What is the biggest fish you have every lost?

[Gatorbassman]

When I was stationed at Ft Gordon, GA I slid my 12ft jon boat into a swamp in the middle of post. Ft Gordon is pretty big and it is closed to public fishing. So this place hadn't been fished in years. I tied on a fluke and started tossing it around. I made a cast towards a beaver hut and started working it down one of the ditches that the beaver use to get into their hut. All of a sudden out of the dark swampy water this huge bass came up and grabbed the Fluke. After a couple of runs the drag on my cheep spinning reel locked up and the line broke. That is when I decided that I will never fish with a low quality reel again.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

If I caught the FISH in the first place I could answer this  

[Redlinerobert]

The biggest fish I lost was a 30+ lb striper.  Hooked it on a hair raiser, fought it for several minutes and right at the boat before she was in the net she came loose.  She just hung there for a few seconds, I fell down and tried to lip her but she started to swim away.  My fingers ran down her tail as she swam off.  Nothing I could do.

My dad lost a MASSIVE fish down in Brazil.  If it was a peacock it was world record material.  That fish spooled my dad like there was no tomorrow.  Nothing he could have done to slow it down.  We never got a look at it but let me tell you - the image of it will stay in my mind for the rest of my life.  

[Fish Chris]

well if you mean Largemouth Bass, I have lost 3 or 4 that were in the 15 to 18 lb range. One of those was a fish that was actually landed by two different friends (long story, but lots of solid back ground evidence on that fish) It weighed 18.0 when my first buddy caught it, and 17.2 for the second buddy. Weighed on a certified scale both times.

However, with that said, I landed my PB of 18.4....... So I think I can honestly say, that I have never lost one bigger than I have actually caught.

Now, as far as "biggest fish lost" of any species..... well, check this out;

Two years ago I caught an 82", 165 lb Sturgeon, and a 100" 300 lb Sturgeon about 3 weeks apart. (so I know what fish like this feel like). However, between those two catches, I hooked one that swam around for half an hour with "me attached to it", and I could never get it to come up a foot off of the bottom in 45 ft of water ! It litterally pulled my little aluminum boat backwards, against current, until it actually started dragging my 15 lb anchor up river ! If you were wondering how the fish was able to put SOOO much pressure on me, I was using 80 lb braided main line, with a rediculously tight drag. After half an hour, the hook ripped out :-(

My guess ? 300 to 500 lbs.

Anyway, I still think I'd have landed it, if it hadn't come unbuttoned !

Fear NO fish ! :-)

Peace,

Fish

[sirmo]

Funny you ask.  I lost my biggest fish this past weekend.  Bass that is.  I don't know how big it was (obviously) but it would have been my biggest probably.  Just needs to be 8.

I grabbed the line.  DARNIT I GRABBED THE LINE!!!!!!!!!!!    

Shoot me before Denny Brauer does...

:'(

[roadwarrior]

Fish does it again...another Cali story...Let's hear it guys, who will top that?

Man, until recently I had no idea sturgen got that big. I didn't know they were jumpers either...I guess I didn't know anything about them, hun?

That is sooooooooo cool!

[Supermat]

Chris! You never told me you lost a bigger one. That's awesome!   I've got to hook one of those things some time. BTW, talked to IGFA and you're all clear with the braid, that just applies to the line classes.

[MattStrykul]

Well, this is quite the timely thread--mine was yesterday (Sunday) ;D and it was a muskie! There's a lake here in northern Virginia that happens to be one of the few bodies of water in VA that the state game & fish dept. manages for trophy muskies. Well I wasn't musky hunting, I was bass fishing. I'd been throwing a 1/2 oz. black/blue jig-n-chunk for about 2 hours without a nibble. I finally felt a hit (a nice one too) and set the hook into what felt like a whale. After about 35 seconds of drag (and boat) pulling, and no sign of the fish, I was beginning to really wonder just what was on the end of my line. At about the minute mark, this thing finally came up, about 5 feet from the boat. Right then my jig simply slipped out of its mouth. I have no idea how to estimate the weight of a muskie, but it looked like somewhere around the 40" range or so in length. By far the biggest fish I've ever had on hook.

Hey were you fishing burke lake? I know that place has some muskie.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Rolo- I didn't lose that one, we were forced to put the boots to her and that straightened the hook

More like letting it go,lol

My buddy had a slob on at the same time and our fish were heading right for each other.  No choice, he hadn't ever landed one yet.  He had honors and right of way as far as I'm concerned.

FC- Are you using saltwater boat rods fishing for 500+ lb fish?  If so, I got somthing you might like.  80lb class stand up, short stroker-bent butt.  It's the last tuna rod I have left and it needs a home.  Do you ever fight them w/ stand up gear?

[RoLo]

80lb class stand up, short stroker-bent butt. It's the last tuna rod I have left and it needs a home.

80lb-class stroker!! Oh Man, if I was still running offshore I'd be drooling on the deck

Chris, since you're not interested in the fly-gaff, I'm sure Russ will throw in a shoulder-harness and gimbal-belt ;D

Roger

[Hale]

Is this a trick question?? Beacuse the fish I lost with a witness on the boat was much smaller than the one I lost when I was all alone.

;D ;D ;D

[Bankbeater]

I was fishing a t-rigged finesse worm in the weeds last year with light tackle, and when he hit I thought I had a 7 or 8 pound bass on.  Turns out it was a muskie about as long as my leg.  He came up out of the water like a missle and when I pointed the rod at him and gave him slack, he slung that poor plastic worm a good 50 feet.  

[.ghoti.]

The biggest fish I've lost was a smallmouth, hooked of the coast of Cozumel, trolling a magnum Spook, at 22 MPh on a 3wt fly rod. I'd guess it was between 38 and 42 pounds.

[Randall]

15lb 8oz bass. I was fishing shallow muddy water with shallow cranks hitting stumps that were just inches under the water when I saw a flash just under the surface I thought was a carp. Looked back to where it was and saw a huge bass swim up over the stump and just sit there. It was spawning on top of the stump. Fished for it for around four hours with a jig and I finally decided to throw a suspending rattle trap at it since thats what it flashed at the first time. Hit the stump and let it suspend just over the stump and I saw a big mouth open and close so I set the hook. Fish ran right at the boat which was just a few feet away from the stump. When it got to the side of the boat it jumped one time and the hook tore out of the mouth of the fish. It was almost dark so I left and came back the next day looking for the fish. Theres an older guy on the bank in a chair with a big grin on his face who after watching me circle the stump for a while tells me that the fish is gone but I can see a photo of it in the park office. He had seen me lose the fish and came back early the next morning and caught it. Weighed 15.8 lbs and was caught with a little red and white bobber, Zebco 33 combo, and a crappie minnow. He actually released the fish and showed me photos later of about five other fish he had caught over ten pounds on minnows out of the lake fishing from the bank in his lawn chair. At least somebody else caught it so I knew how big it was or I might be telling this story about a 20-25lb bass that got off.  ;D I did have a much bigger fish that I caught that sort of got away. This past June I hooked and landed a World Record size mudfish on a DT-10 crankbait I had no idea what the world record was (I had heard stories of fifty pounders) so I was on the front deck of the boat weighing the fish (between 23-24 lbs) when it jumped off the hook on the scale flopped around and went back in the water. About a month later I am reading a magazine and see the new GA record for a mudfish is only nine or ten pounds. Mine was more than double that size and I let it get away and never once tried to stop it from getting back into the water. I looked up the WR to see how close I was to it and found out that I would have blown the record away by a few pounds. Not that I want to be called the mudfish king but still might have been cool to have a WR fish.

[Skidder]

Thats an easy one, as the fish still haunts me!

I was fishing on a lake that doesn't get a lot of pressure called Sleepy Hollow in NY. I hooked a nice largemouth on a crankbait. It jumped 3 times and the last time let me have my crankbait back. The fish was easily 6 1/2 lbs. I have since caught bigger, but that one still bothers me.

To make matters worse a man and 2 boys stood on a dock and watched the whole thing.

[Bud]

      I don't know?? I lost it                  

What was always my question .   How do you know if you lost it???????????

[cart7t]

Here's a shot of mine, hook came out and dove in after him. He managed to wiggle free

[bass109]

muskie

[Sam]

Freshwater - Lake Gaston, May, 2006 - Took the Carolina Rig lizzard and never looked back.  I have no idea what it was but it is still swimming with my lizzard.

Saltwater - Growing up in South Louisiana - saltwater fish in Gulf took live croaker and just kept going, headed to South America.  Happend many times and I have no idea what type of fish they were.

Saltwater - Before the hurricane took Buckroe Beach Pier, I hooked something that decided it wanted to visit friends and family in deeper water and all I could do was hold on until the line broke.

Sorry, but I have no idea of the types or size of these fish, other than the Lake Gaston fish must have been the biggest bass in the lake!!!!!! ;D

[MattStrykul]

gaston is definetly a nice lake! I love it there. Fish there every other weekend. Do you have a place there or just go there to fish?

[bassmasta07]

in the ever  glades 5 years ago with a snoopy/walmart pole using a shiner , i got a 15 pound large mouth , got it to shore and it broke my reel , rod , and line i first thought i caught a gator....

[Syfer420]

lol thats a great pic cart. The biggest fish ive ever lost was right at the shore, broke my cheap $20 rod and reel combo to peices. Shes was about 4 lbs maybe a heavy 3lbs but she looked great huge mouth but short fat body. went to lip her and she did i nice liitle head shake and broke my line than i backed up and fell up a on the sidewalk  ;D In the past o would have been mad but i just had to laugh it off cause she gave a great fight and gave me real good confidence in dual toned senko's

[Guest JoshKeller]

I honestly havent lost a fish larger than 5 or 6 pounds. I've become pretty good at concentrating super hard when I fish, and usually go 5 - 10 trips before loosing even a single fish. I fish alot of deeper water, and when the fish arent as pressured, they tend to hold on longer.

[acehole1990]

biggest bass i ever lost was about a 4 to 4 1/2 pound smallie me and my friend were fishing a 13 foot drop off in heavy current felt something huge hit my crankbait set the hook fish jumped clear out of the water thrashing around all over the place, it was huge but my friend was too busy looking at my fish that he forgot to reel in his line the fish got tangled in his line and eventually just got free

but the biggest fish i ever lost was a 25-30 pound pike i was fishing top waters for pike the fish just slammed it but as i set the hook i accdentally hit the line realse on my baitcaster and bam fish gone

[Captain Cali]

Seen, 7-9 pound range.

Unseen, 22lbs. 6oz.  Hey, we all have to dream a little.