| Fishing a stout hand line baited with a big barracuda head, we should have caught a large shark. Instead, the rope went tight with a massive pull straight down. Whitey, as the big Jewfish is sometimes known, had inhaled the bait and was hooked solidly in 100 feet of water. Now it was a test of will and strength. The fight did not last long, but it was furious. When Whitey turned to run back to his hole, the wet line raced through my hands. Bearing down on the line put a stop to that escape attempt, I followed with a rapid series of hand-over-hand pulls to recover the lost line and to bring the massive fish to the surface. (I think someone else was backing me up on the line but I have no memory of the details.) Adrenalin rush? Must have been. Because when we saw what appeared, we were amazed. The Jewfish was 6 or 8 feet long with a mouth that looked like it could hold a VWor at least a couple of motorcycles and riders. After taking a couple of photos and pulling a half dozen hooks from his jaw, we released the expanded air in the fish's swim bladder so that Whitey could swim back down to his lair. (Mike the Mechanic) |
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