"Let someone else do it?"
Well, this one deals more with my brother's ability to keep it all straight than anything, but it was a gLet someone else do it?reat story, so I have to tell it here.
When fishing on the Wind River, most of the fishery is actually in the mouth of the river where it enters the Columbia. The fishable area is marked by large white buoys on the south and is bordered by land and islands within the several acre cove. At times, a hundred or more boats may be trolling in this area at the same time, so it can be a bit crowded.
Anyway, my brother had the duty of setting up the rods for the days fishing trip, and the fishing had begun. They had been out for about 15 minutes when they had the first hit. My dad picked up the rod and set the hook, only to watch the reel fall off of the rod and onto the floor, followed very quickly by the reel slamming into the first eye of the rod. Remember, this is with a bunch of poeple nearby to watch the spectacle. So as my dad is attempting to handle both pieces of what is usually a very effective fish fighting tool, he realized right off that there was far too much pressure on the line to try to get it back in the reel seat. So as my dad is pumping the rod, my brother is following the action with reel in hand, attempting to crank.
Picture it, 2 guys that are normally very efficient at this sport, flailing around with a disconnected rod and reel, and a 15 pound chinook on the other end (lucky it wasn't larger in this case).
So they figure the fish is beginning to tire enough to put the reel back where it belongs, so my dad grabs the reel and slaps it into place. Note here, though, that he uses an Abu Garcia Ambassador 6501, which has a push button bail release on the reel frame. Note also that he has big thumbs, or at least they seemed so in this case.
As he slaps the reel into place, he also hit the bail release, and the fish new it. Instant birds nest, with 40 or 50 feet of line between the fish and the boat, just to make things more interesting for those observing from likely greater distances than before, I'm sure. The only option now is to try to wrap some good line over the birds nest and pray that fish doesn't make it that far out again.
Sure enough, they finally landed that fish, and dug through the nest to get to some good line again and finish the day. But it goes to show you, when fishing gets competitive, you never let someone else set up your gear, even if it's your oldest son.
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