Heartbreaking

[brewer88]

Hooked a big flathead near cheatham dam yesterday night, they had a couple generators running so I fought him for about an hour against the current.....just to get his head in the net, break the line and slide out....
its always hard to judge size in the water....but it was probably damn near 4ft long, my buddy said my face looked like i lost a family member when the line broke haha...
any tips for landing those big cats in a boat? should I have tried to tie him off instead of using a net in that current?

oh p.s. caught a couple small stripers at cheatham on topwater that night as well, just before dark. someone was asking last week if there were any stripers there, not sure if thats a sign, but i caught 3

[TNBronzeback]

Not a smarty pants answer, but is/was your net big enough to land big fish? I had a similar thing happen to me before....net was plenty deep, but not very big around and netted the fish head first only to have a treble hook the net, fish thrashed and skittered back to the depths throwing me the "fin" on the way down.
Just a thought, wide mouth nets are worth it! lol

[MNfisher]

I'd have to agree, get yourself a big Muskie net, they aren't cheap, but worth every penny when targeting big fish. We used to target big flats in the MN River, we caught several 20-50 lbers over the years, they slide right in a Muskie net


Mike

[Reel Tune]

Yep, definitely bigger net or Boga, or Lucid grips tethered to your boat.

[browntrout]

Originally Posted by MNfisher

I'd have to agree, get yourself a big Muskie net, they aren't cheap, but worth every penny when targeting big fish. We used to target big flats in the MN River, we caught several 20-50 lbers over the years, they slide right in a Muskie net


Mike

But Mike sure does look funny with big that Musky net when is netting bluegills.......

Roy

[brewer88]

thanks for the replies, I'm considering this post part of my therapy (lol) but I will def look for a big muskie net, my net is wide enough, but i dont think it was deep enough.
im pretty confident ill hook another before I leave TN, and next time ill be ready

[agelesssone]

Originally Posted by TNBronzeback

Not a smarty pants answer, but is/was your net big enough to land big fish? I had a similar thing happen to me before....net was plenty deep, but not very big around and netted the fish head first only to have a treble hook the net, fish thrashed and skittered back to the depths throwing me the "fin" on the way down.
Just a thought, wide mouth nets are worth it! lol

TN, I had the same thing happen to me while netting a 10 lb + hybrid for a customer. Treble hook got caught in the net at the front, fish now has a solid leverage point. Couldn't get it the rest of the way in the net. Coupla thrashes later it pulled free and swam away.
Lesson learned.....if fish is caught on lure with multiple hooks, NO NET! Boga grips to land it.
And I use a BIG rubberized net too. Nothing worse than trying to get hooks out of a net after the fish thrashes a bit.