Let's hear about the one that got away!

[DanMan]

I went to Squirrel Lake Park today to try and get a big cat. After catching a little one and thinking that the hook I was using was to big for the size fish I was catching, I didn't want to take out an eye, I put on a smaller hook with a decent sized chunk of hot dog. About 10 seconds later I hooked into my biggest fish yet. It was so strong. I was hooked into him for about 20 seconds when suddenly he snapped my line... I was using 12 lb. mono and thought I was fine. At first I was sure the hook didn't hold up or my knot had slipped, but no, he snapped it clean. I will lose sleep tonight, then go back tomorrow and try again. After all that I ended up catching one more small one, and was happy to see some bass, which I didn't know where in there, and caught a pounder on a poppr.

[wilykyote]

I was fishing on the Neuse a few days back and having an awful day. Fished all day for trout without even the first bump. Well I decided to hit a certain dock that sometimes holds nice striper right at sunset. At first nothing is happening. Then I hear that unmistakable sound of a big striper smashing something topwater. Then I start seeing a few blow ups. Threw a huge spook on top of one and hooked up on the second twitch. I knew the fish was well over 27' (I've been trying for an over slot striper for two years now and always get soooo close), it had my drag screaming. I also could tell he wasn't hooked right. I played the fish for at least 5 minutes and he broke loose (this kind of thing happened to me last year once too, only that time it threw the lure after a 5 min fight, smashed it instantly after coming free, fought for another few minutes, and ripped me off on a stump). I was so upset I nearly puked (I kid you not, I was physically nauseous). On top of that, the fish stopped blowing up an wouldn't touch my lure.

Ten minutes later, it's getting dark and I'm still struggling to focus after losing the fish, but I see one more blowup. Pitch the lure on top of it and get slammed. After another 5 minute fight, this time I put a 27.5 7lb striper in the boat. So I lost the 1 fish but got the other (he was definitely smaller than the one I lost though). Finally got an over slot fish and can act all cool like the other anglers I know who act like they do it all the time.

[OptiMystic]

Forgot about this thread. I was on a local Piedmont flow a couple of weeks ago. Most of the day I had been fishing a UL lipless crank to catch a bunch of nice panfish and a couple of small bass (one is currently in my avatar; not really that bad, but no bruiser). Late in the day I was in a stretch that just screamed "big bass" and I started casting a Fluke like (Berkley equivalent) plastic and got a big hit. Got it clear of the timber and saw him on the surface - nice! I am guessing over 4#. I brought it in close, but didn't control the rod well enough and let him get to the bow. The line went around the bow and it takes the rod action away a bit; not as much of a shock absorber. I saw it come out of a mouth I could have put my fist in if he was a foot closer. I'll be back...

[tallastro]

Getting back into fly fishing after, mumble mumble, 30 years and I'm starting feel good about casting with several outings under my belt now. So last weekend I headed to a small pond that's usually good to me. I put on a small whitish streamer and got to work. Nothing wanted to play at the first spot and I only hung up in the bushes once. While heading to a second spot I noticed a small bass hanging out near cover. Reach the rod out, give a little roll, and work the streamer close - grab. Cool, almost like I know what I'm doing.

So now I'm in a good mood and working my second spot. I make a nice long (for me) cast to a weed bed and just as I start to work the fly, it stops dead. Hmm, bottom? Then it takes off, I set the hook and keep it tight. First jump, wow, that's a big bass, keep it tight. Second jump, zing, streamer comes loose and flutters down in front of me. Gah, how's that possible? I've hung up on I don't know how many trees, bushes, grass for weeks now. So now the only thing a fly can't keep hold of, is the inside of a fish's mouth, great. Looked like 3-4# fish, would have been my biggest on a fly. Oh well.

I finished with a few more good fish but I really wanted that fish.

[spidey]

Getting back into fly fishing after, mumble mumble, 30 years and I'm starting feel good about casting with several outings under my belt now. So last weekend I headed to a small pond that's usually good to me. I put on a small whitish streamer and got to work. Nothing wanted to play at the first spot and I only hung up in the bushes once. While heading to a second spot I noticed a small bass hanging out near cover. Reach the rod out, give a little roll, and work the streamer close - grab. Cool, almost like I know what I'm doing.

So now I'm in a good mood and working my second spot. I make a nice long (for me) cast to a weed bed and just as I start to work the fly, it stops dead. Hmm, bottom? Then it takes off, I set the hook and keep it tight. First jump, wow, that's a big bass, keep it tight. Second jump, zing, streamer comes loose and flutters down in front of me. Gah, how's that possible? I've hung up on I don't know how many trees, bushes, grass for weeks now. So now the only thing a fly can't keep hold of, is the inside of a fish's mouth, great. Looked like 3-4# fish, would have been my biggest on a fly. Oh well.

I finished with a few more good fish but I really wanted that fish.

Bummer. That size fish on fly rod would have been great

[mx_rider142]

So I was fishing near fort bragg and could see this huge largie about a foot of the shoreline in front of a downed tree. I start throwing everything I have at this guy just for him to watch is swim, craw, jerk, float, or whatever I could do to get him to take my bait, finally I switch to a fluke tail and drop it about 3 feet in front of him and give it one good jerk he took the fluke but just up to the hook and stopped dead in his tracks again. mean while I was just sitting there for about 3 minutes waiting for him to make a move but he was just sitting there with my bait hanging half way out of his mouth mocking me. finally I got fed up and pulled it out of his mouth and he took off.
this would have been my biggest largie by far. the biggest ive ever caught was 5 pound and off that same fluke tail.

has anyone else gone through something like this?

[Swampin']

Was this in the spring? Sounds like a spawning bass to me.

[mx_rider142]

yeah it was early may I believe. ive fished spawn like crazy but never seen this happen lol

[Swampin']

They tend to pick it up to move it rather then to eat it. Doesn't explain why she held it for so long but it explains why she didn't swallow it. I wouldn't beat myself up about it, you could have waited an hour and I doubt she ever would have swallowed.

[drjon]

Several years ago and in an earlier life (before I retired and moved to NC), a fishing buddy and I were fishing a small private lake in north central Mississippi. While waiting for my slowpoke buddy to get into the jonboat, I was flipping a T-rigged lizard to some stumps near the launch site. First cast, something hit hard, roiling the water, but my catlike reflexes struck too soon and no joy. The fish was only visible for a millionth of a second, but just didn't look right, more like a green pike. I flipped back into the same area; no hit but the fish followed the lure, finally chasing it up onto the shore! Of course, I just stood there gathering my wits, as I had never seen anything like that before. Wits finally in place, I again tossed the lure back into the lake, and the fish took it! After a 3-second battle, I reeled in a bass of about 16 inches in length, but about three inches across. It looked like a broom handle with a big bass head. Being a trained scientist, I immediately commenced to gather data about the critter, and found that its throat was choked with nine or ten plastic worms, lizards, and crawdads; it was starving to death as no real food could pass the mass. I grabbed the forceps that I use to dislodge deep hooks and started pulling the plastic out of the fish's mouth. After checking to make sure that the throat was clear, I released the fish back into the water. That was my good deed for the day, and was the only fish I caught during that day. About a year and a half later, I was back at the same lake, waiting again for Slowpoke to get the boat ready, and I thought "wouldn't it be funny if....". I flipped another lizard at the same stump, and two seconds later was hooked to a 9-pound, 2-ounce largemouth. She came in after a good fight, looked me in the eye, and said "thanks buddy, I needed that". I know, I know, a good stump will attract bass, and it might not have been the same one, but I'd rather believe that it was. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it........

[drjon]

So I was fishing near fort bragg and could see this huge largie about a foot of the shoreline in front of a downed tree. I start throwing everything I have at this guy just for him to watch is swim, craw, jerk, float, or whatever I could do to get him to take my bait, finally I switch to a fluke tail and drop it about 3 feet in front of him and give it one good jerk he took the fluke but just up to the hook and stopped dead in his tracks again. mean while I was just sitting there for about 3 minutes waiting for him to make a move but he was just sitting there with my bait hanging half way out of his mouth mocking me. finally I got fed up and pulled it out of his mouth and he took off.
this would have been my biggest largie by far. the biggest ive ever caught was 5 pound and off that same fluke tail.

has anyone else gone through something like this?

It was probably a she rather than a he bass. The mamas guard the nest and sometime you almost have to hit them on the head to get them to do anything. I've had them pick up a lure, move it off of the nest, then spit it out, then go back to the nest. They'll do it as long as you don't spook them, and it seems like they know where the hook is. Some folks put a small stinger hook at the back of the lure to prevent what you have described.

[drjon]

The weirdest fishing trip I was ever on was in the small creek in western Washington State that ran about a half-mile from my family's home. We lived in a VERY small logging town, and I fished that creek every summer day for trout with a steel fishing rod and a salmon reel, #8 hooks and worms dug from the poop pile near the farmer's barn. I was about 10 years old at the time and didn't get a decent trout rod for Christmas until the next year. Anyway, one day, my Dad went into our house and came out with his old Winchester pump .22 rifle, a baseball bat, and his salmon gaff. Into the old Ford we went, down to where the road crosses the creek, and where there were about a half-dozen other cars, and where people were just then wading into the stream. The creek was about 25 feet across, and being the fall season, was only about six inches deep in the riffles, with a foot or two of water in the deep holes. Dad handed me the gaff and the bat, and said "Stand there and gaff anything that floats down; if its not dead, bash it with the bat. Everybody else went upstream about 50 yards, around the bend. Being a faithful Field & Stream reader, I knew what a snipe hunt was, and was starting to think I was being had, when a fish wiggled its way up the stream right next to me. These were salmon, and their back stuck out of the shallow water. More came, and I tried to bash one or two with the bat so's I'd have something to show for just standing in the creek while everybody else was laughing at me. In a few minutes, I starting hearing shots; it sounded like our .22 to me, as well as louder booms from a .410 shotgun. Then the fish came back down the stream with holes in their heads, first one, then a couple of them, then a mess of them. I gaffed and I bashed and I ran all over the creek, pulling the large salmon up on the bank and going back for more. All of a sudden, it got real quiet....Dad appeared around the corner and hollered "Run!!". Being the good son that I was, I followed his direction!. Soon, he came back to the car and called me. We picked up our share of the salmon and went home. The local game warden had heard the shooting, and knowing what was going on, didn't come down to the parked cars, and didn't see any of the perps or the salmon, but just let it be known by his crashing through the brush that he was thinking of us all. I don't know for sure, but I'd bet that he also dined on fresh salmon that night. Hey, its a small poor community, and everybody knew everybody. That's what I thought, anyway, until the Revenooers hauled away my school Principal for bootlegging.......

[RouseD]

Fantastic story drjon !!

[ncdead]

I used to fish at Fort Macon a lot and back in the day there was a big concrete slab inside the inlet with rocks around it that extended into the water. It was the first thing you saw when walking from the parking lot and crossing the dune onto the beach. I think it's buried now. It was a coveted spot....one particular morning I arrived early and with only a few cars in the parking lot was in a hurry to get out there. I grabbed my tackle bag, cooler and rod and beat feet over the dune and on the water and then realized I had left my landing net in the car. KNEW I should have gone back to get it but I started casting a tube bait/jig head and quickly hooked a doormat flounder...a solid five or six pounds if not more. Got him beside the slab I was standing on and instead of trying to walk him off the slab and onto the beach decided to lift him a foot or so out of the water and onto the flat surface, pin him down and then into the cooler....yeah, right. About halfway up a big headshake and out pops my jig. He settles down on the bottom and slowly swims off. I looked around, there an older woman fishing from the beach close by and she smiled and said, "that sure was a big one".......I couldn't help but laugh while kicking myself in the a$$. Don't leave your net behind.

[jerry condrey]

It was probably a she rather than a he bass. The mamas guard the nest and sometime you almost have to hit them on the head to get them to do anything. I've had them pick up a lure, move it off of the nest, then spit it out, then go back to the nest. They'll do it as long as you don't spook them, and it seems like they know where the hook is. Some folks put a small stinger hook at the back of the lure to prevent what you have described.

Males are the ones that guard the nest. The big females come in, spawn, then leave.