Being somewhat of an ol' timer I've got a few 'ones that got away' stories. But here's a memorable one.
Back in the late 80's I was at our family beach house in Duck, NC. Had an old and inexpensive (but reliable) Diawa combo we kept there for anyone to use. I'd grab it and a 5 gallon bucket with a couple of double bucktail jigs (still one of my favorites to this day) and walk up the beach towards the Army Corps of Engineers pier which had some great flounder holes around it. Had my girlfriend with me too (let her get away later too). Caught a few flounder and noticed a cobia running around in the breakers. Tossed the jig at him a few times with no luck, he disappeared and I forgot about him. Of course he hit that jig soon thereafter as soon as it hit the water. Now I hadn't even thought about setting my drag beforehand and it was tightened all the way down. The FISH WAS PULLING ME TOWARD THE WATER while I'm trying to adjust the drag. In just 30 seconds the line went slack and I figured that cobia had broken the 20 lb. test. Nope....bent the hook on that small jig straight out! Awesome power on a cobia!