Pack it up... Sell everything Barrett! Life is over my friend!!

My Granddaughter can show ya how - lol

It's like an ex girlfriend!!! There are plenty out there get over it happens to everyone!!! Keep trying...

I can be mental about some things, but for some reason big fish getting off doesn't bother me. I might tell the story in passing, but doesn't bug me at all. Fish don't count until in the boat, all or nothing. You 100% catch it or 100% don't. No half credit. If you think about ones that get off, do you also go crazy thinking about all the SAL's that have looked at your bait, had your lure hit their head, or maybe some of them even had your bait in their mouth a second.

So I wake up this morning ready to post how sick I feel still from last night and see this post. My PB is 5 lb, been bass fishing almost a year now. My second PB is only 3.2.

It was dusk last night on EM. I am fishing some trees branches under a dock. Heart is racing cause it just had the feel of something nice was gonna be in there. At first i thought I snagged cause the rod is bent in half and it won't budge. Then I felt her. I have never felt something like that. My head starts racing I might have something huge. DD??

I am not gaining cause my drag was just a little to loose for that monster. I stop reeling to try and tighten my drag and she is making her way to the mess of branches and dock wood. I think she wrapped me around dock or branches. I am thinking what do I do?? Then I feel the line just go slack. I had trouble falling asleep last night. Oh what could have been.

I can't tell if she just broke it. Or my sorry newbie knot was not right for 10 lb braid?

Lessons learned-
1) Go to some heavier braid.
2) Learn how to tie some good knots. I say this cause I lost a smaller one about 5 min later and I am sure my knot slipped out.
3) Always make sure your drag is set correctly

Negative.

I'd slap Zeb around for not being quicker with the net.....then I'd get rid of the damn net. They are bad luck.

Odds are there are bigger fish out there. Also, your odds of catching one arnt any different than the day before you went fishing. You might as well just keep trying.

I lost what might have been a DD in Champs at Fork 4 or so years ago. I can remember every single thing about that fish and that moment from the cast I made to the 3rd jump when she got off about 10' from boat. I have caught a couple over 8-9lbs in that same spot now but still have not found that one again. I can remember sitting down on the deck of my boat and looking at my watch and it was 1:37PM.

You get over it just like you do if a horse throws you. Get back on and ride!

6 years ago my brother and I went to Fork and rented a boat. We had never fished Fork before and had no idea what we were doing. I hooked into something so big I will not speculate to size. It broke the rod, then the line, then my heart. Since then I have bought a boat, replaced all gear twice, quit riding my Harley and read this forum twice a day. I would have saved thousands of dollars if I would swallow my pride and hire a guide. Much like any addiction, I continue to chase the adrenaline high of that first giant I lost.

make the next cast.

Just take me to ray bob ill net the next one for ya.

You'll get over it. You just won't forget it.
That's what makes Bass fishin so Great. It's the Memories.
Probably why that fish got so big. She has escaped before.

You don't ever forget it. Back in the days when Fork had really good grass, I was in the far back of Birch, I had just hooked and landed a 7 and had 3 witnesses, the next cast threw my senko back towards a laydown, felt the bite, set the hook, she jumped 3 times could not get more then half her body out of the water. After the third jump the line went slack. All I could say was "I didn't break off, I didn't break off." All three of the witnesses said that the fish was at least double the size of the 7. Still haunts me to this day, but some great memories.