Keyport Seahawk - Fluke and stormy seabass

[Chrisper4694]

Headed out saturday super early with plans of seabass fishing a bit of a way out. On the way out we stopped and did a few short drifts on one of our favorite early season spots and I hooked a very nice fluke on a homemade bucktail. We were on our way shortly after that and as we got to the spot, of course the wind kicked up pretty bad and we just couldn't get the reef anchor to stick.

The ocean got pretty angry and John decided we had to head in. The west wind made for some pretty nasty swells and we took a couple of bangers over the bow and cabin. One even blasted the bait tray off the side of the boat. I probably should've filmed it, but every time i got off the seat i got thrown.

We finally got close enough to shore that the wind was blocked and we were able to anchor in our plan B spot. First stop had some keeper seabass but was absolute DOGFISH CITY! When you have more dogs than anything else it's time to move!

Second set was money! 95% seabass for almost 3 hours straight on the same spot! only one dog but some other non-targeted creatures made appearances: 2 small blackfish came up. then i get a hit and snagged...I snap it a few times and give it slack to see if the fish makes a move and it does!

This fish starts pulling like a tank and I was positive i had a hefty tog on the line! After a great fight, i win the battle against...a big nasty eel! haha. Pretty sure it was a conger, maybe a silver idk. I ended up catching two of them, man those things are nasty! They actually try to bite you while you unhook them!

Turned out to be a great day for seabass. Had to weed through shorts but i had my limit up to 18" (even though i through back my last 12" thinking i could get a nicer one and ran out of time haha; i'm still counting it!) 42 total seabass, 13 keepers total for us and 2 fluke.