The Biggest Fish Story Ever! 300# Bass on 20# Line - 1/0 Dropshot Hook / Bill vs Giant Sea Bass

The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cayo Blanco (Cuba), and published in 1952.[1] It was the last major work of fiction written by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it tells the story of Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cuba.[2]

My story is not about fiction like the Old Man and the Sea but a day on the water that will never be duplicated, ever. This once in a lifetime experience with one of my best friends will go down as the coolest battle ever witnessed from start to finish. With equipment unmatched for the event that is going to take place, this is a true David and Goliath story.

Tim Tuttle and Mercury Pro Bill Siemantel / HellerHighWater

As we get older, there are more responsibilities we find ourselves handling and finding the time to get out on the water gets harder. First words of advice, make the time! You never know what might happen.

The dates and time of this story is not important, but every little thing leading up to the moment my good friend Tim Tuttle and I witnessed does. As we watched a Giant Black Sea Bass in 10’ of water eat a 12+ pound halibut, it will be etched in out minds now and forever.

The HellerHighWater Heading Over To Santa Cruz Island.

I get a call from one of my best friends Tim, “Billy, we have not got on the water for a year, wanna take a boat ride and see what happens? The weather looks good” I replied, yep, I will be there at 5am!

I needed a break so I grabbed a few sticks and met Tim the next morning down on the dock. We made a game plan to have a nice boat ride over to Santa Cruz and see if we could get lucky with a white sea bass, calico or even drag for a few halibuts.

The boat ride was awesome as we caught up with what we have both been up to and then we fished a few spots as the low tide turned. We thought the bite may start picking up and wanted to keep things simple.

Santa Cruz Island

The bite kinda sucked and we both looked at each other and said, want to drag for a few halibuts? The tide is now coming in and we both had a good feeling that we could catch a keeper for diner and this is were the story begins.

Equipment

OK, as I explain my setup for halibut you have to remember how crazy this story is going to get and the sheer unlikelihood this is even remotely possible.

Bill’s Halibut Rod of Choice - Daiwa PROTEUS 76MHF

Paired with a Daiwa SALTIGA 30HA

Maxima 50# braid w/ 20# Maxima Fluoro Leader

1/0 Gamakatsu 2X Dropshot Hook

4” Anchovies

Tim and I both pinned on a small 4” anchovy on a dropper loop with 2oz lead sinker from Team Davies and started our drag from around 20’ of water up into 15’. The first drop for Tim got him a small butt and was quickly released. I was treated with a small butt as well and happy we are now getting a little action. The tide coming in and seeing fish starting to chew was a great sign.

I pinned another bait on and dropped it in 15’ behind the boat and let a good amount of line out. Within minutes I felt a player on the line and started to slowly reel into the fish and knew we had a keeper and dinner was going to be fresh halibut.

Tim was ready for the gaff as we figured it was a solid 12+ pounder. As the fish got closer to boat side we had drifted in to about 10’ of water and with the water being so crystal clear we could see everything.

As I brought the fish boat side, Tim reached over and took a swing for a head shot and HE MISSED! Yeh, he blamed me that I was in the way and he did not want to hit me with the gaff. The fish makes a good run and the fight is on again. Ok second times the charm, Tim gets a good swing with the gaff and barely sicks the fish in the bottom of the gills, lifts it out of the water about 2’ and it rips off and fall back into the drink.

I started laughing and said, YOU SUCK TIM! The fish hit the water and was motionless for a few seconds, right then in 10’ of water from the back end of the boat a massive fish came up and turned and locked onto the halibut. At first Tim and I thought it was a big shark or something, it happened so fast and was so big in that shallow of water it took our breath away.

About that time, the halibut from falling back into the water must have known something was going to go bad and took a short run down and to my right.

So imagine I am hooked up with a 12 pound halibut, it’s 3’ under the water that is only 10’ deep. Tim is standing to my right and when the halibut tries to escape, it makes a short run at a 45 degree angle in front of us. The massive bass turns in front of Tim and I, kicks its tail once and noses down on the halibut, opens his mouth and sucks a 12 pound halibut backwards 2’ into it gullet and starts swimming away.

The Fight

I must say at this point Tim and I screamed like a couple of girls (no offense to young girls). Going back and forth on how big this fish was as we started to chase down this bass that had took our halibut dinner. Mind you, we thought it would just spit the dang fish out and we would have a cool story to tell. As we chased this fish from 10’ of water to 60’ and back into the shallows the fight drug on and over a mile of ground was covered.

We wanted our halibut and knowing good and well we would never get this fish to boat side, we kept a positive game plan and just kept making excellent moves with the boat handling (thanks Tim!), to a precision 2-step between man and beast with a small stick and some line.

Fast forward 1 1/2 hours, we (the team of Tuttle and Siemantel) pulled off one of the most incredible catches we have ever heard of.

Below is a very short video of bringing the fish boat side and is all that we were able to get do to some issues we ran into after we got this giant sea bass bass up.

There is a moratorium on the taking of giant sea bass in California. All fish must be returned alive to the water, and Tim and I did this quickly and within a minute of being unhooked. The giant sea bass did one big kick, almost taking Tim with him overboard and swam back down like it was never hooked in the first place.

Another hiccup was that I was not able to drop my rod and grab the camera to take a photo of Tim leaning over to show how big this fish was, I was spent to my core! Yep, if my nose itched I would not be able to lift my arms to scratch it. LOL, I battled a Giant Sea Bass with what most would say was a fairy wand and some thread and won.

Make no mistake, this was a team effort. If Tim did not keep missing the halibut with the gaff we would have never seen a 300# bass eat a 12# halibut in 10’ of water. If Tim was not there to captain the HellerHighWater to chase down this fish, it would have been over before it started. If I was not stupid enough to think, 20# test line and a 1/0 hook was enough to handle a fish of that size I would have just thumbed the reel and broke the line.

Hey Tim, hold my beer while I get our dinner back… The moral support of two friends fishing and laughing at each other during the fight of the century was one of the best day ever and we will both remember this day for the rest of our lives.

Thanks Tim, next time I will drive the boat!

Giant Sea Bass

Family: Serranidae (Sea Basses) or Percichthyidae

Genus and Species: Stereolepis gigas

Description: The body of the adult giant sea bass is elongate, with dorsal spines that fit into a groove on the back. The head is robust, and mouth is large with teeth in the back. Giant sea bass are usually reddish brown to dark brown in color on all but their stomachs and, at times, many have dark spots on their sides. Perch-like in appearance, juvenile giant sea bass differ radically from adults and are often mistaken for a different fish. Coloring on juveniles is distinct with the body being sandy red with white and dark patches spread along the sides.

Range: Giant sea bass occur throughout the Gulf of California and from Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, to Humboldt Bay, California. In California, the appearance of this species north of Point Conception has been sporadic.

Natural History: Giant sea bass feed upon a wide variety of items. Small fish taken of this species off our coast contained mostly anchovies and white croakers. Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel, sheephead, ocean whitefish, sand bass, cancer crabs, and red crabs have all been found in the stomachs of large giant sea bass. By their very bulk they appear to be slow and cumbersome, yet they are capable of outswimming and catching a bonito in a short chase. Giant sea bass apparently do not mature until they are 11 to 13 years old. A fish of this age will weigh between 50 and 60 pounds. The ovaries of a 320 pound female weighed 47 pounds and contained an estimated 60 million eggs. This fish was ready to spawn and the larger eggs were about 0.04 inch in diameter. The main spawning season for giant sea bass occurs during July, August, and September.

Fishing Information: There is a moratorium on the take of giant sea bass in California. All fish must be returned alive to the water.

Other Common Names: black sea bass, jewfish, giant bass.

Largest Recorded: over 7 feet; 563.5 pounds (Anacapa Island, 1968).

Habitat: Deep Rocky Environment