Every fisherman has a story like this, the one that got away. It was this big, blah, blah, blah….
“Should’ve been here, yesterday, they were really biting then…”
What-ever.
I was fishing on the pier, after an exciting morning and afternoon on the water. I had some dead shrimp, a few live ones, and one of my standard baitcast reels on a svelte 6-foot-6 pole. I’d spooled u some special fishing line, 600-yard spool of line was, like, 99 cents at the Bass Pro in Houston, 15-pound test “saltwater” mono-filament. On the very end was about a foot of wire, a three-quarter ounce sinker, a sharp number two (blood red) hook, and just the tiniest fragment of a shrimp.
I felt something tug at the line, I tugged back, set the hook, and I got ready to reel in another little fish. Only, this one pulled back – hard. Suddenly, the line was creating an arc, halfway around the area I was fishing, maybe twenty yards or so. I reeled and I reeled, the rod was bent over, and the line was holding tight.
Under the cover of darkness, one of the guys on the pier joked about it, “Yeah, that’s a snag, careful you don’t break….” then he watched as the snag rocketed around the corner of the pier, trying to take me with it – the drag (brake) on the reel singing and faintly smelling of burnt oil.
The tone changed, from joking to incredulity, and the crowd gathered. Eventually, I had the advice of a dozen strangers on how to land a fish that was “That big!”
One guy was stretched out on the dock, trying to get a grip on the fish itself, and I’m used to bass that can be handily yanked up by a lip.
“Man, what kind of fishing line is that?”
“Oh my god, look at the size of that sucker!”
“You can’t lift him out with just that hook, here, let me get a grip on gill….”
It was a black drum, about three feet long, and somewhere between 20 and 40 pounds, And eventually, he did make a getaway, The night before, some fisher person had left a net out on the dock, but, regrettably, the net was no longer there. However, I did have a crowd looking on. I not fishing for an audience, but sometimes, a little corroborating testimony is nice. Validation. It was more than three feet long.
I have a bruise from wrestling the pole.
I’ve heard tales about dock fishing and pulling in just such a large fish. I just never thought it would happen to me. And since there is neither picture nor fish, some people won’t believe it. But it did happen, and I’ve got impartial witnesses.
Which is why a coastal adventure is always fun.
Couple of fish on Sunday, but nothing like the monster “that got away,” bereft of photos.
Laeti edimus qui nos subigant!
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