 685' with not a lot of mono left and more pressure on the line than I wanted. We played tug-of-war for a good ten minutes and he wasn't budging. My wife was working at getting the last wire line in when I felt that sickening PING. Reeling in I could tell the rig was gone and when I got it in far enough, I saw, so was the Flea Flicker. Just a nice little pig tail where it used to be. I need to research and maybe go with an in-line swivel or all FF line, but this was the best fighting fish I had ever hooked, bar none, and a hard lesson learned on knots.

[Rippin'Line]

That sucks, funny how the monster tends to whack the weaker setup

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Gill-T]

30lb Big Game is all you need. Why bother with the Flea Flicker?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[orangediablo]

we've all been there. Feels even worse when you lose your best rig on the first day of your trip....