I donated a g loomis rod and a $100 shimano reel to the tennessee river today. Gust of wind blew it out and I couldn't get it before it sank. I was right below the dam with ten floodgates open so my options were limited, to say the least. I prayed that someone who deserved it would find it and that the Lord wouldn't let it sit on the bottom of the river to rot. It was surely a hard pill to swallow. About 30sec earlier I looked down at two rods and thought "I better move them". I didn't and it costed me. I hope somebody snagged it this evening that wanted one and couldn't afford it.

I don't know if I'da dove in after it or not but I would have been tempted to.

TEN FLOOD GATES OPEN? I think they're trying to drain the Atlantic Ocean.

I donated one about 25yrs ago (damn im gettin old)...wasnt the cost of the rig for me...it was SOMEONE ELSES.

I lost a nice Curado 200 over the side in about 12' of grass on the left side of Goat island. I went back with braid & a 3/4oz rattle bait & snagged grass for a while but never hooked it.

I lost one couple years ago. Bad storm blowing up to my north and I was catching fish like hell, schooling fish. I kept watching it get blacker and blacker and did not think it would come my way. Suddenly big as pop of lightning/thunder at the same time caused me to rethink my decision. I spun to lock the rods down and hit a spinning rig and off to the side it went in 22 foot of water. Old American Rodsmith with a not to expensive Shimano reel. Oh well, she gone and so am I. I headed back to ramp as fast as I could about 10 miles away. Never rained there.

Hard pill to swallow

Been there and done it. Almost lost one a week ago at a high school tournament on Wheeler. The two goons in my boat were trying to net a fish and kicked one over the side. I got wet up to my shoulder but somehow grabbed the end of the rod as it eased out of sight.

Had a buddy kick one of his out across from Honey Comb camp ground. Almost a year to the day we were jig fishing the same point and he set the hook. He caught his rod. Sucker worked too.

Sorry about your outfit. I've never lost one myself, but I loaned one to my grandfather and he bounced it to Lake Holley back around 1980. Pop usually wouldn't fish with anything but a pole, but I convinced him to use a spincasting reel that day so that he would feel like he was participating in the trip. He would have been content to just drink beer and watch me. I never could get him to use a reel again, even though I told him over and over that losing the rod and reel didn't matter at all.

I have donated a brand new Ambassador to the rod and reel Gods there myself. Saturday, I stopped going upstream at the Paint. At 70k, I knew it would be a waste of time to go further. Just started hitting places all the way back to Ditto. Not a single bite. Even the gar didn't want to play. The TVA found out Fur got a new boat, so they are messing with him by making the boat ramps high and dry.

Texas native the water was not terrible but the wind was.

Partner always had a bad habit of letting lures hang from rod tip over the gunnel. We hit some waves and one of his reels released. When the line ran out it snatched the whole pill out. Four rigs! Lesson learned.

Ive lost one on Tenn River but believe it or not I have snagged 2.

Found an Ambassador 5500 below LM Dam once, in the edge of the water on the gates side.
Still using it to this day, and that was probably 25 years ago.

Yup.

Brand new Ducket rod with brand new Shimano Curado reel, purchased the afternoon before I lost it. Never made a cast with it, it blew out of the boat in a tournament on Gville. After the tournament I with to GTO and purchased another new identical rod/reel, walked outside and as I was strapping it down on my front deck, the retractable strap slipped from my grasp and cracked the rod right in front of the reel! I almost cried. I walked back inside and they gave me a new rod.

had a fish jerk a rod out this year when I set it down to get a fish off for my son
Buddy of mine caught it 3 weeks later in the same spot, he kindly returned ot to me.
I tried and tried to catch it that day but could not. The hammer rod is fine the curado still works but man its loud

I kicked one out landing a fish for my kid that kept losing fish at the boat and getting disappointed and discouraged, I got the fish in the boat and the look on his face almost made it worth it . St croix rod and abu premier spinning reel , big $ for me anyway , 25’ of water . I feel your pain .

I guess we all have one of those stories. I was fishing one hot August afternoon and could not buy a bite. I figured I would run down river to another spot and half a$$ flipped my Rod Saver strap across my rods. A couple miles down river another boat comes down an adjoining river and out into the river I was running down. I wasn't catching any fish so I was not about to pass up a good chance of showing off how fast my boat was. I push her up to about 95 mph and was gaining fast. I catch a flicker on the front deck and notice the Rod Saver strap start peeling back the Velcro. Just as I start easing out of the throttle it rips open and two Loomis/Daiwa combos take flight. That made for a long ride home to say the least.

I do have a good story also. LOL
I was out Red Snapper fishing late in the season one year. We would downsize our tackle once the Snapper got shy. I was using a Bass Flipping rod and hooked into a good Snapper. The rod bent over so much it opened up the reel seat and the reel rolled to the side and the whole rig went overboard. We were in 80" of water so no going after that one. We fished the rest of the day at several locations in the Gulf. On our way back in, we stopped at that rig and tried to catch a couple more Snapper. My buddy that I was fishing with bowed up and said he had a pretty good one. He was reeling it in and said it felt funny the way the fish was fighting. All of a sudden he started laughing and said "you aren't going to believe this". He raised his hook out of the water and grabbed what it was attached to, the rod I had lost. It was hooked in the foam on the butt of the rod. He then proceeded to reel in the fish that I had lost the rod to.

I have a nice Calcutta CT400B on a 7ft MH Castaway rod. Any of you fellows are welcome to use it if you want, but you'll have to swing by and pick it up. I keep it stored on the bottom of Wheeler about halfway between the Guntersville dam and the power line about 200 yds from the south bank. If you do decide to borrow it, give me a holler when you're done with it and I'll try to come get it and store it in a more convenient place.

It was a day a lot like today that i donated that rod n reel a ways below guntersville dam.