I was fishing around some structure in the southern half of the bay, throwing a double rig with a couple 1/4oz pink tube baits. made a cast, let it drop, then began the retrieve, and immediately felt snag-like resistance, as if I'd hooked into a rock or cable. you know the feeling - "oh it's a fish!-oh never mind, it's not moving". I paddled over opposite where I cast, hoping I could pull the lure out of whatever it was without breaking off. after a couple of hard tugs, I felt a headshake. I gave it another hard pull, and then the line started moving. First thought was that it might be a massive halibut, so pulled out the net and made sure all my gear was secure under the board's straps. Whatever it was, it was massive, felt like my bay bass setup could barely bring it up.
After a few minutes, I got color - brown on top, white on bottom, it's a halibu-oh dang it's an angel shark!! never caught one before and was thrilled to have one on the end of the line. thankfully my net was just wide enough to get his head into. he was surprisingly calm as I brought him on the board, but with a fish of that size on a paddleboard, even minor thrashing can mean chaos, so I quickly got some pictures and video, pulled the tube bait out of his upper lip, and let him swim off. no way to measure him on the board but at least 40 inches or so. and he was heavy lol.
almost felt pointless to keep fishing after that, i knew nothing else I was gonna catch that day would top it (kept fishing anyway though
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