Night fishing - Bass of a lifetime - - - - well........

[L a r r y]

So I was fishing a small pond around here that I've been told hold some pretty nice size bass.  So I've been hitting it up and looking for the ONE....On the first few times, I'm fishing topwater and I get some amazing swells at my lures...but no hook ups.  So last night, I decided to go back and see what I could do.  I catch a couple of 1.5# and a solid 2#.  The sun has dipped below the trees and the street lights are coming on.  So I give it my 5 cast countdown.  I catch another dink on a Huddelston swim bait, and I grab my other rod and throw a cavitron.  I catch a 2 pounder on my second cast so I know have 3 left.  The area is dark now, so I cast toward the grass line and change up the retrieve, 3-5 fast cranks, and then slow it down 3-5 cranks.  I do that a couple of times and about 15 feet from the bank, I hehear the explosion of a lifetime....feel the weight of the fish, set the hook....FISH ON....ohhhhh mannnn its got some good weight and is stripping drag on my STX spooled with PP 50lb braid.  HOLD ON....HOLD ON...don't do anything silly stupid....It breaks the surface and this massive tail throws water everywhere....OHHHH MANNNNN....hang on...hang on...hang on...so after a couple of more tail flips, I start to wonder, what the hell have I hooked into?  So I flip on my light that I have on my head, and what do I see....A BIG CAT!!!!!  Oh man, I've caught cats on cranks before, but never caught one on a topwater.  So after I finally get him up on the bank to where I can get a hand under his gill, and he flops out of my hand on the bank.  My cavitron was bent up pretty bad, but it will survive to fish another day.  Here are a couple of crappy pics and my bent up cavitron.  I didn't get any measurements but I am GUESSING it went between 4.5 - 5lbs

[Andy Taylor]

A catfish on a buzzbait. That's weird.

[OHIO]

Same exact thing happened to me a couple of days ago. I thought I had the bass of a lifetime, but it was a channel cat. I caught mine on a worm though

[brushhoggin]

now that's a first

[gobig]

I caught an 8lb cat on a frog last year.

[zero]

pwnt

[Mrs. Matstone]

Nice, Congrats! ;D