Kayak Fishing Previous Records

Larry Laumann from La Jolla, California with a 53"- 50.65 pound California Yellowtail-October 30, 2005

Sunday was a great day. Everything went right. I got very lucky.            Headed out around 8:30am on my first trip from La Jolla Shores (California) since Spring to chase some halibut with some heavy gear. Sunny beautiful day out... The plan was to head over to Blacks and cover some sand trolling mackerel. At the pier I got a few greenies (Pacific mackerel) and a sardine into the bait tank.                        Headed north, "around the buoys" area off Blacks Beach. The water depth goes to 70 feet+ pretty quick, so I was goofing around with my rigs to keep the bait near the bottom while moving. Caught a couple leopard sharks up to probably 4 feet long.           Good warm up. Couple hours of trolling, circling and waiting, enjoying the view and the sunshine.       Suddenly in about 20' of water, the fat TLD30 two-speed starts screaming full speed, straight away off the stern. I still had to clear my other friggin' line by reeling like a madman with the hooked up rod under my leg while getting towed (?!) I hate that part.                         By the time I started winding on the fish (80#spectra, 80# mono topshot, 30# fluoro leader, 3way swivel, 8 oz, with a circle hook), it was probably 100+ yards away - she was angling a big circle around a distant lobster buoy. I remember thinking Bat Ray?, Black Seabass?, and maybe another shark but, they don't swim that fast. I dug my paddle hard numerous times to keep my bow pointed at the fish, my trusty kayak and I were "catching up" slowly.                                  After 10 minutes of battle, we were finally out in deeper water and I got straight up and down for the real battle. The fish started sulking straight down, and I HAD TO SHIFT THE REEL INTO LOW GEAR to make any progress! Impossible sized head shakes(or, wing flaps?), and even more relentless runs for the bottom. Full bendo with my heavy tuna stick for "a long time" out there.                 When I looked over to suddenly see deep color in the clear water, I knew it wasn't a BSB or mud marlin. Shiny and, BIG. Got a few more cranks here and there onto the reel. Whew, felt more like "long-range" fishing.                          Finally saw a huge silvery belly, green back, and the tail ..... a YELLOW tail! Um, Yellowtail??!           Fighting back full-blown panic, I screamed "Holy @$@#$@ Mother of God" at the top of my lungs - grabbed the gaff and stuck her on the first surface circle. Nice, a solid gaff shot right into the gills/belly and I pulled hard on the big gaff with all my remaining strength.      I stabilized the ol' Scupper Pro, legs overboard, and held on tight through the furious bucking and shaking that followed. Grabbing onto the gills inside, I noticed a fat blood trail from the gaff shot, thinking 'yeah that's a good thing' as she weakened slowly. I held on and just drifted with this death-grip for quite awhile, being patient, waiting for the right moment to attempt to dig out my stringer (buried behind me, ugh).             By the time I had a rope through the gills, I had to start paddling, as a set wave almost broke on me. Looked at the meter ... 12 feet deep !!!!                  53", 50.65 lbs. on the La Jolla El Pescador Fish Market scale.....

Dan Curran / St. Louis, MO-Tarpon
Attached is a photo of me with a 47" X 23" girth TARPON caught in the backwaters near Naples, FL.  I was using a 9 1/2 foot, 7 weight flyrod, 25# shock leader, 2/0 white streamer fly.  He pulled me ~ 1/2 mile, luckily towards where the car was parked and near where my partner was fishing.  Almost an hour later I finally grabbed his lip and my partner took this picture.  As you can see from the picture it was nearly dark by the time I landed him.  According to the calculations, he weighs 35#, using 700 as the fudge factor, 23 X 23 x 47 / 700 = 35.5#.

                                                               "SOLO RECORD CALIFORNIA HALIBUT"