12/27 and 12/28 . tragic humor and some success

[gfishes]

Was able to hit the river for several hrs on Friday and a couple hrs on Saturday morning.

On Friday morning I moved the same fish two times in about 5 minutes. The 40"ish followed a shallow invader up to the boat and then swam away. I casted back in the direction it darted away with no luck; I repeated this several more times. I decided to upsize to a walleye pounder to see if I could trigger a strike. I got her to follow back in one more time but couldn't get her to bite. She even opened her mouth and did what looked like a yawn. No other fish seen in the morning.

In the evening I tried a new spot down river. I've always thought fish would be in this spot, but its a pretty good hike away and its down river which always makes things more interesting if there are boat issues. I moved two different fish but neither fish was willing to bite. Then the tragedy struck. I have two main casting setups. For some reason one of my Lexa reels has always been a challenge to cast. I have to really pay attention or I will nest up the line. I have been using a bait caster for 25 years. Not sure exactly what the deal is. Anyhow, I nested while throwing a pounder into a slight breeze. I picked out the minor nest and reeled in for another cast. I loaded up to cast and the lure shot out perfectly normal for about 15 yards and then the dawg came to an immediate stop, ripping the rod right out of my hand!! I must not have fully gotten rid of the nest from the previous cast. I chased after it, but sadly the rod sunk to never been seen again. A split grip Mojo with a Lexa 400 will not float in case anyone was interested. LOL (:() . It was 5:15 and I had a 30 min run back to camp in an area I wasn't super familiar with. I had to head back in the dark and call it a loss.

I was peeved all Friday night about the combo loss. My original plan was to head home Saturday AM. I changed my plans and decided to head back to that spot and try to jig for the rod. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't least try to get the rod back. I made a 5/0 treble hook and lead weight contraption. I jigged the area for about an hour and after many snags and no luck I decided my effort was at least good enough let me acknowledge and swallow the loss.

Since I was in the area, and I had 30 min to spare, I casted the spot where I had the two separate follows. I hooked up and landed what I think was a smaller of the two fish. Made the extra morning worth it and I left the camp on a high note for the year knowing that I found some new to me territory.

Happy New Year Everyone!
31824

[Red Childress]

Good story!

I will tell this story on myself if you promise to keep it to yourself.:)

I had one of those deep nests in a trolling reel about 20 years ago and (of course) did not know it. So, I set my spread and began hauling arse down the lake and got snagged. Before I could get the boat slowed and rod in hand, the rod snapped at the handle. So, I get home and clear the nest and put a new rod under it and headed back to Tionesta the next day. We got our spread set and off we went down the lake. As luck would have it, there was ANOTHER nest a little deeper into the reel so when we hit another snag.....that rod broke at the handle as well. The moral of my story is to periodically un-spool/re-pack your trolling reels to keep the line tight and from wandering on the spool.

[gfishes]

Haha, I'll keep it to myself. Two broken rods in two days is definitely not a fun time. Thanks for sharing, makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only one doing Bill Dance outtakes on the boat.

[toothyfishman]

I left a trolling set up on the bottom of the north end of chaut.
In case I need a back up someday.
32 feet of water.
It happens!

[toothyfishman]

I got a net on the bottom at Chautauqua as well

[Gcain]

I got a net on the bottom at Chautauqua as well

Time for me to take my SCUBA class!

[gfishes]

Lots of good stories here. I'll add another that ended more positively. We were ice fishing walleye spoons on Lake Erie in 30 fow. I had a fish on and yelled to my Dad to come over and help me gaff the fish.(30" of ice in 2014!) When he bent down to the hole his eyeglasses came off and went right down the hole. We landed the fish, chalked is up as a loss and continued on. My Dad walked back to his shanty about 20 feet away and started jigging. He noticed on his flasher that he had a mark down by his lure. He felt something on the line and reeled in his glasses! Either the glasses descended at an angle or the slight current pulled them into the line and they slid down to the lure. Either way, pretty lucky!

[Red Childress]

That is some crazy stuff right there.


I will add another once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. The short version......I was trolling a perchbait in January and lost it on a snag in about 28 FOW. (It was my last one in that color and had a few dozen fish under its belt.) 2 weeks later I get a package in the mail and it is the very same perchbait (with hooks removed for easier mailing). The same guy I had with me that weekend had come back to fish that area on his own the following weekend. Yep, you guessed it.........he snagged my lure with another lure and got it free then had the decency to mail it back to me. You just cannot make this stuff up. :)

[Gcain]

I was casting around the Power Boat Club- Tom's Pt. area this summer. Saw something floating about 30' away. Figured it was trash but got close to it and found a 2019 signed Baker Goldie floating with a short heavy fluoro leader still attached to about 10' of powerpro. SCORE for me but someone had to be bummed about losing that one!