San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Took a break from studying for finals and went out on the beach for 2 hours this afternoon, fishing the incoming tide. There were a ton of man-o-wars. It was very slow until ~6 pm, then the bass hit less than 30 seconds after a cast. Got the spotfin shortly after, then it was dead again until i hooked onto something huge. The second i set the hook it ran straight out and i couldnt stop it. Peeled off all of my 20 lb mono from the size 4000 reel.

This is the first time i've been fully spooled; I hooked onto something in oceanside off the pier 2 weeks ago that felt like it could spool me too, but it wrapped around the piling and broke me off before i could see what it was. I plan to upgrade to a larger reel and heavier line now before going back out again
(EDIT: idk how to rotate photos so they all have weird orientations sorry)

Good luck on finals man! I need to take a study break and hit the water!

Lots of at Torrey pines too. Vellela Vellela is what they are called. Related to man o war. I don’t think sting is as bad. I avoided them anyway.

Glency wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 1:32 pm Lots of at Torrey pines too. Vellela Vellela is what they are called. Related to man o war. I don’t think sting is as bad. I avoided them anyway.

i just looked it up, you're right! i was terrified of getting stung but these sound much less dangerous. Thanks for letting me know

Dope but sorry to hear you lost the monster. How tight is your drag? 4000 size reel can usually take 15 - 20 lb drag. Tightening the drag (but not lock it) can exhaust the fish quicker and slowdown the run.
My 10000 size reel can take 50 lb drag, and I usually set it around 20 lb. When I hooked that 2 ft sheephead, it peeled a decent amount, but not too much, before stopping fighting.

yumBass wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 5:03 pm

Glency wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 1:32 pm Lots of at Torrey pines too. Vellela Vellela is what they are called. Related to man o war. I don’t think sting is as bad. I avoided them anyway.

i just looked it up, you're right! i was terrified of getting stung but these sound much less dangerous. Thanks for letting me know

I was scared too. That’s why I looked haha

Zhao wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 6:40 pm Dope but sorry to hear you lost the monster. How tight is your drag? 4000 size reel can usually take 15 - 20 lb drag. Tightening the drag (but not lock it) can exhaust the fish quicker and slowdown the run.
My 10000 size reel can take 50 lb drag, and I usually set it around 20 lb. When I hooked that 2 ft sheephead, it peeled a decent amount, but not too much, before stopping fighting.

according to tackledirect, the shimano fx4000fb can take 13 lbs of drag max, and i definitely didn't have it set to max because i was running 20 lb mono. The larger reel im gettting has 26 lbs of max drag i believe, so it should be better next time i head out.

Not dangerous those... Remember that drag # is just a number....