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Posts: 90
Location: Florence, Wisconsin | Out on a new lake this weekend and things are looking good. Aggressive follows, good average size fish. So I'm bringing in my bucktail for a figure 8 and here she comes. She followed it around a couple of times and then just kind of nipped it and started swimming off with it. I set the hook pretty good and the fight was on. Under the boat, around the boat, jumping, etc. At one point my buddy said "Where's it going" and all I could say in a cracked voice was, "She's going everywhere man." I could somehow feel the hooks slipping and it made a run out to open water with a head shake threw the hook. I paused, threw out the loudest profanity of my life, and laid down in the bottom of the boat. Awful feeling, it was like I'd been cheated on. Managed to catch ~ a 30" after that but it really didn't do much for me. Had a few medicinal beers that night but still had a pretty hard time sleeping. Musky fishing is something else.
Bo |
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Posts: 468
Location: Not where I wanna be! | i lost a fish in MN this past week that was probably my biggest as well.
i was casting off the dock, while my compadres took mid-day naps.....
i left the net up at the hotel, which was 2 blocks from where i was casting, when a giant fish took my Manta. i set into him as best as i could, thumbed the reel and fished for my phone to get help landing him.
stupid me...
the fish jumped with an awsome head shake and my lure lay floating after he hit the water......
im an idiot 
but holy smokes, i love muskies....... |
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| you honestly tried to make a phone call while fighting a big fish?
Are you serious???????
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Posts: 785
| Hehe, thats almost as bad as in my early days when a big one swallowed my pig at boatside and I didn't set the hooks becouse I didn't want to pull the bait (and hooks) out of the fishes mouth, what an absolute idiot!!! She did just what you'd expect when I pulled the line tight, she trashed, opened her mouth as the bait slid out and swam off.
Losing your biggest sucks, most the time you beat yourself up but in hindsight there is rarely anything else you could of done. Its also a guarantee you will catch a little low 30"er just to rub it in a little too. |
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Posts: 313
Location: On your favorite spot | What's more amazing is that a Pig actually got bit. he he -
I've made a similar mistake on a real tanker of a fish. She ate the bucktail from behind came up out of the water right in front of me, splashed down next to the trolling motor. All I could think was "free spool, free spool!" and never set the hook. She still haunts me every day and I'll be back for her in September. |
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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | I feel for you man. I experienced a similar event this past weekend, but I believe mine left me even more heartbroken. I was fishing open water with a regular bulldawg by myself and I unexpectedly get the rod nearly jerked out of my hands. All I wanted at that time was just to see what I had on... and it turned out to be a very nice fish for this particular body of water, ~45". The first thing I noticed was that I actually had the fished hooked so well that I felt no rush for the net, which is very rare. I freespool as she makes a run and then, you know the feeling, absolutely nothing. I reel in my line and see I'm only left with an open snap. Nothing is worse than that feeling like you just lost and killed a fish. Now I know I closed that snap, I specifically remember doing so. The only thing I can think of, the fish may have hit my flouro leader since there was some major gashes in a relatively flawless leader. Is it possible for the fish's teeth to undo a stay-lok snap? I haven't seen a fish lost due to terminal tackle since I used 40# braided dacron and south bend leaders, probably 5 years ago. But still, losing a big fish hurts... I know. But having the thought that the fish will die because of you is even worse to have hanging over your head. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | with bulldawgs if you use snaps, always have a spit ring on the dawg then the snap. always.
they will open up if you don't....or just go to split rings instead of snaps...
then you don't have to worry as much....
sucks to lose a fish like that...we've all had that sinking feeling at one time or another ....i feel for ya!
Edited by MSKY HNR 6/25/2007 7:38 PM
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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | I just talked to my brother and he mentioned you said that, but I did have a split ring on. I put split rings on all of my bull dawgs, otherwise I can't get the snap through the eyelet. I'm afraid this one fish may push me towards using split rings only. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | ouch...then that does hurt...just a guess but maybe the fish clamped down on the snap just right to open it up....
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Posts: 468
Location: Not where I wanna be! | bulldawger - 6/25/2007 4:08 PM
you honestly tried to make a phone call while fighting a big fish?
Are you serious???????
yep....
live and learn i guess....
"Stupid" was the word of the day.....
like i mentioned....bad mistake, yet one ill never make again  |
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | THA4 - 6/25/2007 8:24 AM
i lost a fish in MN this past week that was probably my biggest as well.
i was casting off the dock, while my compadres took mid-day naps.....
i left the net up at the hotel, which was 2 blocks from where i was casting, when a giant fish took my Manta. i set into him as best as i could, thumbed the reel and fished for my phone to get help landing him.
stupid me...
the fish jumped with an awsome head shake and my lure lay floating after he hit the water......
im an idiot
but holy smokes, i love muskies.......
If you have a gently sloping shore where you can slide the fish up it's quite easy to land even the largest of fish. I have landed 30# chinook this way many times and hundreds of steelhead. If there isn't a beach-like shore then look for a shallow area between several rocks or wood that you can pull the fish up and on top of the structure.
If there is nothing but deep water all the way around you..................get on your cell phone and call for a net!! lol.
Jed V.
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lost my biggest ever