Bite-off, break-off, or what?

[fishwizzard]

I had a very odd experience this evening.  I was fishing a pond by my house, a spot I hit 2-3 times a week.  I was making my way to the car to head home and was making long-ish casts along the bank, which is a stone retaining wall with maybe 3-4' of riprap before the muck bottom of the pond starts.  I was throwing a t-rigged craw on 12lb Invizx.   I made a cast and was letting the lure sit on the bottom on semi-slack line for a moment.  I believe I saw the line start to move, though the setting sun was in my eyes a little and the lure was a good 30y away.  I went to lift the slack out and reel down and found there was nothing on the end of my line.  When I got it in it looked like this;

 

 

The line felt like it was almost melted, with a burr on the cut end with a long wisp of line attached.  I have never had line break like this before, even when I have had to pull it until it breaks.  I maybe felt a tiny bit of pressure before the line went dead, but it was a good distance away and I was not totally in the zone. 

 

The only fish in this pond (that I have ever seen caught that is) are LMBs, assorted sunfish, channel cats, a few crappie, and stocked rainbows.  I fish this place all the time and usually end each session making these exact same long casts along the bank.  I am reasonably sure that there isn't any sharp cover on the bottom along this stretch, but I suppose there could be something new, but the water is too stained to see more than a foot and I was casting into maybe 3-4' of water.  I am pretty sure there are no pickerel in this pond, but I supposed there could be?  

 

It was very very strange and it's driving me crazy trying to figure out what happened.  

[MisterDeadeye]

Aside from the possibility of a toothy fish biting you off, I can think of a few things:

 

There could be a metal can(beer, corn, beans, coffee, whatever) torn up from bullets or rocks, that caught your line at an angle. There's also the possibility of a broken beer bottle; some people just don't care about the health of an ecosystem like that. Someone could have left a fish trap with sharp edges, that slowly made its way around the pond, etc. Surely there are more possibilities for some kind of sharp debris that I'm not thinking of. 

 

Other than that, do you carefully look over your line? There could have been some kind of stress at that particular spot from something you rubbed against earlier in the day, inside your vehicle assuming you don't use a cover, or even when you fished last.

 

To me, it looks like some serious abrasion, so I'd lean toward a torn up can or broken bottle that just happened to catch your line in the worst possible way.

 

Edit: If a bass picked up your craw and started to run, it's entirely possible that your line rubbed against something sharp and broke before you'd really feel what was going on. 

[Deleted account]

That looks like a pickerel bite off. If you didn't apply pressure on your end not likely it cut through on something sharp, but not impossible.

[fishwizzard]

45 minutes ago, MisterDeadeye said:

 

Other than that, do you carefully look over your line? There could have been some kind of stress at that particular spot from something you rubbed against earlier in the day, inside your vehicle assuming you don't use a cover, or even when you fished last.

 

To me, it looks like some serious abrasion, so I'd lean toward a torn up can or broken bottle that just happened to catch your line in the worst possible way.

 

Edit: If a bass picked up your craw and started to run, it's entirely possible that your line rubbed against something sharp and broke before you'd really feel what was going on. 

That is what I feel must have happened, but this is a super super suburban pond and while there is a good bit of litter, it is not really the shot-up can kind of spot. I fish this place so often that I feel insulted that there is something on the bottom I don't know about. ?  I had just re-tied maybe 20 casts before the break off due to a bobber-stop failure and I am sure I ran my fingers up the first three or so feet of line, I habit I made myself get into last season.  

 

39 minutes ago, reason said:

That looks like a pickerel bite off. If you didn't apply pressure on your end not likely it cut through on something sharp, but not impossible.

It was at Allen Pond, so unless you know something I don't, I dont think there are any picks in there.  I agree that it does look like a pick bite.  

 

But, this might be the answer;

17 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

I know what happened.

As this picture reminded me, there is an ancient evil that lurks in this pond;

His name is Bitey and here is is pictured destroying my huddgill.  

 

It really didn't occur to me until I saw that pic of Jason that it could have been a snapper bite-off.  I have never had one without a heartbreakingly hard pull first, but this pond is full of turtles and I kinda think that old Bitey just had another $3 added to his tab.  

[MisterDeadeye]

1 hour ago, fishwizzard said:

That is what I feel must have happened, but this is a super super suburban pond and while there is a good bit of litter, it is not really the shot-up can kind of spot. I fish this place so often that I feel insulted that there is something on the bottom I don't know about. ?  I had just re-tied maybe 20 casts before the break off due to a bobber-stop failure and I am sure I ran my fingers up the first three or so feet of line, I habit I made myself get into last season.  

 

It was at Allen Pond, so unless you know something I don't, I dont think there are any picks in there.  I agree that it does look like a pick bite.  

 

But, this might be the answer;

As this picture reminded me, there is an ancient evil that lurks in this pond;

His name is Bitey and here is is pictured destroying my huddgill.  

 

It really didn't occur to me until I saw that pic of Jason that it could have been a snapper bite-off.  I have never had one without a heartbreakingly hard pull first, but this pond is full of turtles and I kinda think that old Bitey just had another $3 added to his tab.  

Oh, that's another possibility I hadn't thought of. A snapping turtle makes sense if you're sure the pond is clean of trash and there are no toothy fish. If you had to re-tie shortly before it happened, it almost had to be something either very sharp or with a lot of force. 

[Stephen B]

If it were my guess, it looks more like a fray than a clean cut. A snapping turtle would bite super clean through. It looks like you it was impacted by something then frayed off somewhere. If I were to guess I would say a jagged rock edge but curious to others thoughts as well.

[Catt]

13 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

which is a stone retaining wall with maybe 3-4' of riprap before the muck bottom of the pond

 

Ya by chance using tungsten weights?

 

I've hit concrete bridge pilings with a 1/4 oz weight, cut through 15# Big Game like butter. The line looked like someone hit with a hammer.

[fishwizzard]

4 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Ya by chance using tungsten weights?

 

I've hit concrete bridge pilings with a 1/4 oz weight, cut through 15# Big Game like butter. The line looked like someone hit with a hammer.

I was!  

 

That had also not occurred to me.  I believe on that cast I landed it in the water, but casting along the wall like that does result a some collisions that could have weakened the line.