Losing a rod to a fish?

[Quillback]

The catching the same fish brought this to my mind.

Talking to a buddy yesterday, he was out on TR fishing deep water, threw a jig out, set the rod down to cast at a top water blow up, and sees the rod with the jig he'd thrown out shoot off like an arrow into the lake.  It sank before he could get to it.  

He told me where it is, but it is in 50 feet of water.  Might be there for a long time.

[Dutch]

I know a guy who does that a lot when he sees surface action.  I remember hearing about that happening to Lefty Evans one time on Bull Shoals.

[DADAKOTA]

Take a metal stringer and tie off the single clip to some stout fishing line and then open the rest of the clips.  Cast perpendicular to the line the rod went out and drag the stringer around.  Found any rods that have went into the drink with this method.

[Terrierman]

I lost a rod night fishing on Stockton while I was looking right at it.  Happened way too fast for me to do anything about it.

[Johnsfolly]

I lost one last year on my Nov FL trip. I had a new reel that I was planning on using for shore fishing stripers and bluefish. I hadn't used it before. I didn't bring a 7 to 8 ft MH rod with me since I didn't want the baggage fees. So I bought one for $20 at Walmart and put on that reel. I was fishing a pier that did not have railings. I cast out a cut bait and set the rod on a bucket. With the current I didn't want to keep the bail open, but the big mistake was to not really loosen up the drag. The fish grabbed the bait and the rod was gone in 5 - 10 seconds. If I had one of my baitrunner reels I may have caught that fish. The guy next to me was using the one bench on the pier as a rod rest and he almost lost one of his rods but the reel hung up on the top of the bench before the whole thing ended up in the water. He pulled two large stingrays to the pier, which is likely what took my rod.

[Terrierman]

3 hours ago, Terrierman said:

I lost a rod night fishing on Stockton while I was looking right at it.  Happened way too fast for me to do anything about it.

In a boat.  With the rod right in front of me resting on the rail.  A proud moment.

[cheesemaster]

At least these stories have fish tied to them - I threw a $250 setup overboard because I lost grip of it - middle of winter so no diving for it in 7 or 8 feet of water. Tried to snag it for about a hour but never found it. I was bummed out!! That was about 2 weeks after my IPhone jumped out of my hands and sank like a rock - my wife wanted me to sell my boat after those couple weeks!! 😂 

[Quillback]

I lost a spinning set up in Grand lake once.  Dropped it about 12 FOW.  I marked the spot where I dropped it and spent about an hour and a half bouncing bottom with a spoon before I finally snagged it and got it in the boat.  

I put Cush-it rod floats on any rods I have that are worth saving.  They're kind of bulky and a lot of folks do not like them, but they have saved me 2 set ups so far.

[grizwilson]

16 hours ago, Terrierman said:

In a boat.  With the rod right in front of me resting on the rail.  A proud moment.

Hopefully you did not spill your beer in the process.

[Smithvillesteve]

In Canada fishing with my son. Time to eat and sandwich and take a break. I put my jig and minnow over the side of the boat just barely in the water to keep my minnow nice and lively. Big mistake. Rod shot off the boat like a missile. Probably a pike. Tried the metal stringer trick. Never could snag it. Nice St Croix rod with a nice Pfleuger reel gone!! Live and learn.