God loves a fool

Two or three summers ago, we were doing some late night catfishing at a nearby pay lake we go to when it's too hot to sit in the boat during the day. We hadn't done anything and were starting to pack up near the end of our ticket, when my husband says, "There goes your bobber." I had a cyalume stick taped to the top of my bobber and a couple of gizzard shad a few feet down. The rod was in a rod holder stuck in the ground, but a couple of seconds later, before I could get to the pole, he says, "There goes your pole." We watched as the glow stick cruised off into the darkness. So, I went up to the bait shop and told the owner I had forgotten to leave the bail open and that my fishing pole, with fish attached, was cruising the lake. He grabbed a pole, a net and my husband and headed to the other side of the lake, while I stayed with another fisherman spotting the glow stick any time it surfaced. The guy I was with kept casting to my gear and eventually snagged it, and handed his rod to me to reel in until he could grab my rig. At that point, we traded rods and I reeled in my fish - a 14# blue cat. Nobody could believe I landed the fish AND got my rig back, least of all me. Once I cleaned and respooled my gear, it was good to go and I've caught many other cats on it since that night. Goofiest thing I've ever had happen while fishing.

Whata catch. never done anything like that. Glad to hear you got it back and I bet the fish tasted even better. rotfl:fish

It would have if the lake allowed you to take fish home. BTW, the rig was (and still is) one of those rather inexpensive white North Bend catfish combos you see at your local Wally World.

Great story.
Always nice to get your gear back, even if it was on the less expensive side of things. Fish don't care if the rod cost million bucks or if it was a sapling of the local tree.