So, I take the brand new bait out of the wrapper last nite..........

[Red Childress]

sharpen hooks and put it in my on-deck-circle of my boat deck. We hit the water this morning and after 3 hours, only 1 follow. I put on the new lure and on the first cast to a submerged pile of wood, get snagged.....well, the snag starts swwimming and the battle is on. I hand the rod off and grab the net. I see the fish is barely hooked and is a big fish to boot so I speed up the netting process and as I am scooping her up, the lure comes flying past my ear. So for a split second, the musky is laying across the entire width of the net and there is still more fish hanging over the edges of the net. I am doing all I can to get her bent so she fits inside but rockets out, smashes her head on the side of the boat and is gone. After throwing up twice and mumbling a few choice words, we just had to laugh it off. I look at George and tell him that his daughter just lost a 49-51-inch class fish. George says "at least she is still out there."

After another hour of fishing, the weather rolled in and we quit.


So my question is: How many of you have caught/hooked ANY fish on the first cast with a brand new bait?

[ttabaleulb]

I don't recall hooking any fish that early on with a new bait/fly. I had some action within the first 30min or so, but not first cast.

Now the net issues, I can relate too, not that big of a fish of course. I took a buddy out to try and get him his first Tiger. About an hour in, one grabs his spinner about 40' from boat. He does a great job of getting the fish to the boat and I see that its barely hooked. I rush to get the net under. Just as I start to lift the net out to surround the fish with the net bag, the damn thing shoots straight up out and over the edge of the net. Of course the fish gets off shortly after! I felt like total crap. It wasn't a big fish, probably upper 30s, but would have been a great first Tiger. I did my best to control the boat and get by buddy into great position for the rest of the spots we fished with no more action. However, we came back thru the same area he hooked the first one, and wouldn't you know it, hooked and landed one. I am pretty sure it was the same one, but we'll never know for sure. Made me feel a whole lot better. He was great about it, laughing it off the whole time.

[ppalko]

Not quite a brand new bait, but one that was new to me. My son picked out a few baits in exchange for my work on a rod handle for the guy up the street (Cband) and begged me to take him out to try them the next day. After waiting out some threatening weather we put in and he dropped one of his new baits behind the boat as we motored out to the spot we wanted to fish. He hooked and then landed his first musky within 5 minutes of starting our little trolling run. He had promised me he'd catch one on the first cast and I had told him he was crazy. He still reminds me of this story.

My dad caught 25 sub-legal musky one winter of walleye fishing on the river on a brand-new rod. I caught none fishing with him in the same boat, same jig style, etc.

[Red Childress]

The new lure was lost about 29 hours after its first cast. RIP.

[Ivan]

I had a good run on two brand new baits this summer. Trolling though, not casting. I bought several new baits this winter from the same builder. I put one style in the water for the first time and boated a nice, thick 47 on it only about 10 minutes after I first stuck it in the water. About an hour later, I decided to try another style bait from the same builder. About two hours after I put that second bait out, I'm releasing my personal best...a 55. Two hours later, that same bait got a 51.5. An incredible first day running those two new baits. Needless to say, I'll be picking some more up this winter.

[Red Childress]

If that math pattern holds up, your next fish will be over 55!

That is a crazy story.