Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    I know jes what chew mean. I had wun ob dem unknown aversaries. I
    forget all bout it, but my wife, she remin me ob it. Nex tim I haf to
    send flowers, you bet!!
    
    Coonass

Hey, Coonass.  That was just Phideaux funnin' with ya!

Joe

    Nothing makes me madder than losing a big fish.  I guess not seeing it
    is worse though, because you don't know what it was. 
    
    I was fishing a farm pond about 5 years ago with plastic worms when I
    got a "bump".  I let the fish run about 5 feet and set the hook.  When
    I set the hook, I saw the bass turn sideways.  I guessed him to be
    about 8lbs or so, I had taken 2 6lbers that same year out of the pond,
    so I knew the opportunity for a monster was there.  It took off on a 
    short run and I managed to stop it.  There were water lylies solid
    around the pond to about 10 feet out.  The bass made a run at me and
    shot right into the weeds!  I started reeling as fast as I could and
    plunged into the pond toward the fish.  I was in water about waist deep
    and had the bass within 3 feet of my hand.  It was wrapped around a 
    clump of lylies, trying to get away.  As I reached into the water to
    grab his gaping mouth the line snapped at the fish and it shot back
    into deep water.  I screamed a bunch of words I can't repeat and threw
    my rod about 20 feet into the air, breaking the rod when it hit the
    bank.  
    
    Since then too many people have found out about the pond and fished it
    almost to death.  I'll always remember that big sucker, I have the
    broken rod hanging in my garage.
    
    Wess

	During my early learning day's on the Merrimack fishing with 
	a co-DECcie from Westfield on his 19' Starcraft I had borrowed
	his spinning rod/reel.  I didn't own any saltwater equipment.
	We fish for Mackeral's to use for bait.  Caught about 30 and
	kept them alive in a 55gal plastic drum.  I caught a pretty big
	mack and stuck it in but my buddy Al said that's too big for
	striper bait.  I kept it anyway and eventually used it as we were
	catching nothing.  I stuck the treble on it's back and tossed it in
	near the mouth of the Merrimack.  All of a sudden it started swimming
	crazy on the surface then "GULP"  SPLASH a biggo striper swallowed
	it whole and went down.  I battled it for about 10min but the line/rod
	felt funny to me so I was taking my time.  There were 30 boats in
	the river at the mouth so it was kinda hectic trying to not get
	tangled in other lines.  Al kept yelling at me to hawl that baby 
	aboard and quit fooling around. I kept telling him it doesn't feel
	right.  Finally I gave in and just started reeling her in "SNAP"
	line broke-fish gone.  Al yell's some obsenities at me and was not
	amused as in the mid 70's Stripers went for top $$$.  I told him
	his reel didn't feel right.  He said "it should be fine I just had
	it "REPAIRED""  He checked it and sure enough the drag was stuck
	so there was no let up.  I went out and bought equipment and had
	a custom rod built.  To this day I use my own  I estimate it was
	over a 25# Striper (I had previously caught one that big on a charter)
	-< Tuna Tail >-  Don't cha hate it when it does that ;^)

    
    Last spring, a now retired DECie and I were fishing Wachusett at gate
    8.  We were using large shinners and just letting them swim around.
    All of a sudden, my pole took a big nose dive and pulled it out of 
    the rod holder and onto the beach.  I quickly grabbed it and set the
    hook.  You could literally see my line going all over the small bay.
    My drag was screaming like a smoke detector.  I fought this fish for
    a good 15 to 20 minutes before I finally could get him in close 
    enough to see him.
    
    Then the realization set in... " Now What ?? "   No Net... I 
    figured I would just try and walk backwards gradually and try and
    have my friend just grap this vodacious lake trout.  All of a 
    sudden, "SNAP"... I didn't even have a change to react, but looked
    at the edge of the water and noticed the big guy was just laying in 
    one to two feet of water completely exhausted.  
    
    So, instead of breaking my rod and yelling at my buddy for blowing 
    this opportunity, I decided the only thing to do was go in after 
    him.  I went in to my waist to the back side of him and gradually
    tried to put my hands under him and throw him up on the beach. 
    Needless to say, I ended up swimming and so did this beauty. April
    isn't a good month to swim in New England and is kinda illegal at
    Wachusett, but it was unintentional.
    
    Lesson #1 =  NEVER fish Wachusett unless you have a net.
    Lesson #2 =  ALWAYS wear a bathing suit when fishing.
    Lesson #3 =  NEVER fish with another co-worker. Stories get larger,
                 each time and the fish gets smaller.
    
    Got something out of it though::   They made me a spear, with a 
    large/long rope attached to it, and affixed it to my office wall.
    
    
    See you all Monday at Wachusett....
    
    
    Dave

    Dave
    
    My brother had a similar experience,  We were on a far shore in the
    Wachusetts, he nailed a mother of a bass, fought for a couple of
    minutes,  I was down the shore a peice when I heard him screaming.  I
    ran as fast as could, by the time I got there it was right at the
    break line between the water and rocks.  I leaped to grab it heard the
    snap saw the tail flapping air and water and off it went.
    
    However, another time I was fishing in Maine, nailed a nice largemouth. 
    It screamed drag out, my 11 year old daughter was my partner and she
    wouldn't go near it.  I finally coaxed it to the side of the boat when
    it got a burst of speed and headed to the back.  I knew I was in
    trouble when it wrapped itself around my motor.  I heard the line snap
    and I sat down mumbling a few heart pounding exlicatives.  My daughter
    was upset too.  Anyway I went to pull the motor and move when I noticed
    the line was floating right next to the boat.  Apparantly as soon as
    the tension was off the line the bass stopped to rest.  I grabbed the
    line and pulled an nice 2 lb in the boat.
    
    Brian

    It makes you feel better to hear other stories of trophies getting away
    too, doesn't it?
    
    Brian,
    
    Your story reminded me of my first encounter with a nice chinook.  I
    was fishing in Lake Michigan trolling a Northport Nailer black/chart
    when a big chinook nailed it.  I grabbed the rod and he ran every bit
    of 17lb test off of my reel in no time flat.  I re-filled the reel
    and put another "Nailer" on.  We hadn't gone 20 yards when another
    slammed it and took off.   I screamed at my Grandfather to turn the
    boat around and chase this sucker if necessary.  I fought the fish for
    about 10-15 minutes and started getting him near the boat.  I told my
    friend who was along to reel in all of the other lines so nothing would
    go wrong.  As I pulled the fish into view my grandfather said a few
    encouraging cuss words, it was a NICE fish.  I couldn't get him to the
    surface and he made a couple of runs under the boat.  About that time
    he swam around to the back of the boat and wrapped around the
    downrigger cable that my buddy forgot to putll up.  The line snapped
    and the chinook just sat there for a few seconds.  (I think he was
    saying "You can't touch this".)  With a swish of his tail he shot out
    of site, back into the deeper water.  I screamed something buddy.  He
    just looked at me and cracked a big grin.  At that, my grandpa busted
    up and so did I.  You see, we had a bet on the biggest fish and my
    buddy had me beat until that fish.  I still think he did it on purpose.
    
    We ended up boating 3 other kings that day with the biggest fish "his",
    weighing 22lbs.
    
    Wess

    Not to many replys since April.
    
    I'll never forget a few (wow time flies, maybe 15) years ago, a few
    cops I used to hang out with decided to start a raffle on who could
    catch the biggest carp.
    
    One morning, 7AM, after work we all show up on the banks of the
    Merrimack River in Nashua, NH.  Each with one rod and a LOT of beer.
    
    We each had a small can of corn nibblets, which is against to law to
    use for bait on carp, but who's going to tell a bunch of cops you
    can't do that.  Anyway after about two hours of getting skunked, I
    decided to walk across the Vets bridge into Hudson.  I climbed down
    the banking and set up shop.  The rod was a heavy duty fiberglass 6'
    using 25lb mono.  Loaded up the hook with corn and threw it out about
    30'.  About twenty minutes later my rod starts making a beline for the
    river.  I grabbed the rod, and it's bent, what I thought was way beyond
    what the rod could stand.  The line was screaming off the reel, and 
    moving what I thought was faster than a carp could move.  The line
    finally slowed down to the point where I could start reeling in.  I got
    the fish to maybe 15-20' from the shore.  The next thing I knew/heard
    was a loud snap, the ROD broke in half.  I stood there in awe, watching
    my rod slide down the line into the water and out of sight.  Now I'm
    standing about knee deep in water holding onto a rod that is now about
    18" long and with one loop left.  The next thing was the snap of the
    line.  I had a few words for that fish.  God only knows how big it was,
    I've been fishing the Merrimack for 40 years and never caught anything
    again that even came close to breaking my rod.
    
        Needless to say the fish that won the raffle was 28lbs, not mine.

    	Are there any U-boats roaming the Merrimack?
    
    	-< Tuna Tail >-  ;^)

re:    	Are there any U-boats roaming the Merrimack?
   

   Achtung!   Torpedos loos mein Kapitan!

    	Sounds like a snapping turtle. You should KILL IT !!! ;-)
    
    	RAYJ

    Thanks Ray.