Lost Fish/Lure.........

[toothyfishman]

How about this for a boneheaded move!!!
I'm at Chaut. today and the bite was tough to say the least, all chatter on the radio was not good either.
I've got stuff running at all different depths so I decide to run something really up high...I change up my set-up and move some baits around to get that shallow running bait out away from the boat.
15 mintues go by I get a rip on the shallow rod, I grab it and lift the rod and see the lure tangled into the rod besides it and I can see the lure wrapped a bunch on the rod that was besides it and running deep. Okay I have the wrong rod, at least not the one the fish hit. I hand off the pole and reel up the other until I get to the tangle...it's a small fish so I'm not too worried about loosing it so I try to untangle the mess, then scatch that idea and remove that tangled lure from the leader,cut the leader off, the whole time I have the "fish rod" between my legs and the fish is pretty much slack line doing whatever it wants out there. Whatever fish do?
Each rod has different type line so it's easy if a tangle does happen so I just decide to cut the line and unspin the mess so I can get back to the fish.

I already mentioned I just moved lures around....so in my mind they are one opposite rods than they really are.....I cut the wrong freaking line....

Fish gone, 30+ feet of line, leader and a perchbait....my favorite one!!!
And a poor little fish swimming around with all that!!!

All I can figure is the back rod the fish was on the drag was tight enough the little guy couldn't pull drag so swam/drug around and tangled into the one besides it and caused the whole mess......the rod beside it ripped drag since it's drag was looser making me go there first.
What a mess.....

SO THE MORAL OF THE STORY.......DON'T CUT THE LINE A FISH IS ON IF YOU'D LIKE TO GET A PICTURE OR MEASUREMENT OF IT.....

PRETTY SIMPLE I GUESS.........

I know I was feeling pretty simple when the wife says,"what the heck...you cut the line"......"the wrong one"....

[toothyfishman]

My boy did end up with a mid 30's later on.

At the end of the day he said, hey, at least we got one fish.
Well....... if you wouldn't of cut the line we could of had two....

Yes. son.....we could of had two......thanks for the reminder!

[Red Childress]

Not many guys would have confessed to that one!

[toothyfishman]

As if catching isn't hard enough without chopping the line...

I called it a freshwater "leader release"...............

[ThreeRiversEsox]

It was good talking to you Toothy, and hearing that story first hand was pretty classic for sure. We got out there and trolled for a bit over the bait to no avail. We did have some action this morning casting the weeds with a few follows and a mid 30. That place is pretty cool minus the algae bloom. Thanks for the lesson and I'll always keep it in mind before I snip!!