PB Smallie........Horror Story
Posted: 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
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