I am finally able to understand what goes through the minds of those who lose the Bass of a lifetime...

Tonight I have graduated to the next level in my understanding in learning a little bit more about fishing the surf of Rhode Island.

I want to thank Steve Fransescon for making one hell of a plug!...

Your work is unbelievable, as is the action of your lures, and you are a sleeping GIANT of a plugbuilder my friend...

I almost messed myself when I saw the bass of a lifetime swirl around and crush my plug and strip off line from my reel while running like a stallion through the water.

I nearly swallowed my tongue as I engaged this beast!

My biggest regret... like most others have... was the "I should have"... and the "I could have"... thoughts that immediately rushed into my mind after losing the battle with this bass of a lifetime.

It was immediately after this that I had realized there was nothing that I could have done to prepare me for the magnitude of this moment when I was left standing there powerless to overcome the instincts of this monster bass in relentless persuit of it's prey...

I gave all the strength I had in trying to turn this beast from peeling away the line off of my reel... and as soon as this fish slowed down and I had thought I had finally gained leverage on it by turning it's head...

This bass proved me to be dead wrong.

I knew that if he had run again on me that I would likely have been spooled...

As I had reached down to tighten my drag a bit while trying to keep pressure on this fish... thinking I may be able to gain ground...

(And boy is that a vulnerable position to be in at that point!...)

This bass turned again and ran deep for the rocks where it scrubbed me off as instantly as it had smashed my lure with it's sheer brute force as when it had hit the water...

In a sudden instantaneous moment it was

GAME OVER...

Defeat and exhaustion were like a two part epoxy that glued my soul to the water and held me fixated on it in unbelief....

What an awesome experience!

My right shoulder is killing me tonight, but the pain feels great!

I wonder if I shouldn't prepare for bass season by working out as to strengthen my upper body.

This bass really wore me out!

So many misconceptions I had about fishing for large bass were totally thrown out the window tonight through this experience!

I was trying something totally different in my approach to fishing for large in the surf.

What a night!...

It is evenings like this that make all of the time invested into this seem totally worth the many nights when I have gone home skunked and frustrated...

But I'll bet that never happens to anyone else...

right?

Had it happen to me earlier this season Bliz, but I did everything I could do with no errors and no regrets......the fish just won!:bc: When I lost it I ran down the mental checklist to see if I should have or could have done anything different and I came up empty! So don't give it a second thought.....other than to remember the experience.:btu:

welcome to My nightmare

What was exhilarating was that my mind was open enough to throw out the garbage that was in it in the sense that I let go of pre-conceived notions as to the "normal" way that I did things before...

"normal" doesn't work!...

Did someone say plug?:drool:

I just pulled it!...

I need a lobotomy!

Gotta love it!!!

originally posted by Bliz
"I want to thank Steve Fransescon for making one hell of a plug!...

Your work is unbelievable, as is the action of your lures, and you are a sleeping GIANT of a plugbuilder my friend... "

I was at M+D's earlier in the week, and Mike showed me some of Mr. Francescon's work. The plugs are soooo nice they stopped me dead in my tracks.
I hope to add some to my bag soon.

Bliz my condolences on your losses (the plug and the fish) see you at MSBA.

I haven't encountered any monster bass (or keepers) yet..all schoolies. You just don't know how you will react with a big fish until it happens I guess..

Oh so you lost a 5 pounder last night huh Bliz LOL

Sorry to hear that man, wish I could have gone with you last night but family time was very much needed. Want to hook up tonight or Monday night?

KL

I always work out before fishing season. One of the places I fish in the river, the water is flowing at least 15 knots. A 20 # fish will easily keep you busy for 20 minutes and sometime much longer. I actually have packed it up after two nice fish because me arms couldn't take it anymore. One day this Spring I was with one of my neighbors when he hooked up to a 17#, 40" fish. Well, after 20 minutes or so, he asked me to cut the line because he was all worn out and still had about 50 yards of line out there. Of course I couldn't do that, I had to see the monster that had beaten my friend (who isn't a toothpick by any stretch) Anyway, I took the rod and landed the fish in about 10 more minutes. I could see it was a decent sized fish by the way the current was forming wakes around the fish as I was attemptinging to drag her in. I was so amazed that it wasn't even 20#. My buddy (who is no stranger to the striped bass) was goign on and on about how big this fish was going to be. Only 17#! He said. I said yup, go hit the weights.

Its the fisherman's equivelant to "buck fever".The heart pounding,the shaking hands.Its freakin' great!

Don, Welcome to fishing :D

excellent choice of words//it was a pleasure to read .even thru the ending was not what you had hoped for /////;)

good news is she's still out there! go back, try again, different plug, that fish will eat again!

Bliz,
Its memories like that which will stay burned in your mind forever and keep you addicted for life . Although its been a while for me, but I remember the feeling well.
I agree ,Steve build a really nice Plug. Probably the best small & medium surfsters out there. He is a perfectionist,and we can expect great things from him in the near future.
Good luck in your pursuit of that fish of a lifetime.

Hmm. ur shoulder hurts.Lets say it was 60# lets say Ur 180 #.i don't get it no bass will ever make me hurt.too bad u didn't get her.But sounds like u let a fish show u who's boss.At least u didn't let her spool ya. I could never understand that one.they say most gotta loose a few good ones to get one.well ur just payin ur dooo's..I had that happen to me one time with a kinda light setup 50lb braid an 40 lb leader ever since then i don't mess around I'm loaded for bear...good luck next time try a eel in a coupla nights wit some heavier line an a stout rod. a big 9/0 siwash give it to her as soon as she picks it up an show that bass who's boss.i believe if u give em there head they will take it an run for the hills then its only a matter of time before its over.U keep em tight an they will tire out quicker.most big fish don't have much stamina.the worst thing that can happen then is a straight hook or pulled hook.but i think u eliminate alot of variables.

Thanks!

I Agree completely with what you said Tinman about Mr. Fransescon's lures.

He gave me a surfster awhile back for me to fish when he had sent some in for the plug project, and it wasn't until recently that I used it and saw how this thing swims...

The potential for this lure up in our rocky shores is boundless!

And the beauty of this plug is that it doesn't dig any more than six inches or so when fished anywhere!

Regardless of current!

You can't really say the same thing of alot of the topwater designs being fished up this way... they dig down just deep enough to hang you up when fishing the real rocky areas.

Steve came up recently and showed me the action of this plug first hand, and I almost fell over to see the way the lure swam...

He then took the plug he was using and smacked it against the rocks... handed it to me and then told me to look at the finish...

It was flawless!

I was sold on these plugs from that very moment, and I knew in an instant that he is onto something much larger than I believe he himself fully realizes...

And then last night was the icing on the cake!

The potential uses for his surfsters is ENORMOUS!...

We have much to learn about the potential uses for the designs being made to fish the flats of Jersey & PA...

They have HUGE potential for use in our waters.

Last night was all I needed to know this to be true.

Because the area I fished cannot be done successfully apart from using a plug of this type.

It happens....I'll share my experience this year,

It was Wensday July 14th, 2004.. started out the night with a 15-20mph wind out of the SW, and a little light in the sky about 915pm I'm out on my rock...Very first cast on an eel and I land a bass 30lbs on the nose. Within the next hour and a half I landed 9 Bass, 20lbs,20lbs,23lbs,24lbs, and 35lbs, the rest were in the teens. as the tide dropped the bite died out, not a touch for the next half hour. I leave the spot and fish a stretch of beach I do pretty well on. I get nothing but low to mid teen fish. By 300am I end up with exactly 22bass, including the fish mentioned earlier. It is near slack and I want to hit the rock where I had the bigger fish earlier in the night on the oppisite tide. I am there, 340 am and start casting for the next hour or so without a touch, it is now well past dawn, light as could be, clear sky, wind is out of the SW however it has diminished substantially. At about 440am the first hit slams me and makes an unbelievable run, the power is awesome. After several minutes I'm gaining on the fish, it makes alast effort, sounds and pops me off. I reel in and examine my leader, it broke 60lb floro and it was my fault from being lazy. I had 22 fish that night on the same hook and leader, I felt it was getting a bit freyed above the hook and was actually thinking of changing it earlier in the night. I didn't and it cost me a monster Bass, one that you couldn't even compare to the other fish. Made the 30 and 35lb bass look like a dink! I was so pissed and upset. I had several pre made leaders and rerigged without much motivation. First cast, next cast and Bamm! I'm on agian, this fish is smoking, makes a blistering run, even comes up top with a big explosion. The wieght of the fish is compariblt to the previous fish. It sounds, I feel her take me into the rocks and the leader breaks, agian 60lb Floro. I reel in, quickly change to a 80lb Floro and I cast back out...Within a few casts I'm on agian!!! Within a few minutes I am broken of agian...Same thing, fish took me deep and broke me off. To make a long story short, I hooked five of these beasts and couldn't land one! First two broke 60lb Floro, next two broke 80lb Floro, and the fifth broke the running line. After the fifth I was out of eels and all done. I never, ever had an experience like this. I can count on one hand how many times I have gotten broken of in the last few years by a big fish, I am lucky to hit one fish a year that does this. This time I had FIVE Chances in a early morning bite and couldn't land one. A pod of fish that were fish of a lifetime moved in with the tide and I was there. I don't think there was anything I could have done to land these fish, my best chance was the first one....No it may take me several more year to find a pod of fish like this, maybe never. Unbelievable!

I agree Cowhunter, it's much easier said than done... that's for sure!

Don't believe my brother Don, he's a liar...
He sells all his fish to a chinese restaurant, called "Mikey's Amazing Fish Number Five!!!"
Anyhow, hope to be down to So Co veryb soon with the young Bomba in tow.
Talk to you soon,
Rick