Not being arrogant here but I was proud of myself today. I went bream/crappie fishing today. Didn't carry my big tackle bag just my small crappie/bream bag. I did however do a little run down of things I needed to transfer from the big bag. My little bag has mostly what you want to carry on any trip but I added my little bitty razor sharp scissors, bug spray, and small hemo stats. On this trip I also brought my shakeyhead rod/reel and a tray full of robos in case the little guys weren't biting.

Well, the little guys were biting and I had a great time. When the sun dropped below the tree-line they turned it off. The bass were making quite a ruckus so I tossed a very light shakeyhead (didn't have a topwater lure with me) with a RI 6.95 Flirt in White Trash and reeled it kinda fast shaking some with the tip held high to stay near the surface. Second cast caught a nice 3-3.5lb. I get the fish in the boat only to realize it's hooked deep. I couldn't remember the trick for getting a hook out by coming in from the gills that pops it out easy and I didn't want to leave a jighead stuck in the fish. By now it has gotten pretty dark out and I have all the tools to get this hook out without killing the fish except one....a flashlight. I was very upset with myself for forgetting the one tool that was probably going to be the reason I was about to lose this fish. Luckily there was just enough moonlight shining so that I could see inside it's mouth and got the hook out with minimal damage.

The reason I say I'm proud of myself is because when I realized that fish was hooked deep I lost all concern about my new Cumara rod and Stradic CI4. I didn't even think about it basically being thrown to the side and literally getting both the rod and reel scratched and dinged enough that the resale value just went flying out the window. Yes, I devalued that rod and reel by $100 or more dollars but the fish lived and that made me proud. I know I did nothing more than most other anglers would have done but it still made me feel great knowing that fish is still alive and probably hiding in some cover ambushing minnows right now.

Good job

Very commendable, if only everyone else had your attitude about saving fish...

Good stuff. If I worried about scratching my gear I would never use it. I am rough on my gear, but I bought it for fishing not for show.

Goodjob

Good stuff. If I worried about scratching my gear I would never use it. I am rough on my gear, but I bought it for fishing not for show.

x2 good job. I am so rough on my stuff I don't even think about resale

x2 good job. I am so rough on my stuff I don't even think about resale

x3 I'm more worried about keeping my gear in good working order than looking like I just bought it. The fish don't care what it looks like! A few scraps and scratches just gives them character!