Worst week

[JediAmoeba]

I have had a terrible week and the only minor consolation is a New Jersey 7 lb fish... lessons were learned I suppose and I don't think I am going to fish for a little bit.

 

It started over the weekenf when someone stole my 7" raw BGC glider out of my car when I was fishing one of my local waters.

 

Then Tueaday I was going fishing with someone and the bungee strap holding my rods in the boat broke and all 7 of my rods went over I-80. One was lost and the others all got rashed up pretty bad. My tatula swimbait rod is toast - rashed up and 5 guides are gone. Honestly, it's devastating to me as I can't replace them but luckily the few I turned seem to function OK but look terrible. We were already halfway to our destination and I didn't want to disappoint the guy so I went along with the trip even though I just didn't feel up to fishing. It was the first time our schedules aligned and were able to go so in my haze I couldn't tell him to turn around. I only used 2 of the rods that day and still have not really inspected them. I picked up my chatterbait rod and changed the leader and used that for the first hour and caught some Pickerel. Then i grabbed my new swimbait setup - my Ryoga and a Leviathan rod - changed the leader and tried not to look at the reel. It felt ok and fished it for a while but didnt get any takers and only had one look at it. At the end of the day I had a big one come.up and swipe at my lure. Then she hit it and I got nothing. I threw back out and gave it a few twitches and BAM, but immediatwly after setting the hook I noticed a weird sound and it felt weird. After all was said and done the eye on top of my new Leviathan rod was gone SO I was lucky to even land the fish. It was obviously broken from taking the spill on the interstate - they are sending me a new rod tip so it will work again - it will have to look better than my new Ryoga reel. Sigh. What a disaster. 

 

I am honestly crushed and I don't think I will ever put rod/reels in the back of a boat with rod socks on. I think that's probably what caused them to go airborne and they all went flying to neverland anyway.

 

I took a few pictures of my gear and haven't looked at it since. When I got home I wrapped my coat around the bunch of them and put them in the shed and that's where they still lie. 

[Mobasser]

Sorry to hear this. It can be hard to replace nice tackle. You'll get there. Better luck with everything moving forward.

[MIbassyaker]

Man, what a downer. Any chance of warranty replacements for any of it?

 

Great fish though.

[Zcoker]

That's kinda what I learned when I first started Kayak fishing: tether EVERTHING. Well, seems like you got bit pretty hard. Hard lesson to learn regardless of how it happened. I feel for ya. Hope things work out for the best. And I know the feeling. Feels like the wind is knocked out of you. Feels like an acidic syrup, eating away at the whole aspect of fishing. It will get better, though, trust me. The horrible feelings along with the horrible reminders will eventually go away like dust in the wind. You'll might even be joking about it one day while having a beer with friends.  

[GRiver]

Wow! I actually cringed when reading your thread. 
 

[Smokinal]

Dude! I'm sick to MY stomach reading this. So sorry to hear; it would crush me for a while too.

[fin]

On first read, I thought you were kind of overreacting a bit by taking a break from fishing, but then I remembered an incident years ago when I lost just one rod and reel to a carp, and just that one thing alone gave me that kind of feeling. Losing my rod and reel was due to my stupidity though, doing something I should have known better than. I could have easily foreseen it happening.

 

What happened to you with the bungee strap breaking and all, I would never expect. If you’re feeling some kind of guilt or stupidity, you shouldn’t.

 

Even banged-up, there are a lot of people that would love to have your gear. I would have no problem fishing with it in that condition myself.

 

Nice fish too.

[gim]

If you have insurance you could submit a claim. I have a $5000 policy on my fishing tackle with a $500 deductible.

[TnRiver46]

I might trade my boat motor for a 7 lber ! Chin up 

[Brian11719]

Rod wise last time I called St. Croix w/ a broken guide they gave me a great deal on a new upgrade. From what I've read I'm pretty sure Dobyns has a great warranty too although I haven't actually had to call them yet. Guess what I'm saying is at least from a rod perspective I tend to try and stick to these two brands because they are smaller american-based companies and have great warranty programs. Aside from that sorry to hear that happened but that is a nice bass  

[Swamp Girl]

Wow! Your gear took a beating. Big bass though!