fishdit (US)

 You will not believe what happened today. . . before you continue reading be sure you are ready. This is how it went down, we were headed out around 10am this morning put the boat in the back of the truck, strapped it in put the rods in the bottom of the boat like we usually do and set off to catch some late winter largemouth. We were finally glad to get out fishing again after our 3 month hibernation and job search, yes the economy has hit us hard. Been unemployed since October 2008, which makes this even more sickening. I had an excellent Christmas, we were pretty strapped but we set a little aside for the occasion. I always wanted a shimano curado reel and this was the time, with a couple gift cards, free shipping, and a promotion code I was able to get this reel for around $120, regular $180. As you can imagine I was excited and ready for the weather to warm up. Since I got the reel I needed a rod to put it on and my brother came through with that, he got me a Carrot Stix e21 rod, 7'9" Extra Heavy casting rod. This was an amazing combo, ready for some serious fishing and I was ready to get my mind off all the stress of making the bills and finding a job. Back to the trip, after loading the boat and headed out we hit 565 just like any other time we had before. We stopped and filled up a couple miles away from our spot and man were we stoked. We arrived at the spot got out and I looked in the boat. . . you probably guessed it. My dream combo was gone! My jaw hit the floor and I couldn't breathe. After I gathered myself we jumped in the truck and went back to find it, well we found it alright in about a million pieces. Rod and reel scattered up and down the highway over about a mile stretch. This was more devastating than hooking a 10lber and losing it at the boat. I wouldn't wish this on anyone, so to all my bounty fishing brothers and sisters be sure to tie your equipment down or buy cheap stuff you don't mind losing. Looks like I'll be scraping a few bucks together to get some cheap stuff myself. I am also opening the Dan Terry Rod and Reel Foundation so feel free to send donations to the cause, seriously. My address is 29654 Rock Creek Blvd. Harvest, AL 35749 or my paypal email address is dans_4tay@hotmail.com If you feel compelled to help out I'll accept a penny to whatever. Thanks! Good Luck on the water.

Dan