“I just about got spooled” – A Double PB Night

This past week was an eventful one. It’s still May, but man, it feels like summer! I kicked off the week with a fruitful light tackle client session. A couple days later I took an all-day trip that started in San Onofre for the furthest north beach in my San Diego Beaches Series and finished the day at another nearby beach for a sharking session through the grunion run. I finished the week Saturday night with a slow light tackle bite but an evening-saving bite on the big rod again. Before I get into the full report, be sure to check out Western Outdoor News’s latest podcast (ep. 19) as I had the pleasure of being a guest for the episode.

The light tackle bite was awesome to start the week! Still, the most frequent catch has been yellowfin croaker with corbina starting to chime in here and there. I didn’t have any luck with spotfin this week, but they’ve been here since April and I doubt they’re going anywhere anytime soon. Towards the back-end of the week, the light tackle bite (for me) really tapered off. Surf fishing San Onofre State Beach was slow but so was that evening and Saturday evening as well. But let’s talk about the double PB night!

Two Personal Be[a]sts Back-to-Back

It was night two of the most recent grunion run and I arrived on the sand around 4:30 pm. The tidal set was as follows: (1.8ft at 4 pm), (6.7ft at 10:17 pm). Surf height was predicted to be 2-3/3-4 throughout the evening but the observed height was a gorgeous 1-2/2-3. With the current and surf laying down nicely, the weeds staying out of our way (for the most part), and warm air and water temps (65F) these were the best conditions I’d seen thus far in the early goings for the summertime season.

As I waited for most of the beachgoers to exit the water and leave for the night, I tested the light tackle bite. My first cast resulted in a pretty yellowfin croaker and I was starting to get a really good feeling about the evening. To my disappointment, the bite just wouldn’t produce much else. I ended the light tackle day with two yellowfin croaker, a perch and one other bite. I’m always grateful for any fish, but it’s worth noting that the bite really tapered off towards the back-end of the week (for me at least).

The sun begins to sink over the water as we put the light rods away and commit to sharking for the night. As we settle in for the night and brake down the light tackle rods, I’m having a conversation with my buddy and just behind him, I see his rod dip once and snap back up before dipping down sporadically. “You’re on! You’re on!”. As he runs to his rod, I grab the phone and pliers and get ready for the tail-grab.

Flying Soup

A few hours earlier, he was telling me how it’d been roughly two years since his last soupfin shark and that he’d been dying to get on one. I make my way over to where he’s fighting the fish and he tells me it’s already gone airborne. The excitement and adrenaline is visible as he pumps his rod gaining when he can and letting her run when she wants to. A few minutes later and she’s in the shallows so it’s my turn to contribute. I get behind her, grab the tail, she rolls once but I regain my grip and she’s on the sand shortly thereafter. “Wooooooohhh! Yeahhhhhh!” He’s stoked and I’m stoked for him. Always awesome to get back on the bite after so long.

It’s just after sunset now and last light is approaching but just before daylight slips away, it’s my turn! My rod does the classic dip, snapback, and full bend and we’re on! It’s amazing the read on a fish you can get just from holding the rod. Immediately, I feel the difference in the fight between what’s on my line now vs a typical leopard. As I look up, I see her! Not in the water. Fully atop the water in such a majestic manner. From right to left she breaks through the surface so cleanly and re-enters cleaner than a dolphin would. These soupfin sharks have such a unique style of fighting as they dart through the water with such meaning and power. One look at their frame and it makes perfect sense.

She breaks the surface a few more times but none as clean as the first. A few minutes later and we have her on the sand. I’ve only caught a handful of these beauties, but as I get closer to her, I get a feeling she might be my biggest yet. The tape slides through my fingertips until I reach a number I’ve never seen when measuring any of my catches… 73-inches!

Non-Stop Action

I know anglers out there who’ve hooked 100+ inch seven gills and other monsters, but that’s why it’s a “Personal Best” and I’m pretty happy about it. We get a quick pic and she’s back in the water strong and healthy.

Maybe only 15-minutes later and I’m on again! There’s something different and special about fishing through a grunion run. Sometimes you get nights like these where you get a bait in the water and it doesn’t last more than a few minutes. With thousands of little baitfish on the sand, one can only imagine what’s going on in the water. We’d seen a few dozen grunion earlier in the day darting around in the shallows, but to be honest, we didn’t pay much attention to the sand after dark… way to busy.

Of all the fish I’ve hooked on a somewhat regular basis, soupfin are the one I believe to have lost the most of. They fight so sporadically and it’s just so tough to keep proper tension throughout the fight. One moment they’re swimming some 15+mph away from you and the next, your line goes slack as they fully breach. Another few seconds go by and it darts off again before swimming directly at you. Just as you regain proper tension, it pulls a 180 on you and darts back to sea. Few fish are more exciting, but few can be more frustrating too.

Long story short, about 3-minutes later as I get her into the shallows, she either rolls or darts back real quick and she spits the hook resulting in heartbreak for me. But the night wasn’t over just yet.

A Back-Breaking Spool-Tester

Walking back to my bags, I examine my rig trying to figure out what went wrong. No bent hook, no nothing, just a clean spat hook. At this point, both my rods are out of the water and I’m contemplating whether I call it or bait up another hook. I figured I’d soak one more and de-rig the other. My typical set-up (which is the one I got the soup on) is as follows:

• Rod: Fiblink Moonsniper (12 or 13 feet)
• Reel: Penn Battle 6000 or 8000 (II or III)
• Mainline: 50-pound braid
• Top shot: 100-pound nylon coated mono
• Shark Rig: (Buy Here)
  • Wire: AFW 90 lb Nylon Coated Wire Leader Line
  • Hooks: 7/0 Circles
  • Swivel: 3-Way Barrel Swivel
  • Crimps: AFW #6 Crimps
  • Weight: 8-ounce pyramid or 6-ounce sputnik

Recently, I purchased a Penn Battle III 8000 series reel and paired it with a Fiblink Moonsniper (13ft/4-piece). I put the same 50-pound braid on it (fitting some 400 yards) with a line-to-line (FG knot) to my 50-pound mono, to my 100-pound nylon coated mono, to my pre-leader, and then to my wire shark rigs. Since purchasing this setup, It’s been tested 4 times. Two big bat rays that took out some 300 yards of line, my biggest leopard that fought harder than any leopard I’ve ever hooked, and now this…

Just as I’m beginning to organize my gear and break down the one rod, I look across the way at my other rod – for visibility at night, I use LED shoelaces zip-tied to my rod tip – and it’s bent over, but not shaking. It’s relatively still from my perspective so I’m kind of confused. Maybe a chunk of seaweed is stuck on it? Another second goes by and it bends further. I drop my rod and sprint over to it. As I get halfway there, I hear the drag screaming as line flies of my reel! I pick it up, tighten the drag, lean back and wait for the run to stop.

I Just About Got Spooled

Thirty more seconds go by… a minute… two minutes… I’m still waiting for the initial run to stop! Josh finally makes his way over to me and he convinces me to button down the drag a little more and a little more and it’s till running! At this point, I’ve never had my drag so tight. What’s more concerning is the fact that I’ve never seen this part of my line nor this part of my spool (at-least not mid-fight).

I have a solid 400-450 yards of line on this reel and from what I can tell, I’m down to about 50-yards left. Josh will tell you it was down to 30 and maybe it was, but bottom line… I just about got spooled. I tightened up the drag near full capacity in my last hopes of landing this thing. I’m fairly certain I’ve hooked a bat at this point, but you truly never know, and you never want to lose a fish no matter the species.

I finally get her to stop and we’re in a stand-still for some 30-seconds. I feel her give me a little bit and from this point on, I begin to regain line. I’ll spare you the next 20-minutes but I ended up landing her. I also came to a realization of how much more force I can exert on my set up than I previously thought. With a 58-inch wingspan, she was the largest bat ray I’ve ever hooked and by far the heaviest fish I’ve ever landed. My estimated weight is somewhere between 145-190-pounds.

Surf Fishing Conditions Forecast

The conditions continue to improve as we get closer and closer to summer. The water is warming up as we edge past the 65F mark in most areas. Expect that trend to slowly continue until we get a really good heatwave. Surf height should lay down nicely for most of next week and overall conditions should only be getting better for the time being. Seaweed has continued to clear out at most San Diego beaches and no signs of a red tide so no complaints here.

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