@#$&% it!

[Crawlerman]

Had a bit of a very frustrating moment with a large fish lost today on Orchard; and it was all due to my stupidity. Fishing for bass near the lillies when I hooked into a monster. He headed straight for the lillies and there was little I could do to stop it from doing so as it backed line off the reel. Somehow I was able to convicne it to get out of the lillies and run right for the boat. It got under the boat and stayed put.. and I was gently pumping the rod with my drag set low when SNAP! The line broke off at a knot from a tangle near the hook that I had failed to cut off and re-tie due to plain laziness.. In anger I snapped the pole forward and shot the bobber off a good 30 feet away (which I was later able to retreive with the trolling motor.) How could I be so stupid? Had I re-tied the hook I more than likely would have landed the fish. And I've caught a few 3 and 4lb bass out of Orchard; I know this one was a lot bigger. Maybe discussing simmilar stories on this thread would get the anger out and be better than almost throwing your gear in the water...

[Guest]

Crawlerman - Patience, patience, patience's ... here. You both fought the good fight you’ll be back ... he’ll be back to battle another day. Good thing you kept the gear there’s a lot of open-water season to go and you won't have to buy a new rig for the next battle

Seize the moments and tight-lines <“))><

BB-LDF

[Cyberfish]

I had a similar experience.
I was fishing a club bass toury on tonka a few years and just caught and released a decent pike on a worm. I was in a hurry to get my line back in because the fish were biting quite well.
five minutes later I got into a HAWG bass over 20 inches and fatter than a football.
It jumped once and then dove towards the grass. I tried to stop her, and my line just snapped! way to easily!
I checked the end, and it looked like it was cut. yep, the pike had nicked it with its teeth, and if I woulda retied, i woulda got that fish, possibly a club record lunker!!!! whaaaaaaa!

Cyb

[Guest]

My first experience with a guide of any sort was at Kab MemDay week, '02. His name's LeVerne Oveson. He's 86 yrs. old and has worked that lake since he was 11. After showing us up for a couple of hours and teaching me how to fish 'eyes, he says "fish on", real quiet like, and then after his drag zips a little, he says, again, real quiet like "nice one, too". He's the picture of patience, as he pumps a little, and reels a little, and lets his arms and the drag take the fight. He mumbles "ten pounds at least" a couple of times, and even says "please" when he asks us to bring our lines in to prevent tangles. He looks around the boat after about five minutes and tells us what we need to do to help him boat "the biggest one in a long while" - ready the net, turn off the kicker motor, hold his jacket collar (he's about 90 lbs. of bone & hide)and such. He says "almost - c'mon - c'mon" and then he twists a bit, the back of the boat jerks, and he stands there holding his rod, real quiet like. He turns and says - "a big walleye, I mean a REAL big walleye hates light. No matter how tired he is, when he catches light, he's gonna panic and head for shade. When I was 15 I would've told myself if I was my customer - 'get the motor up'she's goin' under the boat".

Yer in good company, man.

This year I've learned a lot about how to tie bad knots, how to lose a big fish by screwin' with my drag, how to ruin a kid's fishing trip, how to break a boat trailer, how to destroy a cell phone and how to get heatstroke.

Next year I'm gonna work on overheating a motor, and maybe even work in some practice on self-filleting of the fingers!

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RobertC

[fishinphyl]

Well, don't feel bad because it is not only us fisher folks that screw up. A few years back all the cowboys were talking about this team roper and how good he was. Fastest thing they had ever seen! After every rodeo someone would come in and tell us about how fast, or skillful this guy was and I could not wait to see him. So finally we were at a rodeo on the same weekend he was going to rope. He backs his horse into the chute, gets his rope ready and everyone in the stands is just waiting to see this great roper. Well, he calls for the steer, spurs the horse and out he comes - only problem was that his rope is wrapped around the fence post next to the chute. Need I say more - I am sure you can picture the rest. So just remember it can happen to all of us and most likely will.

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Phyl