Here's the big 'bow I caught that morning:

About 1.25" above the handle is the 21" 'hero mark" on the rod. 21" is "keeper size for rainbows here. That should tell you something about the fishery here, LOL. The net is huge. The brown I epically failed with made this fish look average.

OK, so when do I get the invite to come catch some of those biguns....??

I have an open seat from November through March. You just gotta get here.

November and Decmeber are a no go for me (work), and next years fishing trips are booked ( feb for big browns on the White river and end of April first of May to Mexico for DD) so maybe the following year I could get up there! Sounds like a blast!

Jeff

I caught a 25 pound flathead catfish while bass fishing 3 years ago. Was using a medium action Quantum baitcast combo with 12 pound test line. Took 20 minutes to boat that sucker!

Blue Marlin in Guatemala estimated at 500-550 lbs before release at boatside.

Best fight was a Tarpon estimated at 170-180 lbs that took 2.5 hours to land on 20 lb. test in 100 ft of water in Costa Rica. That was the first and last fish of that day. I could not lift my arms.

It actually happened this spring. I was throwing a swim jig in the back of a cove and literally the second it hit the water a bass annihilated it. I set the hook and my rod doubled over and as soon as he was on, he was off...I have never felt a fish that powerful and this one put the 6lber I had caught earlier to shame. This Muskie was one of the bigger fish I had hooked and landed.

Saltwater, I had a manta ray on that I fought for a good 45 minutes until it snapped my steel line...

Well, first off, are we talking bass ? Or fish, in general ?

For bass, sure, I've lost a handful of fish in the 15 to 18 lb range. But what's funny, is I can actually say with quite a bit of certainty, that "I have landed the biggest bass, I have ever hooked"

Here's why I say this....

Their was this one, VERY big bass at one of our trophy ponds, that two of my buddies hooked, and landed. She weight 17.3 lbs for one of my friends, then several months later, when my other buddy caught her (in the prespawn) she weighed 18.1 lbs. Well, we all knew where she hung out, and guess what, I hooked her too.... but she came unbuttoned

But in retrospect, that was okay with me, because when I hooked my PB of 18.4, I landed that one

So, my biggest bass, didn't get away ....until I released her, anyway

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Now, biggest fish ? I hooked a Sturgeon once, on heavy gear (80 lb braid, and light salt water tackle), which pulled the back end of my boat all the way around against the tide, then proceeded to drag my anchor (attached to the bow of the boat) up river ! It drug me around for 30 minutes, and never once did I start to gain any control over it. Finally, after all that, it simply came unbuttoned

The next week, I landed a 300+ lb'er, my "all species PB". The one I lost might have been another 300 lb'er.... or it might have been 500+, but I'll never know.

Oh well. That's fishing, right ?

Peace,

Fish

PS, Vinny ! That Musky is freaking awesome ! I am SOOO freaking envious, you don't even know !

I once hooked a 100 lb large mouth. I know, hard to believe. But it happened.

I only fish my neighborhood lakes close to home, and there's no stripers, sturgeon, etc. BUT, we do have some bass, catfish, and grass carp. So, the biggest fish I've hooked and landed here is a 37.1 lb grass carp. (A few months ago I caught and brought back to the bank a similar size grass carp but didn't pull it from the water for a weight.) Biggest catfish was a 33" channel cat (weight about 16-20 lbs?). Biggest bass here is my PB at 9.06 (story here: 9.06 LMB)