Lost a Rod! What to do...

[slosh]

2 weeks ago today I was on Lake Tillery, 9 catfish rods out as gulls worked a school of shad nearby. The wind was ripping out of the sw and I was anchored on a sw-facing shoreline. A strong gust of wind pushed the boat to the side a bit, and in slow motion my Scotty rod holder flipped over and ejected one of my rods. Daiwa 2600C on an old Ugly Stik? Nope. Tired looking Mitchell 302 on a Shakespeare Sturdy Stik? Nah that one was still waiting patiently. Daiwa Luna 300 on a newer Ugly Stik Catfish rod?  You know it.

I watched as it sat seemingly suspended a couple feet under water for an eternity. I thought about jumping in but I was by myself, the water was still just over 50°F, and my boat isn't easy to climb into. I had cast about 20 yards, so at least there was line out to snag. I pried a treble hook off a big striper plug, put it on another rod with a big 3 Oz weight, and started trying to snag the line or the rod. It was in 23 ft of water, and that didn't work. After over an hour of this I carefully marked the spot on GPS, took pics on my phone for reference, then headed home.

That's where I rigged up the retriever: a metal stringer with all of the loops opened, and a 2 oz weight on the rearmost hanger. Unfortunately it would be 2 weeks before I could get back to the spot, but today was the day. I set the trolling motor to 1 dot (slowww), put a 3 Oz sinker on my line, then tied on the stringer. I started off to one side of the spot, dropped to the bottom and slowly dragged. On the second drag I hit a snag. Locked down the drag and my 80 lb braid and 5 turn uni knot held. I pulled up about 8 strands of fishing line, including some familiar looking green braid. A few pulls by hand and she was back in the boat!

Waterlogged, stinky, but a good cleaning will get her straight.

That metal stringer will not leave my boat from now on.

[MarkT]

WTG dude!

[MACflyer]

Metal stringer was a great idea. Glad it worked for you.

[Crow]

Good recovery!

[jgp12000]

Great save! I have used a BPS snagging hook before. I have had poles snatched off our dock & all my vintage rigs have rod floats.
Stuff happens...I recently did a juggling act with my favorite fishing pliers & then watched as they slowly cartwheeled  into the drink.
I do have a rare earth fishing magnet but the pliers are SS.

https://www.basspro.com/p/bass-pro-shops-weighted-treble-hooks

[work2fish]

Great story, slosh! And I'm glad you were able to recover the Luna!

[Mjg378]

Great job.   

[Gobi King]

Awesome !
Nice improvisation with stringer

[oldmanjoe]

I would like to see a picture of this stringer , it sounds more like a crab snare .