Like TV comedian Jerry Seinfeld once said about a lifestyle different than his, "No thanks. But not that there's anything wrong with that you know." Well, being a backtroller, that's kind of how I felt about anchoring with the "Hogliners"; no thanks, although there's nothing wrong with that. So no angry e-mail please. After watching significantly more springers caught in hoglines my first couple of times at O.C. this season, today (Sat.) I stumbled upon an open slot in the lower sandbar hogline at 5:30 a.m. as I prepared to backtroll the tailout. Hmmm. "Garrick, grab the anchor were gonna try it- good place for Ron to sleep". Well, about 15 minutes into fishable daylight Nick has his prawn hammered and he gets a good set. Due to an early area "bite", ours was the 3rd fish hooked. One thing I must say about the hogline brotherhood is that the fishers near a hookup get the lines out of the way quickly, unlike a few crowded trolling & backtrolling areas I know of. Respect earned. Didn't matter for Nick though as his fish took a quick lateral run into a couple of lines and slacked itself during the untangle efforts and wound up throwing the hook as we finally were dropping down after it. Back in the line for awhile and the bite shuts completely off seemingly everywhere. When that happens I either move & backtroll or stay & eat doughnuts. Gotta find a way to lose a few pounds so up anchor. The bite comes back on about 2 hrs. later and, sure enough, we watch a moderate but steady rythym of anchor bouys thrown and fish caught where we were. There were also a few backbounced hookups, but again at a slower rate than the lines. Might be due to less current than normal for April. Anyway, we had enjoyed the brief comraderie within the line. On the other side of the coin, we also enjoyed hearing these same guys loudly yell obsenities at the backtrollers below their line if anybody came remotely too close to their plunked rigs; even though I didn't think they were too close. Territorial fun. Interesting how experiencing both "sides of the fence" can change one's perspective about people.- So we scratched around the area and wasted some good bait at O.C. again. Only went up there 3 times this season, but had to leave tuck-tailed from one of my usually more productive places. Oh well, bring on the Clack. (will be later in the season for me). - Steve
[This message has been edited by RT (edited 04-22-2000).]
[This message has been edited by RT (edited 04-22-2000).]