The Pond Monster?

[Addicted to Smallies]

OK, so today I headed over to one of our  little local 3 acre ponds here Northern Virginia to kill some time.  The bass population is stunted, and 99% of the fish are in the 1 lb range or less, but it's still a fun way to spend a free Saturday evening, and sometimes you can hook into a 3# fish.

I was geared up with my usual knock-about bass rig: an Abu Garcia baitcaster on a medium St. Croix rod and 20# braid with 20# fluro leader.  I started throwing 6" Senkos and had a couple of light hits from small fish, but then on the next cast, WHAM -- something hit it like a ton of bricks.  My rod bent and the line took off towards the center of the pond despite my best efforts to control the fish.  He pulled HARD for a good 2-3 minutes, and then suddenly the line went limp -- my line and knots were fine, but this monster had straightened out the 30# swivel I used for connecting my leader!

There aren't supposed to be any catfish or carp in this pond, so any ideas what it might have been?  I fish a lot, and I've landed a 12# largemouth and a 6.5# river smallie , and neither one pulled ANYTHING like this monster did.  This thing wasn't really "fighting" at all, but rather it was just a constant super-strong pulling directly away from me towards deeper water until the swivel straightened.

I learned 3 things: my knots are evidently pretty good, I need to make sure and adjust my drag even when I'm not expecting anything big, and SOMETHING besides the 1# dinks live in that pond.

Any thoughts?  Right now, I'm leaning towards a big old snapping turtle...

[Jake...]

catfish/snapping turtle

[Eddie-NoVA]

If it ran out to the center of the pond my guess is a catfish.

[Grey Wolf]

You snagged either  a large cat , carp or turtle.

[Addicted to Smallies]

Folks around there swear up and down there aren't any catfish or carp in there, but I thought it felt like a catfish, too.  How big of a cat would it take to put that much pulling strain on the swivel, though?

[Amateur_Basser]

This just happened to me last week in a NOVA pond I fish. A ~25lb snapping turtle gulped up my senko, saw him come towards the shore then the line broke 18lb braided.

It was fun to say the least, but I hope the turtle is Ok  ;D

[Red Bear]

i think it could be a huge turtle or you foul hooked a big fish and it felt and fought way harder than had you hooked it in the mouth.