I already had boated one fish over 4 pounds by swinging him over the side but had second thoughts about using the same method on another fish that I knew had to be in the same class, considering the amount of drag he was taking. Accordingly, I started reaching for my rubberized net while still playing the fish.
To get the net, though, I first had to move a couple of rods I absent-mindedly had laid on top earlier. If I had been able to use both hands, this evolution would have been easy, but with only one hand, it ultimately put me in jeopardy of losing the fish, as well as the rods. You see, the rods’ guides became entangled in my “tangle-free” net, and they simply wouldn’t let go.
Realizing my helplessness, I decided to chance the tangled nets staying tangled as I slowly slid the net over the side of the boat and guided the fish into the cavity. Once in the net, the lure quickly became dislodged from the fish’s mouth (and yes, also entangled), so I set the net with all its entanglements out of my way, weighed the fish and snapped a photo, then released it.
I subsequently embarked on a 30-minute odyssey trying to untangle everything from my net—all to no avail. It wasn’t until I had returned to the dock at day’s end and had put the boat on the trailer that I went back to working on the tangled rods and lure. At the end of another 30 minutes, which resulted in only being able to extract the lure, I reached for my scissors and made quick work of the rubberized net’s death grip on the two rods.
I’ve already ordered a replacement net, which is supposed to arrive sometime Friday, ahead of the tournament on Saturday.
The primary lesson to be learned from this experience is to keep a tidy boat. When you start laying things on top of other things, you’re simply asking for trouble to strike at an awkward moment. I was just lucky in that no one was around to memorialize the whole event on camera.
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