Heartbreak and Perspective

Hope

I stood on the deck, hopeful and focused.?It was the final hours of our annual trip;?I knew that it would be another rotation around the sun before I found myself on that same deck.?Trolling along the break, a tube was sent hopping along the bottom.?The line moved towards the boat, the slack was removed, and the hook set.

Excitement

The excitement induced with every tight line kicks in.??I back off the trolling motor.?Then, instead of rising through the water column, she starts digging.?"Uncle Danny, get the net!?She's big!"??I play her for another few moments and get her to the top.?Uncle Danny's got jokes but moves to the net when he hears the thrashing.?Excitement gives way to nervous elation.?I will not venture to guess the size, but I can tell you it was the largest bass I had ever hooked.?And yes, I saw the bass; no tree stump or brush pile on the end of my line.

Clearly not as happy to see me, she turned tail and sank like a nuclear submarine.??My reel screamed for several seconds (or an eternity).??If I tightened the drag, the line would snap like a wishbone.??I held fast hoping she would tire soon.??Then, without warning, the struggle ceased.

Heartbreak

Not a single expletive was uttered.?I fell to my knees, put my face in my hands, and remained there for several minutes simply speechless.?Absolute heartbreak.

The line revealed a clean break.??My equipment did not fail.??Moby Bass swam towards cover (you know, that brush pile from before) as instinct tends to dictate.??It was the edge of a hidden knife that sliced the fluorocarbon.?The next hour was spent combing over the area hoping to trigger another strike.?It had happened once before so why not again?

Alas, she continued to elude me.?I was truly despondent and completely off my game for the rest of the night.?Then?I realized, that in the grand scheme, this bass meant nothing.

Perspective

This bass was not the difference between a six-figure paycheck and walking home empty handed.??It did not cost me a fully loaded Toyota pick-up.?I had experienced a great deal of success on this trip. In fact, all I lost was a photograph and a bit of pride; one less?feather in the cap.?Perspective allowed me to move on (while confirming the?suspicion that I am not a professional bass angler one can find on the ESPN) and stop obsessing over a fish.

They say time heals all wounds but I'm still thinking about "the one that got away" in August 2018.?And that’s the key; thinking.?I have since considered what I should have done differently (namely using the trolling motor to back away from large rocks and fallen timber) and how I will approach that?situation when it comes again.

By keeping things in perspective, heartbreak will be minimized.??Every fishing trip remains an opportunity for learning and improvement.?To tight lines and photographs.