i was salmon fishing on feather river in december 23 2003 have fishing for about 1/2 hour and i was using a new rod and reel daiwa baitcaster i make a cast and put one turn on crank and some thing hit my line and the pole hit water .i all most jump in from it but being in my 60s and at about 250lbs and no life jacket and the water in 40s . i said good by to daiwa pole,reel i watch them go under i do not know now big the fish was but i would like know. maybe if i go home to the lord he will let me see how big it was . george aka
troutchaser

Sadly, it happens and never to an old rig you would let the neighbor kid use.

hay az i would have ben happy if it was old rig but new one o well thats fishing right god bless george aka
troutchaser

that stinks and a baitcaster oh man try again and maybe youll catch it this time with your pole

i wil have to try that george aka
troutchaser

Yeah   it sucks to loose a good pole as well as a rig.
maybe this will help you feel a little better..
My father and I had gone to the local out fitters store and bought all the items we needed to make our own rigs .. they consisted of 1 bamboo stick about 7 feet long and about 8 eyelits and then the real
after we got the poles together we set out to our favorite fishing hole to try them out.
we both started to catch some good sized fish and the poles were holding up quit well .
anyway my father had caught a rather big cat and about the time he gets the fish to shore we could see that it was about 10 pounds. the fish bolted and jerked away from the grasp of my dad taking his new pole with it. Funny thing is a year later at the same hole and( I still had my bamboo home made pole) I saw this bamboo stick out in the middle of  the fishing hole .Not really thinking anything about it. I cast out to the stick . The water current must have swirled around the stick and I wasn't really catching anything . I decided to real in when my line got real stiff. Thinking I was snaged on something I worked the tension trying to get loose . I gave my pole a good yank and the stick out in the water came loose.
So I hurriedly realed in and as the stick got closer I realized that it was my dads pole that he lost . whats more amazing than that was the fish line was still attached and as I pulled it in on the other end was the skull of the cat fish that my dad had caught. I took the pole with his catch and had them mounted  I also put a plaque on the bottom  that reads (Its never to late- It just takes Time)

Crazy Gilley

I know how you feel. I was fishing at the state park the other day and noone was catching anything. I put on a Southern Pro curlytail and landed a 16 1/2 inch bass that definitely made my day! I leaned my $60 rod and reel against my vehicle and opened up the rear hatch to put my tackle in. The next morning, I went out to my suv and my pole wasn't there. I then realized I must have gotten in and driven off without it; leaving it in the parking lot; never to see it again. A sad day for me!