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Back where it started, catching catfish in the creek with my dad. Caught them all on spongebait. My little sister not looking really sure what to think about them.

The bass that got away is always the biggest bass, otherwise we wouldn't be fisherman. I lost 2 bass that sometimes keep me awake at night. The 1st was at lake Lower Otay in '71 when a giant bass ran under another anchored boat anchor rope, I didn't see this bass. The anchored boat angler was Ron Huggett who operated Dads Bait Shop in Chula Vista, he tried to pull in the anchor rope and net the bass but my line broke. Ron told me the bass was about 30" , biggest bass he has ever seen. The giant bass I did see about 5' away and near the surface. I was fishing with a Gary Gerber in his boat, hooked the bass at trout point, lake Castaic in May 1994. I was ready to land this bass but it made 1 more run under the boat comming out the opposite side, following the bass I got my line under the engine and had the bass under control I thought. Looking at the bass I could clearly see the side of the point comming up. Gary wasn't on the trolling motor keeping us in deep water instead he was standing next to me watching the fight of this bass. I remember yelling at him to get on the trolling motor but the bass took off up and over the point in about 5' of water, my line hanging up on rocks for a second before breaking. Nightmare, because this bass looked over 30" long very wide body with huge eyes... Comparing what my PB 19.3 lb bass looked like in the water to this bass, this bass had to be in the 20's. Tom

Summer of '93, bright full moon night with not a cloud in sky, ambient temperature 91° at 1 o'clock in the morning. We were sitting on a main-lake flat in 12' of water that dropped into the Sabine River. Having boated only 2 tighteyes since 7 pm I'm like now what? Sitting in the bottom of the boat I grabbed my Plano double sided jig box. I pulled out the little removable tray & there sat a bottle of Black-N-Blue Uncle Josh pork chunks. Then I remembered about a month earlier I had emptied the juice out of those chunks & replaced it with Riverside's Real Craw with pure anise oil added. Well let's see if this works! Tied on a 1/2 oz jig, slipped on a chunk, & made a long cast towards the river channel. Never felt a tap, the line just got ever so slightly tight. I set the hook, the bass set the hook back...hard. I gained 3 or 4 turns of the handle & that was the last time I was in control! As she made a dive for the river channel I could feel my line rubbing a limb. All I could do was hold on until 65# braid broke. Sat back on the seat, dropped my rod, & grinned!

In 2013 I took 3 weeks in December to travel solo around Florida while camping from my SUV; I fished a ton of nice Lakes on this trip including Lake Tarpon, Walsingham Reservoir, Taylor Lake, Lake Seminole, Lake Chautauqua, Alligator Lake, Naples Canal, Everglades, Miami Lakes Blue Lagoon, Stick Marsh, Lake Kissimmee, East Toho, West Toho, Lake Harris, Lake Eustis and about 10 other various roadside ponds and canals. I was basically in search of a 10lb Bass for catch and release and also Miami Peacock. The fishing was average to below average; but at East Toho I spent a half day casting only a Strike King Red Eye Shad in Front of Lakefront Marina; it was getting dark and I had probably made about 500+ casts and only caught a few bass up to 2.5 lbs. and I made up my mind to keep fishing until i could catch one more. The time was right the conditions were good and I was covering water; when at the end of a long cast right at the beginning of my retrieve a giant fish stopped my Rattletrap dead in its tracks, at first I thought I had snagged a gator but those gators usually pull and the line just snaps immediately, this fish made two slow side to side head jerks and then just swam towards deeper water, turning me towards the marina, it only waked briefly about 20 yards out from me, and by my judgement it was over 10lbs and probably closer to 12 or 13lbs. At that point the fish pulled downward into a piece of cover and my monofilament broke; and to this day I wonder if it was the giant Largemouth I was after ? or something else ?

Sitting in Montana’s waiting for lunch, of course my kid and my wife had to start colouring on the paper table cloth. This took her all of about 2 minutes. This is is what it’s like being married to an artist.

I thought this was really cool....should have taken a pic and if I see them again I will....just don't fish this area of Louden much. But anyway...when I was launching my boat I see these two older gentlemen launching this ol tin boat with a small motor ...also very antiqued. They're parked at dock and in no hurry so when I launch I peek into their boat and there's just two "heavy" can poles...heavy line with bobber and a large black grub. I thought OMG....WOW. And then....when I checked out my boat and was fishing the last bank I was gunna check out here they are going down the bank. The older of the two was perched on the bow of this little boat. One foot touching the water...other in boat. Right arm holding the pole....left arm using a wooden paddle like a trolling motor. He was good. It was quiet time just watching them.....wow.

PMCS completed yesterday, I'm ready.

I actually caught the one that haunts me! I was about 14 yrs old and in a small Jon boat in south Alabama on our annual weeklong fishing / camping trip. The guy in the boat with me is a notorious jokester. I was throwing a buzzbait in the grass and hung a good one. We get him into the boat and start taking pictures (pre camera phones). As a youngster I really don’t know how big the fish is, my partner thinks 7-9 lbs. I decide to keep the fish and mount it, and all we have is one of those metal clamp stringers. My fishing partner says you don’t want to lose this one, put the clamp through both lips. So that’s what I did and I eased it over the side of the boat. With one mighty head shake that fish ripped itself free and splashed in. I actually got my hands on it for a brief moment after it broke free but it powered away. Not sure if it just ripped its lips or ripped the stringer apart, as I recall I wasn’t really interested in the details at that point hahaha. We still have to fish for like 5 more hours and I just sat there wanting to puke. Not to fret, you might think, because we still have the pictures and a fiberglass replica is now something we had heard of. The nearest place to develop photos is a wal Mart one hour away, which we learned by asking the very few people we could find (pre smart phones). When we finally get to wal mart, they develop the pictures and as i learneda few days after we returned home, the roll of film was double exposed...... ouch......... took me a while to get over that one. Luckily I have caught 2 bass around 8 lbs since then and did get one of them mounted. And I sure as heck haven’t used a metal clamp stringer ever since . My buddies on the same camping trip still give me grief all the time. They usually give me a box of crayons and say “next time you catch a big one just draw us a picture of it”

I was fishing a tournament on Rodman in '86 I think. Slow day. We were fishing the big stump flat, with the dam in the S.E corner of the lake in sight. There was a lone stump out by itself that had part of it angling out semi- paralell to the water. Using a T-rigged 7 1/2 inch red shad culprit worm, and 14 pound test , I made a long cast that went right under the overhang, next to the stump. Felt the tap, set the hook, and I did not turn the fish 1 inch. It actually violently turned the other way at the hookset and at probably 3/4 speed, swam directly away from me. To this day I can still feel the weight of that fish, and remember hearing what sounded like a pistol shot as the line broke. I really have no way to gauge how big that fish was...I just sat there with the broken line in the water for a while.

I save all those for the end, and give the bag to my wife.

Saw this on the wall when I went to pic up my boat friday......

Friday I threw a huge soft plastic shad swimbait on an Owner 10 ot belly hook with underspin. Landed this Virginia stud!!

I was hooked from the word "go".

Not so much haunting, but "the one that got away" was this year when I was pitching a 12" worm to a lay down. I set the hook hard and she wrapped me up for about 15 seconds. She felt nice but not giant. Wrestled her out of the brush and then fought her to the bank where I still thought she was about 4lbs....until I tried to bank flip her and about halfway up I realized she was every bit of 8lbs. With one shake of the head while she was midway up the incline of the bank. Still in the air. She broke my 20lb fluoro which had been weakened by the brush pile and pushed to its limits trying to dead lift and 8lb+ fish. She splashed back into the water and just kind of hunf out for a split second before darting off into the dark green stained water. That fish doesnt haunt me because I know I couldve easily landed that fish had I done thebright thing and tried to lip her in the water instead of flipping her onto the grass. Oh well. Ill catch a bigger one this year!

It was around 2005 when my club had a March tournament on Lake Gaston on the Virginia/North Carolina border. Weather was not good. We had about an inch of ice on the boat's deck and it was c-o-l-d. We started fishing the mouth of a creek and the boater landed a beautiful lady, around six pounds. My shad colored crankbait got hit, I set the hook, and she decided to run back to the boat. I could not stop her. She swam under the boat and my line 8-pound fluoro popped. Gone forever. The boater went on to catch another large lady and it turned out to be the big bass of the year. That experience still haunts me. Still remember seeing the line heading towards me and nothing I could do. That is what makes fishing a great sport. Man against beast.

I was employing the venerable Texas rigged crawfish. I had previously been using a frog on that same rod and never reset the drag. The great beast engulfed my offering and blasted from the shallows directly toward my vessel then dove under my portside hull. I had to bury the rod halfway into the murky water in a vain attempt to appease her while I fumbled to loosen the drag. I was not quick enough and she was too mighty for my spindly wire hook. Alas, she straightened my hook while my mate waited to boat her. I never glimpsed the great beast, but my mate said he saw her shadow and she was mighty, indeed. Perhaps she was a 9 pounder or greater, which would have shattered my previous personal best effort. I'm being dramatic of course, but I'll never forget it. It was probably 4 years ago and my buddy still talks about it. We'll stop and take extra casts at the spot every trip. It's what keeps me returning to that small lake for bigger bass because I know they're in there.

Great story al I’m haunted by my broken scale saying this fish weighed 2.75. It’s definitly my pb and no idea what it really weighed. I know it’s not a giant but it my biggest. It was 22” long and thick and healthy. I’m haunted by my broken scale saying this fish weighed 2.75. It’s definitly my pb and no idea what it really weighed. I know it’s not a giant but it my biggest. It was 22” long and thick and healthy.

My haunting is a little different; I caught the fish. Let me explain. This was 36 years ago, I was 13. We had just moved to Maine from south Texas so I was used to fishing in saltwater. I remember I was so excited to start fishing freshwater as I had never caught a bass before. I had watched shows, read magazines etc...and that bass was just so attractive to me. We lived just up the road from where a small river joins a larger one with a railroad trestle crossing at the junction of the two rivers. I had already had my Mom take me to the local shop and I had bought some spinnerbaits, Mepps spinners and a few other things to get me started. So after school one day I walked down to that trestle, climbed down the bank and see this huge tree extending out from the shoreline. It was in a small cove and, because of the way the bank wrapped around, I was able to run a bait down the length of the tree. I had heard about some smallmouth in this river and had already read about the smallmouth's attraction to chartreuse. So I tied on a chartreuse spinnerbait tipped with a white curly tailed grub; man, I can still see that bait today. And I still remember, very clearly, when I cast that bait beside the tree; it was a perfect cast and I can still replay this whole event in my mind. The spinnerbait fluttering slowly through the murky, stained water, when it happened. I didn't see the fish as she was the same, brown color as the water; what I did see, though, is the color of my bright spinnerbait get thrown about 2 feet off it's path and the feel of a heavy fish on my line. After being scared close to death of the fish getting me in the tree, I was able to pull her to shore, get a hand on her and pull her to me. I still remember being hesitant to "lip" this fish , as I had seen done on TV and in the magazines. Anyway, I did it. So, you ask why does this fish haunt me. I'm fully aware of misconception. I know this was many years ago. I was a very small kid and I know how memory deceives us. ***Disclaimer=I wish I had released her now; but, as a kid with my first bass, I wanted to show my Dad this monster so that's what I did; I was 13*** As I walked home with this giant hanging off my hand, I literally had to stop and rest, re-adjust my grip, and keep hoisting this bass up higher to my waist to keep it from dragging on the ground. It was that big. Let me say that I'm 100% positive it was a smallmouth. And why this fish haunts me, still today, is the fish went into the freezer, never weighed, and finally buried under a rhododendron.... I've caught hundreds and hundreds of smallies from that day till now; have seen pics from my friends of big smallies; have seen pics of an 8 pounder, which is the Maine state record, and again, am aware of misconception, but that fish I dragged home that day is remembered as being bigger than all of those others. I've never really shared this story with anyone as I don't want to sounds as though I've seen Bigfoot, but I can't stop thinking whether that was a state record or not. <<<sitting in a circle of chairs, with a therapist off to the side, OP says, "Hi everyone. I'm SmokinAl; thank you for letting me tell you my story">>>

Video still from 10 years ago. This girl was pulling drag when my line snapped. (Never use a rubber band to peg your weight.) It felt like it could have been a new PB for me and I dream about it sometimes. I was using a 9" Blackberry Jelly Worm.

I was fishing from bank in backwaters off the Mississippi that is protected by a levee. I have caught many big bass here but this one haunts me because it appeared to be the biggest of the bunch, maybe an 8 to 9 lb bass . There was a log laying flat about thirty foot out . I cast a jig and pork frog on the other side of it . This was many years ago and the equipment we used was not as good as todays . I had a 5,6" lightning rod with an Abu 4600C spooled with 14 lb Stren . I bounced the jig on the other side of the log and sensed a heavy feeling . I reared back hard and felt a heavy fish . There was only one way to land it and that was to turn the girl upward and get her to jump . I put the pressure on and the fish jumped just as planned , at that moment I pulled it over the log and got a good look at her then the lure came out . That was a heart breaker .

3.71, 3.70, 3.55, 3.46, and 3.3. All largemouth, don’t judge me I live in Indiana.

I rowed the flat bottom Jon boat to the mouth of a small cove. Picked up my casting rod, and cast an 8" Mann's Jelly Worm to a bank. Letting the worm sink to the bottom, I gave it one slow lift. As it was sinking, I felt a very light tap, quickly took up slack and set the hook. For a few quick seconds, I felt the weight of a large bass- then nothing. This was probably 15 yrs ago. For some reason this fish has haunted me. I've caught and released many fish since that day, and many I can't remember. But this one fish is etched in my mind. Maybe it's the scenario, who your fishing with, the bait, strike, or season. I missed this bass in a classic scene. Overcast sky, stump filled cove, and fishing with a Texas rig worm. Why do certain fish haunt you? If your haunted by a big bass, I'd like to hear about it. I daydream about this fish pretty often. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Most stretches of the river not far from my house (a short bicycle ride away) offer little to appeal to sport fish BUT there was one spot (I called it my secret fishing spot) which was CLASSIC smallmouth country-a wide riffle which emptied into a deep pool as it turned at a bend. There was a large boulder perched on the edge where the water eddied around it in a lazy curl. It was a near perfect spot for smallies and goggle eye to wait and ambush food as it washed past. At that early stage in my fishing "career" I used mostly Mepps Aglia spinners. I believe I had a black fury tied on on this particular day. There was nothing particularly impressive about my cast. I'd been there for awhile- trying different angles, etc. I vaguely remember casting the spinner into the far end of the pool and, trying to keep it down, swimming it through, the pool-being careful to let it pass near the boulder. As (sometimes) happened, my line tightened and this time I knew I had a better than average fish on. By my modest standards it was huuuuuge! Time and retelling the tale has caused it to grow but conservatively, it was at least 3 lbs. And it was beautifully marked with dark vertical bands against a shimmering gold body (Most of the smallies there had monochromatic coloration). I managed to tired it out and was just pulling it to the surface near my feet when "PING", the treble hook lets go and the spinner flies past me. In cruel slow motion, my glorious ALMOST victory swam back into the depths! I simply stood there and stared in long disbelief at the place where I'd last seen it. The river has since changed (as rivers do) and this place has evolved into something less remarkable but it still stands out as the place where I ALMOST caught a monster.

I generally do not use my livewell, it has become extra storage for the insane amount of "good ideas" the bait monkey talked me into. I also keep a spare of everything in there. Spare set of clothes, TP, trash bags, TM cord and various tools I might need. On the rare occasion, I need to use the livewell ... my deck looks like a yard sale until I can get everything put somewhere else

My thoughts are that power stays the same. Action seems to speed up with higher quality blanks even though the ratings stay the same. Best way to describe it is the action seems more crisp or telegraphs faster with the higher modulus blanks. Sensitivity also increases with the better blank.

It's easier to use a live well if you want to take a good photo. The fish can rest in the live well, while you get the camera and any measuring devices ready, rather than stressing it out keeping it out of the water.

Coming at this as a small-time weekend pond warrior, for me, 2018 was the year of going back to basic plastics. Until this year, I was crazy about cranks, walkers, poppers and buzzbaits, with the occasional trickworm thrown in. Had very little time to fish this year, but made the most of short bursts. Springtime: senkos and Yum Dingers. I know. Boring. I guess the news there for me was that I overcame my lack of enthusiasm for them, and threw them in hot, pressured conditions in Florida and Georgia this spring and well into the post-spawn. I was very surprised at how successful I was by tossing them into flats where bass were either spawning or protecting fry. I learned to skip them under bushes all around the ponds, and did well with that. As a result of the success, Senko fishing became fun for me. Oh yeah: no matter where I'm throwing them, I almost always fish them weightless and Texposed, with a 3/0 to 5/0 worm hook or EWG. I'll use a superline EWG if I want the weight and have one at hand. Almost always trying to get bit on the fall, but found myself using them to pepper an area of flats where I felt like there might be fish. Kind of a slow way to cover water, but it worked. Springtime and all summer long: toads. It was the year of the toad. I killed them on toads all year long. I tried all types: Keitech, Zoom, and others. In the bright mid-morning in Florida, late at night in GA. Right off the bank, and in open water. Horney Toads with 4/0 and 5/0 superline EWG's. Honorable mention: flukes. Also "nothing special" but I had a lot of luck with weightless flukes worked near surface among lilly pads and along weedlines for largemouth on small ponds up in Ontario. Not a lot of strategy to it, but with the super-clear Ontario water, I started off with a subtle green pumpkin or Disco violet and never varied from those. Fall: night fishing with chatterbaits and walking baits. Had very little previous experience with chatterbaits, but they worked well for me at night with paca craw trailers. Also fished walking baits in place of buzzbaits late at night in very calm waters. That worked well too. @A-Jay I really enjoyed the post that started this.

I'm frugle, I plan on buying the other one next year, if my other foot makes it through the winter. ?

Not great: about 14lbs. Just want to beat that next year!

You only got one, or do you only like one of them?

Ventured out again last weekend and the bite was still on but this time we decided to measure our bigger fish. They were all in the 12-12.5 inch range. Didn't bring any home for the freezer but the next time out I might. On the downside, after catching fish all day we started catching bass on our crappie rigs. I thought I had another bass hooked up but when it got close to the boat it was a MONSTER Crappie. Both my fishing partner and I saw it.............right before it pulled loose from my little jig and swam away. Oh well, I know where she lives and we'll be back.

We made a stop at a picturesque stream in Nicaragua a while back. Not a soul in sight, and just the sound of the water on the rocks, and some birds and insects. Amazing enough experience, when about 20 minutes later we see someone heading towards us in the middle of the knee high water. As he got closer, it became obvious that he was using a cast net. Now I'm no slouch with the cast net, and we fish with some guys who are really, really good with them, but as I watched this man who could have been out of central casting, wearing all white, wicker basket at his side, brimmed straw hat, and sun leathered skin, it became obvious that what he was doing was as much art as fishing for crayfish. His precise, exact, uniform casts were smooth and effortless and resulted in a perfect O landing in front of him every time. I watched him as he made a cast, put his catch in the basket, took 6 steps forward and repeated the process. To this day I can close my eyes and picture the scene. Oh, and they have crayfish the size of small lobsters in Central America.

Lost my PB at the boat after my father missed the lip twice. It was in the 10-11 lb range. We didn’t bring the net because we only had about an hour of fishing time that day. He felt 10x worse than I did of course. Didn’t get the fish but it was a hell of a battle and still a fond memory

I had never fished this lake, but my favorite muskie lake had been pilfered by the local Indian tribe over the winter and after two days of nary a follow, I pulled up stakes. Not known for numbers, but the occasional trophy, I headed out after lunch. There is a single, public launch on the west end of the lake with parking for maybe six rigs. I launched and beat the water until my shoulder couldn't take it any longer and as the sun was going down I started working my way back to the launch, fishing for the abundant smallmouth. As I neared the launch and the sun set, I could see three rigs waiting their turn to load and decided to fish the saddle between the south shore and a small island. That's where she hit. My poor TDA was screaming for what seemed like minutes, but was likely less than one before I got her turned the first time. The splash sent up when she spotted the boat is burned in my memory. With next to no light, I was able to bring her boat side. I have a 40in. ruler decal along the side of the boat, got her tail positioned at one end and made a mark on the gunnel directly above her nose. It was too dark for a pic as my old phone had no flash and I didn't want to take her out of the water and chance injuring her, so I released her without feeling her weight. With the launch empty, I headed in, heart pounding with nary a sole around to share my excitement with. After trailering the boat, I measured from the mark I'd made back to the end of the tape on the boat. 12in............That added up to 52in.!!! even if I was a little generous with the mark, that was at least a 50in.MUSKIE! I sat in my car shaking for a good five minutes. What haunts me, you ask? The date was Sep.9,2001. I thought nothing could erase the smile from my face after catching her..............I was so wrong.

The ONE....is surprisingly not the biggest fish I've ever hooked. Was on the little river that runs behind my house down a little at the next pool. Throwing an Arkansas shines colored super fluke on a 6'6 ml Berkley cherrywood with an ole raggedy spider cast spinning reel with 6 lb mono. Cast across to the other bank next to a lay down and it was game time. Never had a chance. Ran a little and then jumped. Had to be 8+. Couldn't believe my eyes and the drag on the ole (retired now) reel let me down and hiccupped on the next run and as quick as it started it was over. Have caught a ton of fish out of this river and only 1 or 2 that were half as big as that one. It's the one I wish I could run again

The time & money spent as well as the physical injury is an easier pill to swallow than forever wondering what you might have missed out on just leaving it alone. It's an illness. I have it.

Fixed that one for you. A-Jay We may never know. Oh Man, it's only November ! A-Jay

Maybe . . . ? A-Jay

20 years ago on Toho had a monster take my jig and run like no other.set the hook and the fight was on. got maybe 15 feet from her and to this day can see her eyes, OMG,she was at least 12 lbs. she rolled to her left and the jig went flying,hitting me in the chest. my friend and his wife were with me so they had to calm me down for a few minutes.but that fish to this day haunts me.

Fishin a crankbait along a bluff wall, all of a sudden my rod loaded up, the weight was more than I’ve ever felt then it just snapped. A couple of mins later my crank floated up with a large portion of a fin on it. Still have no clue what hit me that day.

Alllllright then... Bought a 2014 Tracker 1448 MV all welded jon & trailer. Cheap setup but thick aluminum and solid, quality boat. That boat died (no fault of its own) so I've been looking for the next boat and considered all sorts of types and brands. Yesterday I found a leftover 2018 Tracker 1548 Sportsman, basically the same boat but a little longer plus a few new features. Bought it. Yeah I guess I like 'em.

Multispecies day Friday. Also had a walleye, some wiper, and some drum that weren't photographed.

I don't have spring lures I don't have summer lures I don't have fall lures I don't have winter lures I have bass lures that I use on different structure, in different cover during different seasons!

7.46, 6.87, 6.1, 5.8, and 5.68 all on public lakes in central Iowa

The ONLY way I'm experiencing "relaxing, fun fishing" is when I am CATCHING fish!! Otherwise, my brain is working overtime to try to figure out what the green fish want and just how do they want it! While I love the thrill of figuring it out I am definitely too intense with the process to call it relaxing.

It’s funny how often those things catch big bass.

Bring out the Airborne Beer from Bastogne and I'll be right over! (Photo Illinois State Journal)