Today, I caught and landed a once-in-a-lifetime fish story. Christmas Day 2023 will go down in my memory banks forever. I went out today because we had our family Christmas celebration on Saturday so that Alyssa could go with Dolan to his family.
I knew Vince and Dave were going in his boat, and I saw them leave. I knew the water would be calm, so I just said heck it, I’m going. I knew I could call them if I needed anything. We discussed that they were heading to Smith Point Lighthouse, and I was going to R62.
On my way out, I saw a set of birds on the radar about 3 miles south, near the Asphalt pile area but relatively near the channel in about 50 feet of water. I turned and headed directly at them. I landed a few 20 – 23 inch fish but threw them back. I was hunting for bigger fish as I have caught plenty this year. I fished that area for about 15 min before the birds broke up.
All the birds must have seen the same thing because they gathered up maybe ¾ north of where I was. I rolled everything up and moved out. I usually stop several hundred feet short of bird activity. I got my port side up and running. Thankfully, I never got the starboard side out. The back rod went off first with about a 23-inch fish. As I landed that one, the other one in the front went off like I had hit a crab pot. It was just ripping line out (thankfully, I had just set the reels up yesterday to release a bit if I got a big one). There was no stopping that guy down, so I cut the throttle on the boat.
The amount of line those guys took off was ridiculous. I finally started making some progress. Of course, I did not have the net fully out and ready, so I had one hand on the rod and one gyrating the net to lock it in position. Finally, I was getting the fish to the boat. You know it will be nice when you can see the currents the fishtail is making but can’t see the fish. I got it close to the boat and realized it was two massive fish. I quickly grabbed the line to get to the weight and dipped up the first and second. As I moved to lift the net, the first one got out of the net. I grabbed him again and finally got them both in the boat.
I was so out of breath that I could hardly talk to Vince and the team to come here. They came in about 15 minutes, and I know they caught their limit. I finally kept a 24-inch fish and came home.
Wow, what an adventure.
December 25, 2023
| High | Low | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temperature | 55.7 °F | 36.9 °F | 46.6 °F |
| Dew Point | 48.6 °F | 36.4 °F | 43.4 °F |
| Humidity | 99 % | 71 % | 89 % |
| Precipitation | 0.00 in | — | — |
| High | Low | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind Speed | 8.9 mph | 0.0 mph | 1.4 mph |
| Wind Gust | 10.3 mph | — | 1.9 mph |
| Wind Direction | — | — | ESE |
| Pressure | 31.04 in | 30.96 in | — |
