Tide: 0ft Low at 6:30pm, 1.8ft High at 1:30am
I was on the computer checking the radar, trying to predict the path of the scattered storms that hovered inland. It was a 50/50 shot of it clobbering the area I wanted to fish so I made the wise choice and went for it. The rain was merely misting when I setup and fizzled out as the night wore on. I had a pickup a couple hours in but it quickly dropped the bait. About a quarter to 1am I was awfully tired and decided to pack up to make it home at a decent hour. As I reeled in the line that got hit earlier, the silver Avet let out a loud shriek. I went straight to 60lb of drag and honestly had trouble turning the SOB for awhile. I could tell it was another goliath by the way it was fighting but just when I thought I was in control the damn thing stopped swimming. It found something to wrap me up in and I couldn't force it out even while palming the spool.
I was running out of options so I did what any adrenaline junkie would do.. I jumped in the Hobie and went after the beast. When I got above the fish the taut line flickered against the waters surface just like the scene in jaws. I wrapped the line around my hand and pulled as hard as I could but to no avail. I tried pulling from every angle for 15 minutes but couldn't get it free. I went back to the beach and hoped the fish would free itself as I continued packing up. After another 15 minutes I decided to hop back in the kayak and cut the line close to the leader. I positioned myself directly above the snag, grabbed the line and pulled one more time for the hell of it. To my surprise, it came loose! The goliath about yanked me overboard as I still had the line wrapped around my hand. I fought him from the kayak for a minute but he was just dumping line on me. I quickly put the Avet in the rear rod holder and pedaled lightning fast back to the beach as I'm sure he was racing back to the structure at the same time. A solid 10 minutes later I had it on the beach. I was exhausted but this thing was still full of energy and shook the beach with powerful tail slaps. I did not get a measurement because I wanted to get it back in ASAP but man what a battle!
