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A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
#11074488
08/31/15 03:21 PM
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 557
Lloyd5
OP
Pro Angler
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OP
Pro Angler
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 557 |
I've got a whole new reason for pinching the barb. And a very damn good one.
Yesterday I was fishing in the Brazos and the catching was awesome. I was catching so many fish that my right index finger was sore from holding the line against the fish. It was a great day, and it nearly turned disastrous for me. My son, who was fishing near me, thought what I went through was hilarious and laughed so hard he dropped his rod in the water - but for me it wasn't a bit funny - at least not then.
It happened fast, as bad things usually do, super fast in fact. I'd hooked another large bluegill. I'd been catching these giant gills all day, great big things averaging about ten inches, thick across the back and shaped like saucers so that I could barely get a hand around them to hold them as I removed the hook - the thankfully barbless hook.
I caught this one pretty far out on the cast and had a long way to bring him in, but before I got it halfway to me it made a run straight at me - faster than I could strip in line. For a moment I thought I'd lost it as I couldn't feel it through the slack, and with a barbless hook I just figured it had gotten free, but it hadn't.
It ran right straight to my legs, seeing them (I suppose) as the only cover in the water that is clear and open, and a bit over waist deep. The water was a few inches above my belly button where I was wading, and clear enough I could easily see the gravel bottom. The big old orange breasted blue gill got between my ankles, something fish do a lot of in this brushless open water - but then it did something no fish has ever done to me. It shot straight up the inside of my left leg and then on up into my shorts.
The shorts leg was billowing out in the water and I guess the fish saw it as a dark place to hide and headed for it, driving up as close to the family heirlooms as any fish has ever gone.
Naturally I jumped around pumping my knees up and down and grabbing at my crotch. My fly rod was out of my hand and I didn't care a damn about it. I was trying to remove a fish that was playing havoc inside my shorts. Seems it couldn't go deep enough into cover and kept trying to go further, pushing hard against all resistance.
I finally got hold of the leader and pulled it downwards, in order to pull the fish out. The fish was fighting the line the way only a blue gill can do, while up close and personal like. Stiff dorsal fins were poking tender flesh, my son was hee-hawing, and I was all but crying like a little girl. Then the damn hook snagged in my shorts. I am so thankful that it was my shorts it snagged in, a micron to the right and it would have been snagged in something much much much less desirable.
I managed to get my hand up into my shorts and around the fish but because the hook was snagged I had a tussle still going on. Using my other hand I turned the shorts leg inside out and removed the hook, and the fish. The fish was foul hooked - the hook having penetrated the flesh near its eye and turned and come back out. I had pinched the barb so I was able to remove the hook from my shorts and the fish easily enough, once I had gained control of the situation.
And all I could think of was how it could have turned out, especially if that hook had a barb on it.
Yeah, I'm a convinced hook pincher now, for a fact, and I'm thinking of getting some of those spandex biker's shorts...and the fish? It swam off with all the insolence that only a bluegill can show.
Last edited by Lloyd5; 08/31/15 03:24 PM.
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: Lloyd5]
#11074505
08/31/15 03:30 PM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 13,239
rrhyne56
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 13,239 |
I can truthfully say that I have never heard that one before.
"have fun with this stuff" in memory of Big Dale RRhyne56, Flyfishing warden
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: Lloyd5]
#11074870
08/31/15 07:00 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,863
formula462
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,863 |
a fish in hand is worth two in the "bush"
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: formula462]
#11075227
08/31/15 10:14 PM
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 557
Lloyd5
OP
Pro Angler
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OP
Pro Angler
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 557 |
a fish in hand is worth two in the "bush" Never truer!
Last edited by Lloyd5; 08/31/15 10:15 PM.
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: Lloyd5]
#11075308
08/31/15 10:57 PM
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 908
Fishwfly
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 908 |
Wow. Knowing your fine I could not help but laugh!!!! Crazy story.
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: Lloyd5]
#11075434
09/01/15 12:02 AM
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 715
Cowtown Kid
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 715 |
That is a very good story. I can only imagine how funny it was for you son to witness it!
Rick Irving "The Cowtown Kid" Kayak Fisherman and Real Estate Broker
Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics that it can never be fully learned. ~Izaak Walton
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: Lloyd5]
#11075645
09/01/15 01:43 AM
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 557
Lloyd5
OP
Pro Angler
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OP
Pro Angler
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 557 |
I don't know why all the crazy stuff happens to me...I feel like Charlie Brown sometimes. :-)
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: Lloyd5]
#11076356
09/01/15 02:03 PM
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,090
Crazy4oldcars
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,090 |
Oh, my! I was on pins and needles the last half of the story. I have had fish run to my legs and wrap anound my ankles before, but never anything like that. Too bad the Kid didn't get video. Glad to hear the results went in your favor. Kirk
"The cheese in the mousetrap is ALWAYS free"
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: Lloyd5]
#11076574
09/01/15 04:14 PM
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 621
chefmike
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 621 |
a funny story to be sure..................glad your ok Mike
".........the wood rod casts beautifully, and through it you can feel the heartbeats of the small trout." John Gierach.
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: Lloyd5]
#11079297
09/02/15 09:03 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,131
hook-line&sinker
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,131 |
Do you often use wieners as bait?
>)));> Wishin' I was Fishin' <;(((<
“Personnel is the most vital and important aspect of any industry. If you’re just going to grind them up, it’s not going to end well for anybody.” SCOTT REINARDY
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: hook-line&sinker]
#11079867
09/03/15 01:23 AM
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 557
Lloyd5
OP
Pro Angler
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OP
Pro Angler
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 557 |
Do you often use wieners as bait? A fisherman will do what it takes!
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Re: A WHOLE NEW Reason For Pinching The Barb!
[Re: hook-line&sinker]
#11081938
09/03/15 11:30 PM
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,306
Linecaster
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,306 |
Do you often use wieners as bait? Or Nuts!!!
In the beginning God created. Gen. 1:1 All things were made by him and without him was not anything made. John 1:3
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