I am really starting to hate WSB

[Smash]

With winter on the way and the possibility of getting my first WSB gone for yet another year, it’s time to reflect on why I seem to be unable to get one of these fishy bastards in the boat. So I thought I’d reach out to some of you veteran WSB slayers for some advice.

First off I should explain that I live in central California so I am already at somewhat of a disadvantage. Yes it's true, WSB seem to have an irrational hatred of people from Fresno. And because of the travel involved I don’t get to hunt them every weekend like some of you do. So I need to make every trip count.

Perhaps some history might help you to advise me. Here’s the gun I’m using it’s a Wong 55’ magnum hybrid with an Aimrite slip tip. The slip tip is rigged with cable. It also has a reel with about 200 feet of line. I’ve been hunting central and northern Cal for several years, but have only been targeting WSB for about three years. Like most, at first I didn’t see them, perhaps I was too loud or wasn’t hunting the right areas. But for the last two years I have seen and shot at and hit WSB on almost every trip. At first I missed a lot because of the transition to the Wong from euroguns. But after practice and coaching my aim has gotten a lot better and I’m now hitting most of what I shoot at. Whenever possible to try to avoid long shots because I really do believe that injuring a fish is disrespecting the sport. So that’s why my last trip was such a ball buster.

The day started great. We anchored the Spear Chucker near a promising kelp bed. I slid into the water and approached the bed as quietly as I could. After banding my gun I was about to make a drop to clear the air from my suit, when I noticed a WSB hanging about four feet under me. I couldn’t believe my luck. I hadn’t been in the water five minutes and I was about to land my first WSB. I had to take the shot from the surface because if I had tried to dive I would have head butted him. I lined up like a mafia hit man, spear tip not more than a foot from the back of the fishes head and pulled the trigger. As soon as he was hit he bolted and I gave him plenty of line. This was the first time I had one on and I didn’t want the fish to tear off. After a few seconds he stopped taking line so I started to follow the line to him. But to my disappointment all I found was an empty shaft with my sliptip still attached to the shaft. It looked like the mono had gotten stuck on the cable somehow and prevented the tip from coming off. Or perhaps the shaft didn’t go in deep enough to toggle. Well such is life. So I re-rigged my gun and continued to hunt. About fifteen minutes later I swam into a kelp room and there before me was another WSB. He was hanging about ten feet down which was level the where I was swimming. I stopped kicking and glided to within about six feet and let it fly. This one took the shaft just behind the gills, and off to the races he went. Again I gave line and waited for the fish to tie up, only to feel the line go slack again. Somehow he ripped off. Now before some of you start bashing me for losing two fish you should know that I take it as a personal failure whenever I don’t land a fish that I shoot (which isn’t very often). These two fish have hunted me all summer so if you have some advice or some things you think I could change please let me know, I’d be very grateful.

[Chainsaw]

In the words of the late great Al Snepperschoff "you just suck".
Better luck next time, I lost my first white at Cortez Bank, and lost my first over 50 pound fish on my birthday on the Neptunes Blue Water Meet, so your just part of the club now.
You will learn from everyone you land and everyone you lose.

[low_blow]

Man that sounds like 2 tough breaks in one day!
I am no expert by any means and I have not shot enough seabass to give you a bunch of advise, but here is what I took away from my experience.

I know the one i shot this year almost tore out and it was just be sheer luck that it did not. The fish spooled my reel and drug me through some of the thickest kelp I've seen before it tied up. When i finally chased all the line down it was still swimming in place, nose in to the current and not upside down and almost dead like i have seen in some of the videos on here. Once I had the fish secured and relieved the pressure on the line, the slip tip just fell out.

I know that if I had put any any more pressure on the line when the fish was running it would have probably torn off. My thought is that I paid for all that line and I might as well get my use out of it.

Hope that helps.

[Nano54]

make sure you have tape on the shaft and bend out the barb a little, ps there are still 50lbers around

[Sean E]

I know a guy up in Monterey that's been slaying them on h/l. Don't give up yet. I shot a little one down here in oc like 3 weeks ago and know a few people that are still getting them.



However I side with you and feel your pain. I spent all spring/early summer having bad timing and crawling through 5-6 ft vis spooking big ones cause by the time I ran into them I was so close couldn't swing my gun into them.

[Smash]

Thanks for all the great advice guys. Please keep it coming. I'll try tuning my slip tip, thanks.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by Nano54

make sure you have tape on the shaft

That was my first guess too. And just in case you don't know what he meant- if the slide ring gets pushed down the shaft until the cable is tight, and then a scale or meat jams the slide ring in place, then the tip will be held tight to the adapter and won't detach. If you put tape right in front of the muzzle, the slide ring can't go past the tape, and even if it gets jammed, there is plenty of cable behind it to pull through the ring and let the tip detach.

But maybe you already know that, and its just a guess anyway. Sometimes shit happens, and it sounds like you've just had more than your share lately. Things will turn better.

This summer I was straight over one sitting almost motionless with my tip not over three feet from the back of its head, and it still tore off. I could hardly believe it. All I can figure is that the tip hit the skull and then angled off around the side. I made a note that if I'm straight over the fish, I should shoot just behind the head rather than at the head.

For what its worth, I almost always put on every bit of pressure that I can in hopes of getting them tie up shallow, and I don't seem to tear them off (except when I do tear them off as in that example above).

[Bob Ballew]

tip still on shaft may be one part of the problem...if you have a mismatched tip and adapter, the tip may not be coming off due to side torque against the tip...the tip should have a sloppy fit on the adapter to where you can wiggle it a little from side to side...some adapters don't have enough angle machined on them so the tip will come off under sidewise torque from the fish running....if you are using a tip with a flopper, trash it and go to a straight slip tip that toggles...another possible problem could be lack of power to put the shaft half-way out the other side of the fish for a correct tip toggle...you should be shooting at least three 9/16's rubber slings to get some power behind the shaft....sometimes it is just the luck of the draw but, often, you will find a flaw in the gear setup...personally, I think mono sucks for big game hunting...one small nick and you will lose a big fish and the tip...I use stainless steel wire coated in plastic for the slip tip setup....doesn't kink and jam under the slide ring...doesn't break when nicked by reef, bone or gill rakers .....doesn't cut thru the meat like thin mono or spectra, which is often the cause of a lost fish......eliminates 3 problems that mono users have...good luck

[ThumperFish]

I had a wsb try to be a pargo at pv this year and tore himself up pretty bad. just before i could get to the fish he dove into the rocks and tried to get into a cave. slip tip was in the back 1/4 of the fish and tore himself off. i felt so bad thinking he would die soon there after but there is nothing you can really do. some lobster were happy.

on the other hand i had a few shots on yt this year that were so incredibly close to tearing off, i got close to sucking in water trying my hardest to get them off the bottom before they were gone. i was lucky they both came loose and i was able to get my hands in there gills.

so like bill said shit happens, and you win some and loose some.

[So-Cal Spearo]

I think its your aim and the fact your using cable on the slip tip instead of spectra. White seabass have extremely delicate flesh and posess a lot of power in their initial run. They can and will do anything in their power to get free, even if it means tearing themselves apart. You minimize this by using spectra because it is much softer and wont slice through the flesh like cable tends to do. The very first 60+lber I shot right in the back of the head and after nearly spooling me, I found the ever dreaded empty shaft....its like getting blue balls after being cockblocked on a beautiful girl..it sucks. For all the money and effort you go through to get down here and hunt seabass, you should do everything in your power to maximize your chances of landing them.

What you should do is:

A) Make sure your bands/wishbones are the proper length. You should replace them yearly at least. For 55" hybrid I have had best results with (3) 9/16" bands. Refer to band making formula.

B) Buy a mori spectra tip or equivalent.

C) Go shoot the f**k out of the calico bass or rockfish and practice stoning them. If you can consistently hit a 12" rockfish, you can hit a larger target like a white sea bass.


Good luck man, they aren't that hard once you have your setup dialed in.

[surforfish]

use a flopper shaft. worked good for me this year.

Side note: i didnt get any huge wsb, but i did get the ones i shot in.

[one_drake]

I shot two wsb yesterday.... they are still around.

[one_drake]

Originally Posted by Nano54

make sure you have tape on the shaft and bend out the barb a little, ps there are still 50lbers around

I am so mad at you! We got into fish yesterday but they were not 50.

[Smash]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

That was my first guess too. And just in case you don't know what he meant- if the slide ring gets pushed down the shaft until the cable is tight, and then a scale or meat jams the slide ring in place, then the tip will be held tight to the adapter and won't detach. If you put tape right in front of the muzzle, the slide ring can't go past the tape, and even if it gets jammed, there is plenty of cable behind it to pull through the ring and let the tip detach.

But maybe you already know that, and its just a guess anyway. Sometimes shit happens, and it sounds like you've just had more than your share lately. Things will turn better.

This summer I was straight over one sitting almost motionless with my tip not over three feet from the back of its head, and it still tore off. I could hardly believe it. All I can figure is that the tip hit the skull and then angled off around the side. I made a note that if I'm straight over the fish, I should shoot just behind the head rather than at the head.

For what its worth, I almost always put on every bit of pressure that I can in hopes of getting them tie up shallow, and I don't seem to tear them off (except when I do tear them off as in that example above).

Bill thanks for the advice. I didn't know about putting tape on the shaft. I'll try that right away.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by Smash

Bill thanks for the advice. I didn't know about putting tape on the shaft. I'll try that right away.

I hope it helps. When you said the tip was still on the shaft, its the first thing I though of. Do you recall whether the slide ring was jammed, holding the cable tight?

I learned this the hard way many years ago. I recall seeing the shaft enter the middle of a wsb, and then slide right back out when it ran. The tip never deployed because the slide ring was jammed.

Since I started using tape, there have been a few occasions when the slide ring was jammed so tight by meat or scales that I couldn't even free it without pliers, but it didn't matter. It was in front of the tape, so there was plenty of cable or spectra behind it to pull through and let the tip deploy.