Big Bass on Plugs-- with treble hooks-- presents unique difficulties, due to increased leverage of a Cow to demolish them! I'm convinced this is a big reason why so many outsized Bass are cought on eels/ bait/ busktails, vs. Plugs-- a Single hook just has a much better chance to stick-- & stay!-- strong in the maw of a real brute during the battle.
Piemma... as long as you've been around, I'm surprised you'd have ANY faith at all in Mustad 3/0 (or smaller) 3x trebles around big fish! I've only been "serious" Surfcasting now for 10 yrs. or so-- serious meaning I finally had the $ to afford top- notch tackle & gear!-- but I made the decision way back then as a Cow- hunter specifically, TO upgrade all plug trebles of mine-- yes, (almost) every plug I own!-- to 4x strong ones. Back then that meant Eagle Claw 4x's, sold & touted by Bill at the Surfcaster, so I bought heavily into them & made the switch on every plug!
That's all background to my #1 lost dream- Cow story! SO... Five Falls ago, on a late October mid- week afternoon at Montauk, the so- called infamous crowds were all home! Intermittent rain, building rough seas and strong ESE Winds (in face there) made conditions tough, & I've never seen crowds there on such days really! So, though I'm casting in a highly- known & productive area an easy walk from the Lot, I was totally alone!... & throwing & working a 2 & 3/8 Oz. Gibbs Pencil into the churned- up, but manageable surf : here, 4-8 foot- deep extremely rocky/ boulder- strewn "shelf," even at the end of a long cast (similiar to P.J. but craggier!). After 45 unproductive & uncomfortable minutes of throwing, I was wondering if everyone else stayed home with good reason?... IS the water too dirty from the rain & runoff?... WHEN:
The take was surprisingly subtle, esp. in the rough- ish water: more a sub- surface "slurp" & roll, than an explosive crash... but I knew immediately this was a really big Bass, as I did see half the fish above- water, and then a huge swirl/ displacement! Now I'm in a tug- of- war with a non- hard- running, but rather strong & stubborn fish-- probably because I'm fishing a tight drag as usual at sticky Montauk. Tight drag or not, I'm only using 20 lb. Mono on a VS250 & 10 Foot St. Croix rod, so I can only hold on while this bull zips left & right, headshakes, then starts wallowing 50- 60 yards out on the bottom. Still no big/ long drag- screaming run yet-- but the fish is just too strong to budge, & seems to not be at all alarmed that it's hooked! (Slow, sulking, thought- out movements... not fast/ panic-ed running!)
OK... 10- 12 minutes of toe- to- toe fight/ tug- of- war later, the fish is finally moving-- slowly!-- in towards the boulder I'm standing on, though even under my max. pressure I'm still hardly gaining anything! But she's finally allowing me to lead her in closer... closer... now, finally she's maybe 15 yards from me, but still determined & hugging bottom, and my rod & line are stretched to the limit... but slowly I'm coaxing her in still!...
Then-- suddenly-- NOTHING!! Slack line, and a whirlpool- sized swirl where my fish just was, but unfortunately no visual at all of her! Gone!!
My primal scream could be heard for miles no doubt!... until then grief set in when I reeled in my "slack" line! The line was not slack at all: my Pencil was still there!-- my line never broke!! But one of the head 4x 4/0 E.C. treble hooks was straightened out almost completely, like a pin! This sorry sight hung from my dashboard the rest of that Fall as "punishment" to myself!... and a reminder! Then, that off- season I changed over every one of my plug trebles (hundreds!!) to VMC 4x's!
No VMC failures yet... but admittedly, have not had a hook- up of that size since to test them yet! (That includes a boat- caught 49 lber. last Spring that was "easy" in comparison!). I'm now trying out/ changing over to VMC 6x's... if one of these open up, I'm out of ideas/ excuses!