Super User Senko lover Posted October 16, 2014 Super User Posted October 16, 2014 What's the biggest fish you've ever seen and failed to catch?I was fishing from a dock on a private lake. The lake was a clear as glass, and I saw what I thought was some mud rising from the bottom, which was out of the ordinary because the bottom of this lake was covered in vegetation, not mud. Turns out it wasn't mud, it was a mud-colored catfish that was an absolute behemoth. It was slowly coming out from under a large stand of cattails. No kid, that thing was probably 50-60 pounds. It's size was mind-boggling, around 4-5 feet in length and as fat as a sumo wrestler. I only had a popper tied on, but I cast to it nevertheless. It didn't even look at it. Quote
Super User Fishes in trees Posted October 16, 2014 Super User Posted October 16, 2014 Once, I had a bass follow a Strike King soft plastic that I swear was in the 10 lb class. It was incrementally bigger than any bass I'd caught or seen before - equivalent to some of the larger ones in thePS aquarium in Springfield. It followed for a while (6 to 8 feet or so) then slowly turned and swam away. I've caught a few fish in the 7 lb class out of this lake, but this fish was bigger. I think everyone sees a big carp from time to time. At the Long Shoal marina at Truman, there are many big carp in the 20 to 30 lb class that are fed as pets. They never leave the Marina area, cause they don't have to. Quote
OntarioFishingGuy Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 Probably a 30lb class carp. If you are talking about a fish that I saw and wanted to catch,it would be a 20-25lb Steelhead I saw in a shallow pool. I thought it was a log, but then it started swimming. Quote
MIbassin Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 Many times I've been down to the flats, as well as the tropics, and have gone tarpon/jack/barracuda fishing. Last time i was in key west we saw a school of tarpon and the guide said the biggest one in the school would have gone 180lb plus. We didn't catch him, but we caught some of his smaller friends! 1 Quote
BasshunterJGH Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 I've seen a school of carp with a couple that were in the 10-12 lb range. The biggest bass I've seen but failed to catch was 4-5 lbs on a bed. Quote
kikstand454 Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 Freshwater ..... I was fishing in a small national forest pond. .... casting to bedding bass. The water was super crystal clear and about 3ft deep. Out towards the middle was a hump, and as I came up on it, I saw a good 4-5lb fish sitting on a bed, turning in circles. So I got execited and gently tried to get my canoe in a good position when out of the drop off came this huge dark shape.... it was the 5lbers girlfriend! I almost had a heart attack! She was twice his length. I nervously pitched a beaver into the bed and the monster nudged towards it. ....then the male went over and snatched it right up. I tried to shake him off but I had thrown that beaver into so many fish that I guess the hook was exposed just enough and he hooked himself. He ran straight towards the bed and spooked big momma. I almost cried. I got him to the boat and reached down and shook him off the hook without touching him and he went straight back to the bed. ...I backed off and waited. The big girl never showed herself again. Just a guess but she was realistically maybe 11-12 lbs. Quote
Super User WRB Posted October 16, 2014 Super User Posted October 16, 2014 The big one that got away stories would fill a book. Fresh water. The largest would be a sturgeon accidentally hooked in the Green River Utah, over 8' long and simply freight trained down river. 50 lb class class Musky that the lure shook out about 3' from the boat, Height of Land lake, Ont. 20+ lb LMB about 5' from the boat, broke off in some rocks, Castaic lake. Salt water. 700+ lb Blue marlin, hook pull out about 30' from the boat. 15' White shark eat my 150lb class big eye tuna next to the boat. 700-800 lb Mako shark jumped over the stern of the boat and was hooked, but broke off. Tom 5 Quote
bmlum415 Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 I've seen a couple bass 15+lbs on the delta and one I think was well over 20lbs on a local lake Quote
wisconsin heat Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 Had a very large Muskie that must have been 46-50 Inches follow my spinnerbait to shore when I was bank fishing one day when I was younger. It came up and ever so slowly inhaled my spinnerbait. My jaw dropped, and in total shock, I just stood there like an idiot and watched it 2 seconds later spit my spinnerbait out and slowly swim away... That one still haunts me... Quote
RSM789 Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 Probably a 30lb class carp... I think you are well aware that carp have no class... Biggest freshwater fish I saw & failed to catch was in the BPS aquarium. Almost threw the little kid standing next to me in as bait... 2 Quote
Super User Catch and Grease Posted October 16, 2014 Super User Posted October 16, 2014 Not the biggest but this happened yesterday afternoon, I'm walking across this little bridge while I was bank fishing for the heck of it at the lake on the military base and I just happen to look down and see this FAT gar...it was huge, so I start jigging my fluke right in front of its face and it isn't interested in the slightest, so after I gave up on getting him to bite I started hitting him in the back with my bait just to see if he would react and he just didn't care lol Quote
OntarioFishingGuy Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 I think you are well aware that carp have no class... Biggest freshwater fish I saw & failed to catch was in the BPS aquarium. Almost threw the little kid standing next to me in as bait... I'll let you decide. 9 Quote
Super User Darren. Posted October 17, 2014 Super User Posted October 17, 2014 I'm going to take a guess the lassie completely ignoring my attempts to catch her off her bed was around 10-11 pounds. I caught her hubby and he weighed in somewhere in the 4+ range. The sow was impossible to get. I caught my PB off the same bed a couple years earlier, but this was easily the largest largie I've seen in my waters. As for other fish I've *seen* and failed to catch... Carp in the Oatka (between Caledonia and Scottsville, NY), were absolutely huge, probably between 20-30 pounds, and from a bridge in the same area, 36-40" northern Pike. All I can think of for now. Quote
Super User DogBone_384 Posted October 17, 2014 Super User Posted October 17, 2014 Does the New England Aquarium count? Quote
reb67 Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 While trolling for rock fish with my brother last year a 18' to 20' whale cruising along side of the boat. Oh I'm sorry you said fish. This pass summer while reeling in a 30 lb cobia a 60 to 70 lber was swimming along with it, we threw every thing other my nephew at it and not even a look. Quote
Super User Darren. Posted October 17, 2014 Super User Posted October 17, 2014 While trolling for rock fish with my brother last year a 18' to 20' whale cruising along side of the boat. Oh I'm sorry you said fish. This pass summer while reeling in a 30 lb cobia a 60 to 70 lber was swimming along with it, we threw every thing other my nephew at it and not even a look. My nephew has caught fish. That may have worked, LOL. Family can be good bait depending on the species.... Quote
lectricbassman Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 carp man.jpg I'll let you decide. Classy! Quote
Super User buzzed bait Posted October 17, 2014 Super User Posted October 17, 2014 i saw some 25-30lb carp about a month ago that looked like life size torpedos darting through some mud flats.... aside from that i'm thinking the biggest one i've "seen" was likely on the same outing a month ago when i saw what looked to be about a 9 maybe 10 pound largie smash something in about 6 inches of water.... all i could see was the mass of this fish and was literally stunned.... needless to say i spent the next hour trying to catch that pig with no luck Quote
slimshad Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 I was 14-15 years old. Snuck into a pond. Saw a bass beached up in inches of water below a duck. It was very large and it looked like it was beached like a whale. It looked like it was waiting for the duck to enter the pond. I had a stanley jig with a no. 11 pork frog and casted it next to the bass. It turned and ate my jig. I about bleeped my britches. Set the hook fought it about half way in and it came off. I was devastated. I stood there and the dang fish beached itself back up under the duck. I casted again and the same thing, bam. Fought it again and it jumped off. i stood there for 30 more minutes and she never came back. That fish was huge. I will NEVER forget that day for the rest of my life. I also carried a spinning rod in with a beetle spin that day. I caught a 13" hammerhead bluegill that day. Put it in the freezer to mount and my mom threw it away after we had an issue with the freezer. Man the memories these forums bring back... can't wait til I can make more memories with my 6 year old son Sunday.. Fish On! Quote
Driftb Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 Not the all time biggest fish I'v e ever seen or caught, but certainly the most exciting. I was in Northern Ontario at a fly-in lake. I had gotten up early and gone out on the lake alone. I was jigging up 18- 25" walleyes almost as fast as the grub hit the bottom. I felt a hit, set the hook, and realized that I must have been snagged. It was the first snag I had found in that lake, so I was surprised. I was about to start shaking my lure free when I noticed the line starting to move. The fish started to take drag and all I could do with the 6lb test light action rod was hold on. The run took me only a few wraps of line fron the spool, before the fish turned. I reeled it all the way back to the boat, and it took off again. this time it was closer to the surface, and after two more runs it started to tire. On the third run, I started to make headway. The fish would stop, right under the surface, and I would pump the rod, pulling him back towards the boat. As I was pulling, his tail came out of the water, and when I saw the white on the tail, I realized it wasn't a northern, but a giant walleye. Eventuallly I got the fish back to the boat. It looked to me like I had a new world record walleye. I am guessing that this walleye was easily 45" long. I know this sounds like a likely story, but I am sure of it. I have caught many large wallleyes up to 34" and none of them was even close. As I was trying to figure out how to land the fish, alone, without a net, in a catch and release lake, photograph it and file for a new record, the walleye opened it's mouth and spit out a smaller wallleye that still had my jig in it's mouth. Then it swam slowly back down to the bottom. The smaller fish the the monster walleye had swallowed whole was 22" long! Quote
FrogTosser88 Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 If you walk the levees' of the CA delta in the spring.... I have seen some huge females in shallow beds... They sit there completely motionless sometimes. Any bait is completely ignored. If there is a way to catch these girls, I hope i can figure it out some day.. Quote
ChrisAW Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 Every day I go to work, I have to look at a 12 pound largemouth that I know I'll never catch Largest I've ever seen in a public lake was no smaller than 6 pounds, probably closer to 7. She tried to fly after my frog one morning, I had a full view of her when she came out to eat it. Well bigger than the 6 I had caught in the same lake that year. I was actually reeling in a bad cast when she tried to eat it. I stopped it and she came back and nearly came out of the water again to eat it. I gave it a second and felt her pull on it. Set the hook, felt the weight and a couple head shakes, and she let go. That is the day I stopped fishing SPRO frogs. Had too many hookup issues with them, and that was the last time I was gonna let it happen. Biggest of any species was a 48+ inch Musky that was after a 2lb smallmouth I had hooked on St Clair. I was half tempted to let it But, I started reeling hard and flipped him in the boat instead. It was kind of like the little smallmouth let me do it too, because he quit fighting and surfaced, which allowed me to swing him up out of the water pretty easily. Quote
wisconsin heat Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 What do you think..... a whale! A whale is not a fish. 1 Quote
Super User everythingthatswims Posted October 19, 2014 Super User Posted October 19, 2014 When you spend time on the ocean in the blue water, you see some crazy things. I have seen hammerheads over 10' and great whites over 15' cruise by the boat while we troll offshore, ocean sunfish that you couldn't fit in the bed of a pickup, manta rays that I don't even want to estimate the size of...etc. etc. One time we were fishing at a wreck 8 miles out and had a GIANT bull mahi swim up to the boat (the big ones are supposed to stay 30+miles from the coast so this was very unusual), my dad pitched a cobia jig to him, hooked up, and within seconds he broke 50lb braid because the drag had been set too tightly, He then proceeded to jump a dozen or more times to try and throw the 2oz bucktail stuck in his mouth. That may be the biggest heart breaker for me when fishing (that I saw). I think the worst ones are the ones you don't get to see! Quote
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