09-05-2023, 07:03 PM
FOUND IT! Went back to Willard today to search for my lost rod. Started making "S" turns across the track my GPS recorded, and just before I got to a small squiggle in the track (where I'd cut the throttle and looked behind me when the rod went overboard) the Kastmaster spoon I was dragging came up with the line! You can hardly imagine my joy.
Turns out I was right: the bottom bouncer had gone overboard while I was on plane, and almost all the line spooled out against the drag until the pull was too great for the bungee rod holder. POW! And it was gone.
BUT...with over 100 yards of line out, and my track known, it was not hard to recover my lost treasure.
It's a setup I called Big Red. A Berkeley Cherrywood rod, and a vintage Ambas
uer 5000 red reel spooled with 20# Cajun Red mono - red from stem to stern. It was a special reel for me; I won it for the biggest bass landed in a tournament back in 1973, almost exactly 50 years ago. (A 7 lb 4 oz hog) One of the Made in Sweden good ones. Replaceable, but it wouldn't be THE reel I'd won.
Then I found a perfectly good set of needle-nose pliers just off the loading ramp. A great day for me. After six days on the bottom, the level wind was a bit gritty, but that's all the apparent damage. I'll take it all apart, dry and clean it, then apply all new lubes. And it will be used again.
Turns out I was right: the bottom bouncer had gone overboard while I was on plane, and almost all the line spooled out against the drag until the pull was too great for the bungee rod holder. POW! And it was gone.
BUT...with over 100 yards of line out, and my track known, it was not hard to recover my lost treasure.
It's a setup I called Big Red. A Berkeley Cherrywood rod, and a vintage Ambas
uer 5000 red reel spooled with 20# Cajun Red mono - red from stem to stern. It was a special reel for me; I won it for the biggest bass landed in a tournament back in 1973, almost exactly 50 years ago. (A 7 lb 4 oz hog) One of the Made in Sweden good ones. Replaceable, but it wouldn't be THE reel I'd won. Then I found a perfectly good set of needle-nose pliers just off the loading ramp. A great day for me. After six days on the bottom, the level wind was a bit gritty, but that's all the apparent damage. I'll take it all apart, dry and clean it, then apply all new lubes. And it will be used again.