Let’s talk stories. Equipment fails with a fish on?

[gunsinger]

I thought I had a broken bait caster because every time I set the hook, the spool would spin freely. Turns out, I was thumbing thumb bar on the hook set. I learned quickly put my thumb somewhere else. 
 

I figured it out after buying a new reel and, much to my chagrin, it was broke the same exact way. 

[Koz]

Bank fishing and had a nice 5 pounder putting up a good fight with my Lew's Mach II baitcaster. Pinned the butt end against my rock hard abs (!) and the butt end snapped off. I managed to wrestle the fish in without impaling myself.

 

Lew's said it was such an unusual break that they provided me another rod for free even though my Mach II was out of the warranty period.

[FishTank]

I have had a few things fail on me over the years but most recently.....

 

 

[thunderblack]

I was fishing SW with a cheap travel rod. Set the hook on a fish and the the sections came apart. While the fish was running I put the sections back but not good enough. Next run the rod exploded. Great reason to upgrade to a Loomis Escape

[Dye99]

This morning I was smallmouth fishing when I hooked a really nice one. I let him tire himself out then got him in the boat. As I was weighing him he decided to basically explode in a flurry of excitement, making me the drop the digital scale.

 

So of course over the side it goes, with a scale clipped in his bottom lip. He was trying to figure out how to swim away with it when I managed to net him.

 

Pretty comical actually...

[txchaser]

50/50 chance when I take a new reel out the mag brakes are set a zero, and daiwa-style, there's not really any spool tension at all. My thumb is getting better at catching it, so it's not causing cutouts anymore... but for a while there I'd be all excited about playing with a new toy and blow it up bad enough on the first cast to just put it back for the rest of the day. 

 

One early morning a buddy and I were fishing, it had just gotten light enough to cast and see the bait. I cast a frog up next to some tules and had planned to just soak it a bit. The bite the day before had been really slow and finicky. So I relaxed, leaned over and picked up my coffee and took a nice long swig. And then I hear "Hey, um, Txchaser... I think you have a fish!" I look over, the frog is nowhere to be seen, and the line is running off. Fortunately I was able to get a good set and brought in a four-pounder. Felt like a dummy all day though. 

 

Usually the equipment failure is my brain. 

 

[desmobob]

Not exactly an equipment failure...

 

I was wade fishing for striped bass with a fly rod and I somehow got one of those tangles around the rod tip that you just can't shake out.  I had just made a cast.  It was a nine-foot, two-piece rod with a heavy reel on it so I took it apart so I could reach the tip without dunking the reel or risking breaking the tip section.

 

As soon as I took the rod apart, a striper took the fly.  I had to play him on the rod's tip section and hand-line him in.  Thank goodness it wasn't a big one.

 

In hindsight, I'm thinking I might have been able to put the rod back together with the fish on, but I didn't think to try.  If there's ever a next time...