Do we have a "Fishing Failures" board????

AllenOK

New member
Joined
Oct 27, 2014
Messages
1,080
Location
Jackson, MI
Yesterday, I was using one of my surf rods. I was making long-range casts with a 2 oz weighted float, suspending some cut bait about 4' below the surface for catfish. There was NO action at all. After about an hour, I was ready to call it a wash and go to Plan B. I decided to make one more cast before calling it.

As I made that cast, I heard a crack, and the pole felt a little weird. The float landed exactly where I wanted it, in a good spot, so I decided to fish it. I looked at my rod, and noticed that the top section wasn't in line with the bottom. Ok, so I almost threw the top section off (wouldn't be the first time). I lined it all back up, and firmly seated the top section on the bottom section, feeling the ferrule at the same time, checking for cracks/splinters/damage. I didn't notice anything, so I kept the drift going.

After about 10 minutes, I went ahead and called it a wash. Reeled in, packed up, and made the 300-yard trudge uphill to my vehicle. Plan B consisted of crossing over the dam, and setting up on the south bank of the same river. Change the rig out, go with a 5' leader, 2 oz sinker on the bottom of the leader, dropper loop with a hook about 2 1/2' above the sinker, swivel on the top end that connects the leader to the mainline. A few inches above the swivel, I tied a balloon to the mainline. The plan is to bait up with cut bait, toss the rig out as far as I can (not far with that balloon), open the clicker, and let the wind blow it across the river, making it's way across the scour hole right below the dam.

Did I mention it's 300 yards bank-to-bank??? That's the reason for the big equipment.

Anyway, about 50 minutes into the drift, I noticed that line was moving out A LOT faster than it had, and the rod tip was bouncing pretty good. I looked at the balloon, about 150 yards away, and it was moving to the left at a fair clip.

Fish-on!

I picked up my surf rod, engaged the reel (which turns off the clicker), and started taking out the slack. I could literally see the line rip out of the water as the fish went one way and I pulled line in. Once that little divot of disturbed water made it to the balloon, I pulled back to set the hook.

Three things happened:

1) I felt the fish shake it's head,
2) The sinker snagged a rock
3) I heard another crack come from the rod.

A split second later, when I realized that I was snagged, with a fish on the line, I started pulling back, trying to either dislodge the sinker, or break it off (we expect to loose tackle here, it's really snaggy). That's when I actually saw my rod. Instead of a nice, smooth arc from butt to tip, there was about a 20-degree hard angle, right at the ferrule. CRAP!!!!

I couldn't free my rig from the snag without putting some serious pressure, either by bending the pole, or doing a straight pull. With the developing break, bending was out. I dropped my rod in line with the snag, grabbed the spool of my spinning reel to keep the drag from letting line out, and started walking backwards. Two steps later I felt a snap, and the rig was free. I started reeling in, and felt resistance, but realized it was just the balloon dragging in the water. When I got the leader in, I saw that instead of the sinker busting loose, the dropper loop had failed.

River Gods: 1
Me: -2 (lost fish, busted pole)

That's the way it goes sometimes, when you're fishing for big fish.....

I don't even know for sure what I had. It could have been a cat, but it could have been a Gar. A bunch of my guide buddies call this spot, "the Gar Hole" for a good reason.

Lessons learned:
1) In the "no generation" situation I was fishing, i.e., "low water", only about 4' of leader is needed. Maybe less, I'm not totally sure how deep/shallow it is out there. It's restricted for boats, so I can't paddle my kayak out there and take some sonar soundings.
2) Maybe rethink the entire "big drop-shot" configuration and go with the hook on the bottom and a 2 oz slip-sinker above the hook.
 
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