Couldn’t find a helmet or gloves or the glasses, so all we get is Reggie, a pixelated Reggie. 

The Mr. October blog was meant to just be a funny little haha thing to kind of break things up. But I really did want to put some pressure on myself to catch this fall and come out swinging after a few weeks of strikeouts, misses that drug the average down from the 82 percent success rate on the coastal seabass trips from mid May to Mid September. 

The pressure came off in the form of a coastal seabass that would have been a personal best if caught in 2009. No boats, no crowds, just me and my buddy Denny and a 52 pounder on the deck that will be remembered with each piece that goes on the barbeque. It’s not so much about the fish anymore, it’s about everything that goes into it, and the seabass was one of the classics that won’t bleed into others caught during “bites”; then a triple on the yellowtail while out with my friends the Frizells, then a couple yellows the next morning, which would end up being the last day of the Pacific Beach yellowtail bite, really took the pressure off and made those strike outs fade away. There was certainly some head shaking going on. 

Then everything backed off. The reports were that of no fish the last few days. Just info from days prior that bled into the present. All it takes is looking at the New Seaforths counts to see that the bite in San Diego is over. 

So when Betty O deckhand Alex Brown said that now was the time he could get off the Marina del Rey Sportfishing ¾-day boat for a day, it was time to hope that the morning offshores would bring with it something new to sink the teeth into. We only had until I had to get to work, and he had to get to an appointment at 9 a.m., but it only takes the morning to get a shot this time of the year and through the winter. No matter how busy we are, we can make time to fish with friends. 

The seabass and yellows never showed, but winding up the last line of the super quick morning fish brought with it dead weight. I wound into it, gave what felt like just dead weight a jab — swings are free, unless you are Reggie, who might have led the league in strikeouts a bunch, but isn't remembered for that — and then it hit me: “HALIBUT!” 

Brown had made the long drive down from L.A., so it was a quick hand off and then this thing came skating up. 

The game isn’t over, I am going to fish a little more through this moon phase, and then hang up the keys after trying on my first day off in November, which corresponds to my favorite moon phase this season. 

Enjoy the fall. This really is one for the books, from the cows of the Lower Banks to this Morro Bay albacore deal.