Author Lance Sawa learned a lot about halibut fishing in California from his friend Jimmy (right), but he never managed to score a legal-sized one off the Southland coast. He gave it another try in his new home, Japan. (LANCE SAWA)
FLATTIE FULFILLMENT
AFTER BEING LEFT COLD BY CALIFORNIA HALIBUT, AN ANGLER TRIES AGAIN IN JAPAN
By Lance Sawa
M
arina Del Rey, a coastal community not far from LAX, has a small halibut derby that my family and family friends would participate in when I was younger.
The organizers were a small, tightknit group and seemed to know all the anglers. This derby was the only time each year that I would see certain fishermen, people who I knew and who knew my family. Even though it was a tournament and a competition, I remember very few of
us took it seriously, though whenever we all put out rods, we’d still check them regularly. We’d move the boat and reset lines as the day drifted slowly by, and over the years our group would grow and shrink. Some of us moved far away, some married and started families,
calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2020 California Sportsman
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