Fishaholics Forums

                                ALWAYS PICK YOUR HEAD!

Hoping to get a last Lingcod before the season closes I hit the South Jetti at 1pm on the dot and had to leave a little after 3. There was some real thick fog and the water was pretty high and calm. I ran down to marker 25 to start throwing a 5" Chartreuse Strike King Zero on my main rod. I had my back up rod rigged with a bass spinner bait that I put a Strike King soft jerk rigged on the trailer hook. It was dead for a while, THEN, I snagged up the Zero and had to break off. I re-rigged with a BPS Offshore angler soft jerk. I don't remember what marker I was at, but it was 1:50 when I pierce the lip of a little Copper Rocky. I didn't feel the hit, just some mooshy tugs before I realized I need to set the hook. It was probably around 12" but I released it after takin a pic. It was dead again after that. When it got close to 3pm I decided to go work the area next to the truck. I had forgot my pack of toothpicks that I use to pick the head of my texas rigged soft plastics through the eye of the hook makin it harder for the fish to pull the head off the shank of the hook. This is a necessity for me. I hate loosin a fish cause my lure got pulled down and bunched up next to the point of the hook not allowing a hook set. If you forget them like me you can find some wood and break off little slivers that work the same. The tide was comin through the rocks and all the wood I saw was under water ( I didn't look very hard ) so I didn't even do that. When I got next to the truck I started gettin hits in one area, good hits. I worked the area longer than I wanted to tryin to get it to commit. FINALLY it blasted me and I went for a monster hook set. I had it on for a second, but it shook the hook. When I reeled in, wouldn't you know it, my lure was pulled down and bunched up around the point of the hook. I could have punched myself right in the face! I quickly found some dry wood to make a pick out of and went back to the same spot. I couldn't get it to hit again and left around 3:20.
Always pick your head.