Beautiful fish, but what really caught my eye was the scenery! I'm not asking for you to give anything away as far as a spot burn since I don't live anywhere close to you but what river is that?

I could fish that spot and get skunked and not care because it is just too pretty!

Kudos to letting her go make more kids!

That's the CT River. You would laugh if you had the expanded view. I am pretty much in the Ghetto. Or across the pond from it anyway.

I have two that I remember vividly. One was a tug of war I had on BI over an eel when the fish went behind a rock and would not move. Another was on PI with a Gibbs Danny and a fish that I never really had hooked. Like others have said, it's what keeps you going but it can be torture.
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Had a few of those Mikey - they get a little easier as you get older - believe me its much worse if you get to see them before losing them.

Steve K - Block Island: The island of broken plugs, straightened hooks, and shattered dreams. Seen a few casters drop to their knees in dissapointment.

I have many plugs with bent hooks and even a broken belly swivel due to that place. I will be back next week to create more stories and hopefully no more heartache. I've had my legs turn to rubber bands when fighting a large there. Magical place...
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Well it's a diamond in the rough my friend!

1991 chummin' and chunkin' in the ditch. Saw an absolute monster just a for a sec. It was down deep under the 20-25 pound fish. I flipped my chunk up current a fair ways so it would sink deep. When the chunk reached the area I had seen the fish I felt a pick up. I set the hook and she ran. She didn't scream line off like the smaller fish do..........She just steamed off slow and unstoppable. My reel was a newell 235 loaded with 25 big game. My spool just got smaller and smaller. I started following her and all of a sudden I felt mussel rubbing my line and..........She was gone.....The year before I had caught a 58 pound cow in the same spot. I only bring that up because size wise the fish I lost was way, waaay bigger than that 58. Almost 25 years ago now and I still think of that great fish almost every day..............

I lost a 35-40lber next to my yak last year, should have lipped it but I went for the net. I hit the fish with the net, tried again pop hook came out, it layed there a second swiped with the net again, missed. GONE. Could of been my PB who knows. Also got spooled one time after fighting a fish for 15 minutes, cupped the spool, line broke :(

I hooked a fish in the Ditch on a deep shad that took a ton of line on the first run. I got nervous it was going to take all my line so I cupped the spool and the fish came up to the surface out in the middle about 100 yards down from me. From what I've seen this typical of big fish that are hooked in the canal. I got a quick glance and then she dove for the bottom. The tail looked massive even from a good distance out. She came unbuttoned and I almost cried. Brought the shad in and the hook was bent sideways :eek:

I probably shouldn't have cupped the spool in retrospect, but I was watching line disappear and wanted to stop her. That's a fish, and a decision, that will haunt me for a while.