Remember the guy spinning out of control and flying off the ski jump at the beginning of Wide World of Sports? That was me. Not so much out of control as out of luck.
I had noticed a slight uptick in the bait and the bite out at The Point. So even though the last three trips had produced only Bluefish for me I was holding out hope of something bigger and better. After fishing the top of the tide last night, I decided to wait it out until sunrise instead of going home, hoping to get connected to something that wasn't a bluefish. So I re-launched at about 4:30 and things were looking better. After a couple of small blue fish I hooked up with what I knew to be a big bass. It's easy to get fooled by a foul hooked blue fish, but I had this fish on for the better part of 20 minutes and I knew it was a big bass. I had my opportunity and I was going to make the best of it. I backed off the drag just a tick or two in case the hooks were starting to give out. I had just received the lure from Amazon as I was leaving to go fishing, so I had not switched out the factory hooks yet. No worries; my drag was smooth and dialed in just right. I really felt good about how I was working the fish. When we got to a stalemate I just let the weight of the kayak and the pressure of the rod do their work. Eventually I got it directly under the kayak and I began the slow, steady process of bringing it up. I was ready for it to make another run but when it did it ran to the other side of the kayak, pinning the rod against the gunwall of the kayak and wrapping the rod under it... And in that instant I felt the line give. The abrupt snap of the rod straightening felt like a punch in the stomach, and as I sat there wallowing in self-pity, I truly felt as though I was going to throw up. I lost my new lure and the very big fish that it was attached to. Catching anything after losing that behemoth was like kissing my sister. Just wasn't feeling it the rest of the morning.
The line had just been put on yesterday afternoon. No frays or wear. I do have a theory, though. I think that when I spooled the new line I didn't do it tightly enough. The line broke right at the spool so I'm thinking that instead of coming off the spool, it dug in and tightened. At that point it would have broken right at the edge of the spool, which it appeared to.
My take-away? The harder part is getting connected with the fish; I don't usually screw up on the execution. Hopefully I can put myself in the same position again tomorrow morning and get it right. See you out there!
I had noticed a slight uptick in the bait and the bite out at The Point. So even though the last three trips had produced only Bluefish for me I was holding out hope of something bigger and better. After fishing the top of the tide last night, I decided to wait it out until sunrise instead of going home, hoping to get connected to something that wasn't a bluefish. So I re-launched at about 4:30 and things were looking better. After a couple of small blue fish I hooked up with what I knew to be a big bass. It's easy to get fooled by a foul hooked blue fish, but I had this fish on for the better part of 20 minutes and I knew it was a big bass. I had my opportunity and I was going to make the best of it. I backed off the drag just a tick or two in case the hooks were starting to give out. I had just received the lure from Amazon as I was leaving to go fishing, so I had not switched out the factory hooks yet. No worries; my drag was smooth and dialed in just right. I really felt good about how I was working the fish. When we got to a stalemate I just let the weight of the kayak and the pressure of the rod do their work. Eventually I got it directly under the kayak and I began the slow, steady process of bringing it up. I was ready for it to make another run but when it did it ran to the other side of the kayak, pinning the rod against the gunwall of the kayak and wrapping the rod under it... And in that instant I felt the line give. The abrupt snap of the rod straightening felt like a punch in the stomach, and as I sat there wallowing in self-pity, I truly felt as though I was going to throw up. I lost my new lure and the very big fish that it was attached to. Catching anything after losing that behemoth was like kissing my sister. Just wasn't feeling it the rest of the morning.
The line had just been put on yesterday afternoon. No frays or wear. I do have a theory, though. I think that when I spooled the new line I didn't do it tightly enough. The line broke right at the spool so I'm thinking that instead of coming off the spool, it dug in and tightened. At that point it would have broken right at the edge of the spool, which it appeared to.
My take-away? The harder part is getting connected with the fish; I don't usually screw up on the execution. Hopefully I can put myself in the same position again tomorrow morning and get it right. See you out there!
