Monsters We've Lost..

[afterhours]

i'm sure everyone's got a story about the big one that got away let's hear them.....i was live lining pogies at a rockpile in narragansett bay, pogie got real nervous then got grabbed, set hook and the fish steadily ripped off about 200 yds. after about a legit 20 mins. i had the fish along side my boat, she was heading toward anchor line and i put extra pressure to stop/steer her then pop!! we had a perfect view of this fish about 15' from boat... biggest bass i've ever seen, from the pogie in front of it's mouth to giant tail must have over 5' easy. i've caught one over 50LB and this one made that one look average... huge! still have nightmares..pop!!

[BigFish]

Earlier this season in one of my favorite early season spots. Mid-afternoon throwing pencil poppers for "schoolies". The bite was non-existant, nothing really happening....tide was coming in closing over these huge boulders that I like to cast towards when the time is right.....well.....I threw my pencil popper right in the sweet spot and all of a sudden, I saw a huge fish shoot out at the popper just after it hit the water! The head was enormous! I set the hooks and fought what I feel was the biggest fish I have ever had on a fishing rod! Area is a boulder field so I knew I had to give as little line as possible or the fish was gonna rub me off! I held my own really well, had the fishes head up and slowly coming towards me through the rocks....all of a sudden the fish bolted.....I saw it heading for a large boulder and all I could do was groan as I knew the fish was going to go down in front of the rock and lose me! Line broke....fish gone! I almost had it but it was not to be......I estimate having seen the fishes head and felt it on the line it had to be in the high 30 pound range!

Thats my story of "The One That Got Away!"

[Christian]

i havent had any real monsters.

i had a close spooling once up in maine on a light schoolie set up, and broke the fish off.

the other day i hooked a nice fish on one of my pencils. it was bigger than anything ive ever caught. still a little dissapointed about that one. he just spit it

[t.orlando]

Fishing herring in the canal 2yrs ago had a fish on for 20 min.After 10 min it rolled on surface and I could tell it was pretty large. Another 10 min and I had it 15 feet from me. With my polarized glasses I could tell she was closer to 50in than 40. One roll on the surface and the hook came straight out. Disgusted.Have caughten fish to 40lbs in canal before, but she was much larger.

[Rappin Mikey]

I lost one this weekend. I went out by myself early Wednesday am when I was on the Cape. Anyway, I usually fish two rods in the morning. One on the bottom, and one with plugs. I had been getting bumps on both and actually had missed a smaller fish on my bait set up because I was fumbling trying to get my plug rod in my sand spike so I wouldn't have to put my reel in the sand. So I reeled in casted some bait back out and decided to go get my rain jacket to put on the ground next to my bait rod. This way if I got another hit I could quickly just lay my plug rod down on the rain jacket. Well, I was up in my car when I heard the line making a deep screaming noise. I looked to the surf to see my rod totally bent over. I just knew it was a big Striper by the way the rod was bent and the line was screaming at a very staedy pace. I had just got my hands on the rod when the line snapped. I had forgotten to loosen my drag after the cast. I always tighten it up before I make a power cast so I don't slice off my finger with the braid. Being so early, and me being so sleep deprived I guess I just forgot. You know how you just know when you lost your big fish of the year and maybe your life. Well this was the feeling.

[CANAL RAT]

Originally posted by BigFish
Earlier this season in one of my favorite early season spots. Mid-afternoon throwing pencil poppers for "schoolies". The bite was non-existant, nothing really happening....tide was coming in closing over these huge boulders that I like to cast towards when the time is right.....well.....I threw my pencil popper right in the sweet spot and all of a sudden, I saw a huge fish shoot out at the popper just after it hit the water! The head was enormous! I set the hooks and fought what I feel was the biggest fish I have ever had on a fishing rod! Area is a boulder field so I knew I had to give as little line as possible or the fish was gonna rub me off! I held my own really well, had the fishes head up and slowly coming towards me through the rocks....all of a sudden the fish bolted.....I saw it heading for a large boulder and all I could do was groan as I knew the fish was going to go down in front of the rock and lose me! Line broke....fish gone! I almost had it but it was not to be......I estimate having seen the fishes head and felt it on the line it had to be in the high 30 pound range!

Thats my story of "The One That Got Away!"

thats why i use braid in the rocks

[BigFish]

I don't like braid when plugging, mono...I feel, gives me better plug action! Braid, mono....whatever, that fish was gonna break it off.

[striprman]

You guys know I am a canal person. My biggest out of there is a 37 pounder. Over the years I've fished there I've hooked some fish that I just couldn't move. The fish rip 100 feet on the first run then they get sawed off on the ledge. I'm a 220 pound guy, and the 30+ pound ones I've caught come in easy. When the monster bass takes your lure or bait, all you can do is say a little prayer. Maybe someday I'll pull a giant bass out of there, lord knows I've tried. I've lost many "fish of a lifetime". I keep on going back, knowing someday.....

[CANAL RAT]

Originally posted by BigFish
I don't like braid when plugging, mono...I feel, gives me better plug action! Braid, mono....whatever, that fish was gonna break it off.

do you use a mono of floro leader with braid when plugging

[BigFish]

I don't use braid when plugging at all leader or not....I think it kills the action. In fact I use only mono period! I use mono with a 50# flouro leader. I do not care for any hybrid type lines.....straight mono, no problems, win some-lose some.

PS-have tried braid before.

[bassmaster]

ya would'nt believe it

[Slingah]

sure we would
fill er up

[goosefish]

I'm a little like you BigFish---fish mono whenever I can. I use braid when jig fishing. Braid also helps if I know I'm going to be fishing with a stiff crosswind. 30Ib mono and a lot of wind from my side causes a huge belly. I hate braid, but use it when it calls to be used.

lost a big fish a few years back---in the upper 40s. lost it at my feet as I was landing it. Rough night. fish got sucked back in the wash and that was that. Rocky shore, pogie chunk.

[Ron in Maine]

While fishing behind my house for schoolies, that is all that is ever there for the most part, I hooked into a fish way over 40 inches. I saw it three times, but with the tide running out, I could not force it through the running water. I had on 12 pound test, medium spinning rod, and was using a four inch storm shad. After getting it almost out of the fast water for the third time, a few hard head shakes, and the hook pulled free.

Dejected, I reeled in the lure, thought about the one that got away, and threw in back to the center of the bridge. The water exploded and I had a screaming drag in my hands. I tell myself over and over it had to be a big blue...... which headed out to sea, never to be seen.

Two big fish lost in a matter of minutes... enough fishing for the night... swallow to beers, and leave the rod alone until the morning.

[Raider Ronnie]

About a month ago while fishing with another member on this board,
we had a 40 plus lb. fish about 10 ft. next to the boat
Couldn't reach it with the gaff and didn't have a net on the boat

Now I have a GIANT net that stays on the boat

[Duke41]

Three seasons ago, I was fishing with eels at night of off Brenton reef and I .....I just can't finish this story to upsetting

[S-Journey]

I try to forget...

This happened last weekend so I will share--

I was fishing the Belsans heritage days tourney with my father over around P-town. The fishing was very slow with only a handful of fish in the 25# range caught. It was about 5:00pm and we needed to get something quick to make the scales or start thinking about heading in. Well, I had a spot I figured would be holding some nice fish at this time/tide so we proceed to troll over that area. Low and behold "BAM", I'm on and it’s a COW. At this point my hand gets wrapped in the frigin' dacron and I can get it untangled. I'm out there like a moron with a huge fish and I can't get my hand untangled! The fish is running straight up and comes flying out of the water 100 yards behind the boat and gets air like a frigin’ maco, then she starts playing her bag of tricks spin and roll, head shaking and the a big run and SNAP! My 80# dacron snapped two inches in front of my hand like kite string. At this point I'm in complete shock, I saw the fish and it was well over 40#'s and I know it would have won the tourney. It all happened in a matter of seconds and I felt like all of the life was sucked right out of me. I told my dad we were going to be heading home, we're all done. He tells me that I can use his rod and he will drive. So I reel his line in, put on one of my special cow killah jigs, and BAM I'm on again within 30 seconds of letting out my line. This time no tangle and I get the fish to the boat, 38#'s. We head in, make it to the scales with two minutes to spare and take first place.

Like my dad always says, what’s meant to be will be--

[Hooked4ever]

Fishing in the surf in Beach Haven, NJ 2 years ago and the palce had been swarmed by what the papers were calling eagle rays or cow-nosed rays (I still don't know which one. One local paper claimed eagle, the other claimed cow-nosed) claiming that the rays were repeatedly breaking off and only the small ones were being brought in that weighed around 60-80 lbs! ( ) It was also nearing impossible to swim w/o hitting into one. So me and a few guys that were staying around the same jetty decided to take a trip to the bait shop a couple blocks away and pick up 40lb test (40lb was the highest the bait shop had the owner said she didn't think any one would ever need higher) to put on our rods, and since I needed a new reel i picked up one that would hold a lot of 40lb test. We went back to the beach and I was the first one to hook up. It immediatly stripped out 200 yards of line out easily. According to one spectator (the beauty of fishing on the beach is that every one on the beach comes over to watch) I fought it for around an hour 45 minutes. I brought it into the breakers 3 times just to have it stripped about 100 yards of line back out again until finally I had it in past the closest breakers where we saw another ray appear to go after the bait that had slid up the line. I don't know if the line snapped on its own or that second ray cut it . I always carry a similar outfit with me in case those rays ever come back.

[ProfessorM]

Early Aug. this year Cape Cod Bay. tube and worm. Screamer down to backing. Get it in on leader 6 times only to have it go straight to bottom before it is close enough for gaff. Able to go to bottom with ease every time once there it has the weight of an engine block. Finally hook pulled out must have worn a hole from too much pulling. They don't get that big and old from being stupid. Felt like crying. I got a good look and it was close to 5' lg and a foot thick. Got a 48 lber last year and this was heavier. That's fishin and I enjoyed the fight. It's what keeps me going.

[striprman]

The big ones always get away.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Not always....

[Thunder Rod]

Well, I showed up at the Sag Bridge, but the fishing buddy I was suppose to meet there was nowhere to be found. Drove around looking for him, but I guess he had decided to pass based on traffic, etc. So I went back to the Sag and decided to get at least a few casts in. Someone was on the spot I had planned on fishing, so I just moved over closed to the bridge and cast out as far as I could with a 10" Fin-s. (4-oz jihhead)

2nd cast, and WHAM! My line stopped cold, like I hooked into a submerged truck. Then the line started going out hard and my heavy canal stick was pumping, bent in a full arc. All I could do was lean back and hang on and wait for the fish to stop. I had the drag down pretty tight, (60-lb braid with mono leader) so I was dug in for a tug of war. After a time, I was able to gain some line on the fish, and then it took some more back. It was very heavy and shaking it's head. Finally I got it turned and headed back toward me. As I'm now gaining a little line, suddenly the hook simply came out and I almost fell on my ass. Of course I yelled the appropriate exclaimation, (one word). Reeled in my line and it was fine. Just bad luck. What can ya do? Anyway, I was glad to have hooked up with it so at least I got the drive back to head back down to the ditch a little more often.

That was easily the biggest fish I ever hooked in the canal. 30-lbs minimum...likely more. Anyway, I hung out till slack at 9:30, then headed home...

Spent all the next morning re-sharpening all my jig hooks...
And I'll probably loosen that drag juuuuust a little...

[Mr. Sandman]

no one would believe me anyway...so its pointless to mention it.

[Surfcastinglife]

fishin with a friend last october in gloucester half hr before dusk
some bluefish were breaking a little out of casting range and all of a sudden reel starts to scream. i get to it and i only had on 20 lb test so i let it take some line i got it to within 30 ft of shore and as i lifted rod tip up the hook flies out of the fishes mouth. biggest blue i'd ever seen looked about 40 inches long and in the 20's the school came within casting range about an hr later and we took several fish from 5-7 lbs for a couple hrs but never again have i had a hit that hard from a blue

[S-Journey]

Originally posted by Mr. Sandman

no one would believe me anyway...so its pointless to mention it.

I'd believe, please share--

[Mr. Sandman]

some other time

[Slingah]

i'd believe ya too....pleeeeze Mr.Sandman

[chris L]

Ive lost 2 monsters
the one under my bed and the one in my closet . I lost both by leaving my light on at night . pretty good idea !

[J-golden]

One of many - sometime around memorial day couple years back had the rear treble straighten out on me, on a 7" black bomber - Truro. big fish, not sure how big, bigger than 40+ # . they love those black bombers with the white bucktails that's okay... caught plenty before and lost plenty others. win, lose, it all comes around.

[S-Journey]

Sandman, Sandman, Sandman, Sandman