Tell me about your Big One that got away.

[Brayberry]

I always enjoy the stories here, and just wanted to read a few more.  So tell me, whats the story about the monster bass you had hooked that got away.  I'll post mine later when I get a few more free minutes.  The more details the better,

[lo n slo]

lost one Sunday morning. made a long cast to a pair of stumps. when i engaged the reel she was already pulling the line tight. it felt like i got a good hook up but when she jumped, she threw my lizard back. she was a big, heavy fish but i never got the barb in her. i had already caught over 30 fish that morning, mostly buck spots, a good day. but losing the big largemouth was like a kick in the beans. the end

[Brayberry]

A few months ago, my girlfriend and I decided to take a road trip to Florida to try and get a few spawners, since it was still winter here (Virginia).  We booked a hotel that had a small pond on the property, and there was about 5 more little lakes and ponds in the same neighborhood at other hotels and shopping centers.  The first day I fished all the larger ones (5 - 15 acres) and did well with numbers but only a few 3 - 4 lbers.  I decided to finish the smallest of the ponds which was 1 acre at best,  The sides were full of vegetation, that extended about 8 feet from shore all around the pond, but the center was clear.  The only structure in it was a fountain in the center.  I made a few cast with a swim jig along he vegetation, with no success, so I fired a cast to to the fountain, and let the jig settle to the bottom.  As soon as it hit bottom, I felt the weight of a good fish, so I set the hook.  The fish instantly flew to the surface and tried to jump, but gravity took over as she was to big to get out of the water.  The best she could do was shake her head violently on the surface.  Then she reversed course and nose dived straight to the bottom, and tangled me up in all the hoses and such of the fountain.  I got a clear look at this fish, as she stayed on the surface for about 10  seconds trying to jump.  My personal best is 9 lbs and this fish I'd estimate between 10 - 11 lbs

[lo n slo]

ouch

[YoungPlug]

Was screwing around on a golf pond burning a lipless crank over the same stretch of grass repeatedly. After around 10-15 casts of this the biggest LMB I've ever had on the end of a rod smoked it. Jumped twice and as I was bringing it along the bank the 12# mono snapped. Has been haunting me ever since it happened...

[avidone1]

Was fishing a spinnerbait at stickmarsh/farm13 a few years ago.

I got a solid thunk and set the hook.  the fish took off like a rocket for a stump.

I couldn't turn it and that was that.

Never saw her, but she were a biggun

[JRammit]

Crappie fishing with my kid... Minnows n bobbers in a laid down tree on the shoreline... Already had a nice stringer, and then WOW!!!

Bobber went down, gaver a pull, and she pulled back... HARD!... Assumed it was a big catfish from the weight of it... But then i saw it, clear as day... After a big green flash, i could make out the black stripe and light belly... This fish was only about 10 ft from me, but that 4 lb line couldn't keep her there..... I loosened the drag, tried to play her, but she wasnt in the mood.... She ran left, then right, tried to slow her down and..... Snap

My pb is only 6 1/2 lbs, this one had that by at least 3... Maybe not quite double digit, so my guestimate is 9

Gave that fish a name and looked for her for 3 years after... Thought i finally had her one morning on a 4" Berkley Gulp minnow, but pulled in a 12lb cat instead

Next year, that lake flash flooded and left a massive kill floating along all the shore lines... But i believe the Fat Bass**rd is still swimming there today

[Dye99]

Last week I was throwing super flukes on a 1/4 ounce swimbait hook into trees and brush.

Letting it sink for 3-5 seconds, then twitching it back to the boat. I was killing it on 1-2 pound spots, but nothing serious.

Paddled into a nice cove that had a tree top sticking out of the water and casted between to large semi submerged branches.

I didn't even get a count on the sink as the line violently went hard left. I reeled in, set hook and started dragging her back to the boat when less than ten feet from me, she jumped and spit the fluke. Huge fish fat football...From my normal catches Im guessing in the 6-7 pound range..

 

And of course you play though it in your head, wondering if I did something wrong, and I know it was because I was using a drop shot rod rather than my normal finesse rig...That rod has so much parabolic bend, its hard to get good hook sets unless Im drop shot fishing.

I just grabbed the wrong rod that morning......

[N Florida Mike]

I had threw a bait( probably a culprit worm ) under a dock in my home lake and hooked a heavy fish, got it up to the boat.She made one last surge and broke off.I yelled in frustration and then noticed two guys watching.It was very hard to control myself.The fish was 10-11 pounds I'm sure and I dropped my rod and went home.The only time I've ever done that.I believe I lost the fish because I hadnt changed my line in awhile.I thought about doing it before that trip but said to myself   "one more time then I'll change it" Still bothers me and that was 20 years ago.

[frogflogger]

Several years ago fishing on the ides of March I already had a 7 1/2 on a jig and pork when I found a laydown (which were rare) and threw a shallow running Hawaiian wiggler across the limbs and cranked it through the top - a bass much much bigger than my 71/2 sucked it under right in front of me. It dove back into the tree top peeling 17# trilene off my 5000 which had the drag tightened down. I never saw it again except in my daydreams - near 50 yrs. later it is still "the big one that got away.

[Ohio Yakker]

I was taking a break from fishing to check the weather. I had left my jig in the water as I drifted in my kayak. Then my rod started to slowly bend and tug in the rod holder. I figured it had just got hung up so I just gave it a few quick tugs...but then it fought back. I knew I didn't get a good hookset and when it came to the surface about 10 feet from my kayak I could see that she was barely hooked. I reached for my net to give me some extra reach to grab it. Then it gave one more leaping head shake and away she went. My PB is just over 5 and judging by what I saw of this fish it was around 7. It was no double digit, but in Ohio a 7 pounder is about as big as they get.

I still get mad at myself for losing it. The lack of a good hookset and by letting it jump right by the boat are what did me in.

[CarolinaBoy4Life]

My buddy own's a 36 acre private lake that used to be open to the public for swimming. Its got some old floating docks and piers on it. Had caught about 15 smaller fish up to that point. I was fishing around a sunken floating dock with a Gambler EZ on a weighted screw lock hook. Threw it out past the dock where a tree ran parallel to it in the water. Ran the bait through the end branches and it got about midway up the tree and just a solid hard thump. I honestly thought I was had hit a larger branch and was stuck but I set the hook anyway. The rod doubled over but didn't budge. I kept the line tight and kept pressure just in case. Literally 10 seconds later the rod tipped started dancing. I immediately thought this has to be a cat fish. I was reeling but the fish wasn't moving it was pulling drag. Finally got the fish up out of the tree and got a look at her, I seen it was a bass and knew she was big but didn't know how big. She came up out of the water trying to throw the bait and thats when I seen just how big the fish was. My PB is 9.2lbs, this fish had that fish beat easily. I don't like to guess but if I had to this fish was 11lbs if not 12lbs. Just the size, length and girth of this fish was amazing. Biggest fish I've seen in person. Got her in to about 15 ft from the cement walkway and she jumped one last time and pow line broke just above the knot. Those 15 smaller fish I had caught and for some reason I never retied. Literally cost me the fish of a lifetime here in NC. Now I check my line after every fish no matter how big. Don't know if I would have gotten her in if I had retied but unfortunately I will never know. On the bright side I know she and many other lunkers are in there and this place gets pretty much ZERO pressure as my buddy is particular about who he lets on his land. Will make many trips to try and get that fish 

[buzzed bait]

what's crazy is that every one of my fish that gets off is a GIANT.... at least that's what i usually tell myself....  

[the reel ess]

It just happened Sunday evening. Spawn is over and the fish have moved to the first piece of structure or cover. I cast my Texas rigged black/blue Hula Grub toward a rockpile on the bank. On the first sweep of the rod, I feel just pressure and the bait doesn't move. I gave line thinking it was hung on something and the line moved away so I swung away. It was a fish and a big one. It didn't so much fight or resist as it did STAY DOWN. To tell the truth, it felt like a log that was just slowly moving towards me. I was dragging it across the bottom. I got it to the boat and started it up toward the surface when the hook came free. It had barely broken the skin on the bait. I don't know why it didn't penetrate. It was a new Gama hook, 50# braid and a Falcon 7'0" MH rod. It was a small hook though due to the bait size.

My buddy got a look at the fish. He was in position to grab it for me. He says 8 lbs min. and he's caught several over 8. It would be my PB by at least 1.5#. I've come close to that PB a lot of times but never beaten it. I hadn't even lost a big fish in about a year. I was disappointed but not as distraught as I would have been just a couple years ago. I've already got a 6.4# this year from these waters and I know there are bigger in there.

I went yesterday evening but only caught a couple 1 lb'ers. I'll get my PB in there one of these days.

[Senko lover]

It was pouring rain, and I threw a buzzbait across the pond to a sunken laydown. It hit the water, and it was raining so hard that I didn't see any commotion or attack. It just disappeared and my rod doubled over. This was about a month after I'd caught my pb of 7.12 in this same pond. Pretty sure it was the same fish. It fought me for about three minutes, then came up and jumped, and my buzzbait came flying back at me. Pretty dang disappointing. I got a good look at it and it was easily in the 7-8 pound range.

[mrmacwvu1]

She wasn't that big when we were married. After that I wouldn't say she got away it was more catch and release at that point.

[j bab]

Was casting around buck brush with 10 pound mono.

Why? Because I didn't know what I was doing!

I accidentally casted my senko OVER a piece of brush, so I was reeling it back in for obvious reasons. Right when the senko entered the center of the brush my retrieve started to feel weird. I thought it was because my line was going over a stick or something but just in case I set the hook... Almost immediately that fish jumped and I said out loud "holy crap!" and my dad saw the size of it and ran for the net. Once again I need to mention that I didn't know what I was doing... I was cranking down as hard as I could, I guess in my head I thought that I could pull a double digit bass out of brush with 10 pound mono. Not 5 seconds into the fight my line broke. That monster fish wrapped me around the brush and broke off easily.

Looking back, I should have been using braid first of all, but I should have also kept pressure and ran the troll motor up there to the brush and tried to land it that way instead of trying to horse that fish out of sticks with mono. Maybe next time I'll be more prepared.

After I cooled down (I was ticked, I pitched a hissy fit for awhile) my dad and I talked about the size of that thing... We both knew it had to be over 10 pounds. This year my dad caught his first DD and afterwards he said "I still think that one you lost was significantly bigger than my 10 pounder."

[Fisher-O-men]

Wow, which one, there have been a few.  Here is my most frustrating:

I was dragging a Whopper Plopper 130 along a dock that was anchored in the middle of the lake over 20 feet of water.  I wasn't really expecting any action when a large fish slurped my bait.  The rig I throw the WP on is pretty heavy and loaded with 30 lb braid and the hooks on the lure are heavy, so my drag was buttoned down.  The fish thrashed on the surface a couple times and it appeared that she was hooked well. I got her to within 6' of my tube and was planning my landing strategy when the lure catapulted over my head.  Bewildered and disappointed, I examined the lure only to find that the belly hook had pulled out of the lure.  Epic fail! 

That fish still made my day!

[J Francho]

I'm not overly focused on lost bass, but there's a brown trout that I lost that haunts me.  It would have easily blown my 22 lb. PB brown out of the water by pounds.  I panicked, and locked my finger on the centerpin spool, and with one flick of the tail, it was gone.

[Last_Cast]

Anyone else picturing all your faces while reading these stories?

Lost a few myself, rather not talk about it..

[Simp]

Had a huge one on a Hot lips crank bait at Pickwick a few years back at the bass resource road trip. The big girl jumped  close to the boat and turned hard. She looked like she stayed buttoned up when out of no where the crank bait  floated up. On closer inspection she had pulled the back hooks completely out of the lure. Still have that crank bait with no back hooks. I took a picture and sent in to the manufacturer and they mailed me a new one. Just wish they could have mailed me a huge bass as well.

[Bankbeater]

The last one happened about 3 years ago. Had a nice one hit a spinnerbait and take off into the deep water. Fought it for about 10 seconds and my line went limp. I reeled in the line and all I had tied on was the arm of the spinnerbait.

[Basseditor]

Too many.

[d-camarena]

I lost a good one a tournament a couple weeks ago. Would of gotten me first place too. 100% my mistake but i dont ever think about lost bass, i just tell my self i was a dink.

Anyways i was fishing a tournament and some guys that were also in the tournament were making me mad, evertime theyd catch a fish they would scream and make a lot of noise( wernt even keepers). I was swimming a magnum fluke when a biggin hit it. I did my monster hookset and knew he was pinned and not getting off. The guys were looking at me, they knew i had a good one. I tried to get back at them by letting the fish jump just so they could get a glimse of his size. Well he jumped alright, probably around 8lbs. He spit the hook mid air making me look like a fool. Big lesson learned

[Chris at Tech]

I can't say that I have ever lost a fish that I knew for a fact was a giant...but I have a story along similar lines

I was out fishing Lake Varner a few years ago and I saw former BR poster and big fish guy Randall behind me.  We were both cruising to a grassy spot known to hold fish.  I got there first and had my choice of where to fish, so I choose the inside grass line and start throwing my swimbait at the edge of the grass.  Randall rolls up and starts throwing his swimbait on the outside grass line.

We're cruising down the grass lines 20 yards from each other, throwing the same baits in basically the same spot.  So what happens?  Good ole' Randall sticks a 12lb'er in my face, and I got to watch the whole thing from cast to catch.

DOH!