Was wondering how many people have had the bite of a lifetime and not get it in the boat. I mean the kind of strike that rocks you.

I aws fishing Fork this past November with a fellow TFF'r and we had been catching fish on a regular basis with Zoom Horny Toads and I was throwing a white Texas rigged Baby Brush Hog. We were targeting the greenest lily pads we could find and he was fishing the edges. I was pitching my bait onto the pads and dropping it off into the openings and shaking it. As I threw onto a pad my bait dropped and all of a sudden my arms got pulled downward violently. It was the hardest strike I have ever felt. I mangaed to set the hook and for all of about 5-10 seconds I had a fish one that was making a commotion like no other. Then without warning I was wrapped into some stalks. While trying to keep pressure on and troll to the fish My line just snapped. Talk about wondering how big it was...LOL... I do not think I will ever forget the power of that fish. May not have been a bass, who knows, but it sure felt good. Mark

I think most of us have a few stories like that. I only have two fish that I believe were bass that really had no control over they were so powerful. Both of them were within the last 6 months. One of which I hooked while we were in some BIG fish. I caught a 9.25 lb 30 min later and it didnt even come close in how hard it pulled. Oh well... thats what keeps us comin back right?

I had one at lake Proctor that I never moved. I was pitching a worm under some willow trees and felt a tap and set the hook. When all the stretch was out of my line and all the flex out of the rod it just stopped and nearly yanked the rod out of my hands. The fish did not move and the line just went slack. There were teeth marks on the sinker so I don't think I got any of the hook in it. I never got it to bite a second time.

Mark, where did ;you find baby brush hogs in white? I have only seen them in the big size in white.

Bought them at the tackle show 2 years ago. Call Kathy at Brannan's she can get them too. Aboutto order a bunch. They are awesome in spring. Mark

Mark, I've had a bite or two that I really wished I could have seen. But 2 years ago on Fork I saw the fish of a lifetime. I know that fish was over 20lbs. Biggest bass I have ever seen. That was when the 18 lb'er was in Lake Fork Marina and this fish made that one seem small. I go back to that area every time I go to Fork just to see if she might be hanging around. Couldn't get her to hit anything. Then she moved on. Hope she is still alive.---Smitty

FIRST time I went fishing with Rudy Lackey on Ray Bob in the spring. We put in at Pond Creek before light. Fishing that rocky shore line around the point until the sun came up a little. Dont remember what Rudy was throwing, but I was chunking a shallow crank. A bass hit that crank like a freight train. Broke water once, but not that high as it was a big 'un. Didn't throw the crank, but went back down and I put the pressure on her. 'Bout that time the line just went slack. When I brought in the line there was about three curls right at the end from the improved clinch knot that was the only one I knew how to tie at the time. I learned how to tie a Palomar that day , but haven't caught her equal yet!!

I was fly fishing at Bellwood Lake in Tyler last month and cast my streamer up near some bullrushes and let it sink a couple of feet. All of a sudden something hit it hard, took off toward deeper water and broke my 17# test leader like it was thread - it never stopped.

I don�t now how many of yall remember about 4 or 5 years ago we had a heat wave with temperatures in the 100s daily. Catt and I were sitting on a main lake ridge about 30 minutes before dark the bite have been really slow.
I had just broken of a jig-n-craw on a stump and was retying. Trying to decide what trailer to put on my jig I saw a bottle of pork chunks in my tackle box that I had removed all the juice and replaced it with Real Craw. I thought what the hay; slide one on the jig, well a couple casts later I feel that ole thump. I slammed the hook home and that was the last time I was in control, after 3 or 4 minutes I brought her near the surface, and almost had a heart attacked. The hawg was huge! Bigger than the 12.8 I had caught! She made a dive for the bottom, wrapped something and in an instant broke 30# Power Pro.
I was laid out on the deck looking at the sky as Catt smiles then whispers that my friend is why I fish the main lake.

I fishing with a fried on Lake Nacogdoches during the spawn about seven or eight years ago. I threw a worm into the grass by a boat dock in about two feet of water. I got a strike and set the hook...but I was absolutely helpless from that point on. I couldn't come close to moving the fish.

She came out, went past the boat, and headed out toward deep water. When she got past the back of my boat, she snapped the 20 lb Trilene XT I had put on the reel the night before like it was a piece of thread. Sounded like a .22 when the line broke.

I had just started fishing with the reel, an old Ambassadeur 5000 my wife's mom had given me that used to belong to her husband before he passed away. I had the drag way too tight, and when I tried to push the button to release the spool I couldn't because there was pressure on the line.

I have no doubt that was a Sharelunker fish.

To make matters worse, as I sat there almost sick at my stomach...she came to the surface a few seconds later, apparently trying to throw my worm and hook. Kinda rubbed salt in the wound, as if to say, "Yeah, look...I am really as big as thought I was."

I've caught a 10.75, and there was no comparison between the two. The lake Nac fish was the fish of a lifetime...at least so far.

Great stories. I feel better knowing I'm not alone....LOL...

Mark I had a friend get a bite like that on a zebco 33 with 20lb test at Pat Mayse Lake. He was using my brand new slab. he let it drop over a Corps. fish structure and jigged it once. When he went to bring it up off of the bottom, his arms were jerked down and the 14' jon boat we were in started spinning around while he fought the fish. His drag was tightened down because he had to pull himself free from his last cast.

The fish pulled hard one more time and his line snapped. That was two years ago and it's the first spot we try every year when we go back.

I have an Allstar T38X, those of you who know this rod know that it is a pool cue with guides on it. Caught a fish earlier in the day, about 7 lbs and just got into the top third of the rod, looked like I was catchig a 3 lber.

Later swung on a fish and had the rod doubled over into the handle. Fish was not in a tree or rocks because she started swimming up to the surface and the bend did not change. She came unbuttoned and I never saw her, but to date that was the strongest and biggest bass I have ever had on the end of my line.

I am sure that I have lost a few nice ones but the one fish that will always haunt me was lost by my partner at Fork. This beauty whacked a spinnerbait and just whallered up on top shaking her head about twice and away went the lure. My buddy just dropped on the back deck and we sat in silence for several minutes. It was a huge bass, bigger than I have ever seen in a tank or on a lake.

Just an observation, so it may be incorrect but except for the case of the bad knot and the ones that came unbuttoned, it sounds like we try to horse the fish too much and not use our drag systems. I have had the same happen to me and my x girlfriend had the same happen to her. She hooked into a monster at Fork and she just started winching that thing.

Does the adrenaline (sp?) start pumping and we just try to get them in the boat or what??