How much line......

dezza · Aug 28, 2012

During a fight have you ever conceded to a fish?

For myself it would be to an unknown entity that picked up my fish strip bait whilst fishing off the rocks at Plettenberg Bay in the Southern Cape ca 1979.

I never saw that fish, it just charged off through the surf and smashed me. I knew how much line it took - 200 metres. I had just filled my ABU 6000C with 200 metres of new Maxima 25 lb monofil.

As regards a freshwater fish, this has to be a Large Mouth Yellowfish caught on the Vaal River near Kimberley ca 1975. The fish took just over 80 metres of line - 10 lb bs.

chub_on_the_block · Aug 28, 2012

Surprisingly, the furthest i can remember was a tench of 2-3Ib on light float tackle with a 1.7Ib hooklength in Diana Pond Bushy Park. Hooked two rod lengths out it just powered out to the statue in the middle of this round lake - about 60 yards - before i could make any progress getting it in. There were lots of tench there that fought like that because there was no weed or snags to head for except the statue, but that one got twice as far any others ever did.

barbelboi · Aug 28, 2012

I’ve only been spooled once, on the Thames some years ago while barbel fishing. I’m not sure what the culprit was but I’ve landed river carp to 31.02 on barbel gear (1.5t/c 8/10lb line) without that much fuss. As I’ve never fished for, or landed, a Wells that would be my first guess.
Jerry
PS Two of my friends have had a similar experience – the jury’s still out.

terry m · Aug 28, 2012

Fishing for Wels during 1980/81 at Jones Pit on the Leighton Buzzrd book. Woke up in the middle of the night after days without a run to a screamer that could not have gone faster if I had hooked a train! My B&W Mk 4 Gs folded double, my gaithful Mitchell reel went into meltdown, I simply could not make any impact on this creature.

After a run that lasted 20 - 30 seconds, without slowing at all the line parted. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Gutted!

dezza · Aug 29, 2012

terry m said:
went into meltdown, I simply could not make any impact on this creature.

In the past when fishing deliberately for catfish I have tended to prefer a 6000C multiplying reel loaded with 30 lb Stren, in conjunction with an 10 foot uptide rod with a test curve of about 4 lbs I guess.

I totally trashed the gears of a Mitchell 410 in the 70s playing a big catfish.

flightliner · Aug 29, 2012

Ron The Hat Clay said:
I totally trashed the gears of a Mitchell 410 in the 70s playing a big catfish.

Wrong/right reel for the right/wrong job

.

Old pal of mine does guiding on the Ebro for cats and he,s seen big seareel spools crumble under the pressures exerted during a scrap/scraps with big Wels.
In answer to the OP 150 yards on the Trent back in the mid nineties, eight pound line on a mitchell 300. Never saw the fish near up but saw a BIG bar of silver leap downstream on the last few feet of line at the "death". Think it was a salmon or big seatrout

.

Sean Meeghan · Aug 29, 2012

For a fish hooked fairly in the mouth, the longest run I've experienced was around 60 yards. This was from a Chinook salmon which took my lure on one side of a harbour mouth and jumped close to the opposite pier a few minutes later. I enventually turned it only to loose it a few minutes later when it spat out my lure on which both sets of trebles had been mangled. Chinook have strong jaws!

I've only been spooled once and that was at Parry Sound, again on Lake Huron. I suspect the culprit was a foul hooked sturgeon, but what ever it was it put an amazing bend in my Drennan Splinflex!

terry m · Aug 30, 2012

flightliner said:
Wrong/right reel for the right/wrong job.

Old pal of mine does guiding on the Ebro for cats and he,s seen big seareel spools crumble under the pressures exerted during a scrap/scraps with big Wels.
In answer to the OP 150 yards on the Trent back in the mid nineties, eight pound line on a mitchell 300. Never saw the fish near up but saw a BIG bar of silver leap downstream on the last few feet of line at the "death". Think it was a salmon or big seatrout.

My sessions on the Ebro taking cats to 130lb+ when the Ebro was in full flood were with Daiwa Big Pit reels. Not sure of the exact model as I am not a Daiwa expert. But they dealt with the situation well. Not sure how many seasons they would take that sort of loading though?

mick b · Sep 9, 2012

I hooked a fish that forced 3 inches of my rod butt into my stomach.
The rod was a Fisher tuna stick, the reel a Penn 4/0, the line 80lb Spectra and the fish I never saw but it took a big livebait drifted over an offshore reef.

Yes I wish I had cut it off before I was injured or worn my rod belt, either option would have saved me the £3,500+ repair bill.

andreagrispi · Sep 10, 2012

In 1982 I was feeder fishing for tench - I'd had a good day with 4 tench, a couple of perch and roach to 1lb 11oz. I hooked into a fish at the end of the session, after a long lull in action. It slowly headed out, with nothing I could do to change its path or speed. It ended up on the other bank in some tree roots. My cast was about 35 meters and the lake is about 125 meters wide, so it too off a good 90 meters of line.

How much line......

dezza

Well-known member

chub_on_the_block

Well-known member

barbelboi

Well-known member

terry m

Well-known member

dezza

Well-known member

flightliner

Well-known member

Sean Meeghan

Well-known member

terry m

Well-known member

mick b

Well-known member

andreagrispi

Well-known member