Have witnessed several such events. All manner of sh-t can happen in the midst of a good fight.
Buddy was fighting a steelhead and the tip section came off his rod and did a run down the line to the fish. Fortunately, he landed it. Had the leader broken the rest of his week-long trip would have involved 1/2 of a fly rod.
Reel just fell out of reel seat, so had to handline the fish in.
Winding handle came off reel. Lost that fish.
Bonefish circled a shell covered mangrove sprout cutting off an entire $80 fly line. Guy had to use a borrowed bait caster for the rest of the weekend.
Another steelhead - Tried to follow it as he was getting spooled and went over his head. Broke his fly rod in the swim and a fly box with hours of work therein floated away. I loaned him a spare setup.
If it's more than a day, I take spares of everything including a spare spare.
Oh yeah. One slimy looking character there. Nice fish though.
Last edited by 1minute; 08/30/22.
