Have you ever Been Spooled by what you Think was your Fish of a Life Time, LETS here your Story.................................

Canal, many times. I remember each one and cry in my heart.

I got spooled 80+ yards then broke off about 6 years ago tonight, and no don't want to live it over. Just wish it went left instead of right :wall:

Yes :(
but I cannot relive it
I was hoping it was a seal but I know it was not

i was spooled. We were fishing off the cement barge off of gooseberry many years ago. very long steady run. figured it had to be a shark or a sub.

On a boat where one of the guys fought a underwater snag for 30 minutes before we convinced him to break it off so we could continue fishing. Light rod - lots of line out on small spool. Very exciting for the first 10 minutes :biglaugh:.

Once, live-lining mackerel in a harbor full of seals.... :doh:

Happened in the canal about 10 years back. Something picked up a chunk and emptied a fresh spool of 30 lb mono. Tackle and techiques were a lot different for me back that. Id like to think i could have stopped the fish or whatever it was.

Yes Merrimac River 4-5 years ago fishing chunk Herring it was picked up and just took off, until I had 4 raps left on the spool. I grab the spool and told my friend to pull the anchor when the hook straightened out. this year fishing Eel at BI Fish grabed eel took 3/4 of the spool and then dropped the eel. not quite spooled but it left that feeling you get when you know you have a big fish and never will know for sure.

Happened in the canal about 10 years back. Something picked up a chunk and emptied a fresh spool of 30 lb mono.

Tuna. I've seen it happen quite a few times ;)

I never had a fish take me down to the knot---but only because I went for broke and busted off. I nearly got spooled at Montauk about 8 years ago. That, too, was a tuna, I think. School BFT. There were reports of them around that night :humpty:

I want to see the bass that can spool me when I'm using my All Star 1209 and Saltiga 6000 :eek:

Never spooled but was well on my way to it. Fish broke me off in the rocks with about 50 yards of line left. When I checked my line (20#mono) the last 20' was shredded. The thing that sucked the most is that the fish hit so close to shore and I thought I'd land it in no time. Boy was I wrong. I never had a chance.

Had a Fish hit in close at Quonny. Fish started to run but then there was nothing started to reel in and Fish was still on and it swam up inside to the bend then nothing again started to reel in and Fish was still on ran out again and kept going then It snapped the Line who knows what it was but had 4 guys watching who just wanted to see what it was.

mid-october...sunny sunday afternoon...a friend and I decided to hit south beach an soak some sandeels...we walked down around the point about 1/4-1/2 mile...we set up spikes and baited our hooks..tossed the offerings seaward....blue after blue about 3-5lbs were caught and tossed back....after abit I refused to stand up an cast..so sitting in the sand the bait flew out..fish came in sitting on my butt..life was good...untill... another little blue hit...as I was reeling it in, it just stopped??? wth....were fishing in 10 feet of water..pure sand on the bottom,,no hang's anywhere...at this point I stood up and gave the 11' lami...650 penn a yank...nothing..dead stop? then the line started to go left like it was tide to the bumper of a truck that was in first gear going down the road by itself...the spool was going click-click-click as the line was leaving the spool...still standing in the same spot, the spool was now half gone...looked at my friend and said I'll be back,going to walk this one down...well! half way back to the point was another guy fishing bottom...over top of him I go with the fish still pulling and not a turn of the handle yet....got to the point and ran out of sand to follow the fish[[han't seen the fish yet]]so there I was with no where to go, watching the line slowly vanish off the spool...whatever it was ,was heading across the channel straight for north beach.I looked down to see about 4 wraps of line left...think it's going to blow, I cupped my hand over the spool waiting for the bang as the line snapped...but as thing's never go the way u think..I stopped the fished..no sheet I'm thinking..battles not lost yet..as I slowlly pumped the rod and turned the handle about 4 times..I felt that sinking feeling of the hook pulling out[more like a tearing?]..stood there saying dang that was a gooden....reeling the line back in, to my supprise the rig came up the sand..but something odd on the hook...it was now getting dark and couldn't see what the heck it was...put it in my bait bag till mornin I thought where I could see it better...that next day I looked...green-blue-white..then I flipped a flap of meat over to see the lower jaw bone of a blue...pulled the side of the face of the bluefish right off in the battle.....What ate the blue?? I'll never know..never saw it. that was 12 years ago.

It was probably a shark but I'd like to think not. Big pier in West Chop about twenty years ago. Fishing very heavey 10' rod with bait. Fish took it and kept on going. I held on propping myself up against a piling until I was spooled. After the line snapped I fished with another rod and never hooked up again that night. It was 30 or 40 # test as I recall. Wind was blowing. Pier was moving side to side in the swells. I wish I had that one back.

Yep twice once fishing chunk at Portugee hole. Whatever it was it took off and even after climbing the rocks and trying to slow the fish down, I was unsucessful - snapped at the backing.
Second time was jigging with a crippled herring at the run. I looked both ways for traffic and only saw the coast guard crash boat ( the red rubber speedster) a long way away. He was actually somewhere about the mussle bed. I Cast into the current as far as I could heave it and let it sink to the first bump. before I could reel the boat was on me and he picked up my line. A brand new spool of 65 lb. power pro wrapped his prop including 5 oz. jig and all I could do was point straight at him and watch the line part at the backing. I still think he did it to me on purpose.

Yep twice once fishing chunk at Portugee hole. Whatever it was it took off and even after climbing the rocks and trying to slow the fish down, I was unsucessful - snapped at the backing.
Second time was jigging with a crippled herring at the run. I looked both ways for traffic and only saw the coast guard crash boat ( the red rubber speedster) a long way away. He was actually somewhere about the mussle bed. I Cast into the current as far as I could heave it and let it sink to the first bump. before I could reel the boat was on me and he picked up my line. A brand new spool of 65 lb. power pro wrapped his prop including 5 oz. jig and all I could do was point straight at him and watch the line part at the backing. I still think he did it to me on purpose.


That happened to me when a boat came out of now where's.I was sure I was cleared,Confirmed my suspicions thet the line goes out an then down.the water holds it up in the colum.
I had a good one last night would have spooled most guys.I had the 1209 double over 90 I had about 9 lbs of drag cuppin the spool when i went 1/2 turn tighter in effort to lift the beast off the bottom in a 5 knot current.this went about 90 seconds Something had to give I don't believe the rod didn't break.Line was makin bad noises.then it happened the jig pulled.There's a fish swimmin around with no lips this smornin.Probably could have let the fish play out a little more.This fish was down an stayin there.I thought I had to make a move on it if it got time to recoup i was done.Hook pullin then was alot better than after 5 more minutes of that,sometimes it's just not ment to be.

I had the fish of a lifetime on off of MV this june. We were wire line jigging in 45ft of water. I had about half the spool of 50# wire on a 114hsp out when the fish hit and it took me to the backing twice before I dropped it. Im sure a lot of you have coght decent sized fish on wire and very rarely does a fish even take more than 5 yard runs with that stuff. This fish probably had about 100yds of wire behind him and still was peeling it off no problem. I was shaking for a long time after that to say the least.

I was fishing the Scusset Beach Jetty on an incoming, it was around 3am....I had caught a couple of decent fish that night nothing really big though...I never saw the hit, I was bullchitting with another angler when I heard the alarm<drag> go off, it made one intial run-....then like the energizer....."it just kept going and going and going".... didn't hear a boat,,,but dang, it sure seemed like one. I cupped the spool a couple of times but the fear of busting off kept me from really putting the brakes on. It took me right down to the knot, then SNAP. The other guy that was fishing there just looked at me for a few seconds,,,...then whispered,,,..."what the hell was that?" .....

With the ingredients being the Canal, Late Summer, and Chunking......you just never know what you might get or not get :huh:


Also got spooled on the G.I. causeway jigging up macks....doesn't really count though because I was just bait fishing with a cheap set-up with hardly any line on it.....the little tunnys came running through and one decided to take me for a ride.....wahoooooooo,, the braided line left a nice in my finger tooo :wall:

never........ been out to the backing at the canal but landed the fish 55lbs took me dwn 3 lite poles and 30 min though.......

Had a Fish hit in close at Quonny. Fish started to run but then there was nothing started to reel in and Fish was still on and it swam up inside to the bend then nothing again started to reel in and Fish was still on ran out again and kept going then It snapped the Line who knows what it was but had 4 guys watching who just wanted to see what it was.

same thing happened to me there last Nov.middle of the day on the incoming. i was fishing the beach when i looked over and noticed birds going nuts in the channel. run over and there's good size bunker flipping around with big blues on them. I started throwing a blue over white tattoo darter and had blues up to 15 lbs for a half hr. finally hooked into a monster that had me down to my backing fairly quickly. i had my drag socked down too but this fish brought me up into the channel and under one of the docks before i broke it off. never felt so violated in my life..

yes, i was spooled by a diver. he was after my 3 oz olive habs needle.

I had a fish on for an hour last year before it broke off. Happened in flood conditions in a river and even though I eventually stopped the fish I couldn't bring it back against the current. I also couldn't move closer to the fish because of obstructions. Nobody around to help. I spent a good bit of time sitting and holding the spool while trying to figure out what to do. Fish was probably close to dead if not already dead. Right as I decided to swim after it the line broke. Probably a good thing, because getting in that water would have been a very stupid thing to do. Hard to think straight in that position.

Monomoy in 78' the one and only time it ever happened to me. I saw the fish hit in the first wave, saw how big she was and lightened up. Now I would have done things much much differently. Too long a time to let a fish run and too long a time to let her get her energy back. I still dream of that one. Penn 704 loaded with Ande pink 20. See ya'.

4 years ago, jiging for cod, 400+ yds of 80 lb spider. Must of been a BFT. Couldn't get the other lines in and the boat in gear before she was gone.

Montauk late 80's fishing the outgoing at night on North bar in early November. I was using a 2 OZ white bottle plug and getting shorts on the teaser. It was raining and I was tired. At about 3 am I kept looking at the truck and thinking about the heater and then boom. Just non stop line departing. After 20 seconds I start walking down (bobbing mostly as I was already up to my ribs) but it's not stopping. I turn on my light as I feel the backing knot ting through the guides. Why I didn't tighten up initially is a good question that I still can't answer. Anyway, a few violent bangs later all went limp. I reeled in and found that every hook on both trebles are gone. Just two metal stubbs. I FU'd and the fish found the rocks that did the job.

Hello everyone. Seems like ages since I have been here. This is a fun post so here's my experience:

East beach on this sand bar. Chunking macs in September '99 at a dusk flood. After about a half hour my fish buddy had a good bass of about 25 lbs and we were feeling good about what might be around. All of a sudden I get the "Thud Thud Thud" and happily start sending out some line so the hook is where it needs to be. When i set up it felt like I set into a big old fish net. The rod just bent huge and, though I thought I could feel movement, it just stayed that way bent and tight. I yelled to dave that I am not sure what the feck I've got here and as I said that the line started to steadily run off and the was nothing I could do to stop it. It got faster, then slower and then fast and then stopped and now i was sure I could feel movement. He did this for about 10 minutes and I kept flicking my light on to see what I had left. I would try and get some back and off he would go again taking more. Finally I was down to the last wraps and all i could do was hang there and see if he turned back towards the shore so i might luckily put some back on the spool. He didn't and the rod starting loading up more and that was it. Twang. had to have been a good sized sand shark. I told a local salty I know about it and he told me it was common to find 100lb plus sandy's in the area we were.
It sucked. From then on I always keep a spare. loaded spool. All I had left was my 12lb mono. Needless to say I got %$%$%$%$e that night. dave ended up landing another bass about an hour later.

Bluefins have spooled a few boys in the past the same way as many of you have described.

This year is starting to shape up, finally. Having luck with 15-25lb fish on eels. Hopefully this swell gets out of here tonight. South and East shore are nothing but dead water.

:huh: :rocketem:

Hi Beachwalker. We miss you.

Nauset light Beach, late September '03, got a hard hit on a big eel using 50lb braid and 50lb shocker. Headed for England at about 40 knots, so I tightened the drag right down, took me to the backing, slowed dowm, got two turns on the handle and took off again, breaking the line at the shock leader. I'd say seal since there was some in the area, but the way it took 250-300 yards of powerpro off in seconds has me still puzzled... Afterward, I couldn't take the line off the drag by hand since I had it tightened to the max...

Habs, you always seem to hit that nerve it me that makes me post.
Bill can do it too! Here we go!
I have been spooled twice on the same day. Fishing with friend, mentor, and King, the Great Captain Joe Cordero of the Black Hawk! (God rest his soul!)
I was well experienced on large bass at this point in my life. We were catching feverishly hi forties and fifty ponders. I have that on VCR tape. Threw back 22 fish over forty pounds. Thirty eight in all, two low twenties, two fifties, the rest in the thirties.
The place was the Waskies. We could not back down on these fish quick enough.
The didn’t run like a seal, large shark, nor the speed of a tuna. I was that constant pressure you feel when you know that this is the one. Even Joe knew it!
They are still out their. I have seen them; however they still manage to elude us.
I have not seen any thing like this; I have an old book about stripers. In it says that a trawler once brought up two stripers in their net. After removing the heads, guts, fins, what remained was two fish weighing each 135 pounds. I have not seen any thing like that; however I have every reason to believe they still exist. I have visually seen with in five feet, eyes to black eyes, fish in the low nineties. Some we could not raise. They sit under the boat. You can’t move them, or lift them. They seem to know what’s up. They always seem to force you to make the wrong move on them...
I hope you have enjoyed some of this stuff!

Wading the reef at Christmas Island back in 1994. We were on a bonefish trip but I packed some old spin gear since I heard the locals throw big plugs for Giant Trevally when the sun goes down. I guess I should have checked my gear before I left - I always do now:humpty:

Second cast the surface exploded and I'm hooked up solid. Line started peeling out towards Japan at an alrming rate and then everything jammed up solid. The line snapped like a rifle shot and next thing I got dumped on the reef by a big wave. Got back to the beach grazed, bruised and a little bit wiser.

Couple of large gin & tonics and all was well with the world.:spin:

linesides, u had me untill the 90 lb thing ... i knew joe too, mored his boat next to a doctor friend at fal harbor . joe was a good capt...

haha yupe....


i forgot i was useing my freshwater rod:poke: ...... thought it was hudge i was like wtf when i finaly saw it

Two tall tales... both when I was a youngster fishing with my dad. First was when I was about 10 yrs. old fishing for schoolies in Quincy Bay with my dad. I was using a "Ted Williams" Sears trout rod and reel w 6 lb. test and hooked into a fish right at Sunken Ledge. We knew it was a big fish and started following in the tin boat when the line was just about gone. I fought the fish for a "little kids lifetime" and it took us out past the gut toward Brewster Spit before I finally started gaining some line back. I worked the fish back to the boat until it was straight down under the boat. We finally saw the fish and my dad estimated it was in the 40 lb. class. No monster but to a 10 yr. old it looked as big as a car! I couldn't pump it in with the little rod even though it was just laying there half dead about 20 ft. down but gave it my best. One good swipe of the tail as I was pumping and the 6 lb. broke and off it went. I cried for an hour!
Second time it was my dad at bat down in Woods Hole fishing Hoochies on wire at night. We had been catching a lot of big fish but this one was something else. The fish took us out of the Hole towards Buzzards Bay into the darkness and took my dad down to the backing several times. (if you say fish can't strip wire you don't fish wire enough!) My dad would work it back in and off it would go again. After about the 5th big run the line went slack and my dad reeled in a hoochie with a broken bead chain. We figured it was definately a big bass from the way it fought; just like all the others... only on steriods! My dad taught me a few new vocabulary words that night...which I still use on "rare" occasions today.

Right down to the knot? Nope I dont think that happens, I cant imagine anyone standing there watching 200yards of line get taken right to the bottom of the spool...I think its more a term for losing a big fish or a way to relate how big a fish was etc, Sure fish will break you off after maybe a goooooood run but truly spooled? no doesnt happen in my opinion, Nor has it happened to any fisherman I have had this conversation with , we always laugh about that "being spooled" anyway, I have caught fish from 53lbs on down and was never in a situation where I thought I might be spooled and end up with no line, I have had fish I could not turn right away but those always busted me off long before the spool looked anywhere near depleted.......


Most spoolings if they do happen are most likely some other type of fish...Schoolie tuna, Sharks, etc....or a bad case of complety lose drag..........

Tuna. I've seen it happen quite a few times ;)

I never had a fish take me down to the knot---but only because I went for broke and busted off. I nearly got spooled at Montauk about 8 years ago. That, too, was a tuna, I think. School BFT. There were reports of them around that night :humpty:

I want to see the bass that can spool me when I'm using my All Star 1209 and Saltiga 6000 :eek:
yup, never to the knot and you are right , I also think those are rouge school tuna etc...

Spooled? No. Could have been? Yup. Won't let it happen, PP's too $$$...Gotta put the breaks on b4 she spools ya. If she breaks off..You wouldn't have got her anyway..Could have gotten spooled a few times one night..Sharks I think, cranked the drag, palmed the spool, fought the battle for a while then POP!!!!:doh:

linesides, u had me untill the 90 lb thing ... i knew joe too, mored his boat next to a doctor friend at fal harbor . joe was a good capt...The 90s were not seen from Joe's boat. They were seen from my own boat. It does not make any difference weather or not any one believes me or not. I have nothing to gain here. I will stand by my statement. These were not fish that got away and I said, only if I could have seen that one. I have seen them both. They were a few years apart, and that’s all I can say about it. My other mentor always told me, Quote: always tell them the truth, they wont believe you any way, and that will keep them guessing where we really were and what we were doing.

Used to run a 28' Pursuit Denali for charters. Took the owners out to fish twice a year, twice for family outings, and into Boston on Fridays to work. That was it for him on the boat, all summer! The boat was mine to use after that.
Anyway, one Friday, heading back from Boston to Marblehead, I got a sbft to take a big tin, and it was off to the races. I couldn't reach the controls and fish, as I was alone.... Thought I was about to turn him and he went into warp speed. Older Penn 6500 series I believe, with 20# mono.... Cup it, reach for port engine throttle, cup it, reach for starboard throttle. Exciting but expensive last 20 seconds. Drags washers were disimilar metals and the heat kind of welded them together....
Boat is gone too.....:wall: