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Last week I was just finishing a long rehearsal  for a solo acoustic gig at a charity fundraiser here in SD and the sun was falling  like a ball of fire over the ocean.  Fortunately, I have a ridiculous view of the ocean from my place and I could see that the sunset would be worthy of going down to Wind and Sea Beach to have a look, maybe even catch a Green Flash.  I’ve only seen 2 in my life, one was on my birthday.

I got there and took a short walk observing the surfers, the camera people taking advantage of the great sunset lighting and the fisherman surf casting.  I watched the sun set over the expansive ocean that seemed to never end and it gave me a sense that the possibilities in life are truly endless.  I watched the sun set,  no green flash, but still an awesome display of magical color by the handy paint brush of the source from which we all came.

While walking back to my car I noticed one of the guys fishing had snagged something, so I stopped on the small cliff overlooking the north side of Wind and Sea and did a few yoga stretches.  10 minutes went by, then 15 and 20 and this guy still had something quite large on his line.  I thought, its probably a huge piece of seaweed or a tire from the bottom of the cove, but after looking closer there was definitely something fighting for its life on the other end.

So I went down to have a closer look.  At this point it was dark and the moon lit the ocean like a big flashlight.  The fisherman, Carey Kastama had a buddy who went to the waters edge to investigate as something was coming in.  We all saw a 1 foot long dorsal fin pop up and everyone yelled shark, but this guy got really close and grabbed whatever it was and yelled:  “Its a Black Bass.”

Now when I think of black bass, I think about a fish the size of my foot or maybe my arm, but this guy couldn’t pull the fish more than two feet.  Carey went to help him pull it out and what we saw was out of this world.

It was a giant Black Bass from another era, possibly the prehistoric era.  Well at least it sure looked that way.  This monster was well over 100 pounds and had a mouth that you could easily fit your head in.  They all took pictures as we just gasped at this creature from the deep and thought, wow, if this thing is in there, what else is in there that we never see.

Keep in mind as you look at the pictures below that Carey is a big guy, probably 6 foot 5 and 250 pounds.  Since the giant sea bass is protected they threw.. well pulled it, back into the water and we watched it slowly regain consciousness and swim away.