3 come to mind.
Back in the mid-80s, hooked a monster on an eel from the Flats in the Canal, which I couldn't even slow down (I used a heavy white fiberglass Lami, too), and which buried itself in the bottom.
Late 80s, hooked a nice fish on bait off South Beach on MV. I had two rods out, and the Hawg Hunter man also had two rods out. I had the fish in close, saw it (long, fat sucker) and then it started running over my other line (the Hawg-man had reeled his two in). It got wrapped around, and then like a jerk I tried to horse it in on a wave and the hook pulled
Early 90s, Wasque Point on MV, fishing bucktails. I had a 38# already. I hooked a nice fish, had it on for about 10 seconds, then everything went slack. My first thought was that it was a big blue and it cut the leader, which lasted until I reeled the line up and my 150# snap got hung up on the tip guide. Shone my light on it and it was bent out like a cheap coat hanger. I stopped by Coop's the next morning on my way in, told him about it, and left. A few days later I stopped by Coop's again, and he tosses me a 3 oz bucktail and asks, "Did you lose this somewhere?" I look at it, see it's one of the Hawg-man's home poured, and say, "Yup, it's one of mine. Where'd you find it--did it fall out of the back of my truck when I was here a couple of days ago?" "Grab a seat before I tell you. I took that out of the throat of a 62# bass a guy weighed in here yesterday. He got it on a white Danny plug at Squib".
