Sometimes they get away, sometimes they don't

[Slipknot]

I have pulled in a lot of good fish from the bottom of the canal over the years. Here is a jig I managed to land a 35 pounder on despite the bent hook. I have lost my share of monsters, this heavyweight did not get away until I released her from my hands back in the early 2000's. I think luck has a bit to do with it even though we all want to say it is our skill. BTW that is a 6 ounce ball jig, I fished it bare no pork rind.

Anyone else come close to losing a nice fish?

[Got Stripers]

Oh yeah. Early 80’s I landed a 52 and a 55 liber on live bunker way up inside Hingham harbor, the next fall I lost a monster at my feet off Peggotty beach in Scituate. After landing multiple stripers in the 30-40 lb class and gator blues, the size of which you rarely see today, i thought one more fish. It was a late September blitz for the record books, the entire cove was white water, blues and cows pushing bunker almost up on the sand. My atom popper probably just plane had enough torture, but when I got one last fish to the wash I couldn’t believe the length and girth of her and based on landing two big ones the previous two years, I knew she was far bigger, tore the hook right out of the plug before spraying me with water. At the time I was working for my dad out of his home office and when I got back to the office I got a where the fu*k have you been, but I got a pass after he heard about the fishing and I finally got to sit down and eat my Maria’s meat ball sub.

I hadn’t seen another blitz like that until this summer off our beach in Plymouth.

[wdmso]

I hadn’t seen another blitz like that until this summer off our beach in Plymouth.

[piemma]

Lost my biggest at Nathans Cove in Narr, the night of July 4th 1996 on a black broken back home made swimmer. Had her for 20 minutes and finally felt her rubbing the plug against the reef. Plug came loose and came back with 2, 3/0 4X trebles straightened and the metal lip bent all to hell. 10' 1208 Allstar and a VS200 so I wasn't undergunned. She was just a smart old gal.

[tattoobob]

I lose all my big fish so no story from me

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by wdmso

I hadn’t seen another blitz like that until this summer off our beach in Plymouth.

Me either….. was fun bud…

[Guppy]

Not much of a surf guy but try some each year..
Bought a GSB 120 M blank from Numskull, winter build, first outing with it, end of May ?, early morning tide, no moon , dark as hell , after a couple casts, bam, line head’s straight away from me , gosa 6K drag max, fish kept going, couldn’t stop her she takes a left into the large boulders then that dreadful feel, scrape, snap…

I’ll never forget it, god that was fun !

[JohnR]

Hull / Cohasset line. Live eel, couldn't stop it nor turn it. Just smoked.

[zimmy]

Two occasions where they got me up against the Bourne are seared in my nightmares. Twenty years ago now and both are clear as day. Makes the ones who don't get away more special maybe? Then there is the one that, after a near fatal fall on the rocks and legitimate 20+ minute fight with a big girl, I almost jumped into a river at high flood stage in late October, with a 1 month old son at home, to try to get to it. That one I am not proud of and consider myself lucky it broke off just as I took my flip phone out of my pocket and laid it on a rock in prep for a swim. I know for sure that one was 2005 and I am glad I didn't mess up the past 17 years with that boy.

[Rmarsh]

Was over twenty years ago....out in my kayak...lobbed a live eel a short cast away with the intent of drifting over a rocky area 100 yards from shore.....tried to put the rod in its holder but something was already on.....something large. I was fishing with a rather light setup better suited for schoolies and was struggling just to hold onto it.
Well that turned into a very long sleighride while i just tried to regain a little line....but mostly just held on tight while being towed a long way from where i started. The fish eventually got closer to shore while i held on, and when we got into about fifteen feet deep water I could see it was a massive striper. It made the thirty something #ers I had taken from shore the previous fall look puny.
Every attempt by me to raise her off the bottom failed....with the kayak tipping dangerously everytime I tried to pull her up to the surface.
With the shoreline not too far away now, I started hand paddling with my free hand, intending to exit the kayak and finish landing the fish by pulling it ashore.

When i got out of the yak, in three feet of water, I had to watch it it drift away....but i was gaining line using the wave action and now could see the fish was in the wash....when it spit the hook and was flopping around...I ran over and tried to grab it but the waves were making it difficult to get good hold of the thrashing fish....I jumped in and tried to tackle her and get a hold again, trying for the mouth or gills but all i could manage was the torso, with us now wrestling each other for control...but with the slime she escaped my grasp and my lame attempt at digging my nails into her tail failed. I didnt get much sleep that night.

[Higgie]

Cribbin one night in 2013 live eel had gotten in a monster that a buddy tried to help land fish flopped as he put lip grips on it and slid out of his hand he dove and jumped on the fish like a cowboy riding a horse blew up his knee as the fish laughed at us both and swam away. That fish made a 42lber I caught the following week look small. And last year on cutty had a fish hit a rigged eel that ran like a freight train snapped my leader never saw it but that one I dream about almost ripped the rod out of my hands

[piemma]

Read my story about a night with "He who cannot be mentioned".

The Fisherman Mag

"With a Twinkle in her eye".

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Higgie

Cribbin one night in 2013 live eel had gotten in a monster that a buddy tried to help land fish flopped as he put lip grips on it and slid out of his hand he dove and jumped on the fish like a cowboy riding a horse blew up his knee as the fish laughed at us both and swam away. That fish made a 42lber I caught the following week look small. And last year on cutty had a fish hit a rigged eel that ran like a freight train snapped my leader never saw it but that one I dream about almost ripped the rod out of my hands

\God, there were always monsters around the Cribbin"

[Higgie]

Originally Posted by piemma

\God, there were always monsters around the Cribbin"

I still have a window in the crib day or night that you dangle a large live eel you will catch a a large fish during certain months. It’s a tiny window and it’s easy to miss but some odd reason it works. I haven’t fished the fish funnel in a few years but I bet it still works.

[afterhours]

Back in the late 80's Bristol Harbor and surrounding waters held HUGE amounts of pogey for about 2 weeks until Arc Bait came a calling. We used to hammer them up to and above 50# at the Hog Island rip and the Bell on the the Portsmouth side of the bridge. One night fishing live ones at the bell I hooked one fought for a while, she swam up current coming up on the starboard side of the boat not more than 10 -15' away Rick put the light on it and we could see this thing was the biggest bass we had ever seen ( including the monster in Red Top). Was well over 5-6' long - I got buck fever and broke my line trying to keep her from tangling anchor line. Later that night I caught one that bottomed out my Chatillion 50# scale - looked small next to one I'd lost.

[Higgie]

Also great thread Bruce

[wdmso]

I can’t get pass 45lbs not for a lack of trying

I did one night hook into something in Plymouth off the beach that just steadily pulled line off my Vs 275 . And lamiglass 10ft rod. With no sense of panic no head shaking. Till it rubbed off on the bottom all with little effort. Still convinced it was a GW I hooked as it swam by.

The next few trips to that spot I didn’t wade past my knees
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

I have pulled in a lot of good fish from the bottom of the canal over the years. Here is a jig I managed to land a 35 pounder on despite the bent hook. I have lost my share of monsters, this heavyweight did not get away until I released her from my hands back in the early 2000's. I think luck has a bit to do with it even though we all want to say it is our skill. BTW that is a 6 ounce ball jig, I fished it bare no pork rind.

Anyone else come close to losing a nice fish?

Good thread Bruce, anyone that has put in enough time has lost a "monster" or 2,

I've had 2 that i would like to have another shot at..
The first was in the late 80's, I was wire line trolling a goo goo in the north rip on the incoming tide between the jettys, the wind was screaming south west, I had landed several in the ,low to mid 30's and each was an adventure. combination of wind and tide kept blowing me into the rocks, I was alone so the chore was even tougher, then the big one hit, after a lengthy battle i had the fish on top but could not get a lip gaff in it, it was every bit as big as my 61, maybe bigger hard to tell in a 5 Knot rip with a howling wind, I stuck the rod in the holder and made a stab at the fish with the gaff, i hit the line and the fish was gone...just as the boat kissed the rocks... lucky for me, the eddy swung me around and i got out of here with just a few scrapes and a pounding heart rate.

The second one,was in the early 2000's I was out on the beach ( Bruce you and Paul know where) under a jillion candle power moon, flat calm ocean, the beach was alive with fish, unfortunately all teen sized ones, pounding sand eels right in the wash, there were so many i was fishing plugs to save my eels, I moved from bar to bar looking for something more substantial, and while doing it I put on one of my giant jointed Pikies , I was about to call it a night and head back to the river when i had a take, the water exploded and the fish screamed down the beach, then ran right at the boat before circling and heading off to deeper water on the back side of the bar, the fish finally tired and i could see it in the moon light laying on its side doing lazy circles, it was big, REAL big, as i slowly worked the fish closer I reached for the net, the banging noise was enough to spook the fish and it thrashed on the surface , the leader broke , but the fish laid there, i cranked to electric but as i got close it sank out of sight, I sat and just shook for 10 minutes or so, that fish still haunts me, I've boated many "50's " and a 61, all memorable, but that one fish, because i saw it there in the moon light, will remain in my vision until I can see no more.

[Slipknot]

I'll bet that vision is imprinted permanently Joe, sounds like a helluva fish.

I have other evidence of fish destroying my gear as well as that jig, I just happened to look at that one last week. A treble so mangled it is unreal.

I have also had a couple memorable lost fish but never got to see them. I know they were big from previous experience. They don't get that big by being stupid. Large fish are smart, they will rub your plug off, scrape your line whatever it takes. My weakest link to them has always been the line.
One particular in the canal was at the end of a great morning of fish on the day of the eclipse. I had kept a fish for my sister in law and the bite was winding down later on in the AM around 10:30 maybe. Current was moving pretty fast, a guy just down the way had just landed a big fish close to 50 and released it as I hooked into a good one on a Savage sandeel jig. I never had a fish go on 3 runs on me in the canal before. I fish heavy gear and a lot of drag as most of you know. Guys down the way gave me room, I gained on it then it took it back. Got it half in again and I think the leader must have been worn and couldn't take it, gone in an instant. Fish won that battle and has some jewelry for it's effort.

[DZ]

Too many to remember, but Lefty Gomez said it well: "I'd rather be lucky than good!"

One of my luckier catches taken in Newport:
"Once on shore I noticed she was hooked in the mouth with the Redfin, the short leader of the Red Gill dropper I was using had broken off my swivel and was hooked in her tail. And closer examination revealed that my Coastlock snap had opened but the Redfin remained connected."

[PaulS]

Originally Posted by DZ

Too many to remember, but Lefty Gomez said it well: "I'd rather be lucky than good!"

One of my luckier catches taken in Newport:
"Once on shore I noticed she was hooked in the mouth with the Redfin, the short leader of the Red Gill dropper I was using had broken off my swivel and was hooked in her tail. And closer examination revealed that my Coastlock snap had opened but the Redfin remained connected."

We have all had stories like that. I have had a few where once the fish is landed the plug just falls out of the fishes mouth or when the front of the darter is wedged deeper into its mouth than the rear so just the pressure of the tight line is keeping the darter from coming out.

[tattoobob]

So back around 2004 we liked to fish the shad run in the Merrimack river at the lowell dam in the spring, as we were fishing the water outlet near the water treatment plant we saw this huge striper chasing a panfish and inhaled it

So the next afternoon we headed to K-Mart and grabbed a couple of big crankbaits cut the lips off and filed them down smooth, we went back with some stout rods and fresh line

We started throwing in the water outlet and got nothing so we moved to the side of the river and was throwing towards the bottom of the dam when my friend hooked up and the fight was crazy with the flow coming over the dam and and all the large rocks he never landed it but we saw it close to shore before it came off. we never hooked up again that night

The next night we went back and started fishing the same spot when he hooked up again and landed this fat 40+ pound striper. after I cast a few times I hooked up and fought this fish for a good 45 minutes+ not making any head way as soon as I'd get some line back it would run and finally I got it close to shore it was much larger than the 40 he just released then one massive head shake and the lure flies out of its mouth and the fish bolts away, That was it for the night.

the herring were starting to drop back from spawning at the lawrence dam so we moved there I miss fishing that Herring run