"Check Your Equipment"
(Nothing is worse than losing your trophy because of a 10 cent hook.)

by Zero AKA Bill

There was a time before I entered the wonderful world of engineering companies that I could fish in the middle of the week, man I miss those days. Well I was working for H-E-B a couple of years ago and was lucky enough to get a Wednesday in June off with great weather and perfect tides. So with an above average level of excitement (for me) I got up that morning and headed down to Access Road #3.

Everything was perfect, except for the fishing, and I just couldn’t manage a bite on any artificial I threw. So, after a morning of frustration I wandered back up to my car and decided to check out San Luis Pass before it got too hot to do anything outside, much less fish. I cruised down under the bridge on the west side and there was an enormous school of extremely nervous mullet pushed up into a little cove that I could see as soon as I got off the highway. It was one of those times that you just knew you were going to be on fish.

This was before I had been introduced to the world of topwaters, which I know most people would have thrown, so I went to my most productive artificial combination, a DOA shrimp under a mauler. First cast, third pop, the cork takes off like a torpedo and the rod is nearly ripped from my hands. Every mullet in my quarry’s path went airborne as the water seemed to almost explode and boil. It was the kind of hit that makes your heart go into your throat and your knees feel a little rubbery. When I fish the surf I prefer to have as much line as possible so luckily on this day I was using my Abu Garcia CB 6600, which had new 12 lb test on it. The drag screamed as the fish plowed its way out into the pass without showing any signs of weakening. It got to the point that I was begging to worry about running out of line.

Thankfully, the fish finally slowed when I got down to about 50-75 yards left on my reel and I immediately tried to get back a little of the ground I had lost on the monster. I remember turning the handle twice and then everything went horribly slack.

I learned a very important lesson that day, which is something I’m glad I learned the hard way when I was young enough to save me years of fishing anguish. Always check your hooks. I reeled all my line back thinking I had just gotten broken off, only to find I still had my entire rig. The only thing missing was the sharp half of my hook, the other half remained. The hook looked fine until, on closer inspection, I saw the rust down inside which I had previously missed, and it had corroded the steel to almost nothing. I could have lived with losing a fish to its strength and agility, but to lose one to my own ignorance still frustrates me to this day. I would assume it was a big red, but I’ll never know because the fishing shut down after that. It always seems to do that after nailing a fish on the first cast, so I tucked tail and headed for home.