A few years ago I  like many have, had a big one get away on me at the boat. 

It was on my first baitcaster set up a daiwa twitching bar reel with a daiwa megaforce 6,6 MH rod with 30lb braid.  When the fish hit it went from one side of the boat and underneath and shot out the other side.  Now here is where I'd like the more experienced bass fisherman's input.  I  had my drag maxed out and line was flying off my spool about 25 yrds before I thumbed the spool and my rod tip and handle at that point facing the same way toword the fish.  I did get a quick look at it before it spit my spinnerbait at the boat it look like it could have eaten a 2 lb bass.  

 

How big of a bass do you think it was?

 

One of those things I always wondered about, it was at Houghton lake in Michigan.

You want us to guess how big a fish was that you never saw out of the water?

You saw it eh?

 

Sounds like one of those toothy critters. Pike!

 

Where were you?

I have absolutely no idea...but since you didn't land it and barely saw it, I think the fish will get bigger and bigger each time you tell someone the story  at least I would hope so. I'd probably start at "at least 6 pounds" and begin working my way up from there.

Not an ounce over 15.73 pounds

You reels drag set at max would be about 8 lbs, your rod can't with stand 8 lbs of pulling force. Largemouth don't run 25 yards without making several turns. 6 lb bass looks like it could eat a 2 lb bass.

Tom

I'll say 18.25 pounds....without a doubt.

We (somewhat obviously IMO) can't guess the weight of a bass that not only have we not seen, but you haven't had a good look at either.  We can't even guess the weight of a bass from picture all that accurately, so no one can guess the weight of a bass from a simple mention of line and rod specs, and an inaccurate, probably overestimated, guess of how far it pulled drag.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/field-notes/2013/06/has-long-lost-photo-george-perry-and-his-world-record-bass-surfaced

 

No matter how you slice it.....that is one heck of a bass!

It was obviously a new world record!

Considering it was Houghton Lake a few years ago I'd say it was probably 12 pounds even, which means if it wouldn't have went under the boat your line probably wouldn't have broke and you would've broke the 84 year old record by 1oz! How's that for a kick in the nuts?! 

 

Edit: just read again that it threw the spinner bait, my bad! You still were so close to breaking the record some think will never be broke. ?

Well I was just trying to get an educated guess from guys that have caught bigger fish more often than me.  Best that I've caught and weighed is 4 1/2 lbs. 

It bounced off the top lip of boat when my spinnerbait got out of its mouth.  Now being that it was a lower end baitcaster drag being maxed out may not mean that much. But I  do know what I  saw,  a largemouth and as far as how far it lined out you don't get to play tournament paintball without knowing distance quickly.  Now I was a little bit in shock/amazed at line spooling out. And that reel did break the next year.

And I like I said little experience in catching anything above 4 lbs. So is say a 6 to 8 pounder capable of doing that?  I've slightly upgraded reels since 

41 minutes ago, Pacoac10 said:

Well I was just trying to get an educated guess from guys that have caught bigger fish more often than me.  Best that I've caught and weighed is 4 1/2 lbs. 

It bounced off the top lip of boat when my spinnerbait got out of its mouth.  Now being that it was a lower end baitcaster drag being maxed out may not mean that much. But I  do know what I  saw,  a largemouth and as far as how far it lined out you don't get to play tournament paintball without knowing distance quickly.  Now I was a little bit in shock/amazed at line spooling out. And that reel did break the next year.

And I like I said little experience in catching anything above 4 lbs. So is say a 6 to 8 pounder capable of doing that?  I've slightly upgraded reels since 

I've caught bass up to 8.2 pounds, and have yet to have a fish pull drag more than 15-20 feet in one run.  Not even my 38 pound carp did that, the fish I've hooked seem to do shorter, repetitive runs rather than one long one.  Pike are one exception to that rule, they do tend to go on longer runs on lite tackle.

Thanks for the responses I'm thinking is was maybe just 6 or 7 pounder combined with a failing drag system.  But the great thing about this site is I'm expanding my knowledge of techniques so maybe I can get on bigger fish more consistently.  

59 minutes ago, Pacoac10 said:

Thanks for the responses I'm thinking is was maybe just 6 or 7 pounder combined with a failing drag system.  But the great thing about this site is I'm expanding my knowledge of techniques so maybe I can get on bigger fish more consistently.  

Just a 6-7 pounder in Michigan? That's a monster in Michigan buddy! I'd keep fishing Houghton Lake if I were you, especially when the water temp. gets to that magical number.

I fish Houghton on our family vacation in July. My home lake is lake St. Clair.

Amazingly never caught a smallmouth, but I only shore fish at St. Clair.