OWNED!!

[maddmatt]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

There's a first time for everything, they say. This morning it was my turn to experience the pain. As my eel made its way into the "strike zone" I felt the unmistakable take of a fish followed by a couple head shakes and then it happened... My rod doubled over and I began paying out line.Big time. I typically fish a light drag, but began my attempt to snub the fish pretty soon after it became apparent it was no school bass, but perhaps a school bus. It was. Long story short my 250 yards of 65 power pro began to vanish from the spool. With plenty of room down tide I began a tepid walk in an attempt to catch up, several times standing pat trying to lock the fish down and I couldn't do it. Anyways, I start thinking I'm going to get spooled and flip on my head lamp only to see the backing knot buried under only a few turns of the spool. I know this is the weak link in the line system, but in six years of fishing braid and many good fish, I've never been taken even close to this deep.
Oh oh. Backing knot goes through the guides and now I'm effectively fishing with 25# mono as opposed to 65# braid. No more snubbing necessary as the line parted on the knot as expected after it came under great tension. I sat down on a large boulder and stared at the sky for a few minutes while my mind replayed the battle over and over. Looking back, I wouldn't have done anything different, but when I refill the reel tonight there may be a little less backing and a little more braid. Never had a fish take so much line without at least a temporary pause. What sucks is there is a nice fish out there with a long drail of line behind it and my fishing trip was cut short due to the fact I had no line to fish with, save for my mono backing.

Like I always say though.....catch them first and weight them after. It was a pretty good one though.....I think. Look at the pigtail on my mono. Yikes.

you got sealed!!

[Squibby17]

Sorry to hear this tale. It sounds like it was a monster. Many of us have been there before.

Actually hearing this makes me want to tell my tale of misery. I had a bad experince last week. I was fishing kinda half assed and decided to try out my fly rod. I go to a tiny little spot i had never tried before, flick out my fly and as I'm fussing with my reel a large bass enhales the fly and my rod bends over very abruptly. Unfortunately it happened so fast i hadn't cleared my line and it got wrapped around the butt of the rod......snap.

I don't know how big the fish was it certainly hit with some umphh, regardless it most likely would have been the biggest bass I've gotten on the fly. I had grabbed my fly rod last second and didn't have anymore flies and my other tackle was not ideal for this situation so like you I sat on a rock and went over the whole damn thing in my head for about 10 minutes. In my case it was just stupidity yours sounds like just a man trying against a FORCE of nature. Thanks for sharing today, I truely feel your pain.

This is like group therapy.