PB Smallie........Horror Story

Post by **BigC** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:39 pm

Been so long since I've posted anything (boat still in shop, don't go there) I thought I would tell you about a recent event that has kept me up at nights.

Two weeks ago Mike had a little fishing derby at his cottage for some of the boys from work. Really it's a drunk up and fishing is secondary. Well except if you get big fish bragging rights of course.

Mike and I fish together all the time, a couple of the guys never get to fish let alone catch anything of note. We decided that it would be a good idea to draw straws for both partners and boats. I ended up with the small boat and the least expericed angler. No problem, I can use the old back troll technique and he'll be none the wiser I thought.

So the "new" guy (Matt) is given a rod and reel to use and jumps in the boat ready to go. I have the wacky rig loaded and I'm into the smallies pretty much off the bat. He watches for a while then starts asking about what I'm doing and if he could try. I lay out the weighted hooks and he takes the biggest one I got (to big I think), I lay out the rubber worms and picks the plain white. (shoulda went with the silver fleck I think)

About 10 minutes later he asks, "what's a bite feel like" as I'm explaining I see the tip of his rod going crazy. Dude you got a fish! Reels in a 12 1/2 incher, sweet he's on the board. Tourney was best five fish all had to be over 12 inches. So he's jazzed as he caught a fish and is now third place in the tourney. Well it started getting dark and the boats started getting closer to one another and there may have been some trash talking going on as the one boat trolled by us...."gonna look pretty bad when we pull the big fish outta where you guys just fished".

Not even two minutes later Matt's rod is bent in half, "I think I got one" it jumps and I'm in full scramble mode. "That's a good one Matt!" It's pitch dark there is no leader so I have no idea where the fish is in relation to the boat but at one point I see it flash under the boat I tell him on the count of three to lift up the rod. 1 2 3 .... I jam the net as deep into the water as I can and scoop out a true football. 18 1/2 inches and this thing is fat. I'm hooting and hollering and I yell out "look at the size of this thing you guys missed" the other boat is to far away to see it in the dark so they say "we can't see it" and start heading over as I'm yelling for them to bring the scale. Matt is sitting there in the afterglow just saying wow over and over. I'm doing all the handling and hook removal as he's a newbie after all. I tell him we have to get a picture of this sucker so I lean back to get the camera, fish bucks and slips from my grip hits the gunnel exactly half in and half out and just like that he's gone.

"Matt I'm so sorry"
"It's ok Carter, I got to fight it and I'll never forget that"

I felt sick, I apologiszed 50 times if I did once. But the ribbing I took that night the rest of the weekend and still hear from the guys at work about you sure he even caught a fish....it was his PB fish let alone smallie and no proof. He did get big fish for the weekend but it with me as the only witness it was a tough sell.

I vowed to take him out next year to get him a fish that big or bigger just so the nightmares stop.

Your similar stories are welcome as I need reasurance I'm not the only one.

BigC

Post by **horsehunter** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 3:24 pm

Not really the same because I didn't lose someone else's fish. Earlier this year while fishing alone I caught a muskie that I conservatively guess was around 51 or 52 inches (not a PB but a nice fish) I got the fish unhooked in the net and reached back to hit the timer button on the camera that I have mounted on the back seat post I set up when fishing alone. With 10 seconds to play with I attempted to take the fish out of the net just as it cleared the rim it thrashed and I lost my grip and over the side it went This fish needed no reviving and was gone. I got a picture of me saying some BAD BAD words.

Post by **Fishing 24/7** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 4:38 pm

dropped a 18 '' brookie in the water.

paul wanted to eat it!

catch a rellease DDDDDD

Post by **SeaMonster** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:51 pm

I lost a few after buying one of those shallow rubber nets.
Basically a launch pad to flip back into the lake. I hate that net.

Post by **lapointeric** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:52 am

Great story. I took a buddy fishing a few years ago and he amazingly pulled in a 7lb pike with 6lb test and no leader. I put it on a nylon stringer but hooked it through the gills cause I didn't know any better. When I went to lift it out of the water the gator shook his head and cut right through the nylon. I thought he was going to kill me.

E

Post by **Hollywood** » Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:34 am

horsehunter wrote:Not really the same because I didn't lose someone else's fish. Earlier this year while fishing alone I caught a muskie that I conservatively guess was around 51 or 52 inches (not a PB but a nice fish) I got the fish unhooked in the net and reached back to hit the timer button on the camera that I have mounted on the back seat post I set up when fishing alone. With 10 seconds to play with I attempted to take the fish out of the net just as it cleared the rim it thrashed and I lost my grip and over the side it went This fish needed no reviving and was gone. I got a picture of me saying some BAD BAD words.

Horsehunter, you really need to post that pic. That would be a great laugh hahah.

Post by **petawawarace** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:04 am

during a small fun walleye opener tournament I caught a nice 4+ lber...and because we were in the tinny, my partner put it on the stringer....a couple minutes later I landed another nice one 2+ lbs and when he pulled up the stringer, nothing....turns out I still got 2nd big fish of the day and first was 6+ so it didn't really matter....still sucked though.

Post by **dead_weight** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:39 am

I was fishing a few hrs east of North Bay (in quebec) one time ... it was a cold spring and the walleye bite was definitely not "on" yet .. we had a very meager 5 days of fishing with a couple of walleye, one laker and a couple of pike .. we were on the water daylight to dark ... the last night it was moonlit and we decided to stay out past dark ... I reeled in and called it a night ... my buddy started to reel in and says "I think I have something but not sure" ... we were fishing with leeches and floating jigs ... he says that it feels like a log ... as soon as it got close to the surface we knew it was a fish but perhaps a sucker or something ... no sir it was a trophy pike ... the head was huge ... we had a small net so as it got close I tried to get as much of it as possible into the net but more than half was out .. it flipped off the net and back in the water .. with no leader it snapped off the 6lb mono and was gone. Dead silence ... I said I was sorry about a million times and my buddy was really good about it ... but man that would have been a great way to end a trip like that ... we each had a beer or two and went home. I still feel bad ...