Broke a fish off this week. It does not happen often, last one I can remember was a BIG fish a couple years ago. Fought that fish for twenty minutes, could feel it going deep, line rubbing on something. Knew it was not going to end well.
This time I set the hook, good fish. Will never know how good because the rod bent over and there she was, gone.
I have had a headache ever since.
Oh I know what some of you are thinking:
But, stumps do not eat baits!
I am diligent about checking knots and hooks. Quit casting for muskies earlier this year to spend several minutes sharpening hooks. Good thing I did because not five casts later a 40-some incher ate my bait. I got a good hook set, jerked her “eye-teeth” out just like I learned from Gramps years ago, but she came to the surface, opened here mouth, swung her head back and forth, and the hooks came loose. My lure just hung in the water beside her for a split second.
I hate how those images re-run in my mind, in slow-motion. She was right there. I can still see the water boiling from her shaking her head, throwing the bait and sinking out of my memories.
Not sure what happened this week. The line did not break at a knot; my leader broke about six inches below the main line.
The whole incident has me scratching my head.? That was a weird place for the line to break.
Only one thing to do: Evaluate what went wrong. Get back to fishing! There are more fish, and the next one will be even bigger!
I’m outta here.
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