The Bridge to Heartache

[1984isNOW]

There's a small overpass/bridge that I fish off of that holds Some really solid fish. Ive caught more 3 pounders and up out of there than anywhere else in my life, a couple of 5 pounders, 6-7 pounders are known to be had, and I've heard stories of up to eight. The problem is that the fish literally bite right at the bottom of the bridge, so hook sets are awkward and almost vertical to the fish. 

 

There is a little bit of room on one side down near the water, but then you kind of blow the spot up getting down there and depending on the weeds your retrieve angle is not quite right. Its very short span of water that opens to a decent size waterbody, and depending on recent rainfall the water can be moving from the backside over a small shoddy dam or stagnant. Either way its bonkers weedy, every kind of weed you can think of has somehow managed to congregate around this water. And its so thick in some parts that you can really only fish the few less weedy areas in between.   

 

     Both sides definitely house some solid fish, and there are only a few other spots available from shore between the two bodies of water. Its absolutely beat to death all over with people fishing, and I bumped into a guy who says he drives 45 minutes to fish there, in those little shore spots because boats aren't allowed. He's been fishing there since a kid, and still makes the drive because big fish lurk in the murks there.  

 

Now here comes the heartbroken tale of my second once in a life time fish lost. My chances are steadily decreasing of actually catching my once in a lifetime fish, but I'm trying to remain hopeful... it's a struggle.  

 

I was fishing there after all other anglers quit for the night. I was supposed to just go home after hitting the other shore spots with no luck, but I decided it was close enough and I had to at least cast a few times there and I can say I tried, so I loaded up the car again and drove around the bend.

 

  It only took a few casts to get a solid bite on a buzzbait. Now the angles of lines and hook sets and the absurdities of landing a fish in this area come into play.   I lost the fish.  It felt too solid to just reel up and over the guard rail, either shake its way off on the way up or snap the rod. While I was debating the best course of action I took too long to think about it and it spit the hook, just as I decided to try to walk across to the other side and hop over the guardrail.  

 

Because of this I decided to stick around and keep at it. After a while, casting to the front and backside of the overpass,  switched to a spinnerbait. A perfectly placed cast in the dark landed just outside the weedline and activated before it hit the weeds underneath. As I was bringin it in and getting closer to the bridge I wanted to bring it in as close as possible across the mouth of the water, so I had to lean over the guardrail a bit, angle the rod tip down and sideways while slowly walking backwards. 

 

  As I did this a baby freshwater greatwhiteshark mistook my spinnerbait for a baby seal and nearly pulled me over the rail and into the water when it attacked. This time I was ready in my mind how I would land it. 

 

  I have never experienced a bass pulling drag on a baitcaster before (I keep it pretty tight and use trebles on spinning set ups), and this thing actually took line out. My heart was absolutely pounding and I'm pretty sure I got a little light headed, but I had a plan in place after the last lost fish.  

 

Looking past the cartoon stars circling my head, I quickly hopped the guardrail ready for action! In the darkness, with the higher than ever water levels, I couldn't discern where the waters edge was. It has been storming and raining here off and on for weeks, the waters have been their dirtiest, highest, and fastest (where applicable) than I've ever seen. 

 

Because I was blinded by the black of the night, and the weeds on the water's edge blend into the grass/ground, I couldn't tell where the water was. I had to take a second to make sure I knew where to step. One second.

 

  I hesitated for one second in the name of safety.  

 

One second can be divided into two. 

 

The remaining half seconds can be further divided in half each as well.  

 

That half of a half of a second can be divided in half.

 

   Do it again.

  Do it again  

Do it again, for infinity.  

 

Infinity is contained in one second, and that is how long it felt when that monster fish broke my heart. It felt like forever, when I had the fish of a lifetime on the end of my line, and then it jumped, and there was nothing. 

 

  And nothing, sometimes, can mean everything. Everything was lost in that moment, that never ending heartache.  

 

After infinity passed, in desperation, I casted the spinnerbait out again. Like a high-school boy left dateless at the prom as my girlfriend dumped me on the dance floor for my best friend I begged for that big girl to take me back. I casted to the weedline, I casted to the clearing in the middle, I climbed back up and casted into the weeds.  

 

Frustrated, infuriated, depressed, I quickly grabbed my buzzbait again. Nothing. I threw it a few times and switched to a weightless t-rig. Eventually I got a bite in the same area and this time, thinking I maybe didn't set the hook hard enough last time, I set the hook so hard I lifted the fish out of the water and lost it.

 

  I stuck around another 45 minutes or so, knowing I'll regret it in the morning and its hopeless to begin with. I did find one more bite on the spinnerbait, and set the hook perfectly. The feel of this fish only reinforced how massive the big one must've been.  

 

The worst thing about all this is that the conditions had to be perfect for this monster to be in a spot that it could even have a lure presented to it. Like I said, the spots are limited and very busy, often. I might buy a machete to make my way into the woods to find another spot myself, but an accident in the woods alone might be worse than losing the big one. 

 

I was experimenting with set ups and was using a rod that I think was just too parabolic, I forgot how parabolic it was. I pulled the next hook through the top of the face of the next bass though, so obviously it could do it. Maybe the trailer hook was just too small for the big bass? I think the angle and not wanting to pull it out of the mouth straight up made me set it weird too. 

 

I have another post in mind because of all this, I'll get to that when I can.  

 

Is the bottom line to just always keep tension and reel it to shore asap and deal with the consequences? 

 

  Or if I let up on the tension would it have tried to swim away instead of jumping?  

 

It's like I almost instantly forgot how to land a fish, if it felt like a regular bass I woulda just brought him in, like I always do, but I really wanted to make sure I did this right and had to think about it, and just lost it instead.

[LrgmouthShad]

Holy cow what a great story. Thank you, and sorry you lost this giant. 
 

I throw spinnerbaits a lot. To answer your questions at the end there, there are only two things I want to happen when a fish bites me on a spinner, but I want to say in advance that I don’t think you did much wrong:

 

1. I want to make sure that the fish has my spinner solidly in its mouth before setting hook. This a very brief pause. But by the sounds of how this fish bit, it’s my least favorite scenario. When the fish bites so aggressively that it immediately starts pulling the spinnerbait away from me, that’s my worst hookup to land ratio, probably. The reason is that unless I consciously drop the rod and reel in the slack before the hookset, that fish has already pulled me into a position that may or may not be favorable to me. My rod is already loaded. I do not like that.

2. I just want to keep tension on that fish and play it out. I feel comfortable with a spinnerbait just playing a fish. As long as I have a good hookset, I’m perfectly comfortable letting them squirm around and try to jump me off. I’m not in a hurry. But with the obstructions you mentioned and the difficulty of fishing this spot, that probably was more difficult. And you were in the dark

 

So, don’t sweat it, you probably didn’t do much wrong, if anything, and thank that fish for giving you a thrill.