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It happened AGAIN!

Crow Terminator

Crow Terminator

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Joined
Oct 23, 1999
Messages
13,096
Location
McMinn County
A few weeks ago I lost what would have been my PB rainbow trout at Citico. I went back the next day at day light and fished for that thing for at least 4 hours. No success. I later found out why. My uncle by marriage, told me his nephew caught the biggest rainbow he had ever seen and when, where, etc. I had saw them up there that same day. Turns out they fished that hole later that evening and caught a 26" 6.5 pound rainbow out of it. It was the same fish I had lost earlier that same day. I had estimated it to be 6 or 7 pounds so I was pretty close. All this time I had been agonizing over losing that fish. What I should have done...etc etc. I figured that was my only shot at a big trout since it had taken me 30 years to get one like that on my line.

Fast forward to Tue, 4-28. I took my niece and wife to Tellico river for some fishing. I do NOT know Tellico well but on the Facebook group I'm on, they have been catching a lot of 4+ pound fish these recent weeks on that river, with a couple breaking double digits. We fished at least a half dozen holes and didn't have so much as a bite. We stop at one of the more popular places...I actually only stopped there because it was the only time I've been on that river and someone not be there. I figured it was probably fished to death but why not try. We made several casts and nothing, just like the other places we had tried. Then on one drift, I saw my line jump but never felt a thing. I put some tension on it and I felt it start shaking its head and then just held on. I said to my wife "this feels like a good fish" and as if that was the cue, it revealed itself and my heart kicked into over drive. It did a head shake like a bass and made one more run and was done. I went in to go get it when I realized my net was in the truck. I had got lazy since we hadn't been getting so much as a bite. I saw the fish was hooked really well and reached down to get the fish. I did...it was bigger than the one I had lost at Citico! This fish was around 28" long and I estimated 8 lbs. Maybe a bit more. I did a war hoop as I lifted it out of the water and turned to go back to the bank. When I did, it did a hard wiggle/flop and slipped out of my hands. When it landed it broke my line but didn't immediately swim off. I thought fast and dove on top of it. The water was about shin deep...cold...and well that fish wiggled its way out from under me. I lunged after it but it was too fast and gone. I just kinda lay there letting this sink in that now I had just lost ANOTHER Tellico Trophy fish. I don't know if it would have even fit in my trout net. For this reason....I have now ordered a salmon fishing net, and have scrapped my 4# fishing line. If I would have had heavier line, that fish would be in a picture post with me here. It didn't come unhooked, it broke the line when I dropped it. I can't win for losing on these big fish. All I wanted was a measurement, would have weighed it on my digital scales, and a picture or two for a TARP certificate and then turn it back loose. I made a few more futile casts and then just sat on a rock replaying the scene while I shivered from being soaking wet. At least my niece and wife got to see it up close. It's 3 in the morning now and I can't sleep from not being able to quit thinking about it. This is about the same as having a nice buck at 10 yards and blowing it.
 
I fished Missouri trout parks a lot in college and still go whenever I can. I use 2lb test and one thing I have found is when I tried to go to heavier line my bites went way down. It is awful having one break off your line, but if you increase you line you might not get the chance to catch one at all. I caught a 4-1/2 pound rainbow last year on the 2lb test, but if I wouldn't have had a net I wouldn't have caught it. I have found it almost impossible to catch a decent fish on that line without a net.
 
i slept about 2 hours and was up before daylight. I just had to go try for that fish. I prayed the whole way up there that somebody wouldn't already be there. There wasn't. I fished for that one fish or another one like it for 4 hours in that spot. I did walk about a quarter mile down stream and fished every run, pocket, pool I could see and did the same about 1/4 mile upstream. I caught about a half dozen rainbows between 9 and 16 inches in that stretch but not my biggun. I didn't even keep em. Took some pictures and let em go back into the water. After that, I decided to go explore some areas I had never fished and just do some walking to places that you can't see from the rd and might not be fished as much. Boy did I find some places! But everything I caught was stocker sized. That doesn't mean that there wasn't one or two golly whoppers in any of the holes...if they ain't biting, they ain't gonna be caught. Both of the big fish were caught on those pink Berkley trout worms. I don't know whether my chances might increase with a different bait or just stick to what has worked. The little fish love those pink worms too but I almost just wanna swing for the fences and use a big spoon or Rapala and fish for bigguns.

You may be right about the line size. My uncles trout fished all the time and they are who got me into it when I was a kid. They always used 10 pound line...sometimes 12. They caught limits of stocker trout but they never have stuck one of the big ones. Ever. I was fishing Citico one day last year when an older feller stopped to talk to me. He asked me if I was catching any, and I wasn't really doing too hot. He was on his way out with a limit and one about 3 lbs. I mentioned I had never caught one that big and he started telling me stories of bigger ones he had caught. The first thing he asked me was....what pound line are you using. I said 10...he shook his head and said "no wonder you ain't catching anything...your lines too big". He said he never uses over 4...sometimes uses 2#. So I got some 4# to try and immediately the first trip, I had my limit in about 30 minutes on a weekday after it had been fished to death all weekend. I have used it ever since and done quite well. I started with that trout magnet SOS line. It's actually pretty good stuff. Then I bought a bulk spool of the Bass Pro Excel 4#. There's like 1200 yards on that spool and that's what I have been using this year. I was already having issues with it...the knots do slip even if you wet em. The warning signs were there that it was junk...I was having little 3/4 pound fish break me off at the bank a lot...sometimes just them flopping in my net would do it. Most aggravating was getting little snags and would barely pop the rod trying to maybe get it loose and it would break. That spool went in the trash last night. I spooled up with some 4 and 6 pound SOS line again and in one trip, could already tell a big difference. Even with the 4# line equivalent. No break offs, no slipped knots, a lot further distance casting, and the times I got hung up, I was able to free it. I also have some Seaguar STS coming....gonna try using a fluro leader to see if that makes any difference in bite ratio.
 
Yeah I liked using the SOS line for the money. I tried some lighter trilene and it was alright, but would get some memory and be twisted. I have also used the Maxima Ultragreen, its more expensive, but it did a good job also.
 
Sorry you lost your fish.
But better to have hooked and lost,
than never to have hooked at all?

Crow Terminator":1i8s4rd4 said:
For this reason....I have now ordered a salmon fishing net, and have scrapped my 4# fishing line.
If I would have had heavier line, that fish would be in a picture post with me here.
Click to expand...
I'd speculate had you had a heavier line, you wouldn't have hooked that fish.

And with a fish that size, if exactly the same events had occurred when you banked it, that fish would likely have snapped a much larger line as well.

By the way, that old man you spoke to, might have been me :tu:
 
If you've ever talked to a dude at Citico wearing a fedora hat, then that was probably me. Last year I wore a black and white houndstooth one a lot...like Bear Bryant used to wear. I usually only fish on Tuesday mornings when I'm working but this year with the work closures, I have been up there about every Mon, Tue, and Wed. I bypass the weekends due to the crowds that hit them. I don't have a boat and no ponds to fish either, so I've become a river trout warrior. I'm wanting a trophy sized one bad now. I'm actually starting to put a plan together to go where the big fish really roam and are frequently caught after this shutdown stuff lets up. Thinking of a White River trip with a guide. One of my doctors goes out there every year and in my last checkup, we got to talking trout fishing. He took me to his office where he had pictures all over of big browns and rainbows he has caught. If I can get me a biggun with spinning gear, I am wanting to jump on in with fly fishing gear next.

I think the 4# line I had was just junk. It was the Bass Pro Excel 4# test mono. I had actually already bought spools of SOS to put on, and just hadn't got around to spooling it on my reels. I was having trouble with knots slipping when tying on a hook with the Excel and even the little 10 to 14 inch stocker trout were breaking off a lot by just doing their crazy little flops they do when you net them or swing em up onto the rocks. I spooled one reel with 4# SOS and one with 6# SOS. I didn't have a single break off out of 16 fish Wednesday and a few of them were bigger than average stocking size and I fished with the 4# rod/reel 98% of the time. I had just bought that Excel in a bulk spool at Christmas. I told my dad about it and he turned up his nose and said "well I could of told you that stuff wasn't no count". LOL
 

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