Once the wind died and the temps rose to a level that I deemed acceptable, I got my chicken uhh, poop carcass out to chase the kitties. <br /><br />Started out just about normal. I backed the boat into the water and the boat moved a couple of inches and stopped. Uh-oh. I went and looked, and sure enough I had correctly removed the winch strap, but the safety chain to the bow somehow must have decided to reattach itself to the bow eye when I wasn't looking. Poop. Turns out one has to tighten the winch strap and re-float the boat on the trailer several times in order to get enough slack in the safety chain to finally release the hook. I had some serious words with the safety chain and I believe it won't be doing THAT again!<br /><br />I had a friend who wanted 5 or 6 catfish in the 4-6 lb range. I managed to get him the fish and made another not-so-smart decision. Are you surprised? Me neither.<br /><br />I had been using my 6 lb rig - the same one I have been using for some time now, looking for another IGFA record fish (a man needs to have goals…). I thought about all the time it had been used and fish I have caught on it, and that the first 50 feet needed to be cut off and re-tied. You know what happened next - I DIDN'T do it. This is not the first time I have made this particular error in judgement, but so help me, I swear that I will NOT fail to do it the next time that Mr. Commonsense knocks on that thick skull and whispers in my ear.<br /><br />I put a small whole skipjack (8") on the hook and made a very slow drift in a good spot, hoping for a good bite. I got what I wished for - a huge fish picked it up and the fight was on! He didn't even seem to realize he was hooked, just stayed close to the bottom and swam in slow circles, pulling drag every time I gained two feet on him. This went on for 20 minutes and I hadn't made any significant gains, when, for no obvious reason, the line just popped. No big run, no serious head shake, nothing. Just a weak spot in a worn line with a really big fish one one end and a nincompoop (a real word) on the other. I even had a witness, tbinchrist was out there cheering me on from his boat.<br /><br />Pooooop! Everything but my brain worked well today.<br /><br />Her are a couple of pics of a small fish and nincompoop, and a seriously loaded light rod before the line pooped, uh, popped:<br />