the ones that get away....
please share.....I need support...
do you scream?? swear?? or maybe even cry:bc:
does it haunt you??
I'm good for 1-2 a year....:smokin:

ive never hooked into a cow, but did manage a nice fat 18-20lb bass last fall in the ditch! biggest to date.

I got a couple that haunt me.....if I think about them!:bc: They were both lost in the same spot....1 year apart!

Ya lose them sometimes. The ones that haunt me the most are fish I hooked on slow nights.

When i drop one i just fish harder for an hr. It gets the addrenalin going. Usually i'm on cookie cutter fish 32-40 inch though so no real cows for me.

I believe little round had a client loose a huge one this year though.

This past july while tuna fishing near Chatham we got 5 fish, all about the same size (80 + lbs)
6th fish on (I wasn't on the rod) figured it was another 80lb fish as it didn't fight much different.
Fish gets about 100 ft off the stb side when I finally seen the fish surface and realize the size.
"holy %$%$%$%$, it's over 6ft long"
The harpoon is sitting strapped on the stb gunwale, the basket, line with the dart, ball ect... are sitting on the deck in front of me,
But it's not rigged and ready for use :splat:
We get the fish closer to the boat, I get hold of the leader, and the other guy was getting ready to get a gaff shot.
Before he could get a shot, the fish starts to go under the boat.
Instead of feeding it out and taking some time to rig the harpoon while the guy on the rod fought it a bit longer, I tried to horse it from under the boat, pulled the hook, fish ($) gone :bc:
Got the 7th fish of the day on later, the harpoon was ready and rigged for use, but it was another 80lb fish !

Makes the ones you beach all the more satisfying.

it rips your guts out.

it rips your guts out.

:bl2:....well put...

I always remember drops vividly because there's usually something to learn.

isnt it supposed to work that way? fish have to win sometimes, thats why its called fishing and not catching...everybody loses fish.....

Easily a 50" bass which inhaled an 18" bluefish I was reeling in during a blitz, saw it come out of weeds about 10 feet in front of me and scoff that sucker up. I was using a large Shimano baitrunner reel at the time, so I flipped the switch and let her run hoping she would swallow the blue and plug. I let her go about 150' and engaged the reel and she spit the blue. For my troubles I reeled in the stinkin blue which had 5 of six trebles embedded in his mouth and gill plate, so in the end my chances were slim unless a swallow took place. Still haunts me to this day.

Why did you have to bring THAT up?!! I had almost sucessfully barricaded that painful memory away. The freight train run like nothing I had ever experienced ..the fish running right taking my line over the merciless rocks..the last green mile of frayed line coming back onto my spool..the too dangerous waves lifting the quarry that looked like a KAYAK with stripes! I stood there looking at the fish -beaten, but out of reach.I waited like Louis the XVIth for the blade which came in the form of a rock depostited milennia ago just for this moment. As the wind whipped my severed line in the salt spray I felt an emptiness that is hard to describe but many have felt over the years. :gorez:

If I'm having a good season I don't mind dropping a fish. But if I'm having a bad season or not fishing enough, then the loss is painful and generally prefaced by profane outbursts followed by a relapse of a hibernating nicotine addiction.

Like Bill said,Fish gotta win some time..
Sure it bothers me.. I don't get all bent out of shape over it..
U have to hook good fish to loose em.To me thats all part of the fun..

Some days you get the bear....some days the bear gets you!:tooth:

I have one that haunts me to this day. I see it many many times in my dreams because I saw the fish. Monomoy, 78', dusk, June, Blue/Silver 7 inch Windcheater, in the wash after a 15 minute fight, huge, just huge.:crying:

I thought you meant taking a dump

I'm still pissed off from last week late nite at the canal. I lost one fish at the rocks that was close to a four footer and another on the first bounce while jigging. This fish I never got a turn on him and then I felt the worst thing to feel while jiggin, "line scraping against rocks". Fish gone. Man that hurts, but I fished even harder the rest of the night. Losing big fish really hurts, but I can't get too mad because I was lucky enough to land a 40 lber this spring down there on a plug. Its been a good season.

I stood there looking at the fish -beaten, but out of reach.I waited like Louis the XVIth for the blade which came in the form of a rock depostited milennia ago just for this moment. As the wind whipped my severed line in the salt spray I felt an emptiness that is hard to describe but many have felt over the years. :gorez:[/QUOTE]

Pt.JudeJoe, how incredibly vivid, you bring tears to the eyes of every surfcaster.

:wavey:
Ed

I've got 3 fish that definately haunt me. The last one of the bunch I did scream. The middle one of the bunch I was too tired and dejected to react. The first one I was a little undergunned.

I lost a good one this weekend after about only 20 seconds, so I wasn't too upset and figure that is going to happen. It's the ones that were long battles that I was close to winning, but for various reasons still very far that bug me.

the ones that get away....
please share.....I need support...
do you scream?? swear?? or maybe even cry:bc:
does it haunt you??
I'm good for 1-2 a year....:smokin:

Matt,

I would like to have at least one of the two I dropped that night we fished last year, but here's my real take:
Catch the fish first and weight them later. The unknown always leads you to believe that the one that got away was much larger than it actually was.
Case in point:
Last fall at the vineyard I had the derby winner on the end of my line, my knees knocking, ready to :yak: if the fish got off. The thing hit like a freight train and took a ton of line. I couldn’t stop the thing. When I slid the 16# fish up at my feet I nearly did :yak: in astonishment that a fish that small took all that line on me.
Shortly after I returned from the island, I was fishing Narragansett and hooked the RI state record. I couldn’t believe it but when I slid the fish up on the shore, it was nearly identical in size to the fish I hooked on the Island earlier in the week. They were both little buck bass hooked in the hinge of their jaw. Had I lost either of the two fish, my fishing career would have two painful asterisks next to it.
On the flip side, the two largest fish I've gotten recently looked much smaller in the water than they actually turned out to be. This just underscores the catch first, weigh them later attitude I live by.

I remember the woman Ive lost but not the fish . its fishing !

I've lost a few good ones. I think I wrote about one here I called "The Mexican Standoff ".

Anyway , I lose much fewer jigging than plugging. People can speculate as to why but I think its the single hook. for the most part either you have them or not. I think with plugs , especially with multiple trebles , you get a piece of a lot mopre fish but don't always get a solid hook up.

There is also the problem of the last 10 feet. I lost plenty when I first started in the last few feet. That doesn't happen much anymore but it still happens.

I typically just say a few swear words and try to hook up with another. Its not your fish until you land it so no need to commit suicide over it.

i dont want to talk about it

Fishing would get awfully boring if you caught every fish that you hooked. However, you cannot help but relive those battles when you lost a nice fish. I have a few that I relive where I could not move them and then they were gone. It does keep things interesting.

I'am getting used to it! don't bother me much any more happens to often.:lossinit:

thats fishin'

I don't want to talk about it:mad:
ok, my dr says its better to talk about it


fish # 1
cuttyhunk.....last year ....new moon june......shadow and j figs heard me on the other side of the island...on a black habs needle....could not stop the fish...never had control

fish #2

last friday night...with an eel that resembled a full size boa constrictor.....I hooked into something LARGE.....JUMBO LARGE

fish made two INCREDIBLE runs.......ones that make you sit back and smile

fast forward.....fish 5 feet in front of me......

and she was toast at this point in time....not moviong at all...pretty much surrendered herself....

light goes on....hand in the water to lip her......one last headshake and sher throws the F@*&#$% eel out of her mouth and it hit me in the shoulder


Unhooked.......she was still.....looking at me

so what did I do.....bellyflop on her

didn't get a good grip on her.....swam away slow

surprised no one heard me scream......

I swear..the fish was talked to me when she was looking at me....lying still

"you think I got this big by being stupid"


close to 55"/high 40's low 50 lb my guess...huge head and shoulders...never saw the stomach

Was fishing small Charter boat off Watch Hill with my Dad and Brother. Monster hit, pulled out drag, couldn't move her. Was patiently fighting the fish then nothing. Wish I saw it. Still think about that fish until this day and it was 2 years ago. The not seeing was the hardest part for me...

Matt,

I would like to have at least one of the two I dropped that night we fished last year, but here's my real take:
Catch the fish first and weight them later. The unknown always leads you to believe that the one that got away was much larger than it actually was.
Case in point:
Last fall at the vineyard I had the derby winner on the end of my line, my knees knocking, ready to :yak: if the fish got off. The thing hit like a freight train and took a ton of line. I couldn’t stop the thing. When I slid the 16# fish up at my feet I nearly did :yak: in astonishment that a fish that small took all that line on me.
Shortly after I returned from the island, I was fishing Narragansett and hooked the RI state record. I couldn’t believe it but when I slid the fish up on the shore, it was nearly identical in size to the fish I hooked on the Island earlier in the week. They were both little buck bass hooked in the hinge of their jaw. Had I lost either of the two fish, my fishing career would have two painful asterisks next to it.
On the flip side, the two largest fish I've gotten recently looked much smaller in the water than they actually turned out to be. This just underscores the catch first, weigh them later attitude I live by.

thanks Mike....I feel alot better...I think:laugha:
I know what you mean though...Ive hook many of those buck bass in the jaw or top of the head and chit when I saw how small they really were.....
I still screamed and swore though...:jester:

matt- saw max today at the swe said you lost a real nice one...

yes. it really hurts.
makes you think though, so you dont screw up the next time. what did i do wrong?
happened the other day, i should have let that fish run much longer with the bait, and i should have been using a bigger hook. im using a bigger hook now, and letting them run longer. ive never had a bass take that much line out...drop before was my 1st 40lber too.. im not letting it get to me though. there are fish however i will never forget those battles lost.

I've got a few I'd like to have back.

2 in the rip at great point, the first leveraged the trebles open, I never even stopped that one. The second was hit by a seal after a 20 minute fight. I had it stopped, it's on the surface out 75 yards-100 and I'm trying to work it out of a humming west tide rip. Along comes a horsehead for the free meal....

2 more in the canal, one got past me in a back eddy and the hook came shooting out when it went past. I could not lift that fish, it was within 15 feet and I could not lift it before it got past me with a 1209 and leaning back as hard as I could. if the line had broken I'd have gone over backwards.

Its all part of the game, and part of what keeps you going back...

The freight train run like nothing I had ever experienced .

Ya that's the one that still haunts me,
as i know it will prolly never happen again. :doh:

aww jim thats devastating. im sure you will pick another one up. ;)

Because I don't fish all the hours of some of the guys here and also because I have never caught a fish over 20lbs my 2 drops will NEVER be forgotten. Both happened on a rock in the surf at the same spot. The first one happened when I slipped a couple of feet going to grab the fish on the weed beds below. Line went slack and he sensed the opportunity, shook his head, threw the plug and flopped his way back in before I could get to him. That fish was so fun to fight and reel in. The whole time I'm fighting this fish which took awhile after several runs I'm thinking of all the advise I got from this site and all the info I've read about but never put into practice. The worst part was a guy offered to help me and grab him for me but i declined because of my control freak issues. I was speachless and still think about that fish all the time.

Still waiting to connect with a fish of unusual size...and if I don't find a way to correct my current imbalance btw. work, life, and time on the water, its never going to happen!

i yell, scream, swear, wonder why.. Then i pace around. Then i go home and cant sleep. Start overfishing every night pissing off my family and freinds. Break up with my girlfreind.

I dont take it well.

3 years ago. Off Sandy Neck in my boat. Tube and worm. Still think about it occasionally. Up to the leader, back to the bottom. Had it to the boat at least 6 times. Wish someone was with me that day. Got sick of playing tug of war, pulled the hook. Really wish I never saw her up close. Oh well thats fishin.

Yes it pains me and also adds to my knowledge. The first really large I dropped left me with mangled hooks. I have gone to 3x and 4x hooks ever since. The last "nice" fish I lost, ran my line over some rocks before I could turn her head. I now fish that rip from a different rock that gives me a better shot at turning a fish before the rocks get really bad. The fish in my sig pic was taken from the new rock only 45 minutes after the breakoff.:laugha:

I dropped a fish that made the 52 I got look small two years ago about 4 feet from me. I didn't scream or swear; I didn't cry. I just went home and drank for 3 days! That fish still haunts me in my dreams. What a moster of a bass!! Golden's words were something like "Holy Fu*& dude! That Mother fu$%^& is enormous!" Then the swivel let go. End of story. I have to start drinking again! :gu::bc::bc:

Still HAUNTS me to this day. 3oclock in the AM parked across from the coastguard station. walked down an turned right an made the walk all the way out. was using fresh SANDEELS at that time.a friend would leave them out . so I could swing by an pick them up early. Just befor day break, it HAPPNED this fish ran me DOWN the beach. stopped an never moved. I walked into the water trying to get more line. NOTHING.she would take a few feet then stop. an few more an stop again. I tried pulling different way w/ the rod. an all that did was get her MAD:doh: I had this fish on for about 1/2 hour. My buddy looked at me an said, you going to FISH or STAND here all MORNING! made one more try started pulling an walking back up the beach.That was all it took SHE had enough also. started swimming into deep water an taking all the line I had. pointed the rod at her an said :wavey: BUY-BUY:wavey: Ive also been SPOOLED w/ my FLY ROD a couple time BUT thats another STORY:o
GOOD LUCK GOOD PLUGGIN:cheers: