Personal Bust
 

So I bail outta work early today knowing that the weather the next few days is gonna make fishing difficult at best. Head over to a popular rocky oceanfront spot here on the N. Shore and immediately see the birds working. Low tide made for a hike but I get out there and join one other dude who quickly tells me they are just school stripers. Proceeded to land several dink fish all of 15-18 inches long. I did notice that while I was bringing in one small fish that an apparently much larger fish was swimming nearby. Then it stopped- not a hit or swirl for 15 minutes. Started tossing a new favorite lure- a salt-water super-spook. I was varying the retrieve and liked the way it moved when "sloshed" through the water. So I was sloshing/stopping/repeating when WHAM- a very big bass, not even 5 feet from the rock I was standing on, exploded on the lure. She at first went straight out about 60 or so yards on the initial run that banged a hard left toward a nearby beach. There was a large rock between me and where the fish was headed and after two more solid runs, I had her stopped. I held steady and decided to go to the left a bit to avoid the big rock before tring to ease her my way. I kept tension as I carefully slid down off of the rock I was on and across a ravine. Then it happened- just as I was back on solid footing, the line went slack. :fury: I reeled in the line thinking that she had somehow rubbed of the 50# mono leader but what I found was that one of the trebles had bent out- not straightened but just bent. That fish would most likely have been a personal best but turned out only to be a personal bust. Gonna lose sleep on this one for sure... :bc:

Oh man, you didn't upgrade to VMCs.
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I'd rather lose a big one than slaughter 20# fish for hours.Cool!!!

you will always wonder. your not the first, nor the last.

I feel your pain...two weeks ago I had a big fish take me for a good run, drag was screamin' and was holding her steady and then just what happened to you...
all JoeyG could say for days was..." wish we got to see that fish " :wall:

thats the worst....happened to me this spring w/ big danny's, I mean the hooks opened just enough for that tough memory. makes you wonder about the quality of things these days, when you have to replace all hooks even on brand new products. go vmc for sure....

Sounds like you got the best out of her anyways.

Nice to hear there are big fish to the North.

Also happened to me this year, I think it happens to me every year,
But my worst was a Block Island fish that took 2/3's of my line off the spool. I fought her for some time then the line just went slack, when I reeled my line back in the hook was stuck into the belly of the eel. I figure the fish swallowed the eel then spit it up and up in the struggle.

I feel your pain

Feel bad for you, but also wish I skipped out on work today to join you ... the thought seriously crossed my mind all morning even up to sitting at my desk and for several hours there after ... :wall:

it's for that exact reason
 

that i have to go back

unfinished business.

But sorry that happened to you Spincognito

Welcome...we loose some and it really is the way it is supposed to be...its why we respect and eve enjoy more the ones we get to land

Oh Yea upgrade to VMCs yea so you can drop 3 fish back to back cause the barb crushed on a dink on a northbar.... :smash: Was less then impressed when I saw that last night....

Ouch......Just change the hooks and go back and get her today

did you remove the middle hook, or did the fish break the split ring?

I remember them all... They still haunt my dreams.

I had removed the middle hook and the other two hooks, while not VMC's, were not the original hooks. The hooks that come on that lure were smaller. I switched them out with some trebles from a redfin or a bomber- cant remember which.

Absolutely will be stocking up on VMC's going forward.

had the same thing happen to me at cutty. drag screaming, stopped him, more line peeling, stopped him, came off and I screamed. Reeled in my BM danny to find the hooks straightened. My own screams still haunt my dreams.

You can't win everytime... That's what keeps you in the game....
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had a VMC siwash hook break in half about 2 weeks ago on a good fish. It was a replacement for the mangled original one. Didnt think that could happen to VMC's, guess anything is possible

I've never straightened a 6/0 short shank, 3x Live bait hook.... :D

bet it was one of the stainless ones (as opposed to perma steel or whatever the regular ones are called) - those are very brittle.

I agree with Sea Dangles and Nebe. Rather hook into something large and lose it than catch small fish every time out. The challenge is one of the things that keeps me getting up in the middle of the night to go fishing. You will learn from this. I lost a nice fish at my feet this year that swam away with a bm danny because my knot failed. I am retying all of the leaders that I am using for the rest of the season.

right on...it's the ones you forget that keep you trying.
Every year I loose a super cow in this one spot...once a swivel broke on a large wood darter, been rubbed of on rock, came unbuttoned due to drag being too tight with braid and straightened hooks.
One year I am going land my PB there....they do haunt me and it used to burn my a$$.....but now I think it's part of the fun.... sort of :rotf2:

Remember my black jointed Danny at Black Point? Straightened the hooks and bent the lip all to hell. And, yes, they were VMC 3/0 3x

Like some of the others said, losing a big one just keeps you going back. And losing a fish while fishing still beats the heck out of being at work on a Thurday afternoon.

Yeah - losing a big fish does keep you coming back ... it was my first time fishing a big, custom wooden spook - big fish crashed it, took off, fight began ... eventually got me down into the kelp and finally I could feel it rubbing the line under a rock - still feel it today ... ugh.

I feel your pain as well, but I'm pyched to hear you got into a good one since I thought it was wrapping up earlier this year.

definitely switch to vmc's before your plug hits the water, bending those things ain't easy, though that happens too, especially in these days of superlines.

So there is still hope for us!:)

THOSE fish are the ones you remember for the rest of your life.

Those straightened hook events keep my mind occupied in the winter...
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