allright- I fished one of my favorite late season spots this evening. With the full moon, the tide was humping through the small channell that i was bouncing bucktails in and I hooked something large- I set the hook hard and she started to take a bit of drag. I figured she had to be 40 plus pounds by the way she would slowly move.. my rod was doubled over and my braid was making that sweet singing noise as it cut through the the 6 plus knots of current. As I steered her into the rip, she started peeling off line like a freight train. My drag was almost locked down and i could do nothing to stop her, so i was forced to leap from my standing rock and fight her down the bank of the channell until it opened up into calmer water. After working this bohemoth fish for about 60 feet down the bank she started taking line and i was able to start gaining back all of the line she had taken from me (about half my spool) After A while i was certian i had foul hooked this moose because she wasnt doing any head shakes, but i could feel it pulsing as i slowly worked her along the edge of the rip.

About what seemed like 10 minutes went by and I got a glimpse of her and i was greatly surprised- It wasnt a bass, but it had a wingspan of abut 4 feet. The back of the fish was battleship grey and the wingtips were fluttering away and i could make out the pure white belly- Also i could make out the long tail swaying in the tide..

I was crushed, i was hoping for a wall hanger bass, and wasnt sure what i was going to do with this giant ray, but as I got it within 20 feet of me i thought it looked a little flat, like it was 2 dimensional, or it was an extremely thin ray to say the least. When it was within 10 feet of me i finally realized what i had battled for so long with- I had hooked the corner of a grey bath mat.. the kind with the white ruberized bottom. the long tail turned out to be a 4 foot long piece of kelp.

sadly this was the best fish battle of my life. :o

NEBE I once fought a fleece sweater off Wasque for 1/2 hour

I still swear it was taking line :usd:

Shoot heres the pic :hee:

http://www.#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&.com/images/Dcp00109.jpg

Good stuff dood hope you took a pic

that is a funny frickin story :bl2:

LOL. I thought you were going to say an old rubber boot

Nice story to break up a lonely night, thanks

Good read - thanks for sharing:laugha: :laugha: :laugha: :laugha:

:bl: Great story. Well told.

Nice Nebe! Too funny!

Thanks for sharing that one. :rotf3:

nice.
i caught a hip boot once with a lobster in it :musc:

Very well told. I was hooked so hard I felt like a bath matt being reeled in by NeBe!

Bummer
You had me going there for a moment.

:kewl:

Thanks for the laugh. Well told!!

I was a Narrow River one night maybe 10 or 12 years ago. Just bought a new Abu 6600W and this was the first outing with it and with a new line called Spectron braid. Well I hookup and line is peeling off. I'd get some line back and out it would go again. Went on like that for a good 10 to 15 minues. I finally locked down the star drag and am hauling this monster in. Low and behold a LARGE trash bag half filled with sand and the rest is water, Was I pissed!!

Lucky a big crowd didn't gather to watch you fight this beast .. Too funny .. thanks :rotf2:

Nebe,

This should be submitted to one of the Fishing Publications.
A narrative literary Masterpiece.

Hilarious story

and just when I thought the season was over, I find that there's still action to be had !! Giving second thoughts about staying home tonight and insted going out to find what trash still lurks beneath the surf.

I can relate Nebe,I had a great battle with a 5gallon bucket several years back that I thought for sure was a huge fish.I was crushed when I saw that bucket!

Great story. If I hadn't had my )*(&^%$%%$ instance like that, well.

Thanks for sharing

Glad you guys enjoyed it. The range of emotions i went through last night were gigantic- fear of loosing thebass of a lifetime, excitemement for catching a strange fish that shouldnt be in my waters and then the extreme disapointment realizing that i thought i had a living creature on the line only to realize i had a friggin bath mat.. She's probably still laying where i left her last night- maybe i should go back, take her home and have here stuffed. :hihi: I will probably tell my grand kids this story when i am too ld to fish :D

How'd that ray taste? I bet it was kinda chewy!

Nebe look at this way I could have been a dead body. A firend of a friend had it happen to him down south. Put an end to thefishing that day. ThomT

Did you keep it? A mat like that has got to be worth a few bucks.

Great story nebe.

This is what really ticks me off. Nebe is the first to get all high and mighty about conservation, then he brags about leaving a breathless, cold and limp mat to die on the shore.

-spence

And how much did you have to drink before hooking into that???
:hf1: :hf1:
A TRUE STORY=
A few years ago I was fishing with a jighead bouncing it off the bottom when I reeled it in and saw what looked like a small piece of plastic bag on the hook.
When I got it in closer, I realized what it was!!!
A USED CONDOM!!!
Needless to say I cut the line!!!Yeck!!!!!!!!LOLS!!!!!!!!
:o

Good stuff Eben, good stuf. :rotf2:

Eben:

Great tale and thanks for sharing it with us.

Bringing my plug in one night, I got a hit that that nearly pulled me overboard. I had to grab my leaning post and my rod about a foot above the handle just to try to slow it down. As she dived streight down near the back of the boat. I thought for that one moment, this is it, until my motor came to a screeching halt.
It was the prop of a life time.
Later, L

Pilgrim , it takes a real man to tell a story like that.We're all proud of ya.:kewl:

Nightmares for the rest of the year, if you had not "landed" it.

lol,lol,lol.
Those bath mats are definite fighters. They beat a bass anyday.
Where you using a jig, or one of those Storm shad's.
Good Job anyway.:poke:

great story thank for sharing it with us pal. :btu:

Back in the day when I was Chartering on Lake Ontario. We always had a customer who would nod off at the end of the day when things slowed up. So I kept a small 2 Gallon bucket in the boat. I would slow the boat down attach the bucket to one of the downriggers and tighten the release way down. The rest of the party would wake up their resting partner. I would goose the gas and the rod would violently release and start screaming line off the reel. The poor sap would fight like hell only to find his buddies were filming him and taking pictures. Man was it funny when the bucket came into view, everyone laughing on the floor. :laugha: :laugha:

Back in the day when I was Chartering on Lake Ontario. We always had a customer who would nod off at the end of the day when things slowed up. So I kept a small 2 Gallon bucket in the boat. I would slow the boat down attach the bucket to one of the downriggers and tighten the release way down. The rest of the party would wake up their resting partner. I would goose the gas and the rod would violently release and start screaming line off the reel. The poor sap would fight like hell only to find his buddies were filming him and taking pictures. Man was it funny when the bucket came into view, everyone laughing on the floor. :laugha: :laugha:


:tooth: We did that to a couple of guys back in the 80's when I was tuna fishing. We used a 5 gallon bucket though. Each time I saw the bucket getting close I'd signal the captain and he'd gas it a little sending the bucket out another 60 yds or so. After 4 or 5 times we'd let him reel it in. Well with the fisher sitting in the chair he couldn't see directly below the transon so I'd lean over to gaff it. The expression was priceless when I pulled the bucket over the gunwale.:laugha: :laugha:

great story........dont feel bad nebe i had something like that happen to me too. Fishing right after a storm, might have been close to where you had your incident, turned out to be a canvas cover that came off a T-top.

Go back and post a pic of you with your trophy......that's front page mat'l :rotf2:

Eben,
You need to head back down,find it,bring it back and melt it down into a few of your special EEl's ,
Talk about all the mojo when you catch that 50lber on a melted down bath mat ,now a Nebe Batheel ,complete with some old athlete foot smelly toe jam :grins:
VB

Nice..I was wondering why u called i was takin a nap for the night's fun..
Sounds like u floored em..

great story........dont feel bad nebe i had something like that happen to me too. Fishing right after a storm, might have been close to where you had your incident, turned out to be a canvas cover that came off a T-top.

Go back and post a pic of you with your trophy......that's front page mat'l :rotf2:
Actually, you were there right after it happened. it happened on the side you were on, but when you showed up, i had moved over to the other side..


T-orlando is right- thank god i landed it :hihi:

Great story and great read to get my day started :thanks:

great story!!!
I've had weed take some serious line a few times, it's especially annoying when you first think it's weed, but then it starts acting a little weird, so you think it could be a fish, and you kind of have a battle with your mind, until you reel that weed up onto shore!

WTH you should have came and got me.......i would've talken the pic (after i stopped laughing)......look at salt he looked pretty happy in his pic. :rollem:

As a boy, fishing from a boat in a bay in eastern Long Island, I hooked a cow. Not a big bass but a real cow. This cow was dead and bleached out a pale white. I thought I had a record fish and started the boat and got up to it boatside and saw the pale bovine. What a let down. It was huge though...several hundred #s.

Mr Sandman!!!
What a funny story!!!
I'm laughing my a## off!!!
HOLY COW!!!!!
:jump:

bump.. for another good story :)

A great story and a great thread
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Mr sandman is a mystical dude that come and gone as life phases change. I Got to fish with him on his boat for one of the the first ever tog fests here. That was some 15 yrs ago. Since then I have fished many many a boat from boot size to the big dogs, go nauseating fast to slow and steady wins the race and I have to say that mirage he had was the most sickest awesomest practical all-in-one boat that I still have ever been on. Wish I got to go on more adventures with the sand man before life took him onto other distractions cause he was one cool dude
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Mr sandman is a mystical dude that come and gone as life phases change. I Got to fish with him on his boat for one of the the first ever tog fests here. That was some 15 yrs ago. Since then I have fished many many a boat from boot size to the big dogs, go nauseating fast to slow and steady wins the race and I have to say that mirage he had was the most sickest awesomest practical all-in-one boat that I still have ever been on. Wish I got to go on more adventures with the sand man before life took him onto other distractions cause he was one cool dude
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device




Jim was a good dude ; )

Got a chance to fish with him out on Wasque during the Derby 15 years ago

Thanks Nebe,,,, I wrapped the boat today and now don’t feel so bad… great story…