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Notebook: A true fishing tale with a reel ending Full
story:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/134790032_fish22.html
By Mark Yuasa
Seattle Times staff reporter
Even Ripley's "Believe It or Not" would have a hard time comprehending
this wild fishing tale.
In early May, Homer Dyer of Kirkland went with his son on a halibut
fishing trip out of Westport.
They were aboard the Tequila Too of Deep Sea Charters, about 21.8 miles
off the coast west of the Queets River mouth.
The morning started off well enough for Dyer, who pulled in a 41-pound
halibut and a nice 15-pound black cod before it happened.
"It was about 1 p.m. when I decided to drop my line down to see if I could
catch another halibut," he said.
But, before Dyer could relax, his rod made the familiar twitch
indicating another halibut was gobbling the bait. While he was reeling it
up using the rod holder for support, the rod sheared off behind the reel
and fell into the water.
"I couldn't believe it," Dyer said. "It was a nice Penn 30T two-speed
fishing reel that cost me $750, plus an expensive rod."
Skipper Ken Culver told Dyer his GPS could get the boat back to within 5
feet of where the gear went into the drink.
"We went back the next day to the same location and I remember telling a
couple of people about what happened, and that (Dyer) offered a $100
reward to anyone who found it," Culver said.
"On the first (drift) of the morning there was a guy fishing on my boat
who caught the lost gear, if you can believe that," Culver said.
"Usually when someone catches lost gear, it's a finder's keepers
situation, but since it was some pretty expensive gear we made an
exception, plus the guy got a cash reward," Culver said.
How common is it to find lost gear in the middle of a huge ocean?
"We've lost rods, and it is more common for someone to lose it and catch
it the same day because sometimes we fish over the same spots," Culver
said. "But I can only think of one other time in 25 years where we've lost
a rod and caught it again the next day."
Tidal flows, heavy undercurrents and rough seas make it unlikely for an
angler to ever find lost items.
"When I got a call from the skipper, I couldn't believe they had
actually gotten my rod and reel back for me," Dyer said. "This was truly a
fish story that even I couldn't believe."
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