I woke up to rain. It's almost August, what the...? Made my way down to Swamis and paddled out to just beyond the waves, past a couple of long-boarders, between the inner reef and outer kelp.
Pretty soon, I hooked up a big Calico bass. It spun me around two times on the surfboard, peeled line off my reel and stuck a nice two inch spine into my middle finger as I'm landing the sucker on my board...Ouch!...all the while, I was trying to avoid getting dumped by a set of waves screaming through the line-up. Those spines hurt like a mother, and as I was handling the fish, I got cut up from grabbing the bottom lip filled with tiny teeth. Later that night, as I am cooking up fresh bass, a pinch of salt got all in my wounds and gave me some real good pain to take my mind off my problems.
This week is Shark Week on Discovery channel but man, they ought to call it Bass Week. If bass had the teeth of a shark, I'd be dead. They are veracious feeders, very aggressive, and pound for pound, are one of the best fighting fish to catch on a hook and line. If you ever look into the eyes of a Calico, you'll see the fire red glow of the pupils, and the absolutely pissed off look of pure nature, raw and fearless. Spines, teeth, attitude all equal danger.
19 inches of Colossal Bass; another 14 incher and I was good for the day. After paddling out to the kelp beds, scouring the reef, the current moved me about a mile and a half South of my launch, so I paddled back, hid my gear in the bushes, and went out and caught a few good waves. Pretty small surf, but I worked myself hard. I am now back in shape.
Lifting weights, mountain biking, surfboard fishing, I'm ready to do battle; but the greatest battle, I find, is in life.
Peace for all living things!
