Anyone ever thought they had an absolute HAWG but it turned out you were WRONG? I was straight reeling a Heddon Torpedo once and I thought I was at either Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The explosion the bass made on that bait was unreal. I watched as my line ran out and right as it got tight i set the hook HARD... and nothing.. absolutely nothing. Fury was definitely an understatment. I couldn't believe I had just lost basszilla. I start reeling in my torpedo super fast and I feel an ever so slight tug on it. I get it in and a 3 inch bass is attached to it... that same 3 inch bass made a splash so big it rocked my boat.. Anyone ever had a similar experience?

I've had some big blow-ups small fish encounters, but I would like to see the 3" fish that could rock the boat.  Thats the definition of little mans syndrome.

there was once i was flipping a ripper worm under a bridge around the pilings and i was watching some kids running around and playing on the other side of the lake and then i just felt my rod being pulled down toward the water so i set the hook super hard and it felt very solid with a lot of resistance.

the reason i felt such a solid hookset is probably because i dragged the poor bass 3 feet thru the water on the hook set!

only turned out to be about 9 inches but it felt very good when i set that hook  ;D

Smaller bass have a tendancy to really smack your lure hard.

It happens all the time.

You get hit hard; the fish fights like a monster; you yell to get the net or try to secure the net yourself; and the bass turns out to be a dink.

That's fishing.  ;D

I set the hook one time on a fish and it came flying out of the water. It was just a little guy. I felt so bad, the poor thing went for the ride of it's life.  :-[

I always tell my hubby the little ones always seem to hit your line like a freight train. I think it is because they have to fight a lttle more to get some food. The big ones on the other hand just inhale and swallow. They don't have to worry about fighting for food. They just take what they want because they can. You never feel a thing until they move.  ;D

This happens to me sometimes when I'm trolling.

The forward momentum of the boat can really make a small fish feel huge.

I had the same experience during the bluegill spawn last year at this time.  i was in water where i was getting 20+lb limits.  i cast into the pads and a huge fish rolled on the bait, i saw shoulders of a 6+ pounder, i set the hook and pinned the fish, when i got to him it was a 2 1/2lb bass.  

the wrong fish won the race to the bait on that one.

I set the hook one time on a fish and it came flying out of the water.

x2

I set the hook one time on a fish and it came flying out of the water. It was just a little guy. I felt so bad, the poor thing went for the ride of it's life.  :-[

 ;D

x3

I thought I had this huge bass on a pretty big shiner one time.  Well I tried to set the hook like it was a 6 lb bass and sent this dink for a ride!  Ever see crappie fly? lol

i was out on the water monday and was throwing the strike king sexy shad and boom i had new pb i thot ..turned out to be a 7lb cat  :

Every hit this morning on a buzzbait.  Explosion = no hook up.  I could keep reeling and get a couple of blowups from smaller fish.  Buzzbait buzzing along and then gone = better fish.