Adventures of Johnny United: The 38 Pounder That Got Away

Wow, another opportunity to go fishing with dad and big bro. JU couldn't sleep fantasizing about the possibility of landing a 38 pounder since an anonymous posted the comment in the last blog.

Also, JU was all pumped up after receiving the fishing report from Mr. Liberty that went something like this:

Bill and I headed out to Liberty Friday, after attending Paganelli's seminar at the Warehouse the night before. Armed with new, profound knowledge we planned on some trolling and throwing.

We started trolling on the west side and Bill caught 3 stripers, all 18 or 19 inches (good, fresh fighters) on, of course, yellow hair-raisers. We were pretty pumped! During this westside trolling, Bill got a Big hit, but his line broke (we think maybe frayed a bit by the other fish) on a fish we would have loved to have seen. Very exciting! When things slowed a bit, we decided to head to the other side and try it and planned to throw a top water and a rattle trap during slack tide. No hook-ups throwing, so we ate lunch and then headed back west. Bill had a 17 incher in the mix somewhere, and I managed a 19 incher; these also on the west side.

As we trolled the west side again, thinking about throwing lures somewhere, I got a huge hit in the same area as Bill's big hit earlier. This fish was pulling very hard, perhaps the hardest hit I have ever had out there! So, dammit, I discover my line (17 pound mono) is mysteriously wrapped oddly on my reel bale (an extra strange little twist). I was hoping the fish wouldn't run before I hopefully figured out a way to correct this situation. No such luck! It took off hard and that line snapped with authority. For those with tender ears, I will not quote myself from that moment. Suffice to say, our hearts were beating hard. Glad to report that after some "recovery" time, we passed through that area again a couple times and I caught a 25 incher and then Bill hooked a 22. We're feeling much better at this point!

Anyhoo, basically end of story. Best day in quite awhile on Liberty. Those lost fish were Big. The other fish were very fun, fresh and large enough. All trolling; all on yellow hair-raisers.

The cavalry arrived at 9 AM to troll for striped bass. The Patriarch and the Captain used white hair-raisers while JU used a modified Bomber Long A Lures - B15A (Remove all treble hooks and replace with ONE single hook + 6-inch white tail).

First pass on the "west side of Liberty," the Patriarch's Berkley Cherrywood 7' medium pole went crazy. JU picked it up and landed a 17" striped bass. A few minutes later, JU's pole bounced in his hands. However, JU was using a heavy pole after hearing the report from Mr. Liberty; thus, JU knew it was a little one: another 17-incher. It was around 11 AM before another was boated by the Patriarch, another 17-incher. At that time three stripers were released, but it was fun. Around noon, while trolling and steering the boat, the Captain hit the smallest fish of the day, a 14-incher. BUT, this one was a keeper because it was a large mouth bass :-)

Then it was time to switch to sturgeon fishing using salmon row and ghost shrimp. JU got a chance to use his casting reel. The ultimate fisherman was never successful at using the casting reel without creating a back lash and a mesh of a fishing line. However, today was different. He managed to finally cast without any mishaps.

JU got the first sturgeon bite, but no hookup. Then it was the Patriarch's turn, another bite, but no hookup either. While everyone was questioning whether the bites were real or just imaginary since there were no hookups, JU, with his lighting quick speed, snapped his pole back to set the hook. Oh yeah, fish on baby!!!

The heart stopping action lasted for a second :-(

JU stopped reeling to let the fish run. Unfortunately, it was not the correct thing to do with sturgeon. Since the new California laws require the use of barbless hook for sturgeon, the line was to be kept tight. By stop reeling and perhaps letting the line slack, the fish got off :-( Afterwards, there were a couple more hits for JU and the Patriarch, but no hookups at all. Sturgeons were too smart to take the bait from the Captain's pole. They didn't want to see sunlight yet :-)

Summary: 3 striped bass let go; 1 large mouth missed close to the boat; and 1 landed. One 38 pounder sturgeon that got away and several hits with no hookups. Fantastic weather and water conditions were clear. Awesome fish day overall.

Ad Astra per Aspera.