How the big one got away?

[Bad Wood 75]

I was thinking after reading one of the post that it would be cool if we could all post a story about how the "big" one got away.

My biggest fish that got away was probably one out at a special coastal lake that is full of bass. Roger probably knows which special lake I am talking about because he told me where to fish at, I was fishing a tree that had fallen and was sticking up out of the water. I was using a cinnamon 5 inch senko and I hooked into a huge fish. Probably was about 5 pounds but i was using a really flexible pole so it felt HUGE. the pig took it into the tree and wrapped up around a limb and broke off, I mean i had a great fight and there were people on the road pulled over watching me try to land this fish. I felt pretty dissappointed when i lost him but it was a great fight and the fun part of fishing is hooking into a pig and fighting it. Still shows mother nature can kick mans butt

[pitchnboy]

Bad Wood i no how you feel. i was in this in-let at silver lake and i have pulled many fish out of it before. i think i might have told this story before. i founde these fish up on a spawning ledge and i was pitching a beaver at them of course. i hooked into about a 3lber and lost him. then, i draged it down the ledge and got the biggest strike in my life. i set the hook and i swear to god this female was a butta-ball as bill dance would say and it was every bit of 7lbs if not bigger. i just about got it to the boat and i knealed down to lip her and she threw the hook and i just broke DOWN. i swear i almost cried. i stayed there and threw everything i could think of to get her to hit again and it must of been a half hour and i said screw it because it was getting LATE. and i lost 1 more in the in-let as well. i hope i have another shot at getting another lunker on!!!!

pitch

[ExBassGuide]

Learn from mistakes, take a net with you all the time. It could help you land the biggest bass of your life! Look back at EVERY fish you loose and try to see what you could have done to keep that from happening. Think about: drag, line size, hook set, check the bass and see if it is hooked well, can my rod handle this size of bass, see how the pro fishermen land big bass(look at every thing you can). When I get a big bass and it is hooked good I move to the seat we sit in when driving the boat. It gets you near the bass and much less trouble lipping that big ol sow :wave: :bigshock: :dance:!
If you use a net get the bass in the net but do NOT lift the bass into the boat using the net. This can damage a bass. Get a good grip and get the net near the boat, then lift her in. Look out bass are strong and can shake out of you grip if you do not take care. By looking back you will start landing more big bass (now you just have to get them to bite :smirk:.
Roger

[rob allen]

I was fishing a tournament out of hood river a couple weeks ago and had a strange occurance...

a 3lb smallie strikes right at the boat and rips my crankbait clean off my line... too bad.... 2 minutes later i am retying and my partner has the trolling motor.. a fish jumps right at the boat low and behold there is my crankbait floating in the water so I tied it back ok :smile:

[1bigfish]

Well like most fisherman I have lost more then one "big one" in my lifetime. But the one that still get to me till this day is the one I lost at the JohnDay River about 3 years ago. I was using a spinnerbait on a light action rod with 6lb test.(mistake number one) I had already landed several smallies that morning in the 10 to 12 inch range so when I hooked up on this fish I didn't think much about it and started to reel it in. I got it almost halfway to the boat before the fish decided to take off. It was at that point that I realized that I was into a really nice fish. I did have the drag set right so the fish just started to take line. I was in no hurry to try and horse this fish to the boat. I knew that with the lighter rod and lighter line I was going to have to just hold on and wait this fish out. Then the fish decided to jump. My heart started to race as I found that the fish that I was fighting was a 4 to 5lb smallie. Knowing that I had never caught a smallie over 4lb I could feel my heart beating as I slowly but surely got the fish closer and closer to the boat. I turned to my partner and said "what are you doing, get the net." He picked up the net and waited. Then the fished jumped again. This time as the fish jumped and pulled on the rod a heard a snap. It didn't sound like line snapping and it took me second to realize that my one piece rod was now in two pieces. I was stunned looking down at my broken rod and did not notice that I was now pointing what was left of my rod strait down at the water.(mistake number 2) Well that was all the fish needed as it took off one more time and snapped my line. I just sat there looking at my pole trying to collect myself. My partner just quietly put down the net, picked up his rod, and stated fishing. To make matters worse was less then one minute after lossing the fish, dragon67 drove up alone side of me in his boat to show me the one that "did not" get away from him.

By the way after looking at what was left of the rod I found a dent right at the point that the rod had snapped. My guess is that the rod had somehow gotten steped on and I hadn't noticed.(the biggist mistake of all, not checking your equipment before you start fishing)

[cimfl]

While fishing the Willy about 5 years ago, I was running a Rebel Crawdad crankbait for smallies. It was a suspension lure. I had met another fisherman on the bank and we were both fishing close to one another, talking back and forth. Our casts overlapped, he was using a spinnerbait, my line under his, so I cranked hard and fast to get down low, while he pulled his over the top....I never got there, I was intercepted by a fish that took off. I was drastically unprepared for a fish of this size, having been catching 12" smallies, I was using an ultra light crappie rig with 6 lb test. The fish swam up river, taking line at a steady pace. I kept the pressure on, but couldn't budge him. I even handed the rod to the other fisherman on the bank, asking him what he thought was on there......he thought it was a bass....had to be one heck of a bass though, we never did find out what it was, it ran up under some brush on the bank, and pulled off. I personally think I had snagged a big old carp, but I guess you never know!