happened on a backpacking trip in '97 or so. I always carried a fly/spin rig, with a crappy fly reel and really thin tippets. Why would you need strong tippet for those little sierra trout?
But at one particular lake, I got snapped off at the strike two, three times before realizing I was undergunned. Patched together a thicker tippet, and succeeded only in fighting a solid 18+ incher to the shore, only to have him snap off at the last second -- aargh! I threw my whole rod and rig back into the bushes in a fury.
In fact, I spent a lot of time cursing out loud because I figured I was the only person there to hear it. A few hours later when I quieted down at last, I heard someone sneeze somewhere across the lake. My how sounds carry across a windless lake.
Anyway, I was so moved by this event that I hiked out, visited some friends in San Francisco as well as a fly shop that had spools of good, strong, tippet, and hiked the 20+ miles back in with one single purpose.
If I wasn't already hooked then, it may have been sight-catching a 22" rainbow that did it
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