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WARNING!! ... LONG REPORT!!
Solo Session in LAB, Sun 12-9-2018.
This was my 63th Float Tube session for the 2018 Season.
I always like to take a few minutes before each session to calm my thoughts and to remember to give thanks, for being so BLESSED for having such good health and for this opportunity of being here today ... enjoying the water, all of it's abundance and to take-in the breath taking sunrise of each morning's session .... amen!
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Session Summary:
So, I had planned on fishing at LAH again this morning but again they had "No Parking" signs posted on delineators stating "no-parking allowed" between "6:00 AM until 10:00 AM" on Saturday. I didn't want to chance it, even tho today was Sunday.
DANG IT!! It was time for me to re-group again!
That's when I decided to head down south to hook-up and fish with Commander Jeff and the rest of the FTFF group at HH ... but on the way there I told myself ... "Self, if my parking spot is open on Bay Shore Ave ... then this will be a sign that I should stay and fish at LAB.
So I arrived at my LAB spot and my parking spot was wide open!
YAHOO! ... It was meant to be!!
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The weather was perfect again, the sky's were clear and filled with bright stars, the air was a chilly 53 degrees on the water and it eventually warmed-up to a brisk 57 degrees by 08:45 hrs with lots of bright sunshine, the water conditions were experiencing an in-coming tide but where I was fishing it was behaving more like an outgoing tide moving in the counter-clockwise direction until 08:00 hrs when it stopped and reversed it's direction and began to move in the clockwise direction ... some moving debris and floating trash in the water (not as bad as yesterday) ... the fishing on the other hand was very tough! ... the fish were not on the chew! ... but I was able to find a few of them!
I used every trick in the book! And I Finally Pulled The "Rabbit Out Of The Hat"!!
My Halibut story: Believe me when I say ... this one is for the books!!
It's still gray-light dark-thirty and I'm not wearing a headlamp.
My spider senses kept pushing me to fish in an area that I wasn't interested to fish in ... but after hearing the four out of the five voices in my head; over-an-over, I decided to surrender to my gut level feelings and to trust in my intuitions once again.
So now I find myself in the area at 05:55 hrs and I landed a respectful Spotty by 06:00 hrs and begin to like my decision to fish here when at 06:05 hrs my sleeper rod; on my swivel rod rack, Goes Full BENDO!! and I grabbed my rod in order to lift it and my rod rack upward against the downward heavy pull in order to rescue the stitches that were holding my D-rings attached to the sides of my Cumberland.
Note: Rod rack is attached to the D-rings.
The hook was set but it wasn't pulling line off my spool ...
HUH!?! and so I had immediately retrieved my other line out of the water and set it out-of-the-way in the rod rack.
I don't know what the heck I did ... but my braided line got wrapped around my rod just behind the rod tip. OK I figured it out and I was unwrapping my line in the wrong direction at the same time that this fish was power diving, trying to make power runs while turning me back-and forth!!
At this point ... I still don't know what was on the end of the line!!
I was guessing that it was either a monstrous LEGAL Bass, med sized Bat-Ray or a decent legal Hali ... I really didn't know!
After fumbling around and getting free of all the line wraps ... I was ready to finesse this thing in and my reel felt absolutely froze-up!! ... NOT NOW!!! HUH?!?!
Somehow ... in the dark, my braided line got underneath my spool and was wrapping-around on the inner shaft ...OH NOOooo!!!
Please understand .... this fish is still trying to make line ripping pulls and turning me ... So ... I remove the spool-nut and removed the spool and un-wrapped the line from the inner shaft and re-assembled my reel in hopes of getting into this one-sided fight!
NOPE!! DIDN'T HAPPEN!! Some how; in the dark, when I had removed my spool, I had opened the bail and caused my braided line to wrap a complete loop around my bail wire! DANG!!!
Please understand .... this fish is still trying to make line ripping pulls and turning me ... So ... I needed to un-wrap my braided line; in the dark, from the bail while I was presently fighting some strong and monstrously heavy fish ... I removed the spool-nut and I removed the spool, opened the bail, put the spool back on, closed the bail, removed the spool, opened the bail, put the spool back on again and I put the spool-nut back on for the last time ... OK! Phew!!
I made a quick adjustment my drag (set to FIGHTING MODE), I made double certain that I didn't have any more line wraps on the rod tip and now I'm FINALLY READY!! ...THE FIGHT WAS ON!!
I finally landed the beautiful specimen of a Halibut on top of my lap-tray at 06:20 hrs. I can't believe that this whole gear malfunction ordeal only lasted; from start to finish, approx 15 minutes. ... and I really can't believe that I didn't lose the Halibut during this entire fiasco!!
HIS WILL!! I am truly humbled!!
The Moral of my story is: Always listen to the 4 out of the 5 voices in your head! Ha ha ha!
Location: Los Alamitos Bay (LAB)
Duration: 05:45 hrs until 08:45 hrs (3 hrs)
Sun Rise: 06:46 hrs,
Sun Set: 16:44 hrs, the days are still getting shorter as each new day arrives.
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent
Gray Light: 05:55 hrs.
Tidal Conditions: 05:30 hrs 3.3 ft, 06:30 hrs 4.2 ft, 07:30 hrs 5.1 ft, 08:30 5.7 ft, 09:29 HT 5.9 ft, 10:30 hrs 5.6 ft , 11:30 hrs 4.9 ft ... etc.
Air temperatures during session: clear sky's with temps from 53 deg to 57 deg.
Water temperatures: 60 deg
Wind: 06:00 hrs 1 mph NW, 12:00 hrs 4 mph WNW.
Water clarity: translucent green
Large Leaf Kelp Beds: none to report
Water Visibility: 2 - 4 ft
Tidal Coefficient: Dropping ... (CE) 75 in the morning, this is a still a higher average considered a stable rate.
iSolunar Prediction: Minor Period: 07:58 hrs until 09:28 hrs.
(4 out of 4 possible) <"))>< <"))>< <"))>< <"))><
Sea Dogs: none to report
Dolphin: none to report
Pelagic Bird Activity: none to report
Bait Presence: massive schools of 1" to 4" shiners were being chased by the larger fish.
Photo from my (3.4 oz) Deeper Pro+ Fish Finder, blue-toothed to my iPhone X screen
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Distance kicked: 0.83 miles.
Calories Burnt: 335 calories
Tackle Used: 1/4oz Sardine Green/Silver & White Shad, 3/8oz Sardine Green/Silver colored HUB's
SP Dan's fish count this morning: 8-fish, 4-species, 1-legal to report today.
(1) short Sandy 8 1/4"
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(2) Greenback Mackerel, best 11"
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(4) Spotty's, best 13 1/2"
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(1) LEGAL Halibut 27" 8.2 pounds this one makes my 5th for my 2018 season and it sets the bar higher as my new PB for number of legal Hali's in a single season from a float tube!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Note: All legals shown, but just one pic of each species landed if short and all fish were quickly CPR'd.
PLEASE ... always leave it cleaner than you found it!
So please grab a hand-full and Pitch-In!!
Thank you for taking the time to check out today's fish report!
SP Dan <"))><
Solo Session in LAB, Sun 12-9-2018.
This was my 63th Float Tube session for the 2018 Season.
I always like to take a few minutes before each session to calm my thoughts and to remember to give thanks, for being so BLESSED for having such good health and for this opportunity of being here today ... enjoying the water, all of it's abundance and to take-in the breath taking sunrise of each morning's session .... amen!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Session Summary:
So, I had planned on fishing at LAH again this morning but again they had "No Parking" signs posted on delineators stating "no-parking allowed" between "6:00 AM until 10:00 AM" on Saturday. I didn't want to chance it, even tho today was Sunday.
DANG IT!! It was time for me to re-group again! That's when I decided to head down south to hook-up and fish with Commander Jeff and the rest of the FTFF group at HH ... but on the way there I told myself ... "Self, if my parking spot is open on Bay Shore Ave ... then this will be a sign that I should stay and fish at LAB.
So I arrived at my LAB spot and my parking spot was wide open!
YAHOO! ... It was meant to be!!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The weather was perfect again, the sky's were clear and filled with bright stars, the air was a chilly 53 degrees on the water and it eventually warmed-up to a brisk 57 degrees by 08:45 hrs with lots of bright sunshine, the water conditions were experiencing an in-coming tide but where I was fishing it was behaving more like an outgoing tide moving in the counter-clockwise direction until 08:00 hrs when it stopped and reversed it's direction and began to move in the clockwise direction ... some moving debris and floating trash in the water (not as bad as yesterday) ... the fishing on the other hand was very tough! ... the fish were not on the chew! ... but I was able to find a few of them!
I used every trick in the book! And I Finally Pulled The "Rabbit Out Of The Hat"!!
My Halibut story: Believe me when I say ... this one is for the books!!
It's still gray-light dark-thirty and I'm not wearing a headlamp.
My spider senses kept pushing me to fish in an area that I wasn't interested to fish in ... but after hearing the four out of the five voices in my head; over-an-over, I decided to surrender to my gut level feelings and to trust in my intuitions once again.
So now I find myself in the area at 05:55 hrs and I landed a respectful Spotty by 06:00 hrs and begin to like my decision to fish here when at 06:05 hrs my sleeper rod; on my swivel rod rack, Goes Full BENDO!! and I grabbed my rod in order to lift it and my rod rack upward against the downward heavy pull in order to rescue the stitches that were holding my D-rings attached to the sides of my Cumberland.
Note: Rod rack is attached to the D-rings.
The hook was set but it wasn't pulling line off my spool ...
HUH!?! and so I had immediately retrieved my other line out of the water and set it out-of-the-way in the rod rack.I don't know what the heck I did ...
but my braided line got wrapped around my rod just behind the rod tip. OK I figured it out and I was unwrapping my line in the wrong direction at the same time that this fish was power diving, trying to make power runs while turning me back-and forth!!At this point ... I still don't know what was on the end of the line!!
I was guessing that it was either a monstrous LEGAL Bass, med sized Bat-Ray or a decent legal Hali ...
I really didn't know!After fumbling around and getting free of all the line wraps ... I was ready to finesse this thing in and my reel felt absolutely froze-up!! ... NOT NOW!!!
HUH?!?! Somehow ... in the dark, my braided line got underneath my spool and was wrapping-around on the inner shaft ...OH NOOooo!!!
Please understand .... this fish is still trying to make line ripping pulls and turning me ... So ... I remove the spool-nut and removed the spool and un-wrapped the line from the inner shaft and re-assembled my reel in hopes of getting into this one-sided fight!
NOPE!! DIDN'T HAPPEN!! Some how; in the dark, when I had removed my spool, I had opened the bail and caused my braided line to wrap a complete loop around my bail wire! DANG!!!
Please understand .... this fish is still trying to make line ripping pulls and turning me ... So ... I needed to un-wrap my braided line; in the dark, from the bail while I was presently fighting some strong and monstrously heavy fish ... I removed the spool-nut and I removed the spool, opened the bail, put the spool back on, closed the bail, removed the spool, opened the bail, put the spool back on again and I put the spool-nut back on for the last time ... OK! Phew!!
I made a quick adjustment my drag (set to FIGHTING MODE), I made double certain that I didn't have any more line wraps on the rod tip and now I'm FINALLY READY!! ...THE FIGHT WAS ON!!
I finally landed the beautiful specimen of a Halibut on top of my lap-tray at 06:20 hrs. I can't believe that this whole gear malfunction ordeal only lasted; from start to finish, approx 15 minutes. ... and I really can't believe that I didn't lose the Halibut during this entire fiasco!!
HIS WILL!! I am truly humbled!! The Moral of my story is: Always listen to the 4 out of the 5 voices in your head! Ha ha ha!
Location: Los Alamitos Bay (LAB)
Duration: 05:45 hrs until 08:45 hrs (3 hrs)
Sun Rise: 06:46 hrs,
Sun Set: 16:44 hrs, the days are still getting shorter as each new day arrives.
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent
Gray Light: 05:55 hrs.
Tidal Conditions: 05:30 hrs 3.3 ft, 06:30 hrs 4.2 ft, 07:30 hrs 5.1 ft, 08:30 5.7 ft, 09:29 HT 5.9 ft, 10:30 hrs 5.6 ft , 11:30 hrs 4.9 ft ... etc.
Air temperatures during session: clear sky's with temps from 53 deg to 57 deg.
Water temperatures: 60 deg
Wind: 06:00 hrs 1 mph NW, 12:00 hrs 4 mph WNW.
Water clarity: translucent green
Large Leaf Kelp Beds: none to report
Water Visibility: 2 - 4 ft
Tidal Coefficient: Dropping ... (CE) 75 in the morning, this is a still a higher average considered a stable rate.
iSolunar Prediction: Minor Period: 07:58 hrs until 09:28 hrs.
(4 out of 4 possible) <"))>< <"))>< <"))>< <"))><
Sea Dogs: none to report
Dolphin: none to report
Pelagic Bird Activity: none to report
Bait Presence: massive schools of 1" to 4" shiners were being chased by the larger fish.
Photo from my (3.4 oz) Deeper Pro+ Fish Finder, blue-toothed to my iPhone X screen
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Distance kicked: 0.83 miles.
Calories Burnt: 335 calories
Tackle Used: 1/4oz Sardine Green/Silver & White Shad, 3/8oz Sardine Green/Silver colored HUB's
SP Dan's fish count this morning: 8-fish, 4-species, 1-legal to report today.
(1) short Sandy 8 1/4"
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(2) Greenback Mackerel, best 11"
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(4) Spotty's, best 13 1/2"
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(1) LEGAL Halibut 27" 8.2 pounds this one makes my 5th for my 2018 season and it sets the bar higher as my new PB for number of legal Hali's in a single season from a float tube!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Note: All legals shown, but just one pic of each species landed if short and all fish were quickly CPR'd.
PLEASE ... always leave it cleaner than you found it!
So please grab a hand-full and Pitch-In!!
Thank you for taking the time to check out today's fish report!
SP Dan <"))><
Last edited by SP Dan on Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:52 pm; edited 5 times in total
spins thinking about it $ and I really doubt that those heavy battery operated cumbersome FF's will really help to improve my ability to catch fish.
Giggle ... Nope! ... I still can't believe it Brotha! 
