Cody309
Well-Known Member
The one that got away.
Just another fish story.
So today I was back at my favourite little lake (coincidentally the same lake where I caught the large-mouth in my last post), and had only hooked up on one rather small small-mouth with a wooly bugger (my fish-finder fly, if you will). I noticed shortly thereafter that the surface activity had started to pick up a bit, and finally, after staring at the water for a while in order to figure out what the fish were feeding on, I managed to spot a stonefly emerging to the surface. I scooped him up, matched the size, and tossed my fly out into the water.
Nothing.
So while I let my fly drift aimlessly in the still-water, I had a minor brainstorming session. If I saw the stone-fly emerge, maybe the fish were feeding on emergers, and occasionally hitting one that had made it to the surface. So I brought in my line, and replaced it with an emerger pattern, as well as a small slipshot (this lake is VERY deep). I played around with a few different retrieval patterns, and on my third retrieve (consisting of two small, sporadic strips, and a pause) the fly was absolutely hammered. To be honest, I originally thought I had snagged something near the bottom (I've briefly been caught up on something near the bottom in the hole I was fishing). All of a sudden, the "snag" started to move. Fish on! This fish felt quite large. It's obviously hard to say, but this fish EASILY had 3-4X the amount of fight in it than the large-mouth in my last post. After about 15 seconds of pure adrenaline-rush excitement, the fish took one final heave down. My rod had never been bent this much. I was so stoked to have this fish on my line, but as soon as it had happened, my line went slack.
I just stared into space, motionless for a good 2 minutes, as all the swear words in my vocabulary swirled around in my head. I finally confirmed the inevitable and pulled in my line.
The reason that the line came loose?
The line didn't break. I didn't play the fish incorrectly. The barbless hook didn't just slip out. My mood became ever so sombre when I realized that I had missed the nicest fish to grace my fly rod due to my knot coming undone. It is the same knot I tie every time, I just didn't double-check its tightness this time.
Moral of the story - ALWAYS double or triple check your knots - I know I will from now on.
There truly is nothing like that feeling that accompanies losing a nice fish. Oh well, I'll head back out tomorrow and see what I can find.
Tight lines,
Cody
Just another fish story.
So today I was back at my favourite little lake (coincidentally the same lake where I caught the large-mouth in my last post), and had only hooked up on one rather small small-mouth with a wooly bugger (my fish-finder fly, if you will). I noticed shortly thereafter that the surface activity had started to pick up a bit, and finally, after staring at the water for a while in order to figure out what the fish were feeding on, I managed to spot a stonefly emerging to the surface. I scooped him up, matched the size, and tossed my fly out into the water.
Nothing.
So while I let my fly drift aimlessly in the still-water, I had a minor brainstorming session. If I saw the stone-fly emerge, maybe the fish were feeding on emergers, and occasionally hitting one that had made it to the surface. So I brought in my line, and replaced it with an emerger pattern, as well as a small slipshot (this lake is VERY deep). I played around with a few different retrieval patterns, and on my third retrieve (consisting of two small, sporadic strips, and a pause) the fly was absolutely hammered. To be honest, I originally thought I had snagged something near the bottom (I've briefly been caught up on something near the bottom in the hole I was fishing). All of a sudden, the "snag" started to move. Fish on! This fish felt quite large. It's obviously hard to say, but this fish EASILY had 3-4X the amount of fight in it than the large-mouth in my last post. After about 15 seconds of pure adrenaline-rush excitement, the fish took one final heave down. My rod had never been bent this much. I was so stoked to have this fish on my line, but as soon as it had happened, my line went slack.
I just stared into space, motionless for a good 2 minutes, as all the swear words in my vocabulary swirled around in my head. I finally confirmed the inevitable and pulled in my line.
The reason that the line came loose?
The line didn't break. I didn't play the fish incorrectly. The barbless hook didn't just slip out. My mood became ever so sombre when I realized that I had missed the nicest fish to grace my fly rod due to my knot coming undone. It is the same knot I tie every time, I just didn't double-check its tightness this time.
Moral of the story - ALWAYS double or triple check your knots - I know I will from now on.
There truly is nothing like that feeling that accompanies losing a nice fish. Oh well, I'll head back out tomorrow and see what I can find.
Tight lines,
Cody