Fishing Stories

[PondHopper96]

Everyone share your memorable stories or something you'd just like to share that has to do with fishing!

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Fished out in your neck of the woods the week before last. Caught a limit every day we went out on the boat. Beautiful country out there, and great people. Also did a float trip on the Illinois River out of Tahlequah and caught a lot of smallies, and lost a rather large gar. Here are my 2 best fish from the trip, both caught at Keystone. 

 

[Felixone]

Ok, I can share a story of a recent personal best (of sorts).  I have only been FW fishing regularly for just under 2 months now.  I used to fish SW frequently with my family as a young child, and other than a couple unsuccessful trips out to try FW in my early teens it was not something I hadn't really done.  After a recent vacation to the beach that included lots of SW fishing in the canals behind the house we rented I remembered how much I used to love fishing.  

 

Upon my return I hooked up with an old friend that I knew was really into FW fishing and asked for some tips.  He arranged for me to borrow one of his fishing buddies kayaks and we hit a local lake.  I caught my first bass as an adult (see my profile pic), and the addiction set in.  I immediately started looking for kayaks, and with one exception I have been on the water every weekend trying my best, but not doing so great.  I went back to that same lake several times, but after that first trip the best I did was one small bass and one small bluegill.  The other trips to that lake... almost nothing.

 

During this time I also started trying to fish a local pond, that is just up the street from my house.  This pond is part of a chain.  Two small ponds, and a small lake connected by creeks with a couple dams thrown in there.  The pond had lots of bait fish, water birds, turtles.  It seems like it would be a great bass pond.  Initially I attempted to fish from the bank while I searched for a kayak.  I never even got a bite.  After I bought my kayak I continued to go, but still nothing.  Not even a nibble, at least that I could detect.  I was starting to get frustrated with fishing.  Up to this point I had only caught 3 bass, all from that first lake.  Even that lake I struggled with (average 5-6 hours on the water with essentially nothing to show for it). All of this changed last week.

 

You see Being new I didn't really think any of the baits I received would do me much good with the current fishing conditions, but I love buying lures so it was a lot of fun.  Buried in the bottom of the box was a sample pack of these funky little worms.  The color was pumpkin with black and green flake.  Now based on what I had been taught these worms seemed too light colored for the waters I had been fishing.  At least that is what I thought.  Still, I kept thinking about them, wondering how I could use them.  Finally I decided I should try them on a drop shot rig once I found the water they would work in.

 

I realized last week that I was going to have to take a couple weeks off from any extended fishing trips so I vowed to get out as much as I could.  So one day I head over to the local pond at lunch to get in 30-40 minutes of fishing.  Now I knew that given the limited time I wasn't likely to catch anything, but I really just wanted to play with some of the different baits I had collected.  Again, I started with what I had been shown (Senko style baits).  After that I tried a few new ones for a couple casts each (yes I know not a really good try, but I was more curious about technique than anything else).  Still nothing.

 

Even though I wasn't really trying very hard I was starting to get frustrated and was about to head home.  As I was packing stuff up I saw those worms again.  I decided that even though I thought the color was wrong I could spend a couple more minutes seeing how a drop shot rig worked.

 

I rigged it up, and prepared for my first cast.  I cast my line out, and let it settle for a couple seconds.  Once I was sure it was on the bottom, I gave it a bit of shake and BAM fish on!  I quickly reeled it in to see that sure enough there were bass in that pond.  It was a little 10-12" bass, but it was enough.  I tried again for a while, and actually took too long for lunch, but I just had to try to catch another one.  No luck.  I just assumed that it was as I thought and the colors were wrong for the water.  It must have been a reaction strike from me essentially dropping the worm on the fish's head.  

 

Anyway after confirming for myself that there are bass in the pond, I headed back out that following weekend for what will be my last real trip for a couple weeks with high hopes.  These hopes were dashed when I got there.  For reasons unknown to me at the time the water level was extremely low.  I later learned beavers had put up a dam on the creek and almost no water was getting through.  I thought for sure that given how little water was in the pond that the temperature would be too high and the fish just wouldn't be biting.  Almost all of the grassy/weedy areas around the edge were now bone dry and some areas I couldn't get the kayak through without bottoming out.  I thought for sure the day would be a bust, and I was getting depressed.  To add to my frustration there were already 4 people on the pond fishing (one in a another kayak, and 3 in a small boat).  I could already smell the skunk.

 

I started out with a top water popper, and a jerk bait.  A friend recently told me that he had killed it on that pond using a similar jerk bait so I wanted to try my hand.  After wandering around trying to find a place that was "deep" enough to try the jerk bait without getting tangled in the heavily matted grass that apparently covers most of the bottom I settled in roughly the center of the pond.  I figured it was the deepest area (only around 4-5' deep).  I was definitely getting skunked and I knew it now.

 

After about 2 hours I still hadn't caught anything and was about to leave.  As I was putting stuff up, again I saw those worms.  I quickly tied up the drop shot rig and threw it out.  First cast, another bass.  Again, it was a tiny little thing about the same size as last time.  However, now I knew it was more than just random luck that I caught that first one, or so I thought.  I spent another couple hours paddling around trying to repeat my luck with no success.  I was on the last little leg of my trip around the pond when I got tangled in some trees.  This was it, I was done.  After about 5 minutes I managed to get my line free.  I was frustrated and angry, but decided that I rather than storm off the pond I would give it a few more casts.  You know the whole falling off the horse thing.  Well after just 2-3 casts I nailed another one.  This one had to have been the smallest I have seen to date.  Still, this now tied my personal best of two fish in one trip, except this time it was two bass.  

 

Of course, now it was a challenge could I pull off a third one.  I decided to stick where I was and kept casting towards the bank under a small outcrop of trees that provided some decent shade both for the fish, and for me.  It was less than 15 minutes later I pulled out my third bass of the trip.  This one was a fighter.  It ran, it jumped, and it was a blast.  Finally after getting it into the kayak I could see that it was a bit bigger than the other.  This one was closer to 14".  A real fun fish to catch.

 

So there it is, two personal bests (of a sort) in one day.  Not only did I not get skunked I beat my record catch for fish in one day and all of them were bass.  To add to the confidence boost I had done it my way.  I used a rig that I learned about on my own, using a bait that although I didn't directly purchase it I did pick it myself that day.  This may prove to be the most valuable lesson for me.  I need to trust my instincts a bit better, and be more willing to try new things.  Sticking to a bait just because I was told it would catch fish where I am at even when the bite just isn't there isn't the best way to catch fish.  If it isn't working, try something else is my new motto.

 

I realize that catching 3 small bass in about 4 hours is probably nothing to many of the experienced anglers on this site, but it was a huge first for me.  I proved to myself that it wasn't that I got lucky, I learned that I can catch fish, and I don't always need someone to tell me what to use or how to use it.  

 

Of course I am not saying that I don't want advice, or won't ask for it again.  I just realized that I need to learn to fish for myself.  I have to find what works for me, and what I can catch fish on.  I also realize that just because this worked one day it doesn't mean it will work on all future trips, but it did give me the confidence I needed and helped me grow a bit.

 

I apologize for writing a book, but I just had to share my story.  If you made it this far thanks for reading.  Good luck, and may the bite be with you.

[ccummins]

My favorite one always begins when somebody asks me what I did to my Hula Popper for it to look like it does........  My answer begins with, "I didn't do anything to it but the 'gator sure did...."

[buzzed bait]

easily the best one for me is fishing one day in a cold mountain lake with my dad and brother.  i'm targeting bass they are fishing for any species with crickets. the bro and i haven't caught any yet and my dad is landing slabber bluegills and trout and talking all sorts of s***.  asks if we want to smell his hands, goes to wash them off and falls overboard!  i pull him back in by his overall straps and then my brother and i laugh until we were sick.... dad shivering and hanging his head.  that was priceless.

 

another good one is trout fishing in Montana with the grandparents and my grandmother (total bada** as is, literally ran moonshine in western NC as a teenager in the 30's, always toting a pistol) blows my mind.  all of a sudden we hear the rattle of a rattlesnake, it's on her side of the creek, not the side my granddad and i are on.  it's maybe 25 feet from her and letting her know to stay put.  she takes one look up, mumbles something to the snake and just turns back and keeps on casting to the hole she was in!!!!  the snake just stayed put and mamaw just keeps strolling down the bank and casting......

[bass1980]

Title: The $1000 Fish

Fished in my biggest tournament of the year. With 1 hour left caught a giant to cull our smallest fish out. Two idiots (I was one of them) got the net and reel handle tangled trying to land that fish. We looked at each other puzzled as how this happened. Teammate panicked and tried to lift the bass in and line broke. Got 3rd and lost to 2nd place by a few oz which cost us $1000! 3rd teammate was about to throw us off his boat lol. The end.

[A-Jay]

Last November while fishing south of the border with a couple of good friends, I had 3 days of bass fishing that until that week I could only dream of.   The back of most ever cove we fished was completely loaded up with bait.  The big bass were there too and they were on the feed.  Lipless rattle baits worked under the shad were getting destroyed. I caught more 7 pound plus bass during these 3 days, than I had my entire life combined. 

 

  The capper came on the next to last afternoon, right at sunset.  Working a "nothing looking" steep bank with a little brush, I got a huge strike.  The kind that makes your heart race, your palms sweat and you get a little weak in the knees.   The fish fought hard and after what always seems like a circus act, the huge bass was in the net.  As the net came over the side and was placed on the deck, the bait just fell out of it's face.   I got goose bumps just typing that.  The big girl went 11-11.  Beat my PB by a full pound.    

 

With my heart still pounding out of my chest and after the picture session that followed, she was released.  And just to give you an idea what I mean when I say I had a couple of very special days, I hooked, fought & landed a 9 1/2 pound bass On The Very Next Cast ~ !

 

Good Times.

 

A-Jay

[massrob]

These are some great stories. I just started bass fishing a couple months ago and I really don't have anyone to fish with so I've learned everything myself and with these forums.I'm completely hooked it's all I think about all day and even dream about it. Is this normal? I can't get fishing out of my head.haha this morning I went out after work and after reading about chatterbaits I went and tied one on and first cast caught one.3 fish in ten minutes I love using new baits.I can't wait to try them all.

[ABW]

Hooked a goose at night. Threw my buzzbait, the thing comes flying out of nowhere and gets tangled up in my line midair. He skids across the water causing my buzzbait to follow. He starts freaking out and gets caught in my buzzbait. I try to get it out by tugging gently but it didn't work. I clipped the line and it flew away. Hopefully didn't cause too much damage

[Big-O]

“Best laid plans”

Back in the late 70's, my best buddy Jerr and I would take long weekends and drive from Texas to Northern Central Florida for some of our favorite bass fishing adventures. On one particular outing, we were fishing a 500 acre lake near Tallahassee. Our boat of choice was an 8 ft Bass Buster (small pontoon rig) with a 60lb thrust hand control trolling motor. Those two pieces of equipment were my most trusty servants and had taken care of Jerr and I on many previous adventures, so we knew them well. In those days we were impulsive, just grabbing up gear and heading out without regards to anything including weather conditions etc., JUST FISH. And when we arrived at the lake for this particular excursion, conditions couldn't have been better with literally no wind allowing us cross the widest and longest part of the lake with ease getting to our favorite area. Oh yeah, this plan is coming together.

Our preference was night fishing and by last evening's light, we were sitting in perfect position to start the smackdown and "WOW", what a smackdown it was. The bigguns were feeding heavy on our 10 inch worms and a 7 inch TX-rigged Uncle Josh pork rind eel rigged on a 4/0 wire-clip weedless hook. By midnight, we had boated and released as many as 30 fish between 5 and 12 lbs. "And it was on!" A real night to remember was in the making.

About 12:30 a.m., it seemed the wind started blowing a little, but hardly noticeable to us because our plan was “too good” and we were on the sheltered end of the lake where there was a huge stand of pine trees along the bank and an entire wall of extra large cypress trees between us and the shoreline. We’re gonna hammer these big fish until daylight.

No sooner had we toasted Coca-Cola's while being full of confidence for our obvious good fortune, then suddenly CRACK - a huge pine on the shoreline snapped in half and came crashing down thru the cypress trees within 30 ft. of our small 2-man craft. Limbs and branches from the many trees in its path were broken and falling all around us. "Wow", Jerr said, "the wind must be getting up a little". This my friends was an understatement! We were so keyed up from catching all of those huge fish, we failed to actually take note of what was really happening around us. As we glanced back across the lake, we noticed that there was a war taking place out there. In the moonlight, it looked as if portions of the lake were exploding from beneath the surface up into the air and almost hid the appearance of the huge waves and swells. Very different from anything I had ever seen. Time to change our plan.....

"Ahoy Mate, hoist the anchor"! Wisely or unwisely I had decided to make a run for it, to try to get back to the truck by maneuvering through the trees and following as close to the shoreline as possible just in case we get into bigger trouble. Within moments the trolling motor is on high and we’re running with a slight cross wind at our back, staying between the swells and I swear you could ski behind us we were moving so fast. Then CRASH, the entire boat lifted and bucked over a submerged stump and jumped several feet to the right, ripping the trolling motor from the bow. The tremendous cross wind immediately took control of the boat, blowing us helplessly toward the warring center of the lake. My instant thought was "Ohhh ^$%& this is gonna be a ride...”.

As if things couldn't get worse, within seconds my trusty friend "the trolling motor" came blasting out of the water and started flailing around wildly, buzzing at us from all directions. "IT WAS STILL ON and IN HIGH GEAR" securely attached to the batteries that were firmly fastened under my seat base. Our most dependable friend had become a demon.

This gave us cause to take even more drastic measures. We must now focus on performing an exorcism in the midst of the battle. I immediately started struggling to detach the hard fastened leads while dodging the Slasher. Since the boat was on a free course and the trolling motor was porpoising and flailing directly behind me, Jerr knew that he couldn’t move toward me to help for fear of capsizing. "So I was the Chosen One".

Thankfully I had a knife and a pair of pliers close at hand and was able to cut loose the battery cover straps quickly and immediately after removing the leads, the thrasher died and became like an anchor dragging behind which was quickly pulled back into the boat... Time for yet another plan!

I grabbed our small paddle and tried my best to rudder and direct our course to avoid being swamped. We were now far from the sheltered shore line and entering the area where the water explosions were described earlier. Our description was absolutely correct, there were massive waves and swells all running together with huge amounts of water shooting straight up out of the lake and thrown in all directions. I remember it like it was moments ago.

As I did my best to steer our helpless little craft with the tiny paddle Jerr yelled, "Hey Big O, the trolling motor bracket is okay, the clamps just came loose". Woo-Hooo..All is forgiven and our dear and reliable friend was immediately remounted and leads reattached. She was back to life and giving her best to guide our little rig through the turbulence and toward the safety of the distant shoreline. Although far away, things are looking up.

The further we went the rougher it got and the waves and swells were growing to enormous sizes. Jerr was never the type who could take extremely rough water conditions and sometimes got a little woozy when things really started rockin'. By this time, he had thrown up twice and was now in the dry heaves stages. Desperately he yelled with all seriousness, "Do you think we're gonna make it?" and I yelled back “Hell yeah, and we’re just now getting to the good part”. All of my time was committed to steering and avoiding capsizing and Jerr was busy bailing water from the boat. We’re getting beat up but we’re not beaten….

Neither of us remember exactly when the rain started, but by the time we were able to make out the approaching shoreline, it was raining sideways and blasting at our backs. But that’s okay, it was driving us ever closer to safety. The span of time that it took for us to complete this wild trek across the lake was probably 30 minutes, but seemed like two hours and finally, we were there blowing through a shallow lily field surfing up on shore and slamming to an abrupt halt. We both sprawled out onto shore laying flat on our backs and waving our arms making mud angels. "We made it".

After loading everything in the back of the truck and driving 30 minutes through the wind and monsoon rain conditions, we found a small motel with lights on. Like drowning dogs we trudged our way in the front door of the motel and the night clerk said “Wow, we weren’t expecting any business during the Hurricane”! We inquired back, HURRICANE? And he said “Yeah man, this is Hurricane Frederick, it’s a Category 4”.

After a few hours of sleep we found a small restaurant that was also braving the storm and open for breakfast. After ordering our coffee, Jerr said the most memorable words from the entire trip... “Didn’t we catch a 12 pounder last night”? Now that's an adventure.

[Kevin Beachy]

“Best laid plans”

Back in the late 70's, my best buddy Jerr and I would take long weekends and drive from Texas to Northern Central Florida for some of our favorite bass fishing adventures. On one particular outing, we were fishing a 500 acre lake near Tallahassee. Our boat of choice was an 8 ft Bass Buster (small pontoon rig) with a 60lb thrust hand control trolling motor. Thoese two pieces of equipment were my most trusty servants and had taken care of Jerr and I on many previous adventures, so we knew them well. In those days we were impulsive, just grabbing up gear and heading out without regards to anything including weather conditions etc., JUST FISH. And when we arrived at the lake for this particular excursion, conditions couldn't have been better with literally no wind allowing us cross the widest and longest part of the lake with ease getting to our favorite area. Oh yeah, this plan is coming together.

Our preference was night fishing and by last evening's light, we were sitting in perfect position to start the smackdown and "WOW", what a smackdown it was. The bigguns were feeding heavy on our 10 inch worms and a 7 inch TX-rigged Uncle Josh pork rind eel rigged on a 4/0 wire-clip weedless hook. By midnight, we had boated and released as many as 30 fish between 5 and 12 lbs. "And it was on!" A real night to remember was in the making.

About 12:30 a.m., it seemed the wind started blowing a little, but hardly noticeable to us because our plan was “too good” and we were on the sheltered end of the lake where there was a huge stand of pine trees along the bank and an entire wall of extra large cypress trees between us and the shoreline. We’re gonna hammer these big fish until daylight.

No sooner had we toasted Coca-Cola's while being full of confidence for our obvious good fortune, then suddenly CRACK - a huge pine on the shoreline snapped in half and came crashing down thru the cypress trees within 30 ft. of our small 2-man craft. Limbs and branches from the many trees in its path were broken and falling all around us. "Wow", Jerr said, "the wind must be getting up a little". This my friends was an understatement! We were so keyed up from catching all of those huge fish, we failed to actually take note of what was really happening around us. As we glanced back across the lake, we noticed that there was a war taking place out there. In the moonlight, it looked as if portions of the lake were exploding from beneath the surface up into the air and almost hid the appearance of the huge waves and swells. Very different from anything I had ever seen. Time to change our plan.....

"Ahoy Mate, hoist the anchor"! Wisely or unwisely I had decided to make a run for it, to try to get back to the truck by maneuvering through the trees and following as close to the shoreline as possible just in case we get into bigger trouble. Within moments the trolling motor is on high and we’re running with a slight cross wind at our back, staying between the swells and I swear you could ski behind us we were moving so fast. Then CRASH, the entire boat lifted and bucked over a submerged stump and jumped several feet to the right, ripping the trolling motor from the bow. The tremendous cross wind immediately took control of the boat, blowing us helplessly toward the warring center of the lake. My instant thought was "Ohhh ^$%& this is gonna be a ride...”.

As if things couldn't get worse, within seconds my trusty friend "the trolling motor" came blasting out of the water and started flailing around wildly, buzzing at us from all directions. "IT WAS STILL ON and IN HIGH GEAR" securely attached to the batteries that were firmly fastened under my seat base. Our most dependable friend had become a demon.

This gave us cause to take even more drastic measures. We must now focus on performing an exorcism in the midst of the battle. I immediately started struggling to detach the hard fastened leads while dodging the Slasher. Since the boat was on a free course and the trolling motor was porpoising and flailing directly behind me, Jerr knew that he couldn’t move toward me to help for fear of capsizing. "So I was the Chosen One".

Thankfully I had a knife and a pair of pliers close at hand and was able to cut loose the battery cover straps quickly and immediately after removing the two positive leads, the thrasher died and had become like an anchor dragging behind which was quickly pulled back into the boat. Time for yet another plan.

I grabbed our small paddle and tried my best to rudder and direct our course to avoid being swamped. We were now far from the sheltered shore line and entering the area where the water explosions were described earlier. Our description was absolutely correct, there were massive waves and swells all running together with huge amounts of water shooting straight up out of the lake and thrown in all directions. I remember it like it was moments ago.

As I did my best to steer our helpless little craft with the tiny paddle Jerr yelled, "Hey Big O, the trolling motor bracket is okay, the clamps just came loose". Woo-Hooo..All is forgiven and our dear and reliable friend was immediately remounted and leads reattached. She was back to life and giving her best to guide our little rig through the turbulence and toward the safety of the distant shoreline. Although far away, things are looking up.

The further we went the rougher it got and the waves and swells were growing to enormous sizes. Jerr was never the type who could take extremely rough water conditions and sometimes got a little woozy when things really started rockin'. By this time, he had thrown up twice and was now in the dry heaves stages. Desperately he yelled with all seriousness, "Do you think we're gonna make it?" and I yelled back “Hell yeah, and we’re just now getting to the good part”. All of my time was committed to steering and avoiding capsizing and Jerr was busy bailing water from the boat. We’re getting beat up but we’re not beaten….

Neither of us remember exactly when the rain started, but by the time we were able to make out the approaching shoreline, it was raining sideways and blasting at our backs. But that’s okay, it was driving us ever closer to safety. The span of time that it took for us to complete this wild trek across the lake was probably 30 minutes, but seemed like two hours and finally, we were there blowing through a shallow lily field surfing up on shore and slamming to an abrupt halt. We both sprawled out onto shore laying flat on our backs and waving our arms making mud angels. "We made it".

After loading everything in the back of the truck and driving 30 minutes through the wind and monsoon rain conditions, we found a small motel with lights on. Like drowning dogs we trudged our way in the front door of the motel and the night clerk said “Wow, we weren’t expecting any business during the Hurricane”! We inquired back, HURRICANE? And he said “Yeah man, this is Hurricane Frederick, it’s a Category 4”.

After a few hours of sleep we found a small restaurant that was also braving the storm and open for breakfast. After ordering our coffee, Jerr said the most memorable words from the entire trip... “Didn’t we catch a 12 pounder last night”? Now that's an adventure.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would have been scared of going through those swells.

[roadwarrior]

[woolleyfooley]

Big-o that is one awesome story. Can't imagine how good it must have felt making it to shore!

[Big-O]

Glad y'all liked it... here's another from way back that was quite memorable for me

'Flying Fish'

Years ago, a co-worker and his young son Alex went fishing with me for their very first bass fishing trip ever. My previous outings in the chosen lake we would fish were very productive flipping jigs and the beginning designs of the Rage Craws. The fish were in extremely thick brush and timber on a flooded creek channel. My success level on larger fish had increased with each outing so I was keyed up and ready for a FUN day of fishing.

You can imagine the sights and sounds to little Alex, who had never been in a boat or even seen a bass before this time. As I maneuvered the boat over logs and through the flooded timber, he jabbered with excitement and intrigue at this new adventure he was on...

As I got closer to the "Zone" I could tell that the fish were there and active because the smaller brush was moving and there were obvious feeding swirls all around. The fish were suspended in brush only a few feet below the surface, and they were in an aggressive mood.

The more observations I explained to my friends, the more excited the young boy got. I had T-rigged a Craw for him and flipped it out in a busy spot. I then handed him the rod and said "hold on tight - jerk it and reel'em in". He followed with a beautiful hook set, squealed to the top of his lungs and pee'd his pants... All of this as he reeled in a 3 1/2 pound bass. His Dad was embarrassed for him and said he would help him change his pants but the little boy said "it's okay Daddy, it'll dry and I won't pee on the next one"!

Just as I had hoped and anticipated "IT WAS ON". Both of them were getting slammed, and the Dad after catching several nice fish, wound up just helping his little Alex with all of the action. I was standing on the deck and on my hook sets some of the smaller fish would fly over the boat from one side to the other, and maybe more often than I had anticipated. Little Alex's eyes would get as big as golf balls every time this happened.

There were also several larger fish that jerked their way free from my grip and wound up thrashing in the bottom of the boat, sometimes extremely close to the little Alex. I would apologize to him and he would quickly reply "No problem, I like it"!

At the end of the day, this excited little boy shared the adventure with his mom and told her for his up coming birthday he wanted a fishing rod and a motorcycle helmet ... She quickly replied that he didn't have a motorcycle and he said "It's not for a motorcycle Mom, it's for those flying fish when I go fishing with Big O again"!!!

Now Alex is 35 yrs old, a die hard bass fisherman and his parents remind me of that often... Flying Fish.

[RSM789]

My older brother enjoys saltwater fishing here on the west Coast, and has fished in various Marlin tournaments for decades.  One of his sons was a fish hound seemingly from birth and would go out with him prior to the tournaments to catch the mackerel that would be used as bait.  Every year his son would beg to be part of the team for the tournament and upon his 10th birthday, my brother decided he was old enough to suit up.

 

So on the morning of that first day of that first tournament, they spot a couple of Marlin sunning themselves on the surface.  My nephew & 2 of the other team members, grab their rods, bait up with mackerel & run to the front of the boat to make their casts.  Just as my nephew fires his cast forward, his foot catches one of the cleats on the bow.  He trips forward & the casting motion ends up making him fling his brand new rod & reel into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  it was an auspicious start to his Marlin tournament career & he was understandably dejected.

 

As one of the other anglers began reeling his bait back in, he yelled up to my brother "I've got something, but it isn't a fish".  He continued "I think I snagged your son's line", to which my brother told him there wasn't a chance in the world.  They were in water hundreds of feet deep, miles from any landmark to know exactly where the lost setup was, there was no way...except that he had indeed snagged the line.  The mackerel on my nephews rod had apparently decided to hang out with the other fisherman's bait, tangled the leaders together & enabled him to reel in the lost equipment.

 

20 years later, my nephew has that setup still and has caught many marlin & tuna on it.

[TBO]

was out fishing and my friend from new jersety was out fishing in his home town. we were sharing pics of our catches.  after about 6-7 texts i get one with a fishing rod, so i ask what that was, he replied  that was my last catch. lol  he was trolling and got snagged and pulled up a brand new spinning reel and swimbait attached. (forgot the name but he said it was a good rod that you dont find at dicks or walmart)

 

 

last year on a rain y day my friend and i went pout. left most of the gear in the truck and took our rods.  i caught a nice 5.13 lb pickerel on a 6"jointed minnoy with three trebble hooks  i reached down after about a minute or two waiting for him to stop thrashing, i reached down and BAM he spazzed and set one of the trebbles into my finger past the barb. i dropped the pickerel when i felt the pain and he spazzed more while the hook was in my finger.   lessons learned ! ALWAYS bring pliers and lip grip 2 NEVER trust a pickerel