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Author:
JustinSolak
Date:
Aug 01, 2011
Subject:
Anti-Depression pills, please
Message:
So let me explain the situation here... Did my research. Got on the water about 12:30am sunday morning. High tide. Beautiful. Crystal clear sky, high visibility, water like glass. Could it be better conditions? Location: Undisclosed Boat: 14ft Sylvan Classic Gear: 7ft medium/heavy action rod. 40lb braid. Cabela's Saltstriker Baitrunner Tackle: Fish finder rig. 3oz lead. 45lb steely. 8/0 Mustad O'Shaughnessy Bait of Choice: Fresh Hickory Shad chunk We anchored up right in one of my favorite spots. Rig up with fresh shad and toss out our lines at about 1:00am. The weather is beautiful and my line isn't in the water 15 minutes before I get a feeling I'm not in the right spot, so I reel up and recast. This time a little more into the current. We're kinda waitin around for another 20 mins or so then finally, a bite!! With my rod in the rod holder and my bait runner engaged, I had it just tight enough so the current didn't pull out line, but loose enough for a fish to be able to. My rod bounced a few times. Excited. Then it bent a little. Still excited, but not gettin ahead of myself. No line taken yet. Then a little ZZZzzz. That music to every fisherman's ears. The drag running. Just a little smidge though. So I grabbed my rod, waited for another tug, and yanked back. I can feel some tuggin, I must have just merely pissed her off. My first thought: Alright, gotta fish right off the bat. Then, it happened... The creature starts headin out. Right down current. Not much I can do but try and slow her down. I'm thinkin hey, she's got the current on her side. Til she took off with brute force. Line peelin off my spool in record time. I'm flabbergasted at this point, because I can feel my spool warming up. Few clicks of my drag to tighten it helped a little but it was ALREADY tight. Which a tried to explain to my buddy. At this point, I'm out a LOT of line. We decide it's probably best to lift anchor and follow the beast, only to look around and realize she did that for us. We were drifted a good 150ft from where we were anchored. Maybe just a coincidence... So she drags us out, then drags us to the right, then back UP the current for some time (ass end of the boat first) then back out and to the left. A good 25 solid minutes have passed. Startin to get tired, but so is she. At one point, she was BELOW the boat in about 30ft of water. Her runs are gettin shorter, yet still as powerful. At one point, I saw my bright red backing. Then again, a very powerful run. I'm hopin it's the last one. We shine the spotlight out only to see one of the few things every fisherman hates to see in his/her way while fighting the big'n. A god forsaken lobster pot. And she's headed directly toward it. There was no avoiding it. Truth be told, you woulda thought she purposely wrapped herself around it. Inevitably, snapped my line. Bout 100 yards or so. Gone. I've hooked some pretty big fish in my lifetime. None like this. Can't really justify that it was just an enormous striper. I had a steel leader. Never even gotta look at it. Coulda been a shark. 3 or 4 solid runs almost draining my spool of 40lb braid each time? So I guess the lesson to be learned is this. If you think you're ready to handle any fish you hook into, you're not. If you think you're line is heavy enough, it's not. Not if you have a nice chunk sittin on the bottom. Never know what's gonna pick it up. I guess you could argue that if the lobster pot wasn't there, I probably woulda landed it. You may be right, but if I had heavier line, I coulda steered her from it, or not let her near it. This is gonna haunt me for quite some time. Definitely ruined my night. Long story short, It felt like a Volvo scooped up my line and tried to drive away with it and I lost it. Thats how I've been explaining the force of this monster. Next setup. Steel cable with an electric winch. I'm not messin around anymore. And we're gonna need a bigger boat...
Author:
PECo
Date:
Aug 01, 2011
Message:
I wish that you coulda seen it, too. :cry:
Author:
DirtyDawg10
Date:
Aug 01, 2011
Message:
Skip the anti-depression pills and get your ass back out there and catch it ;) That will cure depression quicker than any pill.
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