Lost Equipment

[matuka]

Any stories about lost equipment? What kind of stupid maneuvers have you commited to result in a rod or such swimming to the bottom of the lake?

[Catch and Grease]

My grandpa backlashed a curado and threw it in the lake lol... We never did get it back....

[BannedForSpamming-1234555]

^^^

haha

 

When I'm in the rush to leave, I remove my lure from my line and place it on the floor. I then forget to place it in my tackle box when I have all my gear packed to leave.

 

This happened twice last year.

[Big C]

Once while kayak fishing with my brother, I dropped my paddle in the middle of the lake. I jumped in after it, but since it was a cheap push-pole style paddle it sank before I could get to it.  Meanwile he was fishing on the exact opposite side of the lake I was at, and it took him forever to find me literally up a creek without a paddle.  Luckily the wind blew me within a few hundred yards from the boat ramp, so it was a short tow to the ramp, but the wind was so strong I was freezing by the time he showed up.

[Master Bait'r]

Thankfully no.  Just a close call or two.  

 

 

I've actually found somebody else's anchor when I needed one the most though haha- we were getting blown all over the lake and no sooner had I said "Man, we need an anchor bad!" than we noticed a yellow rope coming up from the depths...  Paddled over and wouldn't you know it- an anchor.  Just when we needed one.

 

 

Definitely one of those "You know you're livin' right when..." moments haha  

[Cameron211]

When I was a kid dad took me bank fishing. Got all ready 2 poles a piece in the water. Dad looks and says watch the poles im going to the bathroom. Bad idea for a 8 year old, that rather throw pebbles in the water because lack of patience lol. Sure enough his pole goes in and I tried to grab it, but didnt make it. He comes back sees me dirty. And just said thats why we watch our poles lol. Never saw it again. Thanks dad for leaving me to maintain 4 poles at 8 lol. But mostly thank you for not yelling, scolding, or saying told ya so. Just gave a solid and educational reason why we always never know when a bite might happen. We still get a laugh to this day about it. Great memory and conversation while fishing together.

[RSM789]

A couple of years ago, a big catfish grabbed the jig I was fishing and began dragging my boat all over the cove I was in.  It was mid-afternoon and a couple sitting on a nearby porch watched as Mr. Catfish gave me a tour of his home.  After a 5 minute battle, I wrestle the catfish out of the water to the applause of the couple.  The husband yelled out "How big is it?".  I grab my Rapala digital scale, hook Mr. catfish under the gill and just as the scale reads out "14 lb., 3 oz.", the catfish gives a major tail flip, ripping the scale out of my hand.  Catfish & scale end up in the water.

 

I can only imagine the catfish swimming up to his friends, showing off the digital scale & saying "Look what I caught..."

[Catch and Grease]

A couple of years ago, a big catfish grabbed the jig I was fishing and began dragging my boat all over the cove I was in. It was mid-afternoon and a couple sitting on a nearby porch watched as Mr. Catfish gave me a tour of his home. After a 5 minute battle, I wrestle the catfish out of the water to the applause of the couple. The husband yelled out "How big is it?". I grab my Rapala digital scale, hook Mr. catfish under the gill and just as the scale reads out "14 lb., 3 oz.", the catfish gives a major tail flip, ripping the scale out of my hand. Catfish & scale end up in the water.

I can only imagine the catfish swimming up to his friends, showing off the digital scale & saying "Look what I caught..."

If I'm weighing a big fish I've gotten to where I just put them in the net I have and weigh them that way then subtract the nets weight... I got tired of waiting on angry bowfin to stop thrashing haha.

[RB 77]

I have to come clean about this, maybe after getting it off my chest I will feel better about it. I have "rolled" my kayak twice. First round about $150 worth of misc. gear. The second time stung much worse. A brand new Calcutta 200B paired on a brand new Falcon Lowrider CB Rod. Ouch! At least I am safe and thats all that matters. I know people have lost much more. It's all material possesions anyway. Stay Safe brothers!

[Choporoz]

I've got a new kayak and these stories concern me a little.  I know there's a risk to rolling, but I 'assumed' it to be rather uncommon.  I bought some leashes and assumed that they'd be on the paddle and rods at all times.  Is it impractical to keep a leash on a rod while using it?  Certainly, I'd plan to keep them leashed when behind me, but I suppose when in use or in a forward rod holder, they wouldn't necessarily be tied down. 

[BassnChris]

I did absolutely nothing to cause this loss:

 

http://youtu.be/tJlpKJYAhLQ

[Fishing Cowgirl]

My Halo rod and Curado reel now rests in 10' of water, in the Butler Chain of Lakes. I do plan on going back there with a treble hook retriever and my down scan to try and find it. I fish with gloves and they had gotten wet as they do. I made a cast and watched the rod slip out of my hands onto the deck, then into the water. I ended up in the water trying to get it, but lost it anyway. I now have those rod cushions that float.

[buzzed bait]

i've never rolled the kayak (knocking on wood now), but have lost some gear in a not so intelligent maneuver.....

i have to admit that i've lost 2 combos from my kayak.  once was while casting, i hooked into the rod in my rod holder and jerked it out, somehow freeing it from the hook and sending it to the depths of about 20' of water.

a second time in a scary event altogether that involved a dog, a deep cycle battery, trolling motor and kayak catastrophe.  I could have easily drowned, easily lost everything in the kayak (including the kayak).  essentially the battery fell into the water and the cables remained connected and nearly rolled it, but just enough to fill the kayak about 90% full of water.  somehow in all of this ordeal i had a BRAND NEW abu garcia combo fall into the water (roughly 15').  i was so scared that the yak was about to sink that i couldn't even attempt to recover the lost combo....

 

2 lessons learned:  i no longer keep a rod in the rod holder on my right side since i cast that way.  and i will never try to use a trolling motor and battery until it is rigged properly and not just thrown together like i did on this instance.

[buzzed bait]

I've got a new kayak and these stories concern me a little.  I know there's a risk to rolling, but I 'assumed' it to be rather uncommon.  I bought some leashes and assumed that they'd be on the paddle and rods at all times.  Is it impractical to keep a leash on a rod while using it?  Certainly, I'd plan to keep them leashed when behind me, but I suppose when in use or in a forward rod holder, they wouldn't necessarily be tied down. 

 

i've never used a leash of any sort and mainly because i do not want those extra points of entanglement....  even at that, i don't think i would be able to fish with one connected to a leash.  i mean i see how it will save your gear, but just seems like a pain otherwise. 

as far as the paddle goes, mine floats so no worries there.

[Choporoz]

I did absolutely nothing to cause this loss:

 

http://youtu.be/tJlpKJYAhLQ

sorry, but I couldn't help laugh at that....you must get your trolling motors from the same place that Bill Dance does

[RoLo]

My wife was on the stern deck fighting a bass, when her fish got locked-down in bulrush canes.

Quickly, I laid my rod on the bow deck and backed-down on Lois's fish with the electric motor.

In my haste, I didn’t retrieve the lure all the way, and left it dangling in the water.

It apparently got snagged in weeds, then I heard a sickening splash as it was dragged into the lake!

I cast the area with a grappling hook for about 1/4 hour, but to no avail.

The rod was an inexpensive Daiwa Light & Tough, but the reel was a brand new Shimano Stradic.

This was an old hotspot I had named “Toadstool”, but since that day we call that spot “Shimano” 

 

Roger

[Sam]

Going  back to the stone age when I was in my teens and joined my uncle and two cousins on his 48-foot Chris Craft yacht he used for saltwater fishing.

 

We would catch those big gafftop catfish and speckled trout and put some in the skiff's live wells as we were fishing to harvest them for dinner.  We pulled two 16-foot skiffs with live wells to use for shrimping and fishing so we could leave the big boat secured or anchored and fish the reefs and marsh areas in the skiffs.

 

My uncle was so proud of the new lantern he had bought the Friday of one of our weekend trips.

 

After we returned to the boat from fishing all day Saturday, he told me and my cousin, Harry, to take the lantern and put it in the skiff so we could see to grab the catfish and speckled trout out of the live well and knock them out with the handle of a screwdriver, remove their heads and gut them. We were to then pass the fish to my uncle and he was going to cook them for dinner.

 

Everything went well as my cousin and I made sure each of us threw the innards over our side of the skiff at the same time to keep us balanced. And the lantern worked great!

 

Worked great until we got confused and we both leaned to the same side of the skiff with the lantern to throw our guts away and oops!  The brand new lantern, only used for six or so minutes, hit the water.

 

We knew we could not go into the Gulf to search for it a it was dark and the sharks were in the water after the fish innards we threw overboard. So I got a rod and reel and my cousin stood up in the skiff and tried to snag the lantern.  This is when my uncle came onto the back deck and asked how we were doing. We said we were doing great, me sitting in the skiff and my cousin standing up with the rod and reel trying to snag the lantern.

 

My uncle then stopped, looked at us, and said, "Where's the ^*%& lantern?"

 

My cousin looked at him, smiled, and said with a straight face, "Don't know, Unk, but I am sure we will find it soon."

 

I almost fell out of the boat in laughter; my other cousin who was on the boat deck watching this fiasco fell over in tears; and we got cussed out really good by my uncle.

 

Never did find that d**n lantern.

[Dylcook91]

Two summers ago I was out on a kayak that I had at the time. I was on a lake that has a feeder stream that is about 5' wide and very deep. There was a thunderstorm the day prior so the water was raging. I...like a dummy decided I was gonna go upstream to where it opened up to a pond where the bigger fish are. About half way up the current pushed me to one of the sides, in the second I hit the branches sticking into the water a giant deer stood up (was sleeping in the bush) and takes off running scaring the c**p out of me. I turned the kayak away and didn't realize a branch had hooked onto one of my rods in the rod holder. As I turned it picked it up and out. I hear it splash in the water and as I turn to look, it shot of into the dark current never to be seen again.

Luckily it was not one of my more expensive combos...was about $80 though.

[jeff25]

Fishing one day with my brother in law in his jon boat. We both had several rods and it was a bit crowded. Well we knocked one of my rods over board. He went swimming looking for it, in the meantime I tied on a deep diving crank bait and snagged it on the first cast

[hawgenvy]

Was fishing with a guide on Lake George in New York, for lake trout. I think we were trolling with a down rigger. I pulled in a rather big trout from very deep, and there was a second hook in its mouth, attached to a line. We pulled in the line, maybe a hundred yards of it, and lo and behold, it was connected to an expensive rod and reel that we recovered. Our guide recognized the rig, which belonged to a friend of his, another guide on the lake. After laughing for ten minutes, he called his buddy with the news.

[hawgenvy]

One more. I was fishing one windless autumn evening with a friend of mine in the Lousiana marsh, for speckled trout and red drum. This was back in the 1970s, before cell phones. You could rent a skiff with a small outboard back then from Blackie Campo's place in Shell Beach, about an hour east of New Orleans, where I was a student.

 

We had motored over to Hopedale Lagoon and on into the endless brackish waters south of it, a pretty remote location. We fished around the reeds, pilings, and oyster beds for a couple of hours -- without a single bite. It was time to head home. But we couldn't get the outboard to turn over. The sun was setting soon. My arm was getting pretty sore pulling that cord. We played with the choke and the fuel bulb, to no avail.

 

We decided to wait five minutes and give it another try. I gathered my strength and pulled once more as hard as I could. The motor's handle hit the underside of my expensive wrist watch and unlatched it. The gold watch flew off my wrist. We watched it sail through the air in a high arc, and kerplunk into the water. And of course, the motor did not start.

 

What then ensued was ten minutes of silence. As the sky darkened we just sat there, kind of thinking, I think.

 

I half-hardheartedly pulled the cord one more time. It started. We motored back to Campo's in the twilight.

[Sam]

Hawgenvy, I remember Blackie Campo's.

 

We fished the Biloxi marsh but never found your watch.

[blackmax135]

I have many zebco 33 rod and reels all over my little local lake. Now I fish with bait casters they actually last longer.  Went fishing some time last summer and my fiancé decided she wanted to try bass fishing so I had all my bait casters sitting out on the deck.  So when it got dark we took out the catfish reels and were going to try our luck with the cats.  Casting the second line out, when I rear back the hook grabs my newest abu Garcia rod and reel (not the most expensive) and slung it as hard as I could; not yet realizing I had a rod and reel as bait now, then WAMMMMM right in the back of my fiancé's head the reel hits her, she starts screaming at me and I'm screaming at my reel COME BACK!!! I'm going to see if I can catch that thing one day.

[matuka]

My buddy and I fish fast. Land  fish, Unhook with the pliers, toss the fish back , toss the pliers toward the middle of the deck and back to fishing. Along comes tournament day so Dave's excited. He lands a fish, smoothly unhooks it, places it in the livewell and as if choreographed, tosses my pliers in the water. It wasn't till he picked his rod up and fired a cast that he realizes what he had done, then has to fess up. We laughed it off.

 

Another time I hung a deep diver in the rocks in about fifteen feet. Out comes my retriever, a monstrosity of a bulldog garnished with a bunch of short chain links. It is attached by braided Dacron, a Quantum baitcaster and a cutoff rod. Quite a project and pretty heavy. I unleash the thing on the crankbait and retrieve it. Reeling all the line back on to the "thing" I see an untidy loop or three that I must correct. I'm drifting out and I push the freespool. As the retriever sinks, all the loops bind up, catch,  and yank the whole rig out of my hands back into the lake......gone

[matuka]

My Halo rod and Curado reel now rests in 10' of water, in the Butler Chain of Lakes. I do plan on going back there with a treble hook retriever and my down scan to try and find it. I fish with gloves and they had gotten wet as they do. I made a cast and watched the rod slip out of my hands onto the deck, then into the water. I ended up in the water trying to get it, but lost it anyway. I now have those rod cushions that float.

I keep a chain stringer in the boat for this purpose. Open up all the hooks and rig it up on a flippin stick with braid. Try dragging it thru the area in question. It has worked twice for me.