The one that got away.

[bassthumb32]

Hey guys it's been a while since I've been on here. I have done very little fishing this year unfortunately due to the position I took at work. Only a few tournaments and they didn't fare to well for me. Anyways I've been thinking a lot about fishing and I thought that a good thread to start are your stories about "the one that got away". Here's mine I was fishing a like in central MD it's a place where I had caught a few 5lbers and a 6 and seen a 7. I was using a popping frog in the post spawn in shoreline grass I was whacking them all day. I fish frogs a ton and in my opinion am as good as anyone with a frog I've won a ton of money with them. I got to a place that had some overhaning brush in shallow water close to a steep dropoff. Perfect postspawn spot, and I skipped my frog up under the brush and was walking the dog out with it. I get to right where its coming out of the brush and it just disappears with a few ripples. If your not a big frog fisherman that means its a stud. Little fish come up and try to kill it because its such a big meal that they have to stun it in case they can't get it all in their mouth the first try. Anyways I'm a big guy I'm 6'3" of hair covered muscle lol. I zap that fish with all that I have using a 7' heavy action rod with 50lb. braid and I didn't get the rod above my bellybutton. It was like I was setting the hook on a cinder block I never turned the fish's head. I finally was able to get the rod up some and I felt the real slow headshake consitant with a big fish. I could hardly turn the handle then my hand slipped off the grips on the handle. I tried frantically to grab the grips a few times and just kept missing. When I was finally able to get the reel handle again I reeled in a mangled popping frog full of water. I dropped the rod and hit my knees. I was shaking from adrenaline, disappointment and anger so bad that I couldn't stand for a few minutes. I don't know how big the fish was but I'm certain that it would have been the biggest of my life. The thing about frog fishing is if your good you will catch a ton of fish with them but if you don't keep the pressure on them you will reel in a soggy battle scarred frog. Thanks for reading this small book lets hear your story.

[bluebasser86]

Maybe you can try to tell yourself it was a catfish? I caught a 10lb channel cat out of a pond on a scum frog,thought I had a new state record bass for a minute.
My biggest lost fish was in a small lake in Missouri. Fishing out of my friends 16' johnboat and flipping deep trees on a point that dropped into some of the deepest water in the lake. Got a thump and set into a fish that barely moved. I thought maybe it was a muskie since I'd had one chase my bait back to the boat earlier. The fish pulled the boat toward deeper water and kept my flipping stick folded as i slowly gained line. I finally saw that huge greenish/white side in the murky water and realized I had the biggest bass I've ever seen hooked. The adrenaline hit and when she dove I tried to stop her a little too hard and my bait zinged back past my head, the 4/0 gammie flipping hook straightened. I caught one that was a little over 10 in Mexico and this fish was noticably bigger, I'm guessing 12-13, maybe even bigger. I've been back several times to tried to get her to bite again but haven't been successful yet.

[bassthumb32]

I would love to tell myself it was a catfish however the slow headshake was a definate giveaway that it wasn't a rolling catfish. and there are no pike or muskie in that lake so.. it really only leaves the bass of a lifetime...

[joedog]

My brother lives in Sauk City Wi. on the Wisconsin River. A while back I was catfishing with a couple of die hard catters. They all had thier special potions and goups for bait and I was using a gob of crawlers. About an hr. into the day I got my first bite. I set the hook hard as I could and no movement what so ever. Figure I snaged a boulder. Start hard snapping to see if I could free up the snag. After multiple hard snaps the boulder moved. Once it moved it decided to run. I'm thinking record cat (I grew up on Mississippi and I've seen huge cats). Literally 35 min. later I'm getting it in. It got to the wall, made a last ditch head and body shake and snap half the pole and the line gone!!! Luckally I and numerous others got a good look at the fish during it's last surge....No cat....It was a Lake Sturgeon, a huge Lake Sturgeon!

[kennethdaysale]

Late March 1974 fishing out of a belly boat in the Withalocoohee River in South Georgia. Fishing a 12" Producto worm with 65lb braid-8' flipping stick-Abu 5500c. Slide the worm over a brushpile and all H*** breaks loose! Monster Bass jumps twice far enough to clear the water 50 feet in front of me...he's MASSIVE!!!! 15 maybe 16 lbs!! after the third jump he barrells back into the brushpile he came from pulling me and the belly boat in with him(we didn't believe in drags back then) about 10 feet in to this gnarly pile of tangled brush and debri the float and my sleeve gets caught up in some barbed wire and I actually start to sink (current was in my face pretty hard) just as I was trying to decide whether to let go of the rod or risk drowning to catch this GIANT I felt a sharp tug on my shoulder....."Ken! Ken! Wake Up you're gonna be late for work"

[bamabassman]

no man........it wasn't no catfish.......no way would i ever say that.hahahaha!! it was the world record largemouth bass!!! that's my story and i', sticking to it. lol!!!

[justbassin4fun]

The ones that get away always seem to get bigger as the time goes by.

I had two monsters this year.

#1 was definatly a bass and over 10 and we got to see it . Hooked it on a drop shot and I thought that I had bottom on hookup. All was well and was gaining line untill the medium light action(meant more for the little ones) rod lost the battle. Need I say more?

#2 was a pike. Swim bait fish. It looked to be about 40 inches. Got it to the top. Took a good lunge and the line must of had contact with teeth. Was more sad that I lost a pricey swim bait than the fish. Learned that the monster bait will catch more than the monster bass I was hunting for. The monkey had me ordering 6 of them lost baits!

[nofearengineer]

Mine was definitely not a largemouth bass...that much I am sure of.

I was on a day-trip party boat off Dana Point, California. I was using a big spinning outfit, with 30lb braid. I had the drag cranked way down.

I was casting a Krocodile spoon, and just killing the barracuda and sand bass, All of a sudden I got a monster hit, and line started peeling off my reel. I couldn't turn it, so I just let it take line. Over 100 yards later, it just stopped, and the line went limp. Gone. I wanted to cry.

I will never know what that fish was, or how big it was.

[bassboogieman]

I've caught saltwater fish that were pretty darn big and none could not be turned. Shark, 100 lb+; tuna, 80 lb; tarpon, 70 lb; and several white marlin, 70 lb+. My guess: a big snapping turtle. A big turtle will bite and go to the bottom and dig in with all 4 legs, you really can't move the big ones. I've seen some big ones in the local water here in SE PA with heads as big an my fist and that would explain the "mangled" bait.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by kennethdaysale

Late March 1974 fishing out of a belly boat in the Withalocoohee River in South Georgia. Fishing a 12" Producto worm with 65lb braid-8' flipping stick-Abu 5500c. Slide the worm over a brushpile and all H*** breaks loose! Monster Bass jumps twice far enough to clear the water 50 feet in front of me...he's MASSIVE!!!! 15 maybe 16 lbs!! after the third jump he barrells back into the brushpile he came from pulling me and the belly boat in with him(we didn't believe in drags back then) about 10 feet in to this gnarly pile of tangled brush and debri the float and my sleeve gets caught up in some barbed wire and I actually start to sink (current was in my face pretty hard) just as I was trying to decide whether to let go of the rod or risk drowning to catch this GIANT I felt a sharp tug on my shoulder....."Ken! Ken! Wake Up you're gonna be late for work"

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa awesome!!!

[carolina-rig-01]

I have a few that come to mind right off the bat.

1. At the Kentucky Lake get together a few years back we had our "Bait Monkey Tournament" on Saturday. I had found a ledge that was holding a lot of good fish on Friday and I took John (bamabassman) and Daniel (Mississippiboy) there Friday night. We caught several fish off of it that evening so Saturday I had company on the ledge as John, Lisa (Johns wife), Daniel, and Louann (Daniels wife) joined us on that ledge. Louann caught a good fish off of the ledge early but that was the only big fish that ledge gave up that day. Later in the day I stuck a giant on a jig right before weigh in. As soon as I set the hook I knew this fish was a giant and I was along for the ride. Doing everything I could I fought the fish for 30 seconds or so but was getting my butt kicked the whole time. Then for no reason she just pulled off. I never saw her but I know she was probably the biggest fish that I would have caught in a long time.

2. I lost a big fish in a tournament last year that whipped me much like the first fish I told you about. I flipped a brush hog into a laydown and as soon as I set the hook she pulled me down towards the water rather than me pulling her out of the laydown. Never saw this fish either but she was huge. We ended up winning the tournament with over 22lbs anyways but man she would have made our big bag even bigger.

3. The one that really hurt was in September of this year. We had a club tournament on Saturday and another one on Sunday to make up one that was postponed earlier in the year. We were in second in points going in but won the event on Saturday and took over 1st in points. Sunday was a lot tougher day but I lost a good fish on a buzzbait right off the bat. I didn't get too worked up at the time because most of our good fish on Saturday came later in the day so I figured we would still do ok. The bite was a lot tougher on Sunday however and we only weighed 4 fish and finished 5th or 6th. The fish I lost on the buzzbait killed us in that tournament and points both because I seen her and although she wasn't a monster she was at least 4.5lbs - 5lbs and with her we would have won on Sunday and took a commanding lead in points. As it turned out though we finished second in points because we took a beating in the Championship in October. It really hurts to lose a fish that makes such a huge difference in a points race like that.

[keithdog]

Good timing for this post. I just lost a biggin the last time my wife and I got out about 3 weeks ago. Casting a Strike King KVD 2.5 crankbait I hooked into a huge pike I would estimate at 10 pounds plus. My wife took a couple pics of me fighting the fish and was poised to get one of me lifting it from the water. Unfortunately, when I reached to grab him, he spun his head and clamped down on the line and snap, he was gone. I had my hand clamped on him too as you can see in the photo, but once that line snapped he was gone. I have a small boat with lots of tackle so I dont carry a net for the occational pike. I have a 12 pounder hanging on the wall and this one looked a little bigger. I wish she had been able to get a photo of him up beside the boat. Here are a couple pics she took of me while I was fighting the big brute.

[Tavery5]

When I lived in South Carolina I regularly fished from the piers. One night I was fishing when my Penn 9M let out a screech and I quickly set the hook on something that I knew was very large. The people around me immediately began reeling in their lines to help keep us from becoming tangled. I fought this fish for about 15 minutes, thinking the whole time it must be a large sand shark, but I just could not get this beast to turn and come to the top. Finally after 20 minutes or so I managed to get the fish to break surface, and to my surprise it was not a shark at all, but a very large devil ray. I looked as big as a car hood to me but it was probably about 3 foot wide and about the same length before the tail. I started pulling it up the side of the pier when all of a sudden the hook let loose and shot a two ounce piece of lead back at us like a bullet. I got a good look at it, got an outstanding fight from it, and was glad it fell back in the water unharmed.