Arizona Fishing Forums on AZBZ banner

What's your most costly fishing mistake

6K views 43 replies 22 participants last post by  TXRNGR 
#1 ·
Mike and I fished the 3 day Legends of Lake Fork this last weekend. I dumped a 11 lb to 12 lb pig at 630 Sunday morning. She came outa the water twice and UNFORTUNATELY we got a real good look at her. She wrapped me up in the Lilly pads stems and popped the Frog. My bait ended up stuck in a stem. I was using a 7' extra heavy with 50 lb braid. I have relived that minute and a half a million times since Sunday and still have not figured out what I did wrong or what I could have done differently. Long story short I dumped a $70,000 fish (the tournament big fish won A loaded out 2016 Legend V-20 with a 250 plus power poles, Gen 3 12's, etc.) Big fish ended up being a 10.50.
 
#15 ·
I thought about that. But I need a soft enough tip to not only work the frog correctly but also cast it at least 30 yards and this rod does both. The big key was long casts, if we crowded the fish at all they would not go.
 
#6 ·
I don't fish tourneys so I've never lost out on a payout or anything.

Fishing with my dad at Saguaro when he hooks into a nice one. I'd say 6-7 lbs. He gets the fish close to the boat. I take a swipe at it with the net since it was too far away for me to lip. The fish gets spooked and dives hard under the boat. I hit the trolling motor to try to turn the boat so the line doesn't get cut by the boat. Well, I ended up just chopping his line with the trolling motor. It would have been possibly been PB for him. I felt glad that I made it home alive that day!
 
#16 ·
We never went to the scales during TMX hours over the 3 days. We made the decision before the derby started to not lose valuable time going to get a $100 to $500 check and instead spent our time looking for an over.

Fork has a 16" to 24" slot. We caught some unders that would have won us some money (left about a grand between us) but again, wanted to use our time chasing a TOAD (our 2 best spots were 24 miles from the scales).

We caught fish between rats to 8 lbs during the derby but nothing over 24"s.

The 2 biggest overs won a boat along with the biggest under. The biggest under was 3.08 lbs which is a FAT 15 7/8 inch fish.
 
#9 ·
Shit, maybe like 10-11 years ago fishing a Wed nighter. Everyone was getting thier ass kicked by Brian and that other dude on the waterfall. Next tourney we got thier first and said **** it, let's use waterdogs.....anyway about 8pm after no bites I reel my in dog, then right before I get it in the boat a fish jumps it, it was solid 7-8 , I tried to jackpole it, broke it off but it's flopping around in the boat, my buddy tries to grab it, knocks a loomis with a stradic in water, and still ends up dropping the fish in the water...Kilduff won with a 7.5 lol



 
#11 ·
First mistake was catching the first fish (beginers luck), Biggest mistake was catching the second one! not only hooked a fish but also myself. That sucks to lose one like that. I was fishing a ABA tourney at Rosie and lost the money fish for the tourney because I did not reset my drag after cleaning the reels before the tourney and I lost my favorite Sammys
 
#17 ·
I wish!!!

This is a fat 8 lber, unfortunately it was only 22.5 inches long so we couldn't take it to the scales. We got multiple looks at the fish I dumped and it was half again bigger than this one.

Ive caught 17 fish over 10 lbs with a 13.2 as my PB. The one I dumped looked a lot like my 13 on the wall.
 

Attachments

#23 ·
Dude we've all fuked up, it's part of fishing. Just us averge local and semi local average derby dudes don't fuk up 70gs. I feel for you dude, learn from it and move on.
And when your reday to upgrade that pile of boat you got, I'm sure champ will buy it, for the same price as the last one
 
#29 ·
I am going to figure that lake out. Until the last couple months, I never spent any time fishing lilly pads. just not somthn you find in AZ. At Fork, some spots the pads are so thick your bait is barely in the water.

Ive got the trees dialed in, you just horse the shit outa the fish. If you break off, oh well cuz if you give them any room to run they are going to wrap you up in the trees and break you off anyway.

Until last weekend, I loved Fork. Now its a love hate relationship. :D:(

I am going back over Memorial weekend and toss a frog and buzzbait. Guaranteed I stick that big fish again and land it this time, there's no boat to win. :whiteflag
 
#38 ·
Franklin lol!! I remember that Wednesday nighter! Tom K. got that damn fish on a swimbait by luck. He saw what he thought was the shadow of a carp and chucked the bait at it. Those Wednesday nighters were a blast. I started fishing them out of a 14' aluminum deep V. Good time. My most costly mistake was agreeing to meet Kilduff for a test drive of the boat I still own. Bought that damn thing the following weekend and spent way too much on fishing tourneys and tackle but it was all in good fun. Been friends with him since so that's a plus!
 
#44 ·
Growing up in Tx and fishing lakes with LP's all around you learned real quick not to horse them once they are in the Pads. About the only other thing you could have done, is real in the slack and run over to where it was stuck and pull the fish and pad up with your hand. Had to do this several times.. Fishing LP's are a blast, but yes you do lose a lot of fish.

Nick


Mike and I fished the 3 day Legends of Lake Fork this last weekend. I dumped a 11 lb to 12 lb pig at 630 Sunday morning. She came outa the water twice and UNFORTUNATELY we got a real good look at her. She wrapped me up in the Lilly pads stems and popped the Frog. My bait ended up stuck in a stem. I was using a 7' extra heavy with 50 lb braid. I have relived that minute and a half a million times since Sunday and still have not figured out what I did wrong or what I could have done differently. Long story short I dumped a $70,000 fish (the tournament big fish won A loaded out 2016 Legend V-20 with a 250 plus power poles, Gen 3 12's, etc.) Big fish ended up being a 10.50.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top