The One That Got Away

[MotoXcowboy]

i got spooled (8ft shakespear 2pc with a shimmano 400s 17#test with about 175yrd left on it) at the mouth of a big rolling current one night this fall..im on and what ever i got hooked is taking line like a boat..the drag got tweaked down a little more and was now set as tight as it could go.. and this thing keeps pulling me.. one looong and in the end shaky run. My spool is getting low and now im starting to panic and begin cupping it...the rod guides, reel and line start ticking...tick tick tick tick tick tick then the tell tale "snap" at first i thought it was a big bass but now i thinkn it may have been a seal or bluefin. The weekend after that night I got impulsive and splurged on a penn 7500 w/ my cc.

[Vogt]

I was at one of my favorite spots,huge blitz goin on , mostly 26-28 inch bass and 8lb. blues. very rocky area, I was using my 10' and 704z w/30lb fireline . Catching tons of fish when I hook into one that is VERY different. I had controll to a point and then the reel was just screaming and it came unhooked. Ithink that was the only good one I lost this year and it felt to be about 40 inches.

[piemma]

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!

I agree! I was using 3/0s because of the size of the jointed swimmer. I am now making the jointed swimmers larger so as to accomidate a 4/0 Eagle Claw.
BTW, I have about 5 boxes of Mustad 3/0 3X. I will still use them up but on smaller plugs.