Latest fishing tale: I was fishing for crappie in my boat on the Quinebuag River is easternCT yesterday evening, just before sunset. Casting a tiny 1/16 oz. crappie jig on a light spinning rod,(see the pic below) the fish were really hammering it...white perch, sunfish, crappie, all small fish but plenty of them. A few smaller smallmouth bass, too. 
Then I hooked this beauty of a smallmouth bass and he went nuts. On my 5’3” Loomis mag-light rod with 6 pound test line it was all I could do to keep him hooked...but I did, and I got him on board and weighed him in at 3 pounds, 7 ounces - which is pretty d**n big for a Quinebaug river smallmouth. 
Holding the bass, still in the lip gripper but in the water now so it could breathe, with my free hand, I'm now trying to get my camera out of the zippered pocket in my fishing bag....and then the lip gripper slipped out of my hand....
@#$#@!!!! Not only did I fear I'd lost my fish, but also that this beautiful creature was now doomed to die of starvation with a plastic lip gripper in its mouth. 
Then, in 7 feet of water, mind you - I saw the white plastic lip gripper sitting on the gravel bottom of the river. Unable to tell whether it still had the bass attached as I could only see the white portion, I knew I had to try to get it back somehow. Since it was sitting still on the bottom, I figured the bass had escaped somehow, though I couldn't imagine how. I had to finaigle my boat into position and drop the jig back down into the water so as to hook the cord handle on the lip gripper and reel it back in. After several failed attempts, I finally caught the cord and to my relief, the fish was still attached! 
So, back into the boat he comes for a few quick snapshots, then back he goes into the river, free now, and swimming off hopefully with more injury to his dignity than anything else.

Ha! Now that’s a good story. And nice smallmouth 

   I tell you what ....... with luck like that, you better go out and buy yourself a lottery ticket!    ?   jj

First off, nice bronzeback! 
 

Second, I almost did that once. I now make sure I keep the attached loop around my wrist. 
 

Third...good story!