Last Time You Were Totally Pumped

I can clearly remember a Tarpon in Nicaragua that was 200# plus and 8' long, a huge fish where 100-150 # Tarpon are seen every day. Almost spooled me then tug o war for what seemed like an eternity of runs and jumps. Had the damn thing to the boat 4 or 5 times, guide had the leader multiple times and poof...gone again. The last time it jumped right next to the boat, over my head, landed on the rod , broke it at the stripping guide. Tail hit my wrist so hard left a nasty bruise...kept fighting it until a run and a jump and it was gone.
Shaking...exhausted, drenched in sweat from the heat and humidity...it was awesome...just an incredible rush.

Fish of a lifetime gone in a cluster fuck of epic proportions and it didn't much matter...the experience did though.
 
DimeBrite said:
Any new saltwater species I hook gets me pumped.
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Can identify. That's the perfect way to look at it.....for me. Always get super stoked on the species that are new to me and are not really talked about for whatever reason. I get a shit eating grin on my face just thinking about that big ole Pargo that I never had a chance to even see!
 
Mossback said:
One thing I've found...
You always remember the big fish that got away, kicked your ass, and never got the pic of.
But you can still see them in your mind, leaping out of the water or just under the surface high tailing it away from you...
Better than a pic in my view.
:)
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Chirpin' in on this one. My buddy and I were up on the Thompson staying in the Acacia Grove's lucky cabin # 7. Two guys in the cabin next door knocked on our door with a 6 pack. I went to bed when it became apparent my buddy and the two visitors were going to PARTY. The next morning my buddy was sleeping it off so I grabbed the keys to his truck, loaded my spey rod and headed towards the river. There were two guys staged at the Top of the Wye (or is it "Y"?) so I moved downstream to where an island splits the river. On my first cast a fish hit so hard that I damn near had the rod jerked out of my hand. And that was it. A huge, hard slam and gone; no more. I still remember how hard my heart was beating and the thrill of the take (20 years ago give or take), got my ass kicked and no hook up. I was bummed but more so, I was pumped.
 
Maybe I'm a micro-doser. I get uber-stoked for a split second with every little tug. There's pure unfiltered rapture in that first sensation before my conscious self has a chance to process the sensory input. In that moment I'm like Darren McGavin in Christmas Story looking at his Fragile special delivery exclaiming "There could be anything in there!!"
 
Mossback said:
One thing I've found...
You always remember the big fish that got away, kicked your ass, and never got the pic of.
But you can still see them in your mind, leaping out of the water or just under the surface high tailing it away from you...
Better than a pic in my view.
:)
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Yup , I hooked what we estimated to be a 25” plus Rainbow on the Bighorn in April this year , He was pretty close to the boat when hooked , and probably at least three feet out of the water when he jumped , got a nice look before he hit the water , and broke off . Not even sure what I could of done to have a chance at him . It was an exciting two seconds . 😄 Here’s a sample of a couple few we caught just over 20” . IMG_2773.pngIMG_2776.png
 
Brute said:
I always get pumped just prepping for any trip…
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same....although the worst is not sleeping an ounce the night before. Hell, sometimes I have trouble sleeping the night before a musky day trip.

I guess that's how you know that you've got it bad.
 
What gets my heart pumping is getting a "newbie" into fish, especially if said fish is some sort of anadromous fish. Even more exciting is when that newbie is a kid!

The best every was some 45 years ago when during the Skagit pink run, I was able to get a half dozen of the local kids into their first salmon. Don't know whether the smile on their face or their mother's face was more gratifying as they return home with their fillets and a recipe for the preparation of their salmon. Without a doubt my best pink season and I never caught a single fish!

Curt
 
Smalma said:
What gets my heart pumping is getting a "newbie" into fish, especially if said fish is some sort of anadromous fish. Even more exciting is when that newbie is a kid!

The best every was some 45 years ago when during the Skagit pink run, I was able to get a half dozen of the local kids into their first salmon. Don't know whether the smile on their face or their mother's face was more gratifying as they return home with their fillets and a recipe for the preparation of their salmon. Without a doubt my best pink season and I never caught a single fish!

Curt
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This I relate to. I get way more excited when I succeed at giving someone a first experience
 
If you want a real rush try poling a skiff when your 13 year old son hooks and lands his very first tarpon and the fish is pushing 130. A day that will never be forgotten. By either of us.
 
I've been told by a few forum members that the day I caught my first topwater albacore I was mildly excited....but I dunno, I think may be exaggerating


Honestly I get pretty damned excited when I'm fishing. Whether it's 15" rezzies or 35 lb albacore, fishing tends to get me excited. Any more though, I tend to get the most excited any time my planning and hard work pays off. To me, guiding and running a charter boat is as much about processing information, planning, and decision making as it is about anything actually fishing related. When those things come together and people start catching fish, that gets me as pumped as anything.
 
I get excited over most fish I catch. If I didn’t, I would not fish.

A lot of firsts stand out. My first adult coho off the beach, my first chinook off the beach. My first big small mouth and largemouth on a fly. First tuna, flats fish, tarpon (juevinile). My first fish landed on the fly… a feisty 15-16 inch rainbow that slurped a trico in Montana. My first bull trout, etc. l The most excited I am is the night before fishing for anything though. I have trouble sleeping pretty much every time.

Over the last few months I’ve caught some really solid SRC, smallmouth and native coastal cutts but this fish got me super pumped. Been trying to catch a western WA LM in this class for a couple years and it finally happened.

IMG_5148.jpeg
 
2 weeks ago I checked the box on another bucket list fish. I was totally jazzed!
As others have said, I'll put it this way. The day I don't get wound up tight about going fishing is the day I hang up my waders and gear.
 
I love to fish, but I'm not sure if I've ever been pumped for or about it. OK, the first 20+ pound steelhead caused me to let out some kind of war whoop. Otherwise I think I have a fairly high threshold for being pumped. It usually takes something on the order of a near death experience and surviving it - that gets my pulse rate way up there. If I were being chased by cannibals and escaped, that would probably do it. But fishing is a lot of fun without having to survive a near death experience to enjoy it.
 
Lol
Scandinavian...no surprise there.

My friends from the east coast used to say
'Not enough Mediterranean influence out here, too many Northern Europeans to have any real fun'

They were right.
No good ethnic delis either.
;)
 
And I can say that as a German/Norwegian...a grandparent born in Oslo.
If it wasn't for a bit o' the Irish on grandma's side I'd be as boring as the rest of them.

Now let's have a drink or two and fight...
😁
 
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