Snuck away for a few hours of fishing.  I have not been to this lake for a couple of months.  I was lost, no idea what the bass were doing. 
 

I got a 2.8lb, then a 1.5lb.  I was good to go, no skunk!  Then. Wham. I could barely move the fish. It wanted to dive I let it peel line. It wanted to zig, I try to zag. It blasted past my kayak and I saw color.  WOW!  Other kayakers were watching my splash-fest. It never jumped but it did the tail walk. I was thinking of playing it a bit so I loosened my drag just a touch and it dove under an overturned tree. My line went solid like a snag.  It jammed me up in a tree!   My hook bent out and the fish swam off. I got my rig back.  I got cheap and used my pliers to bend my hook back.  No more bites.  I’ll never know how big it was.  Looked like a six. 
 

It was exhilarating.   Oh well.  I’m stoked I got a good one to bite!
 

 

Hers the small one bi didn’t take a pic of the bigger fish because it was a tough hook removal. No blood, but I wanted the fish in the water ASAP. 
 

 

My heartbeat doubled while I was reading your post ! Nice 

Sorry you lost the toad though. 

Better to hook up and lose than to never hook up at all. That sucks though, I hate losing big ones.

I had a big one get off tonight as well. It was a definite 5+ lber. Chatterbait near a culvert and a huge wave as it ate it, was just solid deadweight as it swam to deeper water....and then it jumped. Threw the bait. I caught a 5.16lb girl in the same pond a few weeks ago and this was as big or bigger. The fight search continues ?

Redemption! Caught the one that got off yesterday. 5.15lbs and it had a smaller bass in its throat when I landed it. First time ever catching one with another fish in its mouth.