OWNED!!

[DZ]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

spread the ashes of my leftover elvers before the wind comes up.

Back,
Best release those elvers to improve your karma. Sorry to hear your pain. I was fortunate to have lived through a fish into my backing with a blood knot between us. It wasn't a seal - released perhaps my largest bass ever - but it was one of the most tension filled hook-ups I ever experienced. Better luck next time it happens.

DZ

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

I'll be at your slip tomorrow morning @4:00. I want to spread the ashes of my leftover elvers before the wind comes up. Bring coffe and a camera. No sugar in mine.

In a pink Chemise LaCoste, smelling of Brut ( or in your case Canoe would be better) Tartan print doubleknit bermuda shorts with double button waist band & White canvas Sperry topsiders and black mid calf socks. For pennance the outfit is essential.

Remember in doing penance it is the spinning reel is always held on top and held by the left hand on the foregrip and reeled with the right guides up.

Repeat " For duty and Humanity" 100 times.

Good luck

[maddmatt]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

There's a first time for everything, they say. This morning it was my turn to experience the pain. As my eel made its way into the "strike zone" I felt the unmistakable take of a fish followed by a couple head shakes and then it happened... My rod doubled over and I began paying out line.Big time. I typically fish a light drag, but began my attempt to snub the fish pretty soon after it became apparent it was no school bass, but perhaps a school bus. It was. Long story short my 250 yards of 65 power pro began to vanish from the spool. With plenty of room down tide I began a tepid walk in an attempt to catch up, several times standing pat trying to lock the fish down and I couldn't do it. Anyways, I start thinking I'm going to get spooled and flip on my head lamp only to see the backing knot buried under only a few turns of the spool. I know this is the weak link in the line system, but in six years of fishing braid and many good fish, I've never been taken even close to this deep.
Oh oh. Backing knot goes through the guides and now I'm effectively fishing with 25# mono as opposed to 65# braid. No more snubbing necessary as the line parted on the knot as expected after it came under great tension. I sat down on a large boulder and stared at the sky for a few minutes while my mind replayed the battle over and over. Looking back, I wouldn't have done anything different, but when I refill the reel tonight there may be a little less backing and a little more braid. Never had a fish take so much line without at least a temporary pause. What sucks is there is a nice fish out there with a long drail of line behind it and my fishing trip was cut short due to the fact I had no line to fish with, save for my mono backing.

Like I always say though.....catch them first and weight them after. It was a pretty good one though.....I think. Look at the pigtail on my mono. Yikes.

you got sealed!!

[Squibby17]

Sorry to hear this tale. It sounds like it was a monster. Many of us have been there before.

Actually hearing this makes me want to tell my tale of misery. I had a bad experince last week. I was fishing kinda half assed and decided to try out my fly rod. I go to a tiny little spot i had never tried before, flick out my fly and as I'm fussing with my reel a large bass enhales the fly and my rod bends over very abruptly. Unfortunately it happened so fast i hadn't cleared my line and it got wrapped around the butt of the rod......snap.

I don't know how big the fish was it certainly hit with some umphh, regardless it most likely would have been the biggest bass I've gotten on the fly. I had grabbed my fly rod last second and didn't have anymore flies and my other tackle was not ideal for this situation so like you I sat on a rock and went over the whole damn thing in my head for about 10 minutes. In my case it was just stupidity yours sounds like just a man trying against a FORCE of nature. Thanks for sharing today, I truely feel your pain.

This is like group therapy.

[RIROCKHOUND]

I think you hooked that white shark. Now his mouth is sore and he's recovering around M.V.

[Brian L]

That's at least two cellphones now that I know of. I'm sure there's been others, too. :^)

Since I can't call you now, I suppose I'll ask you here..

Can you join us in SoCo tonight? cmonnnn you knowww you want to... You can call me on my cellphone.. :^)

[Crafty Angler]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Like I always say though.....catch them first and weight them after. It was a pretty good one though.....I think. Look at the pigtail on my mono. Yikes.

Sorry, BB - it wasn't an attempted hijacking just trying to inject a little humor to ease the pain. I've been there myself.

Me and a friend were slo-o-o-ow trolling eels at a UDL on his boat - the water was relatively shallow and all of a sudden the clicker on my conventional started going off. I grabbed the rod out of the holder and set the hook and the line started to go out at the same pace. Lots of lobster pots in the area, figured I snagged one. My friend at the helm drops the boat into neutral and we come to a dead stop and line keeps peeling off - I'm onto a good fish.

The drag was set loose and I looked down to tighten the star drag at the same time the fish broached in the shallow water. I never saw it, but my friend did and starting yelling "What a fish! Holy #&$%#! Don't lose him!" I looked up and all I saw was the hole in the water it left and it looked for all the world like someone had just tossed a horse off the Newport Bridge.

I set up on the fish again and it began to pick up speed - then suddenly the line goes slack and I reel it in to watch a pigtail of 50# mono leader come over the stern. My knees were shaking like a twelve year old schoolgirl. And that was it - it was over. My snell knot that I did myself had failed.

Earlier that morning we saw what we figured was a sbft in the same spot absolutely nail a bluefish in mid-air. It happened so quick you almost couldn't believe your eyes. An old-timer who owned a trap fishing company tagged a 600# bft in nearly the same spot back in the 60's.

The fish I had on was definitely a bass, my friend saw it clearly fully out of the water. Hearing about it on the somber ride to the dock wasn't exactly any consolation. But it taught me two things.

- Never #&%# with your drag in the middle of a fight.

- Never trust a #%$## snell again. Especially my own.

Like Clinton used to say, I feel your pain

[SAUERKRAUT]

The Numbskull can tell you how he was spooled by a probably 18" bass that was immediately hit by a seal. Spooled his heavy conventional tackle; Numb never felt the transition from fish to seal; therefore, he just didn't believe me when I dissed off the incident. Next morning as we were leaving Monomy, I pointed to a big slob seal sunning himself on a low tide sandbar with Numbskull's plug draped around his neck like a necklace. You can stop a bass...

[BassDawg]

no worries, BB!
hang in there, you will get another Big Gurl!

same-same for me last 9/01/07...........
a day that will live in infamy, and a monstah
that is burned into my cerebral FOREVER, or

at least until i land her, her sister, or her MOMMA on
the same tide, same time, same moon, same PHATTT channel.

didn't get spooled, but i did get schooled when she came to me
and jumped into a trough at my feet as green as she could be
SMACKIN' the water with her tail and head, and that was after she
breeched upon finding a 7/0 stuck in her breakfast eeeel. first time to
set-up with an eeeeeeel, and it was a good hook set!!!

sssoooooooooo, there she is. within two feet of the rocks i'm fishing from, and pissed off that there is this googan (me) applying all this pressure to her maw. i am LOST at this point for the next move, since she is still SOOO GREEN. so, what i did do was to lay down my pole and attempt to grab the leader,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i touched it for a millisecond with two fingers, and when i did ~~she gave a full bodied SHAKE, from tail to snout, that snapped a 4 foot 40# unit-to-uni mono shock leader like it was a popped guitar string and caused about a 100yd backlash on my 25# PLine spool line.

i shook for the next 6 minutes, as i hurriedly tossed another eeel into the fray,,,,,,,,,,,i kept looking at the same SPOT of my ineptitude, breathless from the awe and shocked at the power of that Beast. SHE was AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and onehelluvalot SMARTER than me that time. i kept looking back while i feverishly worked that eel with no particular presentation as i COULD NOT keep my eyes off of the place where i LOST the BIG ONE............

and i just keep murmuring,

"(deeeep breath) OHHH! that was a big fish!! (deeeeep breath)" this repeated itself about ten times in those six or seven shake-filled minutes, until it was ALL i could take. i had to leave to restore my sanity. the whole 3/4 mile walk back to my vehicle i kept shouting to the heavens (with my hands turned up and thumb pressed to my first two fingers),

"MOMMA MIA!! play the fish, Jess, PLAY tha FEEEEESH!!! MOMMA MIA!!"
i think there were a couple of, "SOLO MIO!!"'s in there as well.

she is indellibly etched upon my psyche, and she always will be.
that one wakes me in a cold sweat as our rendez-vous time approaches................

AND she WILL BE mine!! OHHHH, YES! SHE will be MINE!!

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by BassDawg

no worries, BB!
hang in there, you will get another Big Gurl!

same-same for me last 9/01/07...........
a day that will live in infamy, and a monstah
that is burned into my cerebral FOREVER, or

at least until i land her, her sister, or her MOMMA on
the same tide, same time, same moon, same PHATTT channel.

didn't get spooled, but i did get schooled when she came to me
and jumped into a trough at my feet as green as she could be
SMACKIN' the water with her tail and head, and that was after she
breeched upon finding a 7/0 stuck in her breakfast eeeel. first time to
set-up with an eeeeeeel, and it was a good hook set!!!

sssoooooooooo, there she is. within two feet of the rocks i'm fishing from, and pissed off that there is this googan (me) applying all this pressure to her maw. i am LOST at this point for the next move, since she is still SOOO GREEN. so, what i did do was to lay down my pole and attempt to grab the leader,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i touched it for a millisecond with two fingers, and when i did ~~she gave a full bodied SHAKE, from tail to snout, that snapped a 4 foot 40# unit-to-uni mono shock leader like it was a popped guitar string and caused about a 100yd backlash on my 25# PLine spool line.

i shook for the next 6 minutes, as i hurriedly tossed another eeel into the fray,,,,,,,,,,,i kept looking at the same SPOT of my ineptitude, breathless from the awe and shocked at the power of that Beast. SHE was AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and onehelluvalot SMARTER than me that time. i kept looking back while i feverishly worked that eel with no particular presentation as i COULD NOT keep my eyes off of the place where i LOST the BIG ONE............

and i just keep murmuring,

"(deeeep breath) OHHH! that was a big fish!! (deeeeep breath)" this repeated itself about ten times in those six or seven shake-filled minutes, until it was ALL i could take. i had to leave to restore my sanity. the whole 3/4 mile walk back to my vehicle i kept shouting to the heavens (with my hands turned up and thumb pressed to my first two fingers),

"MOMMA MIA!! play the fish, Jess, PLAY tha FEEEEESH!!! MOMMA MIA!!"
i think there were a couple of, "SOLO MIO!!"'s in there as well.

she is indellibly etched upon my psyche, and she always will be.
that one wakes me in a cold sweat as our rendez-vous time approaches................

AND she WILL BE mine!! OHHHH, YES! SHE will be MINE!!

You are a trip Dawg.