I guess my most heart wrenching experience of losing some fish was when I was living in SC for about 5 years. I was doing some pretty serious catfishing down there.
Anyway, I had my boat tied off to a tree on the bank with about 20 feet of rope, tightened that up and then dropped the front anchor. I was fishing a flat point that dropped from about ten feet to 30 feet to the main river channel, in the upper end of the lake, where the river came into the lake. And, a large creek emptied into the lake, just to my right. I was fishing 3 or 4 rods, using the gizzard and entrails (from a gizzard shad) for bait. At somewhere around 10PM, all my rods went down at about the same time (I did not have rod holders, so just had them propped up here and there inside the boat). Apparently a school of channels were going through. If I recall correctly, I managed to land two of the ones that hit my rods at that time. Anyway, I strung them, using a very heavy duty(1/4 to 3/8 inch braided cord) clip stringer. Since, my livewell was small and would not accomodate fish much over about 15 inches or so. Soon thereafter I landed two more heavy channels and added them to the stringer. I was quite proud. I continued fishing, all the while feeling those good sized cats surging on the stringer and moving the boat. I got a few more hookups but managed to lose them. They would come to the top and roll and roll and manage to spit the hook. Anyway, all the action was over by midnight. I started getting ready to head for the launching area, started pulling my stringer up and thought, "Hey, it sure feels light for those 4 big catfish on there". But, I reasoned, "Well, given the buoyancy of the fish in water, I am not really feeling all of the weight". I keep pulling the stringer up and low and behold I only had one catfish left, the one I had strung first. He weighed between 10 and 11 pounds if my memory serves me correctly (that was 20 + yrs ago). The three other fish had popped the very large and heavy snaps loose, strained them open and gotten off. I was sick, cause I know some of those other fish would have weighed close to 30 pounds. And, I was wanting to get pictures.
Anyway, it taught me a valuable lesson. "Don't use stringer snaps for large cats, if you have to use a stringer. Use an awl type heavy braid cord or have a big livewell on board."
Anyway, I had my boat tied off to a tree on the bank with about 20 feet of rope, tightened that up and then dropped the front anchor. I was fishing a flat point that dropped from about ten feet to 30 feet to the main river channel, in the upper end of the lake, where the river came into the lake. And, a large creek emptied into the lake, just to my right. I was fishing 3 or 4 rods, using the gizzard and entrails (from a gizzard shad) for bait. At somewhere around 10PM, all my rods went down at about the same time (I did not have rod holders, so just had them propped up here and there inside the boat). Apparently a school of channels were going through. If I recall correctly, I managed to land two of the ones that hit my rods at that time. Anyway, I strung them, using a very heavy duty(1/4 to 3/8 inch braided cord) clip stringer. Since, my livewell was small and would not accomodate fish much over about 15 inches or so. Soon thereafter I landed two more heavy channels and added them to the stringer. I was quite proud. I continued fishing, all the while feeling those good sized cats surging on the stringer and moving the boat. I got a few more hookups but managed to lose them. They would come to the top and roll and roll and manage to spit the hook. Anyway, all the action was over by midnight. I started getting ready to head for the launching area, started pulling my stringer up and thought, "Hey, it sure feels light for those 4 big catfish on there". But, I reasoned, "Well, given the buoyancy of the fish in water, I am not really feeling all of the weight". I keep pulling the stringer up and low and behold I only had one catfish left, the one I had strung first. He weighed between 10 and 11 pounds if my memory serves me correctly (that was 20 + yrs ago). The three other fish had popped the very large and heavy snaps loose, strained them open and gotten off. I was sick, cause I know some of those other fish would have weighed close to 30 pounds. And, I was wanting to get pictures.
Anyway, it taught me a valuable lesson. "Don't use stringer snaps for large cats, if you have to use a stringer. Use an awl type heavy braid cord or have a big livewell on board."
He was close enough that the hook flew out of the water, though I nver saw the fish, only bubbles for what seemed like a minute.
