LAST EDITED ON May-03-01 AT 07:26 PM (PST)

Right after I set the hook it made several extremely powerful head shakes and then took off for it's initial (and only) long run. I don't remember how long the run was as I was too freaked out to really think about anything. Last year in the same area I snagged a bit bat ray in the wing with a plastic so that kept creeping into my head but this REALLY DID feel like a fish. It kind of reminded me of the way the barely legal white seabass fight that we get inshore on plastics from the float tubes - just a lot heavier and more pronounced. It made a couple more medium length runs but I'd have to say that most of the fight was a tug-o-war with short little runs thumping head shakes (like a wsb but somehow different).

Bucket mouth! Tell me about it!

It was a beautiful fish. I'm glad they are protected. Watching that big thing swim away through the surf was awesome.

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You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.