Everyone has a story of that monster bass that go away.

lets hear it.

My story happened last summer fishing in hydrilla.

i was throwing a rattle trap and i had a fish so big bite that once i hooked it and it jumped once it ripped the hooks off my rattle trap! :-?

im glad i didnt catch her.

keeps me going each trip :'(

Mine was a monster that I hung on a Culprit worm late one night.  I got her to the boat twice and was not able to lip her either time.  I was yelling for my buddy to get the net but we had set a cooler on top of the net.  I learned a valuable lesson.  Never put anything on top of the net.  Needless to say I never got her back to the boat the third time.  I think the memory of the fight is probably as strong or stronger than the memory of the catch would have been but I'm still looking for her.

my dad lost a DD because the dog was laying in the net.

once she got up she was all stuck in it

boy poor abby.

she heard some harsh words from him and took a long swim

I hooked a nice one during a January tounament in a rain storm.  Got her up to the side of the boat and a windgust blew the boat over her.

It was last summer, after sunset. The moon was pretty close to full cause it was bright, so thats why we stayed out so late...I remembered that my uncle told me throwing crankbaits at night work pretty well, so I tried it. 1st cast I had something huge on, so big that I don't even think it was a bass. It pulled my drag like crazy and all I could do was hold on. Right when I hooked it I got it like to the boat then it realized it was there and darted, coolest experience ever. Bent the hook on my crankbait and got off though  >

I have many stories, here is one

My buddy and I this is a story of a fish he lost

Fishing a Reservoir

Using tubes we are catching a a bass here and there

My buddy remembered that I had an old mudbug

He borrows it 1st cast he catches a 3lb LMB

We move further right near a water pump

He casts again, the lure goes past the water pump

About half way i notice him set the hook "Mike I got a monster"

He gets to fight the bass for a very short time

The bass jumps lands into the water and snaps his line

I knew nothing about it, never really used deep divers, and thought it was too odd looking to catch any fish...

I only had used the mudhog 7 maybe 10 times that year

Some call them vintage and I have seen one go for $12

They look like this

I hooked a nice one during a January tounament in a rain storm. Got her up to the side of the boat and a windgust blew the boat over her.

The ones during the tournaments sting the most

speaking of sting

"THE ONE THAT ALMOST GOT AWAY"

Long story short I was fishing a lake from shore thats filled with all size crappie and largemouth.

Walking on the bank cover with rocks...

The spot I am fishing there is a lot of grass (weeds) not folded yet so I am able to cast into the water...

I cast a white spinnerbait into the weeds

a few seconds after I start reeling, I had a huge hit

I set the hook get a quick fight and loose the fish.

D!m!

I quickly grab my other rod, put on a smoke shad senko and cast to the same spot

The senko hits the bottom then go to reel and loft my rod tip

A HARD yank

I set the hook and walk to my right some

I get the fish about 3 feet from where I can reach as I am walking to the right

I feel 3 sharp needle like pokes in my eyebrow, my right arm, and my ankle

Sh!! I don't understand that I look over and see a swarm a bees

I start running now fish still hooked while running I call my wife

"I CAUGHT A MONSTER BASS you need to get here fast and bring the camera" I pause and before she hang up "Make sure you hurry I got stung by bees"

I am very alergic to bees but, not have been stunf since I was 12 years old

I didn't swell

Sat at the hospital

Since I didn't swell and my heart rate wasn't too high

They sent me home

Figuring I was no longer allergic

Later that night I swell like crazy then again sit at the hospital

I sat at the hospital that night for 4 hours if not more

I fishing at a pond with a bluegill and about 4 feet infront of me a 10+lb bass took the bluegill.  I was having terrible sets that day so I waited until it went to the middle of the pond to set it.  When I set it it was on for all of 7 seconds and it spit the bluegill out....   :'(

Fishing on Lake Gaston in Virginia last year about this time when my buddy and I were catching some beauties on our crankbaits.

He had a 5 pounder in the well and were looking for more.

Along a grass line something grabbed my crankbait and took off.  My drag was not set correctly and my line popped.

My buddy says she was about 8 pounds.

I say she was a stripper but we were not catching any strippers so I was proably wrong.

I stilll have nightmares about that fish!

that happened to me too but i caught the fish.

it was my pb

9.2

she was bedding and she picked it up and swamoff the bed with it.

i was like yelling at myself when she picked it up

o my god omy god o my god

then i drilled the hookset:)

i suck at setting the hooks too

Mine was when I was night fishing on Lake of the Ozarks this past summer. I hooked into a nice one, we (my cousin and I) got several looks at her/him...the battle went on for about 3 min. and we saw it about 10 times (cousin had a big spot light)....all of a sudden it stopped swimming.....actually he/she got me wrapped around a dock cable and got free.

This was the biggest bass I've ever seen/had on. Probably being 11-13 pounds.

Another unique story I have: I was trout fishing, and the stream I was fishing in only allowed flies. Well I had been seeing bass all over, and I broke the rules and put a big crankbait on. I just twitched it on top of the water..........then all of a sudden a bass that was a little over 8 pounds came up and slooooooowwly nudged it with it's nose. It went on and sllloooooowwwlllly grabed it....I tried sooo hard, and succeeded in not setting the hook... I knew if I did, it would have caused a lot of camotin, and there were rangers all over the place.... good thrill tho.

i was having a great late summer trip on a small pond, the day before my dad couldnt fish with he was working(it was a thursday) and i caught 14 fish with my best 5 going 23lbs and best fish was 5.5. The next day same thing happens with my biggest fish around 5.5 but my limit dropped to 19lbs.

Things were going great, then the next day i got tired of throwing a worm and started flipping a jig on my dads rod. On second cast i was reeling the jig out of the water and as soon as i brought the jig out of the water A nice 5-6 pounder hit it, i dropped the rod like a topwater bite then set it, i had the fished hooked but my dads reels BREAKS! i get the jig back and i see the fish hit the skirt of the jig. We almost came to blows that day

It wasnt as bad looking back at it since i caught a bigger 7 plus 15min. before that  8-)  but it was jut that i didnt lose it the reel did. if i screwed up then i would have been less mad. But it did get me to pick out a better rod for my dad this x-mas

Late one afternoon, I decided to go to a small lake about 15 min. from my house. It was spur of the moment and the rush was on.

Got to the lake and was fishing the outside of large bed of spawning crappie. I was fishing a Husky Jerk when she hit. Felt pretty good as it swam toward the boat but once it passed the boat on the way to deeper water I new I had the fish of my lifetime. I couldn't hardly hold her and had to hurriedly loosen my drag to keep from breaking her off.

When I finally lifted her into the boat I was shaking while staring at the largest bass I had ever seen and certainly probably the largest I will ever land. My largest verifiable largemouth to date is 7 1/2# which is a good fish in Massachusetts.

Now the comedy of errors begins. In my haste to get to the lake earlier I had forgotten to put my camera in the boat. I immediately called my wife and told her that I had just caught the bass of my lifetime and needed her to meet me at the ramp with the camera. Now my goal was to keep this magnificent animal in good condition for later release--soon as I had my trophy photo. As luck would have it, my live well pump had crapped out recently and I hadn't repaired it yet. I dug through my boat and came up with an old chain stringer that I had thrown in the boat years ago "just in case." I hurriedly clipped the stringer through the jaw of my prize and lowered it into the water off the rear of my bass boat and clipped it to the cleat.

Now, I had told my wife that my blood was up and I would continue fishing and she should call me on her cell as she neared the ramp and I would meet her there. As I fished on, I would hear the stringer slapping against the side of my boat as my prize struggled to get free.

It only took my wife about 30 mins. to get to the lake and when the phone rang I reeled in, stowed the trolling motor and reached for the stringer to bring my fish aboard for the short run for here "photo -op".

I still have night mares about pulling up an empty stringer with safety pin clip straightened out.

Now I don't care about the fish getting off cause I was going to release her anyway. The thing that haunts me is that I didn't weigh her on my digital scale or take length and girth measurements because I was going to do all those things I always do when I got her picture taken .Hence, no proof or validation of my once in a lifetime fish.Now, I have no way of knowing but someone took a 9# 13oz. bass through the ice that winter which I can honestly say could very well have been my baby :'( :'( :'(

Thanx for listening. This has been very theraputic. They're coming with my crayons now so I have to go.

I was fishing a senko on my ultralight rod at a local pond and had already caught about 20 smallish bass. I made a cast to this patch of grass and a huge bass just nailed it. I fought it for about 5 minutes and I got her 15 feet from the shore when she got tangled in the weeds. I tried everything but I couldn't get her to budge. I finally managed to get her out of the weeds, but when I did, she came up to the surface, jumped, and broke the line. I had caught my PB (8lbs) a week before and this bass would have eaten that one. She was definately pushing 10lbs, maybe more. She was the biggest bass i've every seen in PA.

Two summers ago .....

Made a cast into some deep open water with a Trick Worm rigged on a spot remover jighead.  I waited it waited for it to reach the bottom ......   :o  WAIT .... Fish ON!!!!!!  I reeled as fast as I could to catch up with it and by the time I did it was almost back to the boat.  Soon as I caught up with it I realized it was a BIG GIRL.  I tried to back the drag off my spinning reel but wasn't fast enough.  I tried to open the bail to let her take all the line she wanted, but by that time she was directly under the boat and absolutely screaming the opposite way.  SNAP!!!!  Line broke.  Never even got to see her.  That was the last time I ever fished with spinning gear.  I have no doubt in my mind if I would have been fishing with a casting set up that fish would have been landed and I wouldn't be sitting here wondering.  All I would have had to do is press the thumbar and then adjusted my drag accordingly.  I just feel way more in control with casting gear.  Spinning gear just ain't for me and it took "the one that got away" for me to realize that.

Fishing on Lake Gaston in Virginia last year about this time when my buddy and I were catching some beauties on our crankbaits.

He had a 5 pounder in the well and were looking for more.

Along a grass line something grabbed my crankbait and took off. My drag was not set correctly and my line popped.

My buddy says she was about 8 pounds.

I say she was a stripper but we were not catching any strippers so I was proably wrong.

I stilll have nightmares about that fish!

I love this one. Same lake, same scenario....I am not sure if mine was a bass or not, but if it was it was HUGE. I'll always think about that fish.

Well my story of "the one that got away" goes like this....

We met in a ski shop 19 yrs ago......I was young and dumb and didn't realize what a keeper I had......

Let's just say I have learned to re-tighten the drag after you clean your reels.

My story is from last October.  Fishing The Lower Colorado river above yuma, AZ.  In a backwater, it's about 50yds across with weeds and an uneven bottom at 10ft deep.  Throwing a American Shad Sammy 100.  3rd or 4th cast had a fish miss it hard, big splash.  5 th cast she nails it fights on,  i get her to the boat no problem so i thought she was kind small.  The fish see's the boat and all the sudden i have a hugh fish on she dives straight down i couldn't get here to turn around.  she starts to pull drag fast so i tighten it a little(MY MAJOR MISTAKE :'( )  The line is so tight i can feel every swish of her tail,every shake of her head, then nothing!  A few seconds later the sammy floats to the surface of the water.  I reel it in,  The front hook has a large chunk of jaw tendon and the rear hook has 3 scales that the size of dimes.  Needless to say i would of taken the tournament with that fish.  

The locals and the better fishermen in my club all say that that fish was 10+ probably going on 15.  The fish of a lifetime and rookie mistake it.  I will never tighten my drag again on a fish.

Dave