Passaic River 8/29 new pb smallie thanks in part to divine intervention

[tjc76]

Fished my favorite area of the river today for about 40 minutes. First spot no hits, nothing. I moved upstream about 200 yards to a very rocky stretch of river and on my very first cast while retrieving my heddon torpedo with the current it got absolutely crushed.

The stars were aligned. I had just retied after I found an overhand knot in my line. My drag was set perfectly, the fish made many frightening jumps where I thought I would lose it. I worked the rod tip like a pro and avoided stumps, tree branches, and boulders all trying to take this fish away from me.

I tired her out and jumped in the water to land her. I removed the treble hooks, and then it happened... the fish slipped out of my hands and into the water. Here is where the divine intervention came into play. When the fish flopped into the water, it got wrapped up in my slack line laying on the bank. I was able to pull her back in.

I will not give the size or weight, but I will tell you it greatly eclipsed my previous pb of 3lb 6 oz and 18 inches.

Everything comes with a price, however. While fighting the fish I dropped a plastic case with 50 dollars worth of xraps in the river never to be seen again. I stopped fishing after this fish as anything else I might catch would not compare to this fish. On the way home, I blew out a tire. So, 50 dollars worth of xraps lost, and a 200 dollar tire.

I would lose 250 bucks 8 days a week if it guaranteed me fish like this!