The Future
 

I found this little wall hanger while fishing Rhody last week. This is what it had on it- Bless the fish that got away so that I can fish another day- Made me feel a lot better about the fish I've lost-especially the big girls an those released as they're all what will give me my future fishing. I just figured some of you'd like this. Tight lines Ron:ss:

The ones that get away keep me coming back. More so than the ones I beach. Especially when they send me back a mangled treble or opened split ring as a little message.

I lost a heart breaker this year. Definitely would have been the one!

The only one in recent years that I kind of regret was back in 2009, when my leader failed on the fish's fourth run---at the dying end of a west tide in the Canal. Would have almost certainly topped the Gibby Hawgtober tournament that year.

The only other one was back on MV in the late 80s/early 90s. Mangled a snap.

There was one at Montauk, early 2000s, but I'm 99.9% sure that one was a tuna, so it was more of a laugh than a heartbreak. :D

Other than that, never lost sleep over a lost fish. It's part of the game.

I have a few myself, but it's the way of the game

One night on Block Island when I hooked 3 big fish on eels but never landed a single 1, It was my first time using eels so I kinda used that as an excuse

LOL Every time I loose a big girl I keep trying the same spot hopeing for a return match. there's a couple -not sure how big they were but I'd love to get a return match.

So here's a question... Would you like to know the weights of the fish you have lost, or would you rather not know?


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Some times I can judge/estimate by the first run and the pull on the line but it's just a guess at best, IMO only caught fish count so it really doesn't mater to me

That's a good question. Sometimes you know she's very big and the mystry keeps you thinking. sometimes I'm glad I don't know cause if it was as big as I think she was then i'd really be bummed. So I'm not sure if I want to know or not.But knowing she's still out there gives me hope of a rematch.

I'll tell you a little story about the Vineyard. I hooked that fish that mangled the snap on a 3 oz jig---a home made jig that a friend poured. Pretty distinctive style. A couple of nights later, a guy landed a 62 pound bass at Squibby, or a Danny plug. He weighed it in at Coop's where they found a 3 oz jig still lodged in her throat. I had told Coop about losing a nice fish the morning after I lost it. The guy weighed in his 62 in the morning. In the afternoon, same day, I went into Coop's, and he put a jig on the counter. Said to me, "did you lose this somewhere?". I said, maybe, looks like one of mine, did I drop it on the driveway a couple of days ago? He told me, "I took this out of the throat of a 62 pound bass this morning."

Can I say, definitely, it was the same fish? Who knows? My friend poured them for himself and other fishermen. But, what are the chances? :D

I would rather know how big it was. I've had foul hooked fish fight much bigger than they were.
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The only one I still think about was posted here many years ago. Black Point, July 1st, full moon and dead bottom of the tide. I was fishing one of my own plugs a large black jointed metal lip. VS 200 and a Allstar 1208.
Swirl the size of a bathtub and 15 minutes back and forth with her. I can feel her rubbing the plug up against the reef after awhile. Then.... nothing. I reel in and 2 of the 3 tines on the front treble are straightened and the metal lip is all bent up. VMC 3/0 4X...straightened. I still think about that fish.

Nothing makes a fish bigger than not landing it.

The best part about this thread is I'm not the only one who has lost a big fish
I seem to always panic and don't do all the right things which in turn the fish wins

It is better to have hooked large and lost...

Than to never have hooked at all...
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A haunter

All it had to do was go left. It went right instead.


Haw, haw. A haunter.

I was dating an Estee Lauder model in the 80's. My mistake she got away, should've used 6x's.....still "haunts" me !
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I never caught a big tog, keepers but nothing big.
Last week I had one that slammed it, bent the rod right under the boat.
I had him halfway up, and then he came unbuttoned.

Kicking myself for not giving it a few more pulls to set that hook.
Would loved to at least seen it.

I have lost a few tog that i would have loved to see. You know when they are monsters.

I literally couldn't sleep the night i lost a monster on block. Using a bottle plug just before sunrise i hooked into something huge. Fought it for a few minutes and could barely move it, just kept going out. Pop, straightened out a brand new VMC Siwash. All day and that night laying in bed i ran through the whole episode and thought about how i fought the fish vowing to not lose again. Next morning same time, same place, same plug this time with a teaser. Cast, hook up, its on again. This time i am prepared since i thought about it for about 24 hours. I was getting worried since it was going down the same way as the day before. I try thumping the rod butt to irritate the fish, POP. Reeled in, this time the teaser hook looked like a piece of scrap metal. To this day i still think of that fish, don't know what it was. Maybe the Striper of a lifetime, maybe a big ray. My buddy caught about a 200 pound ray on the island about 25 years ago so that is a possibility. I was at that spot every morning for the week before sunrise hoping for a third shot, never happened. Still hit the same spot with the same plug every trip hoping for revenge.

That one doesn't haunt me as much as the one that broke the leader in the Canal. I've never had a bass make 5 runs before. Last one was maybe 20' from the bank and I saw the dorsal, so I know it was a bass, and bigger than any I ever caught. And the fish that won the Gibby that year was something like 38-39#.

The one on the Vineyard, bass weren't in the Derby at the time, so I would have released it anyway. Especially since it was 1 @ 36" at the time, and I had kept one about 40" to eat. :D