Losing a fishing pole to a fish!

[etucker1959]

I've got a lot of story's about a little bit of everything. Since this is a fishing website, let's tell some fishing story's on ourselves. In all these cases, "the fish won and I lost!" I don't know how many people are willing to tell on themselves, but believe me, you can't be any worse then myself. (So don't be afraid to confess)

I'll start first and only go back 20 years, so I don't look like a total Donkey! lol In everyone of these cases, I was fishing and got a bite and lost the fishing pole to the lake and never got it back! (there was plenty of other cases, where I got the pole back but we won't count those.)

Anaheim Lake

We were fishing for catfish in my boat and doing really well. When my friend Shaun hooked a catfish and it got tangled in the stern anchor rope. As I was untangling the fish off of the anchor rope, my pole got bit and before I could put my hands on it. Woosh over the side it went and never to be seen again.

SARL

Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's both SARL and Corona lake stocked a ton of Double digit trout. We caught them all the time, but the funny part was you couldn't catch them at SARL on powerbait. (you could at Corona) So trolling was the way to go for me for a DD trout at SARL. I would put 1 rod in the rod holder on my boat and lay a short rod on my back bench. (you could hear it scrap when it got bit) One day I was trolling by the spillway and the short rod got bit. Before I could grab it, over the stern she went. I then saw a big DD trout splash in the water that was hooked to my Rapala lure.

Corona Lake

Back in the early 2000's I had Corona lake wired. I caught both quantity and quality from that lake. I had a system to drift first for quantity in the mornings and then troll in the afternoon for quality. The Dam area always held a good population of quality Rainbow trout. The problem was it was a very popular spot and hard to troll that area except late in the day. I would go in a big circle with both rods in the rod holders. I didn't latch the rod holders top closed because when bit it was hard to get out quickly. In making a turn in the wind, a big DD trout bit the lure at the exact angle when the line was a perfect 90 degree's. The rod shot out perfectly out of the rod holder and into the drink. (never to be seen again)

La Mirada Regional Park

I was fishing with a slip bobber for catfish, when an #2.5 catfish inhaled the bait and kept swimming taking the rod with him. I was able to snag the line and get the catfish, but the rod was stuck in the lake and eventual the line broke, leaving the rod in the lake.

Another La Mirada story.

The water was very clear in the Spring and you could see both large Carp and LMB swimming around. I had leaned 1 pole behind a bucket fishing for Carp with corn. While I was messing with the Bass on another pole. A big Carp slurped down the corn and took off dragging the pole into the depths of the lake.

Ralph B. Clark Park

I was camped out fishing for catfish with Mackerel on the bottom. I had all the poles in rod holders but 1. The one pole was over a bucket 20 feet away from the water. I figured most catfish are slow biters, so what could go wrong? The pole got bit so hard, it knocked the bucket into the water and off went the pole into the water. To this day, I don't think a catfish would do that. I think it was a big Carp that was the culprit. My buddy the Carp fishermen had got them close to #30 pounds in there. Where as in La Mirada park lake we never got one over #20 pounds.

Those are my disaster story's with fish and my poles. If anyone else would like to share their own story's, go right ahead. It can't be any worse then one of my story's! lol

[old pudd fisher]

Only one pole lost but almost more. This one was at Irvine Lake 2004 on a cold overcast morning my pole was baited with a fat night crawler and It was in a rod holder in front of my chair. I went to my truck to get a cup of hot coffee and I was walking back I seen my pole take a deep bend then fly out of the holder in to the lake. Damn all mighty and I dropped the coffee cup and ran into the lake after it until I was waist high in cold water, it was gone. Kept on fishin with my other pole but was freezing my butt off the rest of the morning good times and fond memories I must say.

[SSG Stubbs]

I was carp fishing with my friend and his kids. His kids were 8 or so. They were not into sitting by their pole and waiting. His pole got bit and into the water it went. His dad was correcting him for not watching it. Poor child was crying. His dad gets bit. He reels it in and its his son fishing pole with the fish still on it. So they got the pole back so I am not sure that apply's to the post of losing your pole but a good story anyway.

[etucker1959]

I was carp fishing with my friend and his kids. His kids were 8 or so. They were not into sitting by their pole and waiting. His pole got bit and into the water it went. His dad was correcting him for not watching it. Poor child was crying. His dad gets bit. He reels it in and its his son fishing pole with the fish still on it. So they got the pole back so I am not sure that apply's to the post of losing your pole but a good story anyway.

That's a good story!!! I just posted the ones I didn't get back, to encourage others not to be embarrassed about losing a pole.

[TUNAVIC]

I thought I only had a retrieved one story,but the remembered,ahh I do have a lost rod story,actually a two lost rod story.
So here we go,while camping at Refugio Beach we would launch my little 14’aluminum skiff w/a 5hp motor through the surf. Then we would proceed two the kelp and fish,we had done this quite a few times with no problems.
One time when attempting to come back in the sur f was pretty big,as you know it’s hard to gauge a wave from the back of it.
After a couple of try’s and aborts I thought I saw the righ wave to ride in,well I was wrong,I remember vividly seeing my friend with his hands on the V of the bow and water spraying by both sides of his head and then felt the skifff lift and star going sideways,that’s when I dove off to the side.
The skiff flipped,everything went into the water, we retrieved what floated and two rods and searched for two others and never found them,oh well.

Now the retrieved one,only because it’s so funny and may be a warning to someone else.
While bass fishing Legg Lake one afternoon,I stopped at a bench which was about 4’from the lake edge.
I cast out a grub and set my rod across my knee as I get something out of my backpack. I hear some geese behind me squawking but that’s nothing unusual,these were the big flying Canadians you see at our local lakes. All of the sudden they both take off flying low towards the lake and one fly’s into my line and my $270 GLoomis and $200 Curado go flying into the Lake!
He lands right away about 20yds out with the rod trailing, he kinda starts coming back towards the shore,and like a big dufas I start whistling and calling to him like a puppy,”cmon boy” keep coming. Well he shakes a gets the line off of him and leaves. Now hard to believe the rod is floating,to my surprise. It’s close but not close enough to wade in,the lake is clear and you can see it drops off a few feet from shore,so I’m not ready to go swimming.
I find a skinny tree branch that’s about 6’long and the cut the straps off my backpack,tie my stick I use for taking pics off fish w/my phone but not long enough,if I had two rods that day it would of easy to cast out and get it,I’m thinking only way is go in after it.
Remove the draw string from my windbreaker,and it makes my retrieval set up just Long enough and after four attempts I get it!
And I go home shaking my head,grateful and elated!
Cya Tuna Vic

[SSG Stubbs]

Here is another one. Was fishing with my brothers in a boat. The front brother has his pole laying on the side of the boat and can hear a bite from the pole hitting the side of the boat. I tap his pole to make him think he has a bite and quickly reaches back for it. I laugh, he cusses and then sets the pole back down. My other brother taps on the pole and does the same thing. I laugh, he cusses and puts the pole back down. This goes on for a few more times. He actually gets a bite, he turns around to check his pole thinking it was us again so he is slow to react. His pole flies out of the boat and into the water. He jumps in after it and gets the pole and the fish. Cussing the whole time because he had his cell phone in his pocket.

[etucker1959]

I'm glad some people are getting with the spirit of the thread. I've got another story where we got the pole back. 3 years back we had some incredible coastal fishing for big game fish. (mostly Yellowtail but some YFT) I've never caught an YFT inside of Catalina Islands before. But in 2015 it was happening and I wasn't going to miss it. The Yellowfin Tuna and Skipjack were biting as close as 10 miles from the Newport Beach harbor. So I jumped on a 3/4 day boat with my friend Glenn. We got into the YFT not 40 minutes from leaving the harbor. Glenn get's bit before I do and unknown to me, he drops his pole in the water while he's fighting the fish. I then get bit and land an #25 YFT. After they gaff it, they notice another line coming out of the fishes mouth. They then start hand-lining the line and yup it was attached to Glenn's pole that he dropped in the water! Talk about luck in getting his pole back!

[billy b]

After many, many years of fishing ... I was casting off the pier at Jenks Lake and I lost my GLoom rod with Shimano Stradic reel ... expensive day!!! Dragged the bottom for hours ... went back the next day ... followed up with the ranger who said there was a guy who comes and drags for stuff like that. NO luck. My guess was that was too big of a payday for him to say anything.

[SSG Stubbs]

So who claimed the fish? Technically it was his first :)

[etucker1959]

So who claimed the fish? Technically it was his first :)

It went home in the same Ice chest and given away to good little boy's and girls. So it wasn't any issue at all! lol

[bowler]

I lost my pole to a carp in a pond that I was sneaking into before in West Covina. Then later that day I caught a snakehead out of the pond. True story

[NFCD I]

I lost a Phenix rod and a Curado Reel at Lake Skinner. My wife and I were striper fishing using swimbaits at the inlet. I had just told her to never leave her rod unattended. She was in the back of our boat and got hung up on the buoy line. I let my swimbait settle to the bottom and went back to give her a hand. I guess I don't have to tell the rest of the story.

[twin22s]

Lost rod to a stingray on san clemente pier, I had the reel in gear because the bait clicker on the reel broke earlier in the day. took my eyes off of the rod to tie up my second rig and look up to see it doubled over and then flip over the rail as i was heading over to grab it. It hit the water and was very slowly sinking, I grabbed my other rod and was going to cast it at the rig when i saw it shoot away from the pier into the abyss...

side story, I once threw my rod into the ocean trying to make an underhand cast and the hook caught a piling. I was able to wrap the line from my second rod that was soaking bait right next to me, around the rod as it was falling and reel it back to me...

side story #2, I have caught more rods(3) than i have lost(1), one total piece of crap push button, one surf fishing style spinning rig i was able to return to its owner after telling the story to some friends the following weekend. and one pistol grip rod with an original shimano curado bantam on it. reel was full of sand but 3 bearings, new drag washers and a ton of elbow grease i had it rocking and rolling and fished it for years before cannibalizing it for parts to fix my "vintage" castaic that i've had for 20 years and still fish to this day when pitching kelp from the jetty.

[DarkShadow]

I let my swimbait settle to the bottom and went back to give her a hand. I guess I don't have to tell the rest of the story.

From experience, some big ole catfish prolly ate it. Apparently they enjoy waiting for stockers to die and settle to the bottom, and they eat 'em, like Quagga eating wings during Happy Hour.

I had an incident at DVL where I tossed a 10" Triple Trout and created a 'professional backlash,' so while it settled to the bottom, I picked out the backlash.

After 10 minutes, I started reeling in, and thought I had caught a tree.

Instead, a submarine length catfish came up to the depths, with the Triple Trout sideways in it's mouth. The fish was so big that the Triple Trout looked like a Rapala in the fish's mouth.

(Then my buddy, being the biatch that he is, refused to help me, and the fish ended up swimming away with my TT after popping 30# test)

*

But I didn't lose my 'pole' tho.

[ichthus]

Back in college, mid -80's, a buddy and I were on a charter boat in S.F. Bay fishing for stripers. The boat had pole holders attached to the rail along each side and the deck hand would cast out all the lines and put them in the holders when we made a new stop to keep people from getting tangled. I was fishing with a cheap old crummy deep sea rod and reel with the old school Dacron line. when the deckhand grabbed my rod and casted it out, it backlashed and went out of his hands and into the bay! He felt terrible, was super apologetic, and gave me a loaner saying he would give me another, much nicer rod to replace mine. He tried to drag for it to no avail. I was actually pretty stoked at this point about getting a new set up! That is....Until one of the other fishermen reeled in some white Dacron line to which my pole was attached...bummer

[etucker1959]

I want to thank everyone for their story's! (good reads) If you fish a lot, your chances of it happening to you are pretty good.

[etucker1959]

From experience, some big ole catfish prolly ate it. Apparently they enjoy waiting for stockers to die and settle to the bottom, and they eat 'em, like Quagga eating wings during Happy Hour.

I had an incident at DVL where I tossed a 10" Triple Trout and created a 'professional backlash,' so while it settled to the bottom, I picked out the backlash.

After 10 minutes, I started reeling in, and thought I had caught a tree.

Instead, a submarine length catfish came up to the depths, with the Triple Trout sideways in it's mouth. The fish was so big that the Triple Trout looked like a Rapala in the fish's mouth.

(Then my buddy, being the biatch that he is, refused to help me, and the fish ended up swimming away with my TT after popping 30# test)

*

But I didn't lose my 'pole' tho.

Was it a Flathead catfish or a Big blue?

[DarkShadow]

Was it a Flathead catfish or a Big blue?

He didn't even know he was hooked until he got to the boat and we saw color. Definitely wasn't a blue. Perhaps a Flathead or a biiiiig Channel.

[gokuguy]

Last year at Silver Lake in the June lake loop I was throwing some jigs in the afternoon while my pops was farther up the shore baiting and waiting. He walked back to camp(camp spot was like 20 feet from his fishing spot) to grab a beer and when he got back his pole was gone from his rod holder. He came over to tell me because that was our lucky pole for the past 15 years. Anyways we were talking for a bit when I noticed a 4 pound trout kinda floating about 25 feet out. It disappeared and a minute later it floated back up about 15 feet away this time. I waded out about a hip deep and grabbed the fish.

There was a fishing line in its mouth so I called my dad over and he followed the line to about chest deep water and pulled out his pole. Guess it really is our lucky pole.

[etucker1959]

Last year at Silver Lake in the June lake loop I was throwing some jigs in the afternoon while my pops was farther up the shore baiting and waiting. He walked back to camp(camp spot was like 20 feet from his fishing spot) to grab a beer and when he got back his pole was gone from his rod holder. He came over to tell me because that was our lucky pole for the past 15 years. Anyways we were talking for a bit when I noticed a 4 pound trout kinda floating about 25 feet out. It disappeared and a minute later it floated back up about 15 feet away this time. I waded out about a hip deep and grabbed the fish.

There was a fishing line in its mouth so I called my dad over and he followed the line to about chest deep water and pulled out his pole. Guess it really is our lucky pole.

Nice story and thank you for sharing.

[909er]

Lost two Got two back!
one at Canyon lake, marked the spot and my buddy floated over threw a rattle trap and got it back (no fish on it)
second at ranch Jurupa in the rain and wind waded in got it back with the trout on it

[Mister.Twister]

Early 70's kings harbor first time on new boat. Set down pole it went flying and water bubbles behind it. Break wall using live bait. Set it down to help girlfriend poled went straight in air and caught it 10# wsb. PCH bridge. Using live mud suckers from rainbow bait. Set in down to secure pole holder. Went flying again. Dove in after it. High tide lucky i didnt drown. Heritage park Cerritos. Used chair as holder and lost my favorite rig.At that timr early 80 there was some huge cats and bass in there. Son got a fat 5# bass. In a stroller, 5 years old.