Lost fish: To see ‘em or not?

[Bass Rutten]

It's the ones you don't see that haunt your dreams. I hooked a small gator last year that I wish I didn't see, that glimpse I got of it robbed me of the experience of hooking a near world record bass!

[OkobojiEagle]

I definitely want to see it... what species it was and where I hooked it.  I don't care in the least to make a mental guess as to how much it weighed.

 

oe

[fin]

I wanna see it.

I’m C&R anyway, so as long as I see it, that’s most of the reason I’m there. We’re only talking about big fish, so I’d prefer a picture, and I’d rather weigh it. If it’s not big then I really don’t care unless I haven’t caught a fish in like a week or so.

I make assumptions about some big fish that I lose that I never get to see. When one makes an instant hard long run, I assume that’s a hybrid or a carp, and I don’t lose sleep over that. When one bites hard early on the fall, I assume that’s a cat, and I’m happy to not have to unhook a cat.

The ones that really bug me are the ones that initially feel like a very small fish that don’t fight at all, and then right at the end as you start to get them close, they turn it on and snap your line like it’s nothing. Those are always really big bass, IMO. The ones that feel like a log on the hookset and pull like a train, those hurt to lose too, but there’s something about those ones that turn it on at the last minute.

[Dwight Hottle]

I prefer to see it that way I don't have to suffer as much. I also know from past experiences that a foul hooked bass in the 5 or 6lb class can make you think you lost a monster when you never get to see it.  

[Kev-mo]

I too am in the want to see it group. Yes possibly the longest smallie I ever hooked haunts me! But this fish did a vertical jump 15 feet feet away from me. By vertical I mean this fish came out of the water and was straight up and down and a good foot out of the water. It did a couple head shakes and my crank went one way the fish just dropped back in the water. While heartbreaking at the moment I was stoked I saw it. 

[Tennessee Boy]

If it’s a bass I want to see it.   If it’s a catfish I don’t want to see it so I can tell everyone on BR about the DD bass that got away.

[T-Billy]

3 hours ago, Mike L said:

I want to see it 

I’ve felt worse knowing what I had, but at 

least I know I did something right hooking up in the first place. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

👆👍 My thoughts as well.

[GreenPig]

I want to see if it's actually a bass and not a big Carp/Cat/Striper. That way I can return to the area and hunt her.

[Woody B]

For me they're all HUGE Bass until they get away.   

 

I caught a 4.90 Spotted Bass last week that I thought was a Catfish until I saw it.  If was pulling hard, and going straight down, and toward the main channel.  I was thumbing my reel and hossing it just to get it over with so I could cast again.     I'm sure the look on my face was priceless when I saw it was a Bass.   

 

[Swamp Girl]

6 hours ago, WRB said:

I want see the fish but it’s a double edge sword. Seeing a giant that you somehow manage to loose near the boat burns that image permanently into your memory.

I constantly relive that fish and it doesn’t get any better with time.

Tom

 

If you're talking about a particular fish, Tom, how big do you think it was? I trust you more than anyone when it comes to estimating the size of a giant. 

[Bird]

Ironically every big fish that I've lost, I got a really good look at them, most right at the boat.

It's happened enough that I've been desensitized. 😁

[MN Fisher]

Almost had this pike in the canoe - bit through the line as I was reaching for the net.

 

[WRB]

21 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

If you're talking about a particular fish, Tom, how big do you think it was? I trust you more than anyone when it comes to estimating the size of a giant. 

Yes, low 20’s.

I was back seating with a friend using a modified Scrounger jig w/ trout color Sluggo. We were fishing a well known area called trout point on lake Castiac May 1993. We were near the base of the point and made a long cast parallel to a steep wall, let the lure sink to about 20’ and had a solid strike. I told Gary “big fish” and fought it about a minute when the bass started up. The boat. Was in very deep water when the strike occurred and expected Gary to move the boat deeper to fight this fish. I was focused on the fight not watching where we were. The big bass came up about 5’ away from the boat and Gary yells OMG standing next to me and not up front controlling the boat.

At the moment I see the side of the point the time the bass see’s it. We were next to the point at a saddle area, the bass made a run up and over the saddle, the line skipping across the rocks and broke off.

This was the biggest bass I have ever hooked, when she turned her width and length was breath taking. The image still haunts me to this day.

Tom

[Deephaven]

Seeing a missed fish is great unless it is a giant and potentially pb then it's brutal

[GreenPig]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Yes, low 20’s.

I was back seating with a friend using a modified Scrounger jig w/ trout color Sluggo. We were fishing a well known area called trout point on lake Castiac May 1993. We were near the base of the point and made a long cast parallel to a steep wall, let the lure sink to about 20’ and had a solid strike. I told Gary “big fish” and fought it about a minute when the bass started up. The boat. Was in very deep water when the strike occurred and expected Gary to move the boat deeper to fight this fish. I was focused on the fight not watching where we were. The big bass came up about 5’ away from the boat and Gary yells OMG standing next to me and not up front controlling the boat.

At the moment I see the side of the point the time the bass see’s it. We were next to the point at a saddle area, the bass made a run up and over the saddle, the line skipping across the rocks and broke off.

This was the biggest bass I have ever hooked, when she turned her width and length was breath taking. The imaged still haunts me to this day.

Tom

Low 20's! Wow, I literally can only imagine. I lost a couple low teeners but you're speaking of a different class of bass.

[GRiver]

18 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

It's the ones I never saw that haunt me. 

Really haunts me when I’ve been fighting it for awhile, you looking at your spool seeing how full it is…. Thinking it’s got to be close, then nothing……….you stare at the line for a few seconds, lifting your rod, reeling up line, hoping it has turned and running straight at ya…. Nope …..nothing. 
That’s the kinda thing that makes ya loose sleep at night.

[GaryH]

Not seeing one that you know is a big one and then loosing it drives me crazy. I still have one that haunts me from several years ago. 

[Swamp Girl]

@WRB:  Thanks, Tom, for telling that story. My asking you reminds me of these lines from the song, "Lost," by Annie Lennox:

 

Tell me the story 'bout when you were young
I want to hear it again
Even the parts where the hero gets stung

 

1 hour ago, GRiver said:

Really haunts me when I’ve been fighting it for awhile, you looking at your spool seeing how full it is…. Thinking it’s got to be close, then nothing……….you stare at the line for a few seconds, lifting your rod, reeling up line, hoping it has turned and running straight at ya…. Nope …..nothing. 
That’s the kinda thing that makes ya loose sleep at night.

 

This is how bass gut hook us. We hook them in the lip, but a rare and  magnificent bass hooks us far deeper when she overwhelms our gear. She breaks free, but never stops tugging at us.

[Pat Brown]

And Tom no longer speaks to Gary now.  😂😉🫠🙈

 

Seriously though @WRB - that's some wild stuff.  I've been broken off in rocks by really really big fish and it's the kind of thing that just makes time stand still.

 

Last year I lost a DD that ate a crankbait on a backlash.  I had it hooked well and was winching it in on the surface very slowly from 200 feet away and it came to life and dove into some rebar and concrete on a point and broke me off fast.

 

It then proceeded to launch itself into the air around the bay for 10 minutes trying to throw the bait. 

 

It was all bad.  Zero good.

 

 

[WRB]

I wish I could talk to Gary he passed away  2 years later from cancer.

Gary didn’t have much and he was thrilled when Dana sold him his BaaCat a long time dream of Gary’s.

Gary asked me to fish with him on that May outing, he was so proud to have the BassCat and new to owning a boat.

Gary knew he screwed up I didn’t have to add to his anguish mistakes happen. I could have worked the bass to the other side of the boat and wasn’t watching focusing on the bass.

I just can’t put this fish behind me, she was a lifetime goal.

We miss a few big strong strikes but out of sight out of mind, never give them a second thought.

Tom

[crypt]

I kinda don't want to see it.........I have nightmares about the ones I have lost over the years...........can't seem to sleep anymore.......

[GRiver]

21 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

magnificent bass hooks us far deeper when she overwhelms our gear. She breaks free, but never stops tugging at us.

  Very well said…..sometimes I think if we had a chance to relive that moment, would we change anything, it’s what defines that instant in our lives and keeps them tugging.

[Swamp Girl]

20 hours ago, WRB said:

I wish I could talk to Gary he passed away  2 years later from cancer.

Gary didn’t have much and he was thrilled when Dana sold him his BaaCat a long time dream of Gary’s.

Gary asked me to fish with him on that May outing, he was so proud to have the BassCat and new to owning a boat.

Gary knew he screwed up I didn’t have to add to his anguish mistakes happen. I could have worked the bass to the other side of the boat and wasn’t watching focusing on the bass.

I just can’t put this fish behind me, she was a lifetime goal.

We miss a few big strong strikes but out of sight out of mind, never give them a second thought.

Tom

 

There is so much compassion and goodness in this  post. You're a heckuva man, Tom.

[Bankbeater]

I want to see it.  I want to see that it was a bass, and since I fish a lot of dink infested water, I want visual confirmation that larger size bass are present.

[Dogface]

On 5/24/2024 at 3:14 PM, Bass Rutten said:

It's the ones you don't see that haunt your dreams. 

 

So true. I have been fishing for a long time and have caught a lot of big fish but I have hooked two that were "really big" and I never saw them. One was when I was about 17 years old in the Delaware River and the other about 10 or 15 years ago in a local lake. They still haunt me. All I wanted was a chance to see what they were and how big.