Steamers & Kelp Pt. 9

He let up on the drag and heard again the scream of the reel as the fish took out the line offered. He handed the rod up to Bill who smiled and said “woah Pete you really got something here. Something big I mean look at the way the rod jerks.” “It’s not a flounder buddy” Pete grunted lifting himself by his arms up and over the shelf feeling all hollow and sick inside from thinking about losing the fish in the rocks. He knew that with the line he gave, the fish would have gone out around the point by now but now he just had to bring her in fast before she could find a place to hide and get the line all snagged. He took the rod back from Bill and started to reel in. She seemed bigger than before and fought hard once she felt the hook set deeper, making pete walk with her sideways along the slope of rock. Bill kept his hand on the back of Pete’s vest to keep him from sliding in. He was so close to the water now that they were both getting soaked from the spray and Bill could tell that one more big push could pull Pete down and in. Pete knew he had to dig in to her now or risk getting the bastard caught up in the mess below so he set his feet perpendicular to the water and dug in hard pulling up on the rod and taking in line fast. She fought like hell and he could tell he had her now as long as she didn’t get caught in any rocks so he screwed down the drag, giving her nothing and making sure she couldn’t dive. Taking in every inch of slack and pulling hard up and taking her in more and more and then all of the sudden there was nothing.