I couldn't fish today, so my fishing partner decided to take his boat and a friend from work that has never caught a rockfish before. He didn't want to go as far as I did on Thursday (25 miles) but I convinced him he HAD to go there. The fish had been there all week and it was the best place if he wanted his friend to catch his first fish. Well, long story short, it was dead there today. Heard from a few others also that it just wasn't happening there today.
He stuck with it and at about 4pm he called and said "I just lost a nice one at the boat". He didn't sound too upset and when I asked why, he said "we hooked up again as soon as we lost that one. My friend is fighting the fish now." I told him to help his buddy and call me back. 10 minutes later he sends me a picture of a 53 inch 56 pound MONSTER!!
Turns out that the fish he broke off at the boat got tangled in another line. So basically a guy goes fishing for the first time and ends up reeling in a 56 pound fish, TWICE!!