This reminds me of my rather expensive early season calamity.
For the first (and last) time ever, I fished two rods on the Wye on one of my favourite swims. On good days, you'll catch all day, on bad days you'll have to wait until dusk, but you'll catch eventually.
I started with one rod for the first biteless hour, and with a slow day in prospect under a hot sun decided a second rod was worth a go, with both baitrunners on. However, due to the quantity of loose weed continually snagging the line, after a few hours I decided to flick the baitrunners off and stay on top of my rods. Mistake Number One.
Finally, after eight hours, I had a take on rod number one and the hook pulled after about 30 seconds. I reeled in to re-bait, turning away from rod number two for no more than five seconds. Mistake Number Two. You can guess what happened next...
Suddenly rod number two was shooting into the river like a javelin, with me making a David de Gea-like dive to grab the end of the handle. Too late...it continued its journey into the fast-flowing depths, a bit like that scene in Jaws when the shark pulls the barrel underwater. The speed was gob-smacking.
I'd heard the stories about anglers losing their rods to Wye barbel, and contented myself that it could only happen to a complete and utter idiot. Suddenly I was that complete and utter idiot.
The good news was I spent the next half hour casting across the river and was able to snag the line from rod number two - thankfully the barbel had slipped the hook.
The bad news was the rod itself remained firmly snagged up underwater, never to be seen again (by me, anyway). Not any old rod, but a new I-Power which I had yet to even christen with a fish. Plus the Shimano 5000. So, total cost running to £400+.
That'll teach me...