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| After a very vicious battle including alot of rolling, I was able to land the 45"er last night on my 4th or 5th cast. I straightened out the bucktail, put on a new hook, and casted again and bang another fish on, about the same size, a bit smaller. The fish jumped 4 times, and when it neared the boat my friend was going to net it, but I told him to wait as it made one more run, and that is when it happened. The fish rolled and lunged and snapped the line. The fish was hooked by the cheek, as the whole bait was out of its mouth. It was a little rolled up in the line, but it still shouldn't have happened. I then realized what I had done wrong, and it is something I never forget. I always retie after catching a fish that does alot of acrobatics, and dang it I didn't!!!! I'm pretty sure the fish will be able to throw the lure(I hope) as it was barely hooked in the cheek, and no hooks were in the mouth.
I just wanted to reiterate how important retying is, and I'm usually the one preaching this to my partners. It was the first time that has ever happened to me, and hopefully the last. It was 65lb. power pro I was using, and I will continue to, I will just be more careful in the future.
Oh, yeah, a 43-44"er grabbed my new bucktail right after I retied, but it came unhooked near the boat as it came thrashing past. | |
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| Jason,
It sounds like they were stacked in there like cord wood! Don't feel too bad, we've all made mistakes like that.
Not too long ago, I had an evening/night excursion like you have described where the big fish wouldn't stay off my line. An hour after catching a 36", I switched tactics and boated/released a 47". I quickly straightened the leader, retied, and resharpened the hooks. About 10 casts later I caught and released a 45". Again, I retouched the hooks. Within a half dozen casts of that release, I hooked another mid 40"er but lost it at the boat. When I examined my crankbait, the two front hooks were tangled together, preventing a solid hookup. Now after dark, I make it a point to constantly check my lures for unseen "entanglements."
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| Of all the ways to lose a muskie, equipment failure is the worst. I also fail to check my gear as often as I should, but did catch a bad leader last week just before a good fish hit and did all sorts of crazy stuff. Lost it anyway, but at least not to equipment failure.
I sometimes believe in the superline's reputation for toughness a bit too much. I will be examining it more closely now... | |
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| after having switched to dyneema I also see that I sometimes am too anxious to get a good fish close enough for me to handland her, or I force the fish more while playing it than I did with nylon. It's tough to loose a fish with a lure in its mouth. All you can hope for is that the hooks will rust out quick enough for the fish to be able to feed again. It happens. | |
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| All these new superlines will cut on anything. You can anchor the boat with this line, but, don't let the line near the teeth or any abration. Thats great advise to retie after a rolling fish. | |
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| I lost a huge musky on kentucky lake when I was in college. I was fishing for bass with a floating rapala and had no idea they were in there. I had just cast into a bush 10min before and had my drag tight. 8lb test and I should have retied. That fish almost broke the rod and broke the line before I could get the drag loosened. I only saw the last 8" of the fish plus the tail but there was no mistaking it, was big, really big. | |
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| This is the time of year someone looses a big one because they are still using the same knot they tied this spring, or never replaced the beat up split rings on there favorite bait. 5 minutes can make or break a smile on your face forever.
Take the time to look at your equiptment now, otherwise its going to be a long winter to think about it.[;)] | |
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dang it!!!!!!!!