Last week, I started a thread about people's best fighting fish. It was really cool to hear those stories. Now, how about weird ways you've lost a fish. Let's see how many ways there are to lose a fish. Here's my favorite lost fish story:

I hit my favorite first light hole on the Deschutes a few Octobers ago at (you guessed it) first light. On the Deschutes, it's not that the fish bite best at first light, it's more that if you're not in your fav spot at first light, someone else will be. The fish don't usually bite well until about sunrise. On this day though, Whammo! Before I could really even see, I was doubled over on a steelhead. It hit my #4 spinner on about the third cast. As I thought about where my flashlight was and how I'd try to land the fish, I saw a bat out of the corner of my eye. It flew right at, then "ting!" through my 10# mono. The damn bat broke me off a steelhead!!! In an instant, the bat was gone, but out in the water, I could barely make out a steelhead jump once, twice, three times, with the sound of the spinner clanging in its mouth each time. I just stood there in near darkness, totally stunned.