The biggest little Seabass ever!!!

Fred and I were checking the fish counts on Saturday and we hear that the Freedom got limits of White Seabass on the first day of their 2-day trip at Catalina...LET'S GO!! I said....so we packed up and hit the road...

We landed on the deck of the Big Game 90 in Long Beach....Light load when we made our reso, not so much when we got there...31 peeps, but hey, the boat is 90 feet so we all spread out...

He had fished SBI the previous day, so we were not sure what to expect. We loaded up with some tiny live squid and giant sardines for bait.

A guy named Steve from the Moody Marlin Tackle shop in Dana Point was on the boat with some awesome prizes...An Avet SX 2-speed for the biggest fish, a Penn rod for 2nd biggest fish, and three boxes stuffed full of tackle valued at $150.00 each for the first legal Seabass, Yellowtail, and Halibut. If none were caught then they got raffled off on the way in...Pretty cool I thought, this is gonna be fun!!

I was up at 4am ready to have my try at my favorite all time fish....I dropped down and got bit as soon as I hit the bottom.....SEAL! So my arms are burning and the blood and adrenaline are flowing....Finally busted him off and retied my set-up and tryed again.....

Not one more bite untill the sun started to rise. In the grey light we started getting bit and every cast was producing nice winter Calico Bass...I love to catch them, but this time they were almost a nuisance! Could not get a bait down long enough to attract a Seabass with the Calico's chewing like they were...Finally a bite with a solid headshake.....

It was a little guy, but legal and I knew it was worth the $150.00 tackle pack so in the sack it went!!!!

Nothing else for hours........except for a few Sargo and a stray bass now and then.

I kept praying for the bite to turn on, but secretly inside I was ok if it didn't because I had the Jackpot in my sack!!!!

At around 3pm we found a nice school of Bonito that wanted to play. These were large models, upwards of 6 pounds...They ripped drag off our reels and faught like little yellowfin tuna!!!!

Fred hooked a GRANDE fish that blew our minds and then I caught it's twin, although not quite as large, right after...Everyone was having a great time pulling on those little suckers!

Anyway, here is where the story gets great for me....

I end up winning the Jackpot with my Seabass ($300.00) and the Avet SX 2-speed reel...

I gave the crew the JP and they gave us passes to come back for free....

Fred takes 2nd with his monster Bonito and gets the rod...

I get a Tackle box valued at $150.00 for the first legal Seabass.

Then, get this, my number is drawn on the way home for one of the other tackle packs!! I just can't believe it!!! What luck I'm having!!!!

Great day...Fun crew, Special thanks to the crew of the Big Game 90 and to Steve from Moody Marlin in Dana Point for his generosity...He also gave everyone on board a t-shirt and some hats!!! Pretty good for a $100.00 overnighter!!!

Get out there girls, the fish are biting!!!