She had her way with me and I can't stop thinking about it
 

A fish of a life time slipped by me. Had her on for close to a minute as she ran without letting me gain on her once. Then the split ring gave on the belly hanger. Definitely the biggest fish I have had on. I probably would have been spooled or broken off when I came close to the backing and cupped the spool. This was Wednesday and I
keep replaying it over in my head. ARRGHHH! Got a 26# fish on a popper Saturday morning and this thing would have eaten it for breakfast. I feel blessed to have hooked into it, especially in Western MA. I never saw it, but I know.:crying::crying:

This is what brings us back every time,losing "the Biggin" sorry bud better luck next time.
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It's what keeps you coming back!
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You will remember that moment for a LONG TIME

inspired you are

It's not the successes that drive you on, and drive you crazy, but rather the losses!
You will continue with the hopes of possibly meeting up with the fish once again.

Of course it may not be the same fish, there will be another to take its place in you memories!

Look what moby #^&#^&#^&#^& did to Ahab. ;)
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Sometimes just knowing is enough! I have not had this feeling with a striped bass yet but I had it with a freshwater bass in Tolland S.F. I made a classic "surf cast" into a stump filled, finess area (because I lack grace) and landed my senko perfectly over the wrong side (would have been right, if I were on that side too) of a fallen log and I instantly knew........it was the most amazing and heartbreaking fishing moment I ever had. It happens but it is also what keeps us passionate!

I caught my personal best 30# plus fish a few weeks ago and I had a hit that night that I knew was a much bigger fish. Get home that morning and go through my gear only to find out that one of the points on the belly treble on the plug it hit had been straightened out a little. Losing big fish sucks, but what can we do

Nice reply Yoda!
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Welcome to the club. When you fish hard you will begin to count these memories and realize how special they ALL are.
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River monster!
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Way to go. Sharing is healing....luck still does play a part. That and heavy splits and 6x....

MIKEY >>>>>Ilove it went she has her WAY with me ><><><:hang::wid:

I had it happen again 2day!! This time my fault. I was 2 lazy to upgrade my hardware on a Sebile.:whackin:

Kinda like The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

It'll make you wiser for when grandma dearest shows up!

Waiting to have a moment like that with a Striper, but had similar instances with Bluefish (made that thread awhile ago and it still haunts me), Fluke, Weakfish (you read that right, I was a kid and had one of those long shank snapper hooks and the sheer force of the hit bent the cheap POS), and Trout.

Now you are less lazy and if you get into that mood, you'll be forever paranoid and set to overkill on tackle.

Post your 70 soon :)

Mikey, you will remember it forever. I remember mine. Black Point 2 AM on a full moon and dead calm. Had her for maybe 3 or 4 minutes then.....nothing. Plug came back with the lip all bent up and 2 out of 3 of the tines on a VMC 3/0 4X straightened.

The date July 5th 1994. I still remember every bit of the episode.

I got my biggest of a lifetime in on a "spare" rod that had a herring tail chunk on 30 feet behind our old fifteen foot Starcraft (the Aqua Velvet).

I was sitting down to eat a sandwich and drink a beer. My boatmate's were a little "altered", as well. Got into the backing on a Penn 975 when I finally turned her. Let her go. My tape measure only went up to 36 inches at the time and I had no scale. It was big. I let her go.

I lost about a 40 last year due to a factory Sebile split ring. It was right at the boat and #^&#^&#^&#^&y was getting ready to grab her. I'm kind of glad she swam away.

I lost an easy 30# fish right at the boat this year. We were in a full on blitz and I let off a little on the rod pressure when I tried to grab the leader.

The moral of the story is I let all of these fish go, whether I wanted to or not. It's just too bad you didn't get to see her Mikey.

Love,
Rick

Nothing makes a fish bigger than ALMOST being caught! Stay on 'em, you'll get your chance at redemption.
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This one was the one that would have been eaten

Got that on a white Afterhours jr reverse humpback popper

Mikey,looking good,you not the fish.well fishing the river at least you know it wasn't a seal.Can't say i have ever lost a fish of a life time,but i have had enough fish landed that i thought were a hellava lot bigger than they actually were.

Add moving water like in the picture or down the canal easily makes
a big fish bigger they just use their body like a keel and let the water do the rest ,, but a very nice fish in the photo and never really knew we had big bass in that part of the state good job

I actually had the other fish on a few days later after they shut the dam off. No current to speak of that morning and the fish felt much bigger than the one in the pic I got when the water was moving well.

Nice fish Mikey!
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Better luck next time Mikey
always be prepared, you never know when a real cow comes to eat
I had one that haunts me from 1997

It's even worse when you get a look at how big she is, so from that perspective, you are lucky to know know just how big.

You wont make that mistake again will you ? So have you upgraded the hardware yet ? hmmmm
Do it now or you will forget until that moment when you get a large on again and you say "#^&#^&#^&#^& I should have" just as you loose the fish .

either way it was heart pumping and reminded you , you were alive !


In April I had an 8# rainbow on my line ( landed him the 2nd time ) and I was going to retie before I hooked it , got it to shore when in a burst he was gone and all I had was a curled line . So the knot gave way . I cut back retied and continued fishing with some fish caught . It was 2 days later when I hooked and landed a beautiful 8# rainbow from the same spot . Broke the guys heart next to me when I weighed him and slipped it back in to the lake .

So upgrade , bet you upgrade your video games and computer when you know they need it .

Good fishing

great fish!

I had one take me to my backing and rub out the hook in the rocks..funny how the big fish know to go right into the rocks... I knew it was huge, then somebody landed a 50 in the general area a few weeks later..

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.