looking for stories of success where you guys have gotten good fighting or big fish on very light setups. for me it would be a 20# striper on 12# mono in the back bay of ww. looking forward to some of your stories!
pattyboy
I caught my personal best bass (45", 30ish lbs) on a jetty in the middle of August a few years ago. I was looking for Weakfish and using a 6' freshwater set up with 10 lb Fireline, 1/4 oz jig head and a 5" Finesse. I hooked it at the top of incoming and my friend got the net under it on outgoing, took about 35 or 40 minutes. It's first run stripped 100 + yards, I think the fish ran into the next jetty down or I would have been spooled. It turned and ran straight back at me and dogged me back and forth for the rest of the fight.
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Going waaay back, I remember catching a weakie that was 11lb. 4 oz. on an old fresh water spin cast setup with 8lb test line that was probably a couple years old. The line broke after the fish was in the net. It also broke on another fish after it was in the net that day. Won the pool on the Miss Lorraine out of cape may with the 11 pounder. Back in those days almost all my fish were caught on a white bucktail and a white twister tail. I brought the light outfit because i was able to cast it safely even if the fishermen were packed elbow to elbow along the rail. Only took a flick of the wrist to get a nice cast with a half ounce bucktail. The fish used to suspend a few feet off the bottom and could be caught if you could swim your bucktail a couple feet up off the bottom.
Back in the early 80's I would go fishing with my mom on the Bogan boats out of Brielle every year for my birthday. Late September Bluefin tuna about 125 pounds on a rental rod with 30 LB mono. Broke three off:fighting: before the captain told the mate to give me another rod with better drag. We got three fish in the boat between us.
When I was much younger, I did a lot of freshwater fishing. I used to fish for carp with an ultra light rod and 4 pound test line. Caught many carp over 30 pounds. Got spooled a few times. Spent many a day trying to recover a rod that the carp pulled into the water. Nothing like catching a big fish on light tackle.
The carp story reminded me of the time I had my daughter fishing for trout using corn for bait. I cast out for her and handed her the rod. She put it down for a second and started walking away. I looked over and the rod took off like it was shot out of a bow. A couple guys fishing out of a canoe snagged the line a little while later and I yelled out to them that there was a fishing rod still attached to the end of the line. Just then, the fish which was still on the hook took off and snapped the line. The guy in the canoe forgot about saving my fishing rod and dropped the free end of the line back into the water. Another rod lost. Never got to see the fish but I suspect it was a big carp.
Back in 2004, overnight chunking in the Lindenkohl, we had a flat line running about 50'+ off the stern hoping to entice a nice mahi. The hook was tied directly to 30lb pink Ande (no leader), using a calcutta 700 on a nice blackfish stick perched up in the rocket launchers.
Low and behold the reel starts screaming, I grab the rod only to watch all of it peel off in a matter of seconds. Down to the last few wraps of line, drag locked all the way down, thumb applied to the spool......fish stops.
40 minutes later the fish is just below the surface, one of my crew sticks the gaff in him and the fish goes balistic! Tears the gaff out of his hands and starts peeling off line faster than you can say HOLY S#!T! Deja Vu! Process is repeated all over again and the fish stops again with no more than 10' of line left on the reel.
On the way back up, the reel start grinding, drag is shot to hell. Side plate pops off, screw is stripped. It's a friggin disaster, but the fish is still on. Just about ready to splice the line to another rod when the handle starts cranking again. See color again, fish to the surface (gaff is gone), stick him again and finally the beast is subdued!
1 1/2 hours later......140lb Yellowfin!!!!
Low and behold the reel starts screaming, I grab the rod only to watch all of it peel off in a matter of seconds. Down to the last few wraps of line, drag locked all the way down, thumb applied to the spool......fish stops.
40 minutes later the fish is just below the surface, one of my crew sticks the gaff in him and the fish goes balistic! Tears the gaff out of his hands and starts peeling off line faster than you can say HOLY S#!T! Deja Vu! Process is repeated all over again and the fish stops again with no more than 10' of line left on the reel.
On the way back up, the reel start grinding, drag is shot to hell. Side plate pops off, screw is stripped. It's a friggin disaster, but the fish is still on. Just about ready to splice the line to another rod when the handle starts cranking again. See color again, fish to the surface (gaff is gone), stick him again and finally the beast is subdued!
1 1/2 hours later......140lb Yellowfin!!!!
Not a monster but it was a 16lb. 13oz. Bluefish on 12lb mono with a Fluke rig on the end of the line using a penn 710Z spinning reel had to chase him down a few times but it held the record in Sea Isle for the summer in the early 80s.
A nine pound brown trout on the north fork
of the Yuba river somewhere near Downeville
California.(sorry for spot burn)Caught on a adams
fly #14. I was using a 6x tippet so had to get in the
water and go down stream for about 1/2 mile
with the fish. It was awsome.
Also got an almost 20 lb (in case mahi mahi is reading) striper
on 10 pound fireline on an ocean city sodbank. Ran me all over
the place.
of the Yuba river somewhere near Downeville
California.(sorry for spot burn)Caught on a adams
fly #14. I was using a 6x tippet so had to get in the
water and go down stream for about 1/2 mile
with the fish. It was awsome.
Also got an almost 20 lb (in case mahi mahi is reading) striper
on 10 pound fireline on an ocean city sodbank. Ran me all over
the place.
My biggest fish was a 22 lb cobia caught on 8 lb test w/ my girlfriends pink Mart store fishing rod and reel on a Gold 1/2 oz Jensens spoon in Florida. The fish spooled me twice and I waded out twice up to my neck to retrieve enough line to beach land him...After I got him on the sand the spoon fell out of his mouth and all the spectators clapped. I also caught a 15 lb Bonnet Head shark with that same Rod and reel on the Fishing pier in Ft Desoto . Girlfriend was mad I stripped the drag out and blew the reel up in less than a month.
was in fl around 96... fishing of the deerfield beack pier... got a 25lb cuda on a bass rod with 8lb test mono on it... had a pic of it.. i was 16 yrs old.. mexican guy took it to eat it... was crazy it was like 4ft long.... used a bridge gaff to get it... hook was right in the corner.. i was going for little fish for bait
Oh wait i remember another and better one.
Fishing in my grandpa's lake in Florida with a hunk of steak from dinner*should of caught a gator but* 3foot 15lb gar on 8lb mono that was as old as me and kept breaking on previous fish on a freshwater bass rod. I was 12. Ill try to find the picture later.
Fishing in my grandpa's lake in Florida with a hunk of steak from dinner*should of caught a gator but* 3foot 15lb gar on 8lb mono that was as old as me and kept breaking on previous fish on a freshwater bass rod. I was 12. Ill try to find the picture later.
Nothing crazy but I had 17lb test mono on last season and in 3 hours from the beach I landed a 41 pound bass and a 56 pound drum. I hooked a 400+ Tresher on 30 pound braid. She jumped out of the water about 25 feet behind the boat and I went nuts. Then she went away from the boat and never stopped. I've also had plenty of Tuna on 40 pound leader when they are shy up to around 100 pounds.
I've also had plenty of Tuna on 40 pound leader when they are shy up to around 100 pounds.-
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