How many rods and reels have you lost in the lake? 2024

spoon33 reply :

When I was a kid fishing for catfish at night, I remember I was reeling one in and had my other sweet zebco 33 on the ground with the button pushed for line to come out. However the line didn't always come out very smooth and a few seconds into my fight with the fish on the line, I heard a small splash by my feet and knew I was down one rod.

Last year however I caught a nice curado/all-star combo in the lake with a crankbait. Reel was a little muddy and rusted, but cleaned it up and it works just like new.

Anyone ever lost a rod and reel or caught one in the lake?

Stasher1 reply :

Last summer I was kayak fishing at Watts Bar, in the rain. Made a backhanded cast to my right and my Patriarch/Kistler crankbait combo slipped out of my hand.

Luckily it:

a) Didn't go far

and

Was sinking very slowly

I managed to paddle over to it and yank it out of the water before it sank out of sight...and without tipping the yak over in the process. Normally I keep my rods tethered to the yak when fishing, but not that day. :-[

Grey Wolf reply :

None but I have recovered a couple that other people lost.

Raul reply :

Lost ---> none

Gone overboard ---> 1

And actually it didn 't go overboard on it 's own, it "slipped" from my hand while performing a cast ( oh, yeah .... me ..... stoopid ! :-[ ) , man it flew like a rocket ! , fortunately I was able to retrieve it, the crank was still floating on the water surface.

brushhoggin reply :

uh, yeah. :'( i had a revo paired with a falcon cara jump off the deck before i had those bungy cord rod holders drilled onto the boat. didn't even realize it was gone till we got to our spot. i thought,"where's my rod?" i was thoroughly ticked off. i watched my friend fish for about an hour before i even picked up another rod. my dad gave me that set up :'(

ww2farmer reply :

I lost 1/2 of a 2 piece rod many years ago, fish on, rod came apart, line broke, other half flew into water never to be seen again. 2 combos have been dropped in but recovered. Cell phones, at least 3, sunglasses............too many to count, and once I even kicked my plano 3700 box full of terminal tackle over the side.

Crestliner2008 reply :

None. I'm very careful with my hard earned equipment. I carefully lay out the rigs I'm using on my boat. Some people I've fished with however, keep far too many on deck and I've seen a few close calls!

IwillChooseFreeWill reply :

I had one slip out of my hands but the cork handle kept it floating where I used another rod to bring it back.

rubba bubba reply :

Spoon - pretty sweet how you seeded your lake with a Zebco 33 and it grew into a Curado combo.

0 for me, but last fall a bud in another boat lost his favorite Rick Clunn combo off his foredeck when blasting between spots. Surprisingly he never even saw it fly off.

bugman reply :

I never lost a R&R but had to retrieve one set up two times in one day. Both times I was making long casts with a lipless crank and I hit my boat on the back cast. The rod was pulled out of my hand an the rig went in the lake. I was only fishing in about 5' of water so my brother was able to fish it out with his rod that also had a lipless crank. To this day he still likes to remind me about that. The moral of the story is to let the rod do the work. You don't have to cast with all your might. You really don't gain that much distance anyways.

ROCbass reply :

When I was 8 or 9 I threw a zebco spincast combo in the lake when I was casting and it slipped out of my hand. A few months later, my uncle was scuba diving in the same area and he found it. It still worked for a few years after that, but was never quite the same even after being cleaned.

tritz18 reply :

Never lost one but recovered my Dads combo when trolling for trout, only a couple minutes after he dropped it in the water. Very lucky day

Vinny Chase reply :

Last summer i threw my ribbontail out and right when it hit the water my dad called. I let it sink as i was paying attention only to my dad on the phone. Before i new it my whole setup was in the water being dragging by what had to of been a giant....

Theres $200 down the drain

BassThumb reply :

None, but there have been some very close calls where I almost kicked them in the lake.

bigfruits reply :

ive lost 5.

one was trolling, guess the drag was too tight. i like to think it was a fish and not a log...

i almost lost one off of a ocean beach pier in San Diego. the rod flew off the pier and was floating about 20 feet below us and we managed to snag it with another rod and line. on the other end was a 4ft shovel nose shark/ray.

the Shenandoah river has taken 4 of my rods. the loomis' do not ride in the canoe. i am now a firm beliver in portaging rapids and also not standing up to take a leak when youre 5 or 6 beers deep.

K_Mac reply :

I've lost two decent spinning outfits. One river smallmouth fishing from a canoe. I lack the skills and coordination needed to do this. : The other was lost in the local perched cooling lake. In the excitement of landing a very nice hybrid striper, I unhooked the lure and set the rod aside. Actually over the side. It took the fun out of catching an 8# fish.

Goose52 reply :

I lost one off a dock - a spinning rod - guess I had a light grip on it and during the forward cast it just slipped out of my hand; fished it out with another rod I had with me. This season, I will be fishing out of a canoe and will be trying to keep a better grip on the rod :

The Rooster reply :

Quote
I've lost two decent spinning outfits. One river smallmouth fishing from a canoe. I lack the skills and coordination needed to do this. : The other was lost in the local perched cooling lake. In the excitement of landing a very nice hybrid striper, I unhooked the lure and set the rod aside. Actually over the side. It took the fun out of catching an 8# fish.

That's got to be the funniest thing I have read here today!! ;D

I once nearly lost a spinning rod and reel to a bluegill!! Me and the (ex)wife were fishing at a lake, she laid the rod down at the edge of the dock we were standing on with a nightcrawler still on the hook and dangling in the water. I did not know this at the time. I turned around for some reason and she was looking towards me totally unaware that the rod was slipping below the surface right at her feet. All I could see was the handle and reel still above the water when I first made eye contact with it. I made a dive for it and put my whole arm in the water up to the shoulder and just caught the end of the handle with my fingertips as it was being pulled down. Water right there was 20 feet deep at least. I pulled it up and found an extra fat bluegill hanging on the end of it, large enough to have gotten a 1/0 light wire hook in it's mouth. Shirt sleeve was wet but I saved the rod and got a memory out of it.

The Rooster reply :

Quote
I lost 1/2 of a 2 piece rod many years ago, fish on, rod came apart, line broke, other half flew into water never to be seen again. 2 combos have been dropped in but recovered. Cell phones, at least 3, sunglasses............too many to count, and once I even kicked my plano 3700 box full of terminal tackle over the side.

Or maybe this is the funniest thing here instead. ;D

Since I made another post I'll give you another story. My brother has got to be the worst for losing stuff in the water. He had a basket stringer for keeping fish he caught in to keep. Was catfishing, pulled up the stringer to put another whisker inside it and then tossed it back into the water without retying it up again. The entire thing sank like a rock, fish and all. He then recovered it by tying on the biggest treble hook I've ever seen (looked like a grappling hook) and went snagging for it. He has also lost a rod by baiting it up for catfish and then went swimming with the bait still out. The rod went sailing by him in the water and he dove for it but missed. Never saw it again. He lost the end of my dad's 30+ year old reel in the water, never recovered.

But hey I can't blame it all on him. I once dropped a spinning reel spool over the side but still had the line in my hand up top. I started pulling it up and after a minute I realized what was happening. 120+ yards later I had my spool back and a bush of ruined line at my feet. That little incident was only just ONE of an entire host of events that went with that day. I'll save those stories for another time though, they don't quite go with this thread.

cart7t reply :

I kicked on in and had one go out of the boat going down the lake. = 2.

fishfordollars reply :

four

Luke at Gouldsboro reply :

i never lost one of my rods, but I was fishing with a buddy 2 years ago in my boat, He hooked me once and hit me 3 times his rod. The 4th time he hit me, I tore his rod out of his hand, and threw it as far as I could. It's still in the bottom of the lake.

The Rooster reply :

Quote
i never lost one of my rods, but I was fishing with a buddy 2 years ago in my boat, He hooked me once and hit me 3 times his rod. The 4th time he hit me, I tore his rod out of his hand, and threw it as far as I could. It's still in the bottom of the lake.

Is he still your buddy??

Ya know, depending on how many people were around, and how nice that rod was, I might have kept it and threw him in the lake instead. ;D

.ghoti. reply :

Quote

Quote
i never lost one of my rods, but I was fishing with a buddy 2 years ago in my boat, He hooked me once and hit me 3 times his rod. The 4th time he hit me, I tore his rod out of his hand, and threw it as far as I could. It's still in the bottom of the lake.

Is he still your buddy??

Ya know, depending on how many people were around, and how nice that rod was, I might have kept it and threw him in the lake instead. ;D

Rooster, you're wrong, twice. This is the funniest thing in this thread. ;D ;D ;D

bass or bass ? reply :

All my rigs are still in my possession.

K_Mac reply :

Quote
I've lost two decent spinning outfits. One river smallmouth fishing from a canoe. I lack the skills and coordination needed to do this. : The other was lost in the local perched cooling lake. In the excitement of landing a very nice hybrid striper, I unhooked the lure and set the rod aside. Actually over the side. It took the fun out of catching an 8# fish.

As I was posting on another board about wearing some sort of floatation device, I realized I have lost three spinning outfits. The last one was lost when I fell off my boat. :-[

RoLo reply :

My wife was fighting a good bass that got wrapped-up in bulrush stalks.

Seeing this, I dropped my rod and headed full-speed toward her bass

using a handheld remote for the electric motor.

On the way to her bass, the lure on my rod got snagged on the bottom,

and the next thing I heard was the splash it made as it was yanked overboard.

I dragged that area several times with a large weighted treble, but to no avail.

The rod was donning a Shimano Stradic, so I renamed that waypoint, "Shimano". :-[

I also had a Kistler Helium ll LTX, that slipped out of a wet hand during a clumsy cast.

This time I was lucky though, as I was able to grapple the fishing line.

However, I had to unload the entire spool of line, before the rod began moving toward the boat.

That was one of the few times in freshwater, that I was sweating the integrity of my spool noose

Roger

doublest reply :

I never have, but almost 55 years ago, my father, who was crippled, accidentally kicked his prized Pflueger Nobby and Conolon rod over the side of the boat while on a fishing trip in Canada. About 25 years later, a couple of guys with scuba gear retrieved it while diving near the spot where he lost it. My mother and brother went back there a couple of years later, and the lady who owned the lake gave it back to my brother. Much to all our surprise, the reel still worked perfectly. The rod,while glass showed some deterioration about the guide wrappings. Otherwise, it was hard to believe it had been under water that long.

RoLo reply :

Quote
I never have, but almost 55 years ago, my father, who was crippled, accidentally kicked his prized Pflueger Nobby and Conolon rod over the side of the boat while on a fishing trip in Canada. About 25 years later, a couple of guys with scuba gear retrieved it while diving near the spot where he lost it. My mother and brother went back there a couple of years later, and the lady who owned the lake gave it back to my brother. Much to all our surprise, the reel still worked perfectly. The rod,while glass showed some deterioration about the guide wrappings. Otherwise, it was hard to believe it had been under water that long.

WOW, that's a great story!

Not for nothing, but my first spinning rod was a blue Conolon 8-)

Roger

Big Bait Fishing reply :

had a decent spinning combo go in the water , was fishing for spotted bay bass ( off a small pier , salt water ) and had my rod up against the railing with the line in the water when a big ole' pelican swooped down of the railing and hit the line and pulled it over the rail super fast and it sank even faster . i didn't even get mad , i just thought "oh well" ( you get to have that attitude from fishing big swimbaits that get cast off and they are the sinking models and once they go down in 20-50 ft. of water there aint a dang thing you can do but write off 35+ $$$ ) but then three hours later i was throwing a deep diving crank bait and snagged the line . i started pulling on the line expecting it to come up at any time but after about 100 yards of 8# CXX on a sedona 4000 , i realized that i had set my drag really low and all i was doing was pulling off line on my reel . i then thought why not use my baitcaster to pull it up !!! so i joined the lines with a uni-to-uni knot and reeled my spinning combo up just took it to the public bathroom and rinsed it off good now i only bring cheapy spinning combos that i am going to set against the pier railing !!!!

scrutch reply :

I think I'm gonna get me one of those great big magnets and throw it out behind the boat next time I'm trolling and casting...never know what u might catch!

hooked@2 reply :

Never lost one, but had a close call once. I was 13 and just learning to fish a baitcaster. I had a horrible backlash. My father gave me his all-time favorite rod (Fenwick w/an Ambassaduer 5500C) to use while he worked on my reel. Well, I forgot to punch the button on a cast :, the rod hit the water, my life flashed before my eyes and I was out of the boat and in the water to grab it just as the rod tip was sinking under the surface. I must have leapt a good 15 feet to get to that rod.

My dad still says that is the funniest thing he's ever seen in his life. He heard the splash of the rod and before he could turn around I was flying through the air.

Bronzefly reply :

Fortunately, I've never lost any rods/reels in the lake, but I did lose my first phone yesterday on Guntersville >

burleytog reply :

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Fortunately, I've never lost any rods/reels in the lake, but I did lose my first phone yesterday on Guntersville >

Wondered why you didn't call.

DINK WHISPERER reply :

Just one Shimano Crucial with a Revo Sx reel. Both BRAND NEW, it was the first time out with the combo! >

scrutch reply :

Quote
Just one Shimano Crucial with a Revo Sx reel. Both BRAND NEW, it was the first time out with the combo! >

hurts just reading that one! :-[ :-X :-/

Maico1 reply :

Zero....But did retrieve a friends once....

Stone reply :

Haven't lost any but I have found some gear while fishing. I've pulled in a couple rods, no reels that I recall.

Thing is, the spots I go to can be pretty popular, and I fish from shore, so it's pretty rare that I dont find something. Usually just a few splitshot, or a pack of hooks. Had a buddy that found a nice Buck folding knife on shore once.

ichigo reply :

i had lost once but i got it lucky

i was using 4'6" wally marshall rod with pflugeger 4720x president

and i casted it with size 8 mosquito hook with worm and suddenty a eel eats it and go off with it and my rod fell to the water but the rod that fall in water was like 4 feet deep so i get it back and got 10 lbs eel on 6lbs line

Joe Boss reply :

I never lost a combo in a lake but when my son was 5 he lost his favorite Superman spincast rod and reel overboard while fishing on a friends boat. He cried for a good twenty minutes over his lost combo.

I would say 45 minutes later after we had moved to different spot my friend gets hung up on something. When he reeled his line in we were all shocked to see he had hooked my sons Superman combo! The current had carried it to where we had moved. We still have the rod today and when I look at it I am reminded of this one in a million bit of luck that happened.

Tin reply :

I had a close call of loosing about 8, lol.

I was running short on time and had a long way to go back to the ramp. I put the rod down and strapped them all down. I had so many on the deck because I was just out junk-fishing looking for whatever I could get.

So the rods are strapped down and I'm buzzing back at about 60 giving my non-boater a hell ride. I was doing just fine when I hit a big wave going a little to fast. Needless to say the boat was at about an 80 degree angle with the water and all we could see was sky. Followed by the opening of the rod locker because I forgot to lock it. Thus causing the Velcro to come undone and sending rods falling down onto my non-boater. Some how he caught all of them. :-[

scrutch reply :

Quote
I had a close call of loosing about 8, lol.
I was running short on time and had a long way to go back to the ramp. I put the rod down and strapped them all down. I had so many on the deck because I was just out junk-fishing looking for whatever I could get.

So the rods are strapped down and I'm buzzing back at about 60 giving my non-boater a hell ride. I was doing just fine when I hit a big wave going a little to fast. Needless to say the boat was at about an 80 degree angle with the water and all we could see was sky. Followed by the opening of the rod locker because I forgot to lock it. Thus causing the Velcro to come undone and sending rods falling down onto my non-boater. Some how he caught all of them. :-[

Every time I show off I get burned. great story.

ArcticCat500 reply :

Lost a brand new Revo STX and a Kistler Helium LTA 69MH the day the jonboat capsized, along with my tackle bag, cell phone and camera..and nearly my life cuz I was to stubbern n stupid to have a PFD on, or in the boat for that matter. That was nearly a $1000 day, not to mention the new line and swimbait :-[

zbigbadaaron reply :

Me=0, Brother=1

A catfish pulled my brothers rod in.

my brothers neighbor hooked and caught it about a year later

Jeff H reply :

I've lost one combo by accident and one reel on purpose. The combo was just a zebco 202 and some cheap fiberglass rod when I was 5-6 yrs old.

The reel was a 2 week old ABU Ultra Mag XL that had been giving me a lot of problems, got mad, took it off and threw it in the lake. Problem solved, bought another Shimano a few days later to replace it. ;D

gadawgsr1 reply :

I've lost two. The first one was an Abu Garcia Revo STX purchased from Spotaholic on here. I think I used it 2 times... That was the first time in all my 30 years of fishing off and on that I lost a rig. In fact, I remember reading on here not long before it happened about how some had lost their rod and reel and I couldn't understand how that could happen. I know now The very next time out I lost the rig I had been using for 15 to 16 years.

I had just spooled on some new line. Stay with what you know. I was casting a texas rigged worm when...--snap! The release of the tension from the 1/4 oz worm weight brought the rod tip straight down to the water and as it hit the water it came right out of my hand. It was one of those slow-motion moments. I dove in after it (I was fishing by myself) only to realize I couldn't see a thing and I had just seen a 7 to 8 foot alligator not long before. Needless to say, very quickly I put myself right back in my boat without my new rod and reel. >

As for the second one, I lost it a week later and the same exact thing happened except I didn't go in after it. I simply watched it sink out of sight.

Since then, I have added the rod life jackets. As corny as it is, I will NOT lose another one!

By the way, I did drag my anchor trying to retrieve the STX but to no avail. It still sits at the bottom of the Goose Creek Reservoir. :'(

One more thing. I took that line off what I had left and respooled with what I had always used. It hasn't happened since.

Hawghead reply :

I was fishing with a friend. He snagged a spincast rig and reeled it in only to realize that the spincast rig had a fish on. Reeled in a channel cat that went about 3 or 4 lbs.

We were bank fishing, and that cat must have dragged the rod in ealier that day or the day before and we snagged it.

I dropped a spinning rig one time off a dock when I was trying to catch a bass I had dropped and was flopping all over. I went shoulder deep when reaching in to grab it, I woulda gone in head first if necessary to get that rig. It wasnt especially valuable, but very precious to me.

Sam reply :

One popped out of the boat yesterday (Sunday) when I grabbed the net.

I never moved so fast to get it.

Had my E5 on a cranking stick and I was not about to lose it.

2643

How many rods and reels have you lost in the lake? 2024

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