To throw my hands up in disgust.

 

Spooled my lexa 300 last night with fresh line. 15# CXX. Tied on my new Gancraft Jointed Claw Magnum 230 wanting to finally fish a day with mainly big glides to try and see if it’s something I want to stick with. Got to the river, loaded up everything, test cast a few reels to make sure all was good, threw the JC a few times to find its action in the current. Alright…time to fish. Fished an hour or so with some moving baits and neko/wacky/fluke. Caught a few squeakers. Sponnerbait fish. About 5 so far. Alright! Got the good vibes, time to toss around this beast for the next 4 hrs…First cast - heard a sploosh behind me, my rod whips forward so quickly, I’m thinking I broke my rod. My first thought was “awesome. Now I can upgrade my mojo bass to another victory of some sort for the same money as warranty”. Well, not so fast my friend. That 4oz, $130 bait is now about 7’ below my kayak.

Are you frickin serious Clark? I mean, come on my brother in Christ…

 

The “good” is that I know exactly where it is. It’s not in moving current, and I was honestly surprised that the water was 7’ there. It’s normally about it 18” - 3’.
 

So, options are to find some big huge magnet, go get a gator treble hook, or slide down a slide made of razor blades into a pool of rubbing alcohol. Option three is the least appealing, but unfortunately mostly appropriate. I tried a new knot. I tied the double San Diego jam instead of the normal single one. I can’t imagine that was an issue, but again, first time I’ve used that knot. 

I just can't trust any brand 15 lb line with 4oz baits.

7' deep, I'd tape a piece of PVC pipe on my net handle, a 5lb plate in the net and work/drag it along the bottom. Goodluck.

What's the longitude and latitude of said bait ❓😁

So the more I think about it, the more I’m at an even bigger delimma..

 

”hey babe - I’m going to run to bass pro and buy a magnet fishing kit” 

“what for”

”I lost a bait”

”go buy another one”

”ummm - ummm - ummm (crap what do I say - she doesn’t think I’d spend anywhere near $50, much less over $100 for any bait)”

 

😂😂
 

I plan on retrieving said bait tomorrow. I’m calling out the Huntsville rescue squad’s dive team. 

I would have went swimming and went home wet and happy.

Well, if you’ve seen some of my recent posts, I screwed my knee up on Monday. I didn’t trust myself trying to get in there at 7’ with bum knee. 

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

I just can't trust any brand 15 lb line with 4oz baits.

7' deep, I'd tape a piece of PVC pipe on my net handle, a 5lb plate in the net and work/drag it along the bottom. Goodluck.

Can’t disagree with the comment about 15#. I had/have used it with that reel for other things, but not the JC. I’ve thrown my K9 on it before, but again, not like I really put time in on it. 

1 hour ago, Bird said:

What's the longitude and latitude of said bait ❓😁

Around (34.5633603, -86.5468034)

Yeah, anything over $20 I’m throwing it on braid!

Moving forward......a Palomar knot.....knot ❓

I’m normally a Palomar knot guy. Nearly 100% exclusively. And, nearly 100% straight braid, no leader exclusively too. Should’ve just grabbed the 50lb 832 and spooled up last night…at least I have something to do now…

 

The water temp was perfect too…surface temp about 72…maybe I’ll go over there tonight and see if I can wrestle some gators for it…

Every lure gets the Double Pitzen  

His video for the double SDJ was what I used. I’ll try this next. Heck, if I lose another lure, I’ll call out NASA and see if they’ll locate for me…

16 minutes ago, Smirak said:

I’ll call out NASA and see if they’ll locate for me…

With their budget cuts? Better call the local diving squad....you'll get better luck.

Just now, MN Fisher said:

With their budget cuts? Better call the local diving squad....you'll get better luck.

Yeah, you’re probably right. We have a local branch of the ATF on Redstone Arsenal. Wonder if they’d help? 

1 hour ago, Motoboss said:

Yeah, anything over $20 I’m throwing it on braid!

I've snapped off swimbaits with 50 and 65lb braid. Now I only use 20 - 25 - 30lb CXX or Big Game.

I have gone back 2 days later to where I cast off a glide in about 16' fow, but right near a buoy, and successfully rescued it from the bottom.  If your lady questions the magnet purchase, just play this video, he's so happy.

 

scott

 

 

Update 9 May

 

Day 1:

Woke up this am. Beautiful, cool and crisp morning. There were 3 little birds pitched beside my doorstep. It’s a Beautiful Morning by the Rascals was playing on the radio. That was followed by Beautiful Day by U2. I knew this was going to be the day I retrieved my new jointed claw. Ran to Walmart, grabbed the magnet fishing kit that was showing $20 online, $15 in the store and rang up for $4. How could I not succeed? Since I saved $16, I ran by Harbor Freight and bought a larger magnet. Bigger is better, right? Thought, dad-gummit, missed the exit for the donut shop. Ok, whatever. As I neared the river, lo and behold I see a BRAND NEW (at least I’ve not seen it before) donut shop. So, stop and get donuts. There is no way I can’t find this thing now…went to unload, seems like it’s the best unload ever. Morning is perfect! River is calm, have about a 5-10 min paddle ahead of me.  I’ll toss a fluke along the way. Not one errant cast, no snag (no fish, but), beautiful day. Get to where I needed to be, dropped my anchor and thought “probably shouldn’t even drop it…I won’t be here long”.  First magnet fish “cast” and I thought this is too easy. 
 

I spent about 45 mins trying. I have been sober since 2019 and I almost fell off the wagon after this am. Ok, so after 45 mins of me thinking “this is the one”. If you didn’t catch that at the beginning of this post it said “DAY 1”, you might ask yourself if I got it. Re-read that I said DAY 1. Got in my truck and Loser by Beck was playing. Fitting.
 

Good things:

Water was down about 3” this morning!

I don’t have to paddle to said location - just walk through the brush a little bit

 

Bad things:

Got a call from the bait monkey after I got home that said the JC was no longer there. Something about him contracting out a night ops raid to retrieve it before this am?

Sun was brutal - cool sunburn where my knee brace was covering skin however…

 

I gotta take my son to Atlanta tomorrow morning for a climbing competition, so I won’t be able to go retrieve it tomorrow. However, I know that Tackle Warehouse is not far from where we will be tomorrow. Need to check out their Saturday hours…hmm…(no sunburn, no magnet fishing, no getting wet)…wonder if they’ll have a “special” deal tomorrow that I can tell Mrs Smirak about?

My friends kids have caught everything in the world with magnets…….. except a fishing lure or rod and reel. Matter of fact, they won’t even stick to rods/reels after trying on dry land haha. And they have a nice one that is 1100 lb strength. Catches tons of Phillips head screws tho 

That dang Mr Phillips. If you’ve ever used a true “Robinson head” screw (not the same as a square drive), you’ll never want to use a Phillips again.

 

This happened about 100yds from KBFs headquarters. I’m gonna text Chad and ask if he still has flippers and a snorkel from his navy days…

I’ve tried to snorkel down and find all the lures I’ve lost off my dock, it’s clearer than the TN river and I can’t see Jack down 7’. And it’s spooky down there 

Picture of my old fishing bud playing Scuba Steve, hunting his Deps 175 that he snapped off on a long cast with braid. It was only 5 - 6' deep and it's still down there somewhere.

The slingshot effect of the snap releases the lure...... it's way down river by now. 🫢

It is likely the lure got moved by the current or didn’t settle where you think it did. You might to call the USS enterprise and tell Data change the scanner setting to search for bait forms instead of life forms. He just might find it. 
 

One a serious note, I hope you find it. 

Well, in my after action review, I realized I was working with one fatal flaw. The you tube videos make it look really easy:
 

1) Throw magnet

2) Pull magnet back

3) Realize there’s an unfound Jackson Pollock painting on the other end of the magnet

 

You know what I realized all the videos had in common? THEY WERE ALL STANDING ON THE GROUND. THEY WEREN’T IN A KAYAK WONDERING WHY THEY COULDN’T GET MCUH “drag” WITH THEIR MAGNETS. 
 

Yeah, my Mississippi came out and I’m wondering why I’m not able to drag much ground. It’s because I’m in a kayak and I’m just pulling myself closer to the magnet, not the other way around 😂😂😂

 

On 5/8/2025 at 8:54 PM, Smirak said:

Should’ve just grabbed the 50lb 832 and spooled up last night

I recommend retying every couple of hours even when using the braid when casting those swim baits. I've broke off a couple A-rigs when casting them on 65# 832, after several hours without retying.