rod down the hole

[icemania]

Took my sister in laws husband out for a day of pike and perch action not being much of an outdoorsman im trying to be the father figure teach him the basics, so here we are fishing for perch, have to set lines one rod type and one tip up. A friend of mine pulled up in his truck so i walked over to B.S. , looking over to see what my partner was up to he had a stunned look on his face like oh my god, where i was standing i couldnt see the the rod where i was but i thought i heard a splash, i asked w t f? he said the rod is gone!! it was moving then it went down the hole!! we had already caught a number of fish that day so he seen the routine obviously not getting it, it was an 80 dollar rod, i ran to my fishing gear put the biggest spoon on that i had and sent it down the hole, to my suprise i hooked something it was the line i hauled out the rod and the fish!! lucky for my instinctive married into the family counterpart otherwise he may have had a long walk home....

[dvsbruce]

What kind of fish was it?

[Gusman14]

That happened to me about 8 years ago.  I was trout fishing and I had a flag on my tip up so I went to check it out.  When I came back, my jigging rod was gone.  At least it was only a $30.00 outfit.  Well I pull out another pole and continue to fish.  About an hour later, I get a hit and I pull this 14 inch rainbow out that had my jig and line still attached.  I pull the line for a bit and here comes my rod.  I sure got lucky that day.  I let the rainbow go since he was kind enough to bring my rod back to me.

[gonephishin19]

Wow that would have sucked if you didnt get it back

[captain54]

Some how I got a split bamboo fly rod tip and I made into a great jigging rod,was jigging two rods,about 8.30 the bamboo rod go's down the hole,about 4.30 the handle bobs up the same hole,plus a bonus 9 inch gill.I liked that rod so much,I wanted to thank Mr gill so I brought him home to dinner.

[weeble]

yeah that's why u leave those type of people on the land or in the kitchen....hehehe

[howesfc]

That happened to me about 10 years ago.
I lost a $50.00 combo of the top of a 5 gal. pail.
I had my back turned relieving my bladder, heard a noise then heard buddies laughing and yelling pole in the hole!

[UP jigstick]

Why is someone else's fault when we lose our equipment down the hole? We left the line in the water and went and did something else. Come on people take responsibility for your own actions.

[fish time]

wow in 80 dollar jig rod wow the st. croix do not cost that much it must have ben a thorn brothers custum jig rod 

[jayswimmer09]

thats great you got it back!!

[fisherman58]

wow in 80 dollar jig rod wow the st. croix do not cost that much it must have ben a thorn brothers custum jig rod 

mayeb 50$$ st croix and 30$ reel =80$

[Zimmerman]

same thing happened to me walleye fishing and the next day i went back and i get a bite and i reel up and i see 2 bobbers comeing up through the hole as i look i see that  my spoon caught the bobber so i grab the bobber and i reel up the pole with my hands which is the one i lost the day before and then reel up the fish on it which was a 22 inch walleye that i released

[hrlevi1]

It happened to me this weekend, and I take 100% responsibility for it.  Here's what happened.  I set my tipups out and started jigging.  After a period of time with no action I thought maybe it would be a good idea to switch to a live bait.  I rigged for walleye with a treble and medium shiner.  Next I sat at my jigging hole with the rod in my hand.  Shortly after this one of my tipups had tripped so I sat the rod/reel down a foot or so from the hole with a rather large chunk of ice behind the reel to offer some resistence.  On my way back from the tip up I hear eeeeccchhhh - the drag being stripped, then a loud plop!  The last thing I saw was the reel going through the hole.  Trust me no amount of jigging got this one back. 

One thing I can say for sure was that there is not a more helpless feeling than the next 30 minutes after this happened. 

Lessons learned:  I will be more careful next time and the I will secure the rod to something that will not fit down the hole!

Best regards -

David

[snowman3406]

I've lost rods while leaving them unattended.  I was tending tip ups while fishing for pickerel, to come back and find my hand rods gone.  Luckily they were the 7-8 buck specials so it wasnt such a big deal.  This was years ago when i was younger, but it has taught me to make sure my lines are out of the water when i tend to the tip ups and such.  Itd be much more of a loss now, since all my rods are much better quality.
That is the reason i keep some of my older cheaper rods around, so that when i take newbies out, they can use them, and i don't have to worry bout loosing 30+ bucks down a hole.

[pot-belly-perch]

     good idea  snow....

[dbsturd]

Call me lucky but I`v neever lost a rod down a hole. If I do leave a rod unatennded I am carefull to open the bail and hope a fish doesn`t spool me. db

[hoboherbs77]

"The Green Hornet"

[JigAwhopper]

I never lost one in the hole either,  I use a rod holder attached to my sled and loosen up my drag real good if I walk away.   Then again,  I left three rod combos on the snow next to my truck after a day of fishing, so I guess I should shut up 

[WYIfish]

"After a period of time with no action I thought maybe it would be a good idea to switch to a live bait.  I rigged for walleye with a treble and medium shiner.  Next I sat at my jigging hole with the rod in my hand.  Shortly after this one of my tipups had tripped so I sat the rod/reel down a foot or so from the hole with a rather large chunk of ice behind the reel to offer some resistence.  On my way back from the tip up I hear eeeeccchhhh - the drag being stripped, then a loud plop!  The last thing I saw was the reel going through the hole.  Trust me no amount of jigging got this one back. "End quote"

Dear List,
After years of self acessmet, and ponderance of murphy's laws, I have determined that the longer one goes with out a bite the better probability of a bite while you are not paying attention.  Also is a sister law, rule of 32, when it gets colder than 32 degrees, all sorts of different physical laws take place (this does not take an engineering degree to figure out), like things freezing up (such as a lightly set drag or a rod easily sliding a 20 pound block of ice out of its way). Then there is a murphies law of wind~ if it moved, the wind did it (wind moves things sometimes unexpectedly, I live in Wyoming!).  So,  murphy's law of non biting fishes (nonbobberosity <not to be confused with non tipuposity which is a lack of beer>) + rule of 32 + murphy's wind law all equal or more than equal chances for lost rods, lost minnow buckets, lost ice skimmers, who moved my sandwich, I know it was here last time I looked, etc.
It is lucky that we can go fish, and come back home some days!
Best Karma to you,
WYIfish

[Fishin2]

If I need to leave my jiggin rod unattended for anytime at all, I have a few small tree branches a foot and a half long that I lay across the hole ahead of my rod guides. Has saved numerous rods and only takes a second to pick up ! Might help someone save a rod.   Mike

[POk3s]

"After a period of time with no action I thought maybe it would be a good idea to switch to a live bait.  I rigged for walleye with a treble and medium shiner.  Next I sat at my jigging hole with the rod in my hand.  Shortly after this one of my tipups had tripped so I sat the rod/reel down a foot or so from the hole with a rather large chunk of ice behind the reel to offer some resistence.  On my way back from the tip up I hear eeeeccchhhh - the drag being stripped, then a loud plop!  The last thing I saw was the reel going through the hole.  Trust me no amount of jigging got this one back. "End quote"

Dear List,
After years of self acessmet, and ponderance of murphy's laws, I have determined that the longer one goes with out a bite the better probability of a bite while you are not paying attention.  Also is a sister law, rule of 32, when it gets colder than 32 degrees, all sorts of different physical laws take place (this does not take an engineering degree to figure out), like things freezing up (such as a lightly set drag or a rod easily sliding a 20 pound block of ice out of its way). Then there is a murphies law of wind~ if it moved, the wind did it (wind moves things sometimes unexpectedly, I live in Wyoming!).  So,  murphy's law of non biting fishes (nonbobberosity <not to be confused with non tipuposity which is a lack of beer>) + rule of 32 + murphy's wind law all equal or more than equal chances for lost rods, lost minnow buckets, lost ice skimmers, who moved my sandwich, I know it was here last time I looked, etc.
It is lucky that we can go fish, and come back home some days!
Best Karma to you,
WYIfish

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I agree that the longer you go without a strike the better chance you will get one when you finally set down your rod. i know this because it happens countless times a day. People go to take a pee, or walk away to talk with people, and all of the sudden that persons pole is going down. Did it this weekend. Was jigging for about 20 minutes straight, my dad caught a fish so i put my pole down and looked up, looked back down to see the pole jumping around, picked it up and nothing. The only way to describe it is typical, i also hear that word more than a couple times a day. lol.

Same with fishing off the boat. The more deep in thought you are, the better chance you will get a bite and your thoughts become rudely interrupted.

[WYIfish]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I agree that the longer you go without a strike the better chance you will get one when you finally set down your rod. i know this because it happens countless times a day. People go to take a pee, or walk away to talk with people, and all of the sudden that persons pole is going down. Did it this weekend. Was jigging for about 20 minutes straight, my dad caught a fish so i put my pole down and looked up, looked back down to see the pole jumping around, picked it up and nothing. The only way to describe it is typical, i also hear that word more than a couple times a day. lol.

Same with fishing off the boat. The more deep in thought you are, the better chance you will get a bite and your thoughts become rudely interrupted.

I made a great grab yesterday even! Up on the bank calling to nature, see rod doing the dance. Grab trowsers and run.  Drop to knees at hole and grab rod as it is less than 1 foot from the reel going in, fancy red Ace Hardware holder let the rod get stripped out once it tipped over.
NEW TIP: Drill a 1 1/4" dia. hole 3" from lip on plastic 5 gallon bucket, 180 degrees across, cut slot 3" deep and 1/4" wide. Place 10 pound rock in bottom of bucket, lay rod in bucket and rod handle is threaded through the tight fitting hole. This will save rods. POk3, see my icefishing2 post on my web site.

[Carp1]

I too had this experience before.  Same scenario here in Indiana was fishing for perch, while setting tip ups for Pike.  I put my rod in the red wire holder too with the bail open, and went to see if my partner was marking any fish.  We heard a noise and turned to see my rod gone and the rod holder still sitting there pretty as you please.  I grabbed my Jigging rod with a jigging rapala, jigged it a few times off the bottom, and caught the rod.  Brought it up through the hole, flipped the bail over and began to reel in the line feeling happy as a lark to have retrieved one of my favorite pan fishing poles, only to feel tention on the line once it got tight.  I set the hook and proceed to land a 40 inch Northern on 2 lbs test.  That is a tale I will always remember.

[WYIfish]

"The Green Hornet"

Ah, the famed Green Hornet.   Below, my Green Hornet saver.  A hole and slot for the rod, and 20 pounds of ballast rocks makes it pretty much thief  proof (this picture took me 40 minutes to load, if I had a house that worked like photobucket, I would burn it).

Below: Rod-Henge, a pretty good set up with light drag, caught two at this hole today.

Here's one potential rod thief that has met his match in rod holders.


Score was bucket rod holders 3  Rod thieves 0
Relaxing catching fish. Secure rod holders make fishing better on the nerves.

WYIfish     ...to out smart something successfully.

[POk3s]

well definetely have to do that to some buckets! Great idea!

Last year my dad went to grab something he left in the truck, was about mid day.. Well it was just me and him and so I'm watching the poles, but am of course closer to mine when I hear a nice scratching sound. I look over to see his pole being drug towards the hole. O $h!* I thought, so I take off running. The rod was being drug in such a way where the pole wouldn't leave the rod holderbut tipped or something and who knows how this happened but it contortioned itself to where the tip of the pole was still sticking up but the rear end was being drug in. I slide on my knees (of course over the jagged ice that was once slush) as the pole goes takes it's dive, and slam my hand through the hole and luckily catch the pole. I immediately set the hook and........ nothing. Lost the rod holder, the fish, and scraped up my knee, but hey I got the pole....lol. Typical

[hollis]

I just take a pinch clip on the reel base and use a small section of 200lb nylon string and attach it to something like a pail top  ,.(small hole drilled in the edge) "IF" it went down the hole it would be retrievable.For other things, (like Aquavu lines with a close pin on the line)    I use one of these tops or a black freezbee with a slot cut in it and maybe a hole in the center to prevent things from dropping down the hole, and stop holes from freezing in very cold weather.

[walleyeslayer]

i lost the nicest rod and reel i ever bought after 5 minutes, i think a pike owns it now lol. i think it was a 60 dollar rod and reel, oh well

[hunters08]

"After a period of time with no action I thought maybe it would be a good idea to switch to a live bait.  I rigged for walleye with a treble and medium shiner.  Next I sat at my jigging hole with the rod in my hand.  Shortly after this one of my tipups had tripped so I sat the rod/reel down a foot or so from the hole with a rather large chunk of ice behind the reel to offer some resistence.  On my way back from the tip up I hear eeeeccchhhh - the drag being stripped, then a loud plop!  The last thing I saw was the reel going through the hole.  Trust me no amount of jigging got this one back. "End quote"

Dear List,
After years of self acessmet, and ponderance of murphy's laws, I have determined that the longer one goes with out a bite the better probability of a bite while you are not paying attention.  Also is a sister law, rule of 32, when it gets colder than 32 degrees, all sorts of different physical laws take place (this does not take an engineering degree to figure out), like things freezing up (such as a lightly set drag or a rod easily sliding a 20 pound block of ice out of its way). Then there is a murphies law of wind~ if it moved, the wind did it (wind moves things sometimes unexpectedly, I live in Wyoming!).  So,  murphy's law of non biting fishes (nonbobberosity <not to be confused with non tipuposity which is a lack of beer>) + rule of 32 + murphy's wind law all equal or more than equal chances for lost rods, lost minnow buckets, lost ice skimmers, who moved my sandwich, I know it was here last time I looked, etc.
It is lucky that we can go fish, and come back home some days!
Best Karma to you,
WYIfish

all i can say is 

[duramaxdan]

To decrease my chances of losing a rod I had went from an 8" auger to a 4", twice i had to leap and grab my pole to save it from gills trieing to bring it to the bottom. They will have to work hard to get the reel through the hole. But they can take my uglystik rod is nice but i feel the reels are garbage.