......sometimes help is not needed or wanted.

Last night at Galveston Fishing Pier, I heard the surf reel sing it's beautiful song as yards and yards of line went off the reel.

No doubt I had a huge fish. The fight was on and after about 20 minutes of fighting, I asked a guy fishing near me to assist with the pier net. It's me and him working hard to land this 40" plus bull red. By now a big crowd has gathered and is watching intently to finally see the fish on the deck.

So myself and the net man are working, just inches from netting the fish, then someone decides to help us a bit more. This person starts pulling up the line (I was paying attention to my net man and not anybody else, so I didn't know this was happening) and we all know what that means.

I next heard the horrific sound like a 12 gauge shotgun going off as the line snapped.

Trying to land a big fish should be like doing a dance. It should be 2 people only, one with the rod and reel and the other with the net. They should communicate with each other and everybody else should back off. They can admire the fish from a few yards back and they can admire the fish as it's being set on the dock, then photographed.

So by this happening what did it really cost? Since I'm catch and release it didn't cost me a fish for hanging on the wall or eating (please don't go off and tell me it's not good to eat a bull red, most of us are past that). At the end of the day all it costs was my ego. I guess I wanted to be 'king of the pier' for a few minutes as people would talk about the guy in the blue shirt that landed a huge fish, and it would also cost me a photo op for my Facebook page. So nothing of value was lost because I didn't land that fish. I didn't lose anything of any importance...........but......still........... the only thing is cost was the feeling of completing the fight and telling myself a job well done. I've caught enough 40" bull reds that I don't need another notch in my rod handle. Not only that, but he would have been placed back in the net and released to fight another day.

Why did I post this? Probably to vent a bit with other fishermen who've had the same thing happen, so I have my support system.

Maybe someone can read this and be prepared for fishing on a public pier, knowing there are a lot of tourists and persons who fish on piers that just don't know the 'rules of the road' when it comes to fishing. This is the price I and my wife pay for pier fishing.

But that's OK. Life goes on. I don't mind losing a fish, it's just the way I lost it.

Man you could have fed the whole family with that thing!

Let me add this.

What's so bad is the next time I hook a big fish and if people start crowding around, I going to tell them to back off. Some will understand, some will wonder why I'm having an attitude like that. I'm not a jerk, I'm just using past history to make sure what happened doesn't happen again.

again.........this is the price I pay for pier fishing.

@Red Fisherman,

I hope now you understood why i don't like to fish on the pier ,and i am fishing just on the bank at ROLLOVER PASS.....

Regards,

Jean

I too don't fish on piers. Drag the fish up on beach, get photo op and release him. Your story though reminded me of when I was a teenager. Mr. Love and me went flounder fishing. We were killing them all morning. Just as it started to slow down he hooked a big one. I grabbed the net, as I had all morning. The fish looked huge. Biggest flounder I had ever seen. The old man was really excited, telling me to get the net under it. Thats when I bumped the flounder and watched him swim off. That old man did speak to me the rest of the day. Don't fret too much, you will get another chance to be king of the pier. Of course Mr.Love died without ever catching his monster flounder. Man I feel bad.

Jean, I've fished Rollover a couple of times and have been shutout. Plus I've lost a bit of tackle there. No doubt as many times as you've been there, you know the ropes. I would love to pull up a chair and fish with you one day. No doubt your coaching and guidance would be invaluable.

But there is one other thing about Rollover..........facilities for ladies when nature calls. The wife is a great girl, but holds the line on port-a-cans.

Hey Red Fisherman, read the story and I am glad you shared the experience here. I don't get to fish the salt often, but it is usually on a public pier when I do. I have seen bull reds that were already landed on the pier and I could not figure out how in the world they were able to bring the fish up. thanks to this forum, and the internet I now know it's called a pier net (go figure), but have never seen one being deployed to this day.

Your intention of posting was to help educate. I am going to remember this story the next time I go out to Galveston.

My personal best for Red Drum is 27.5" caught from a "party boat" on a half day trip when my fish was the only game fish brought to the rail. Nothing but sharks were biting that day.
the majority of my catches go right back to swim off, but I decided to keep this one. Back on land,the fish guy at the dock was cleaning it for me when I heard a splash. He did not lose the entire fish, but one side of the fillet slid off the cutting board and into the drink. He apologized, and I forgave him. I know he did not purposely lose it.

Losing them really stays with you. but I think you handled it well. Thanks for informing me that even on the pier, there are unspoken rules to live by.

Around 15 bucks at Academy. It's really called a bridge and pier net. It's the best 15 bucks you can spend. In my early days of fishing (I started after Hurricane Ike) I lost a couple of bull reds at Seawolf because I didn't have a net.






That was really my intent, along with a wee bit of venting. Thanks for acknowledging what this post was mostly about.

I feel your pain. I had the same thing happen to me over at the Surfside jetty. I hooked onto something monster on my trout rod and it just kept taking line. I had my drag set just right knowing the more line it takes out there will be a marked increase in drag as the line on your reel gets less. Then suddenly some "helpful" guy decides to come over and tighten my drag for me. For one, when fishing do not ever touch anyone's gear without permission, common etiquette and courtesy. Secondly, if no one asks for your help, just stay out of the way and watch, or offer it, don't just jump in and do it. I was fuming and the guy backed away and left my spot. I hope karma comes back to bite him where the sun don't shine.

I have one of those nets and here's a tip for it.

Swap out the main rope to one that's not so skinny and tie a few knots in it along the way. Makes it a LOT easier !

This is my second one.

One night at Galveston Fishing Pier a 4 foot plus blacktip took offense to being netted and he messed it up pretty well.

I had a similar incident happen to me on Bob Hall Pier in Corpus one time. Had a big red on the line, the wind was blowing hard and the surf was nasty. So fighting the fish was made even tougher by the conditions. My friend was assisting me in trying to land this thing, and a crowd had already gathered around. As we were about to net it, someone tried to step in and grab the line and pull it out of the water. As soon as he did, the line snapped. The fish was oversized and would have most likely been released. But something like that hurts the ego something fierce. The whole pier watched me in my defeat.

Some people have no understanding of personal space...

That's why I won't fish on a pier or jetties if it's crowded or it starts to get crowded because there is no fishing etiquette/courtesy with some of the wanna be's that attempt to fish on them. They will come throw over your line, crowd you if you catch something (even a small hardhead), and not even have the common sense that they are doing something against the "rules" of fishing. What's even worse is when they have their kids w/ them and they show them how "not" to be towards other fisherman and you just create a new generation of rudeness. I've had a few choice words w/ some folks that have done it to me and they think I'm the a-hole. They are just ignorant!

Exactly what happened to me.