Phone Down !

[Ketchn]

This is one of those you had to be there to even begin to believe it happened fish stories. It all started seemingly quite the norm, the wife said I couldn't go to the lake after work !
Not the greatest news as we had plans to hurt them seriously about 4:30 to 7:30 , but we have some hardcore testing going on at school and not waking up someone after bedtime is a good thing as a sound nights sleep helps to get good test scores.
So because I wore my "lucky" crappie.com shirt to ensure a stupid big number of fish in the boat that afternoon , I opted for a lunch break trip at the private dock over closer to my job.
Thought to myself ,will probably ketch pretty good maybe and it is in the shade at least and it will help wet my whistle and keep me in a bit more of the less than TOTALLY crazy mode.
Off I went about 11:30 and got there about 11:45 , hit the water quickly under said boat slips and started hammering pretty nicely.
It was rather hot outside at 95 and to be honest around a dozen average size crappie mixed pretty even black and white, It became close to time for me to go get a cold drink and some actual food for lunch.
Managed one real nice fish at around 13 plus some in the mix and was pretty satisfied with my ketch rates and sizes of the fish at around 12: 20 or so . Thought ok then last drop and off I go. I decided to drop it where I got that larger fish for 2 reasons , birds of a feather and it is a well known to me spot to produce fish in that area.
Down goes the jig and it settles and the bite was a VERY slowly rising the jig bite or you were not in the game.
Got down to around 7.5 feet deep in 8 feet of water and began my look at me helpless little baitfish simulation. The jig rose about 6 inches and a decided thump was my reward.
Set said hook and what was on the other end didn't budge at first,. Thought for a second maybe I ketched me something that wasn't a fish . THEN it began to lumber away towards the brushpile SLOWLY !
I thought darn the bad news , this here AIN'T no crappie for sure and it is big , but when in Rome don't ya know was the theme and me said wanna play .....
Well it was short lived , the fish was heavy for sure and it turned and came back pretty easily and started for the surface and I thought this about that , when it gets close to the surface it will go totally bonkers and I best be ready for some testing myself !
Sure enough in the dark shade there it was and to be quite honest it was good thing I went pee pee before I got there or I would a wet my pants ! It was a stupid big monster SLAB and it did EXACTLY what I thunk and went B A N A N A S when we locked eyes upon each other.
But before it could turn away and get it's dance really on , I did the ole farmer cane pole trick and backed up fast and slid it RIGHT UP ON THE DECK ! Was it still green you might ask and I would say up YES sir and we began the dry dance. Got said fish in hand and started my Snoopy happy dance !
Now to be sure it was stupid BIG and I got a really difficult selfie as it was hard to get all that in the frame. Then one on the tape to ensure a solid length record and here comes where it ALL went south right fast .........
Set the time delay on the phone to get a really solid extra nice crappie.com image with this here monster crappie in my hands with my "lucky" crappie.com shirt on full display , started to do the switch slimy hands thing and set the phone down and had already hit the timer ....DING DONG .....
In my big hurry to get it set down and position myself with this here fish, my phone slipped out of my hand and fell to the dock, one bounce and in the lake it WENT ! I managed to grab it for a split second as it was going down and slipped again and bye bye it went .....
So there I stood all alone and in shock and we ( the fish and myself ) just looked at each other and I thought danget and said well now what ? It looked as shocked as me over the entire thing and I let it swim on . Grabbed a long handled net and tried to fish my phone out at arms length with the 6 foot handle while on my belly on said dock and came up with NADA multiple times .
Got really frustrated and headed down the road for a NEW phone and a NEW chip and began to devise my attack plan , because you see them there 12,000 plus some images on that micro card were for sure still good even if the phone toasted and IF , I am so lucky it might even come back on after I dry it out IF , I can find it later.
So back to work and explained my dilemma and off to home for googles and swim trunks I went. Got back to said dock with several folks eager to see me fight off the alligators and such that live in the area and even said a few goodbyes before I went in .....
The water wasn't too chilly and the folks watching were of course really joking it up and laughing it up and one was videoing and one was calling a recovery guy in case I wasn't going to "find" it !
Well after a few dives and one SERIOUS time OUT at the halfway part because something large hit my shin close to the surface ! ...
7th time down was a charm and to be VERY sure my lucky crappie.com shirt CAME THRU once again !!!!All my saved on the micro sd card are back in my possession as I type,so all is not lost for sure , just some as of now , the recent images and contact list were not saved .....
KABOOM is the word and stay tuned , the old phone is drying out as I type , keep your fingers crossed some of the unsaved images are still good and I can retrieve them ....
p.s. the phone hit the dock at close to 4:00 pm and went down at close to 12:30 pm and if you "were" in my contacts list, since it wasn't saved where it should be as well, text me and tell me your name until we see if my wet phone will come back to life ........

[DockShootinJack]

Good save on the phone and the card

[Central Minn]

The young-en's tell me about a cloud that stores informationThe only clouds I see store rain...funny story,hope the micro chip is ok,so we can see that big slab!

[SuperDave336]

Darn Ketchn hate to hear that about your phone but at least you got it back. Fingers crossed it comes back to life. Would love to see pic of the beast you caught if possible.

[funfishers]

Good luck with the phone, mine broke recently and I lost all my contacts, what a pain in the you know what.

[BobC]

Now THAT’S a wild and really good tale! For you to want a special keeper photo means that this had to be one good and humongous crappie. Glad you were able to make a recovery! Now hopefully mini Ketchn got a good night's sleep and was ready for testing mode!
Bob

[BuckeyeCrappie]

Hate to hear about ur phone. Glad you got it back, now hopefully you can recover ur photos.

[DWILL]

Phones (even the waterproof kind) and water are not friends. Ask me how I know! Good or only retrieval method...I think. Hate that for you, but glad you got a slab in the deal.

Sent from my HD1925 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[happycaster58]

Bad luck for sure. I ain't sayin- but by the looks of you on the swimming pictures, you'll never catch another crappie under that dock! You scared all the fishes away!

[Mstr Dan]

Good luck with the save. My wife thinks I am the only person who drops and or loses phone in the water! One time, I swear, it was just one time, well ok, two, but that's it1