'The Things I've Done to Retrieve a Lure'

[Pat Brown]

Well.  The title says it all.

 

I'll start.

 

?

 

At one of my favorite fishing holes, there is a laydown I often like to pitch jigs into and one day I went out there armed with a brand new really pretty jig and a couple poles ready to walk the bank and do some bass hunting.

 

When I cast in there and started slowly moving my jig back I felt a spongy feeling and the tip start to load up.

 

Well, after a magnificent hookset, I realized somebody else had been using my favorite spot and apparently had been using some really high test power pro braid around wood and apparently they decided to just break off their line with both ends creating a clothes line basically across the whole strike zone.

 

Needless to say I was bummed and a bit angry, mainly on account of ruining a fishing spot and just leaving it there.

 

I remembered I had a spool with some braid in my tackle back and I tied one end to a hook with a weight really quickly and tossed it into the water where my lure and line sat stuck.

 

I snagged the braid and busted the mess up out of there and got my lure back.  A trick I have used more than once since then bank fishing.

 

Next is my lucky War Eagle sunfish colored double gold Indiana blade spinnerbait.

 

I don't know what it is, but that spinnerbait catches me fish.  I can fish it through anything.  I love it.

 

Anyway, I was fishing at my local pond and cast it near the boat house.  It somehow managed to wedge itself between a concrete slab and some wood right up against the side.

 

It was my first cast and it was pitch black and about 6 am and I was really upset I was fixing to lose my favorite spinnerbait.

 

Nobody was around so in I went.

 

Shoes and pants legs and cold water in the dark.

 

Thankfully I knew from many days fishing jigs that it's only about 2 feet deep next to the dock.

 

Still have that War Eagle spinnerbait.

 

Alright whatcha got?

[JacobB006]

I've got a few stories similar to your spinnerbait one.

My most memorable one would have to be from this summer while wading for smallmouth in my favorite creek. Somehow I managed to toss my ned rig directly into an overhanging tree. The jighead and trd cost no more than $2 but I was determined to get it back. The tree was coming out of the bank at an angle that allowed me to shimmy up it, with the whole thing swaying under me as I ascended. Once I got a little above where my ned was stuck I jumped out and grabbed the branch it was stuck on and held on as it snapped the branch and took a short-lived ride to the creek below. Left there with a big ole' gash in my hand that I still have to this day. After retying, I broke the same jighead off maybe 10-15 casts later and she was gone for good. I'd say it was still worth the retrieve though.

[king fisher]

I snagged a crankbait in a gill net last spring.  I have hundreds of crankbaits, but for some reason I thought I had to get this one back at any cost.  The wind was blowing 20 - 25 MPH and I was having difficulty maneuvering my kayak.  I eventually got my crankbait back, but I almost flipped my kayak, lost some soft plastics and terminal tackle overboard, lost half a spool of line, and broke a rod tip.  All for one mid priced crankbait.  I guess I know why no one has ever accused me of being a financial genius.

      

[thediscochef]

I'm always shocked when swearing doesn't get my jerkbaits out of hangups

[Johnbt]

There's one small private 30-acre pond/lake where I carry my 8' to 12' Fiskars pole pruner.

 

[Cbump]

None of the above. I break off and get back to fishing as quickly as possible. 

[gim]

30 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

I'm always shocked when swearing doesn't get my jerkbaits out of hangups

I try swearing at northern pike when they saw me off and steal lures.  Has never worked, but I still do it every time.

[A-Jay]

17 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I try swearing at northern pike when they saw me off and steal lures.  Has never worked, but I still do it every time.

I absolutely Hate that feeling . . . .

It's a tick and then . . . . .  nothing ! 

I always wave my bait-less rig around for like a whole minute just cursing up a storm. 

Vision 110's and Jackhammers are the worst !

A-Jay

[Pat Brown]

30 minutes ago, Cbump said:

None of the above. I break off and get back to fishing as quickly as possible. 

 

 

In general I'm a rational person too.  ?

[CM-fisher]

I have a good story, not retrieving a lure but retrieving a bass!

 

I was bank fishing a pretty unpopular lake as the only lure that would work was a frog. This lake is an icky algae-ridden mess, but I fish it because I've gotten my 3 best bass out of there. I had a really big bass slurp my frog and when I set the hook, it instantly tangled itself up in a large laydown nearby. I wasn't going to lose this fish, so I waded into that gross water about thigh-deep, lost a sandal, and manually untangled that bass from the tree.  

[gim]

37 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I absolutely Hate that feeling . . . .

It's a tick and then . . . . .  nothing ! 

I always wave my bait-less rig around for like a whole minute just cursing up a storm. 

Vision 110's and Jackhammers are the worst !

LOL there was another thread about this very same subject that I commented on earlier in the week.  @NorthernBasser knows exactly what we're talking about here.  Its kinda funny when it happens to someone else in the boat, but when it happens to you, there's no laughing.

 

The little ones just usually ruin the tackle.  They rip skirts, plastics, etc.  The bigger ones sometimes completely engulf the lure and you feel that "tick" or "thump" and then there's nothing, just like you stated.

 

Haven't ever lost a MB jerk bait but I have a dreaded feeling that day is inevitable.  When it happens, I may have a stroke.

 

[BrianMDTX]

I somehow made a bad cast and my first-ever and brand-new chatterbait ended up about 15’ up in the branches. I was fuming. I untied my frog off my frogging rig and tied on a 5/0 EWG with a 1/4 oz. bullet weight and casted it over the branch and after wrapping the 50 lb. braid around the handle of my yak paddle, I pulled the offending limb down, down, down until the previous chatterbait was within arm’s reach. 
 

I probably looked like some hellacious goober yanking a tree branch down with one hand and trying to extricate the severely snagged chatterbait with the other. Almost fell out of my small inflatable. Almost impaled my hand with the hook, but I got it out. Also got the hook and weight back, too. 
 

After that, I decided to cut bait and keep fishing! 

[Mobasser]

I try to fish weedless as much as possible.Ive lost my share of stuff over the years.

[Bird]

Losing baits is all apart of the process, we're going to lose a few.

I just grab another reel and keep fishing.

[Susky River Rat]

I don’t even bat an eyelash and loosing stuff anymore. Retying is what I get angry about. I lost so man  $30-75 musky lures and that doesn’t even make me bat an eyelash at that anymore either. Have to pay to play.

[DaubsNU1]

When brother and I were young, and fishing in a small john boat with my Dad...my brother actually dropped his fishing rod in the pond(!).

 

Dad remained calm, broke out a huge huge weighted treble hook, tied on his rod and said, "We are getting that fishing rod back boys!"

 

After about five minutes of casting and retrieving, Dad managed to snag his line. The bail was open on the sunken spinning rod...so we just kept pulling on the line...eventually we had all the line off the spool...and pulled the entire rod and reel to the surface. 

 

Score! 

[gim]

13 minutes ago, Darnold335 said:

I lost so man  $30-75 musky lures

How are you losing muskie lures, may I ask?  I don't remember the last time I lost one.  The tackle, line, and leaders are so stout it seems impossible.

[Zcoker]

If there's one thing one can do in the everglades, get snagged! So I expect it an deal with it. I carry on board my a 36" ARC dehooker hook remover that I use on big sharks. I snag often in the glades and the dehooker gets them out all the time. Just taunt the line, slide into end loop, follow down and pull. Done. Water's not too deep, either, maybe 3-4 feet. Plenty of length for my purposes. 

 

[Swamp Girl]

You guys who go into the water for lures and bass are tough hombres. 

[Susky River Rat]

25 minutes ago, gimruis said:

How are you losing muskie lures, may I ask?  I don't remember the last time I lost one.  The tackle, line, and leaders are so stout it seems impossible.

Even with a lure retriever I couldn’t get them out end up snapping the line. Others were from the bank days. Generally yes a lure retriever or just going back will get it but, it happens when you can’t. It’s usually when the line gets wrapped around something under water. Also broken baits trying to get them

out.

[Blue Raider Bob]

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

I try swearing at northern pike when they saw me off and steal lures.  Has never worked, but I still do it every time.

So glad ya'll keep those Pikes up North!

[Blue Raider Bob]

5 hours ago, JacobB006 said:

I've got a few stories similar to your spinnerbait one.

My most memorable one would have to be from this summer while wading for smallmouth in my favorite creek. Somehow I managed to toss my ned rig directly into an overhanging tree. The jighead and trd cost no more than $2 but I was determined to get it back. The tree was coming out of the bank at an angle that allowed me to shimmy up it, with the whole thing swaying under me as I ascended. Once I got a little above where my ned was stuck I jumped out and grabbed the branch it was stuck on and held on as it snapped the branch and took a short-lived ride to the creek below. Left there with a big ole' gash in my hand that I still have to this day. After retying, I broke the same jighead off maybe 10-15 casts later and she was gone for good. I'd say it was still worth the retrieve though.

I'm not laughing at your gashed hand, I am laughing because your story describes each and every one of us when we were younger! We've all busted our butts at one time or another over a 2.00 lure! Although you say this happened this past summer....that means you're either young, or still young at heart!

[ScottW]

First time using my brand new whopper plopper here at the pond and as I made my first cast along side the bank I'm watching for it to land. It didn't. I thought I was following it but it went high and snagged in a tree beside the pond. Had to be 25-30ft up. Don't ask me how as I have no idea. I was pretty upset and headed back to the house.

 

My son in law was cutting grass the following weekend and asked me how/why my lure was up a tree. I told him and we went down to the pond and since I had tied the line off to the tree, we tugged on it from the opposite side and miraculously got it down.

 

I tend to stay away from the trees now and really pay attention to my casts. ?

[Blue Raider Bob]

37 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

You guys who go into the water for lures and bass are tough hombres. 

Katy you always post things that remind me of being a kid. Thank you for that. When we walked the Cypress swamps fishing as a kid/teenager, we would walk to the spot we hung up, take a deep breath, and drop to the bottom to feel with our fingers. The Strike King spinner baits cost a buck or two back then and we could not afford to lose them. Of course the water we waded never went over neck deep, and around the Cypress trees, it was never too much more that belly-button deep. Hated tripping over those Cypress Knees though. Always busted a shin. I wouldn't get in that water now to save my.......!

[Bankbeater]

Back when my dad was living, we went to a lake that him and his buddy fished often.  On one trip a laydown that used to be in the water near the shore was up on the bank about half way out.  I asked my dad about it and he said that a couple of days ago him and his friend had both lost lures in it.  The laydown was not too far from the parking lot and when the bite slowed down, one of them got the idea to use the truck and drag the tree out of the water.  They got their baits back and split the other snagged baits between them.