Too Much Pressure????

[Marc Z]

Guys,
Fishing eels the other night with very good successs I had probably the biggest bass on of my lifetime. She made 4 great runs tearing out lots of line. I was constantly applying pressure with my rod bent in half the whole time, and I was unable to turn the fish or take even one turn of the reel. Then it happened, the line came limp and I reeled in my hook with eel still on. Heartbroken I wondered if I had applied too much pressure on the fish and actually tore the hook out of its mouth.
Do you think this is possible???? Now I did not have the drag too tight either, I had enough drag where I was comfortable that any fish could take line without the line breaking, and in fact had caught a couple fish over 40" already that night so I thought the drag was set properly.
What do you think???? Too much pressure?????
MZ