Heartbreaking!!!!! Your Worst Misses.

[Jaderose]

Out at one of my local haunts tonight dragging a Booyah Pad Crasher through the slop.  Twitch, twitch...slow retrieve....stop...twitch...when I heard the unmistakable "toilet flush" of a HUGE bass suck it down.  I played it perfectly.  Gave it a 2 count and tried to break her neck.  SOLID hookup.  Was throwing my Pro Qualifier with the drag turned all the way up to 10.  She started swimming away from me like it wasn't even there.  I kept the pressure on her when she suddenly about faced and came straight at me.  It caught me off off guard for a second and as soon as she felt that slack she came straight up out of the water.  She was beautiful and would have beaten my PB (9.3) by at least a lb...maybe 2.  She got completely out of the water.....and spit the hook.

 

 

...and somewhere....the Gods laughed.  I'm coming for you ol' girl.  I know you're in there now.  You will be mine..(for a minute or 2 until I put you back!)

 

 

 

That's my tale of woe.  Let's hear yours

[Catch and Grease]

This morning after a really tough day and only 4 bass I lost a nice 3 or 4lb bass at the boat

[vmabuck]

I had a bruiser give me two chances tonight on the frog, missed em both. Well, first crash he missed it and second shot I got too excited, set too fast, and just scared him real good. I know where he is though. I will give him a couple days to forget LOL!

[masterbass]

I was in my kayak in some heavy lily pads frogging.  I heard that distinctive gulp of a very large fish engulfing the frog and almost immediately the fish starts pulling my yak so I set the hooks.  This fish pulls me about 15 feet and as I reel in I see him right next to me, but I also had a bunch of lily pads wrapped around my line.  I go to land the bass and my heart is pounding because 2 days before I caught my pb (25" fish) in the same area and it looked like this one was close to the same size.  Then all of a sudden I realize the all I have is lilies and the fish is long gone.  Mentally I was so let down that I had trouble concentrating the rest of the day because I knew it was a good one that got away.

[visagelaid]

I was fishing a Senko on 20# braid.  Something hammered it on the initial fall.  I set the mess out of the hook and my line snapped.  There was a huge swirl, but I couldnt tell what it was.  I think it may have been a turtle.  It was either that, or a state record bass to be able to break 20# braid.  Either way, I was pretty upset about not knowing what it was.

[Felix77]

I had one come off within a rod length of my kayak earlier in the season ... Fishing a swimbait she took it hard.  I fought her for a while and she finally surrendered (or so I thought).  She was sideways coming towards me.  I kept a tight line on her most of the way.  I inadvertently put a little slack in the line right at the yak and as soon as I did she slapped the water with her tail, one last lunge and was gone.

 

I would hate to guess the weight but all I know is she was big and fat.  

[Raul]

Fish that got away don't count and I don't bother to remember when and how they got away, ask me abouth when, where, how and with what I caught my first bass ever, or my first 10 lber or my PB and you'll get even the most insignificant detail.

[scaleface]

I lost seven lbers on back to back cast . I was fishing a topwater and just got to excited and tried to horse them in. 

[gardnerjigman]

Topwaters will break your heart more often than not. The ratio on hookups/landing is terrible. You can tweak certain things to improve your ratio, but it's still gonna happen. Buddy and I fished a tournament last week that was like that. Fish were buried in that nasty stuff. The 1-2lbers would destroy that frog and never miss. We had 4-5 big blow ups (big for that lake, guessing maybe 3-4lbs) that never even touched the frog. 

 

I've come to the conclusion frog fisherman have the equivalent of battered woman's syndrome... Sometimes the kick our butt, but we just keep coming back for more!  

[Nice_Bass]

2 weeks ago I set the hook fishing a slammer about 10 feet from the boat.  I thought the fish engulfed it as I could see mouth opening and it and was easily the biggest fish I have ever seen personally out on the water.  Most likely only in the 8 range, of course I will never know.  it turned at the last second and I still don't know if I dragged it away or if it really did just turn away at the last second.  I thought for sure I would feel weight leaning on it and it was a terrible feeling when I did not. 

Wish I knew if I should have kept it steady, killed it and turned it, or if it was just not going to eat either way.  went back in the general area for 4 days in a row and never caught another glimpse. 

[Jaderose]

Topwaters will break your heart more often than not. The ratio on hookups/landing is terrible. You can tweak certain things to improve your ratio, but it's still gonna happen. Buddy and I fished a tournament last week that was like that. Fish were buried in that nasty stuff. The 1-2lbers would destroy that frog and never miss. We had 4-5 big blow ups (big for that lake, guessing maybe 3-4lbs) that never even touched the frog. 

 

I've come to the conclusion frog fisherman have the equivalent of battered woman's syndrome... Sometimes the kick our butt, but we just keep coming back for more!  

 

 

 

It's a sickness and I got it bad

[*Hank]

I had A really slow day on saturday and landed A 1lb smallie and lost A 3.5-4lb lmb. 

[the reel ess]

I've been fortunate. I lost a lot of bigger ones when I was young because my tackle was inferior. My dad didn't believe in spending real money on fishing. But most of my biggest hookups I landed. I'm still looking for the monster wall hanger though. I won't keep it for a trophy though. Just a pic and to weigh it.

[MrE1979]

Drag SCREAMING faster than I could get line in. My buddy in my boat saying Oh my god man listen to the drag. Fought her for 5 minutes before all of the sudden NOTHING. Reeled the lure in empty. It was either the local beaver hooked in the tail or a MONSTAH bass. Wish I knew.

[Lunker Addict]

My dad and I were at a lake about 45 minuites when I got snagged on the bottom. When I tried to free the snag it started swimming away. Don't know what it was but it was huge, probably a catfish or carp. Wish I would have been able to at least fight it for a while before it broke me off.

[HoosierHawgs]

I've been fortunate. I lost a lot of bigger ones when I was young because my tackle was inferior. My dad didn't believe in spending real money on fishing. But most of my biggest hookups I landed. I'm still looking for the monster wall hanger though. I won't keep it for a trophy though. Just a pic and to weigh it.

Get a picture and measurements and make a replica!

[hawkoath]

Ufff. Another "one that got away" story that just happened yesterday. I was fishing for trout that had just heavily stocked in a lake that I've been fishing at and that I've never heard of bass being there. So I used two poles, one with floating powerbait with a 4 foot long leader carolina rigged fishing from a little nook in the woods. The other setup used a 1/2 oz kastmaster as a search lure. I cast out my powerbait and just let it sit for a while and start flinging out kastmaster seeing if I can get some hits. After a while I go back to my powerbait rod and reel it in. It's snagged in some weeds, I tug it out. It get stuck again, and I do the same but this time around bang... something hits it. I start reeling it in and feel like I have a small stocker on the line. Then it starts fighting and going in extreme angles which these trout don't usually do. I finally get it in and pull in a 2.5lb SMB. Nice. I rerig my powerbait and throw it a little right of where it was before and go back to the kastmaster. Second cast after I hook into what I think is a small stocker without much fight. It bring it and see it's a 12 inch LMB. Nice. After a while I then go back to the powerbait rig. Dang it, it's in the weeds again and I have to tug it out and it get stuck again. Second tug and bang... This time though whatever I've caught is big and it's taking the line everywhere. Remember, I'm using a light trout setup so the drag is going nuts and I've casted the thing about 63 yards and let it sit on the bottom. I get it to about 25 yards away and the thing starts leaping out of the air and showing me how acrobatic it is. I now see the fish and it's twice as large as the first bass and really good fighter. I finally manage to get the first to within a feet of shore and flipping distance and it peels off again into the brush to my left and I am fighting not to let the fish get stuck into the branches 3 feet away from shore and suddenly I don't feel the fight anymore... I take a look and my powerbait is caught up in the some other line. Uggg... I lean over and get my hook untangled and I see the fish again right underneath the branches not moving seemingly totally tangled up. So I put my rod down and lean down to see if I can maybe just take some of the cover off and grab it... I come within an inch of it and its gone. A nice fight but ultimately the fish went back to where it belongs

[BucketMouth15]

A while ago I was pike fishing in a canoe with my dad and we were carving our way though rocky outcrops and cliffs. I was just messing around throwing a spinnerbait about 20 feet from the canoe and letting it work its way down the banks. As I was pulling it in, I got a sudden strike from about right under the boat the broke my pole because my drag wasn't set right. I will be back for you this summer!

[HoosierHawgs]

Lost one this morning on a squarebill crankbait. I ripped it out of some grass, had a vicious reaction strike. Was struggling to keep the fish down but ultimately he was too much. He breached the water, brought some slack in my line, and threw the hook. At least a 4lb fish

[Jd_Phillips_Fishin]

My grandpa has a friend that's got a gin clear pond that has produced several big fish in the past. So we went over there and I had caught 4 or 5 2lbers on a shaky head. Out of no where a big 5 or 6lb. LMB swims close to the bank (maybe 20 ft. or so). So after 30 minutes of shaking the finesse worm in front of its face he finally eats it. After what seems like an eternity of fighting the big fish on light tackle, I finally get him close to the bank and when I reach town to lip him, he spits the hook. I don't what I did wrong, I kept the line tight when I reached down to get him. I've lipped fish before and I believe this is one of the only ones that has came undone when I was trying to lip him.

[the reel ess]

How many of you feel you lost one because you tried to lip it but still won't use a net out of principle? 

[HoosierHawgs]

How many of you feel you lost one because you tried to lip it but still won't use a net out of principle?

None....

[Montanaro]

Ripped a crank out of a 7 or 8 pounder trying to get her to the net....

[Flippin4Biggins]

I had a nice atlwast 5lb plus fish run with my jog and I started pulling her through the weeds and she dove down and I felt the line go slack and I had all weeds. I thought for sure when she jumped and I got her back down I had her but no....

[Canyon explorer]

My worst miss was in a BASS Federation tournament at Truman Lake , Mo. where when I weighed in I came in second place and was.006 lbs. behind the winner. When I got home and flushed out my live wells I found two large craw fish that would more than cover the.006 #'s. made me a loser and cost me about $400.