Watched the water and winds for a couple of days .Then it was time to see what mother nature had to say .
I guess the stars aligned . Launch time was go time as the Ocean came alive , birds went up to scout for us, the whale waved as it devoured a pile of bunker .
I've never been in it so alive. Hard to decide which way to go ,which way to throw.

Piles of bunker getting destroyed , bass slamming the kayak total chaos . No defined direction of anything ,bunker flying out the water bass flying out the water .
Well they sure looked like bass but I later learned some Albies mixed in also .
All this madness and I can't get a hit and this is all happening at 3+mph with the tide .
Elias is grabbing fish here and there we're using the same stuff . I'm getting dinks he's getting meat .
Not a problem , many pods plenty to work we split from each other and radio goes off "my days over " . Drive arm snapped .....Oh boy not now .
We come prepared for these problems so when we do finally get out we can fish and enjoy it .
After his drive down from Westchester Daimon was not turned around and sent packing because of a broken drive . He went on fishing .

While all this is going on I throw out and reel in a 3' dog fish .Arggg
Got to move to another pod . As I hit the gas and get upwards of 3 mph , Bamm right rod snaps to attention I grab it set it and it starts peeling away from me .
Easy 60 yards of line off the spool in seconds. Chaos turns into my happy place now ! Slow motion sets in . I don't know how to explain it to you .But when you feel it you'll get what I mean .
It's a long way from my Kayak but I can feel the weight of it . Give it a couple cranks on the VS . Bad idea I woke her up again.30 yds gone .

I don't want to pedal towards her don't want any slack at all . I take a line parallel to her to keep the tension on .Start to second guess , is it a bass ? Shark ? I am in the friggin Ocean .
Weird fight starts .. slow reel in but now muscle memory comes in to play . Now I feel the motion of the fish , the rub of line across her head the slow swirl of the body as it's about to take off for anther run.
It's what I felt and saw last time in the crystal clear waters. I know this feeling , my body knows it .

With that 20 yds in front of my kayak I see a splash and roll of a fish but yet my hands and rod don't feel it . Huh ahh that's not my fish .
Whew my line is still taught but it is coming up , I lower the rod tip in case she's thinking about one last jump .
Holy chit ! As I see her surface and do a little wiggle that starts with a head shake as if to say I can't believe I'm caught .
Deeper into slow motion I sink as I'm in total awe but she's still on her terms . We both know that .
I reel her in for a closer look at the hook . Perfect set she's going no where as long as I keep the pressure on and she don't go nuts at the Yak .

Tail-grab ? What are you friggin nuts your hand will never fit around it .
Now memories of the last big one kick in , 2 miss grab of the mouth .
Don't know if you guys think about it but I do . Those hooks in their mouth are very sharp ...
This time I slide my hand down the leader , move her out from the Kayak and grab the bottom jaw with all my grip .Not a gripper my hand , in her mouth. Death grip !

To my surprise no fight no head shake she just looked at me .
Test lift ...yeah this ain't going to work with one hand . Double grip lean way back slide her in and hope she doesn't jump out the other side .
Success in my lap and she is huge ! Personal Best for me just got upped a notch.

Wow that is life in a nut shell right there . So much emotional stuff going on in that 15 minute period .It's real hard to explain the passion I have for doing this and to be rewarded like this is just icing and a cherry on top.
I was just grateful to get out , let alone catch the largest fish of my lifetime .
Then to have one of you buddies capture the lifetime event with some great pictures , brings it all together and you share the moments because you both understand what it means to be able to accomplish it.

Oh yeah now I'm 2.5 miles from where I started running with the wind and tide and I need to go the other way .
Yup that's part of the passion also . Hate me if you will but this one will be printed and hang in my line of sight forever until if some day she is replaced .
Yes the fight was great , is it over ? Not until I run the 2.5 miles back into the wind and tide while dragging this 47.5" personal best of mine back to the beach .
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