How Many BIG Fish Have You Lost?

We all have our stories... about the one that got away

But lets be truthfull and honest here.

How many BIG fish can you say that you have lost?

I lost 2 last week.

In my lifetime? Probably more than I'll ever catch.

Saddest of all was the very first B.A.S.S. Super Bass tournament on the St Johns. I lost big fish after big fish. I had enough on to win it easily, but choked.

It makes me sick to think about this!!!! More than I care to count.

By Texas standards four or five at 9+#. I lost one yesterday up here that was every bit of 8 though. They ALL shrink after you get them in the boat.

SE Kansas grass grower

ive almost vomited at mill creek a few years ago.

I'm pretty sure every fish i've ever lost has been over 8 pounds

There are only 3 that come to mind and unfortunately all were in tournaments. I just feel like I have not lost many bigger fish. Maybe some of the ones I never saw were big that I lost but who knows. I usually have a good average on landing fish I hook though I am fighting through a bad case of the Ooops! this year so far.

1. Lost one I estimate at around 10lbs that short lined me at the boat in a Media Individual tourney at Graham a couple of years ago. I was on big fish and actually weighed in two 8lbers. Still managed almost 25lbs and the win but that lost fish stung a bit.

2. Lost one about 8lbs at a Media tournament on Granbury at the end of a LONG day. It was at the boat on its side and as we were netting it the jig literally just fell out of her mouth. This was back when the golden algae was hitting the lake and it took almost nothing for a check. Instead of a nice check and big bass I got us a big fat ZERO!

3. In the last Bass Champs at Fork I hooked one at 1:37PM that I thought was just gonna be another slot fish and when she surfaced was the biggest bass I have hooked at Fork and possibly the biggest I have hooked anywhere. She was not a monster but I feel comfortable that she was easily over 10lbs. I have caught a couple in that range so I have a reference point. I was trying to keep her down but on her second jump she threw my bait about 10ft from the boat. Still hurts to think about it and talk about it but like all things you just have to push through it and move on.

Other than that nothing really stands out. I'm not big on the woulda, coulda, shoulda thing, fact is I lost them and did not perform. Every guy in every tournament just about has a fish story they could tell if they wanted to.

+1

I know for a fact I have lost at least 2 maybe 3 that would have beat my personal best by a few pounds. Seems like every time I catch a big one they seem to slip away. Even had one do it to me on camera.

O'well, I guess thats what keeps me going back for more, One day I will land a double digit.

i lost 3 18 pounders last weekend. it sucked

I had one break a Hildebrandt spinner bait one night when it jumped, it was bigger than the 10 I caught the same night. I also had one jerk a rod out of my hand one night while fishing a jig/craw. I only had that reel 2 weeks.

Ive lost one fish that was over 10 nothing bigger than that so I cant complain. Sometimes a 3 or 4 pounder in a tournament can be alot more painful than a 10 when your fun fishing.

Im talking about bass not Catfish!

Every fish i have lost was for sure a lake and/or state record. maybe even a world record. We will never know...

Rumor has it that Flarin Tool went to Scotland and broke off the loch ness monster on a bed. Twice.

LOL thats too funny.

oh ive lost that one big one! haha. and a lot more! but im still waitin for that fat 15 lb'r!

all fish lost are big fish

True story I was there!!!

What do you consider big? Double digit? If so, 5 or 6. I lost one on Falcon that looked like it had eaten a basketball.

Lost one in the fall 2007 on Fork that was 14-16 lbs for sure. Hard to tell exactly when they get that big but she was definitely a couple of pounds over a ShareLunker. I was in an area that big fish were gorging on gizzard shad(the size of your hand) and got an up close and personal look at her when she broke the surface and ejected my crankbait from her mouth. I think about that fish often...absolute GIANT!

I lost what had to be a 10 lber in the Trinity river at spawn time 2 yrs ago on a tube she hit I set hook , hook set was great but she splashed a few times still hooked , horsed her in to the bank saw me and just made a B line to the other side of the river.Line popped , didnt change fragile line from having the reel sitting over the winter . Damn......

Also lost 1 at Benbrook that was pushing 9 or 10 easily in March last year pretty much same thing except didnt have a net on me when I went to lip her she shook 1 last time and spit lure at boat . Needless to say I have invested in a net and regularly change line in my reels now. What a lesson .

Oh yeah forgot to say on the one I hooked at the trinity , when I hooked her I was already thinking of what I was gonna do with her cause I was fishing on my lunch break .

Two fish, one not so big in size.

The last year Bass Champs gave away boats. Fishing a short leadered carolina rig in timber. You had to cast to isolated trees in a heavily wooded area and make multiple casts to get a strike.
I had made several casts around a tree and then the loser one. I cast next to the tree and my line hung on a small twig that was on a branch. I decided that I would bump the bait a couple times and cast again but he hit and I pulled and Boo Hoo. He stayed on about 10 seconds. Long enough to jump and was a solid 3 pounder. We came in 4th at Tawakoni and lost by under a pound.
Stupid mistake that didn't fully take until weigh in.

At Lake of the Ozarks, my first BASS divisional, I had not done well. On the last day my partner had fish located near the launch area and it was cold and windy so we stayed. Slowly working a Super Fluke I could get bit while the bait fell to the bottom in 12 foot of water.
During the afternoon I had a fish we estimated at 7 plus hooked up and I could see the hook was in the hard part of the mouth. Rules then was no nets so I worked the fish back and forth until it tired. As it swam close and just before my partner was going to grab him, he slowly shook his head and the hook and him parted. I was ill.
I managed to finish first place out of the money......

Way many!
The weirdest one was a couple of weeks back on Ivey w/ braid - broke the hook in half - not streightend, not bent - I got back 1/2 a hook. It was big but I think it was a big catfish, nevwer saw it. I also don't remember seeing anythin wrong with the hook while tying it on but.................

say over 10

Too many!!!

I lost a huge one at Whitney today....8+ I bet.


Whitney is on fire, fishing is awesome...

Only 1 that really bothers me. I broke one off at Fork last month that Oldfield says was 14 to 15 pounds. We got a good look at her. Then he had her on again the next day and lost her.

My PB is 12.12 with six or so over 10lbs so I am not guesstimating. My longtime fishing partner pulled one to the top on a jig that I estimate at 14 - 18 lbs. It rolled over on it's back just before spitting his bait at him and it had two bellies... one on each side of the seam down the middle. I hope he doesn't see this because we had him on suicide watch the rest of the week.

I've lost so many sometimes it hurts to think about it... but that's fishing.. the more you fish the more it will happen.

We fished Monticello, Fork, Bob Sandlin, Richland Chambers, Joe Pool and Ray Roberts when they all still had leaves on the trees. It was real hard to get into some of the creeks and back waters. The timber was green and tore up line like 30 grit sand paper. If you did not get'em turned to the boat fast it was over quickly.

You had to fish in the thickest stuff you could find to get the good fish... briar's, log jambs, flooded beaver dens.. etc.
When Braided Super lines came out Hooks available then were often not up to the task of turning a good fish. They either snapped in two or straightened out if you leaned on them to hard. I don't know how many Jig hooks got trashed and good fish lost. I still have 3 Musky rods I bought back then because we kept breaking the regular Bass rods on toads... early generation graphite rods did not like Braid or 30# mono. It's strange to set the hook and have the reel come out of the reel seat because the back of the hood or retainer nut exploded.

But we did catch our share and then some.. even when you are catching fish over 9# regular it still hurts to lose a ToadZilla. My personal best is 12.56# but I have lost at least 2 dozen bigger. To me... if a fish can take drag half a minute, make your 20# line play dueling banjos and move the boat... They're Big!

I set a goal to put a 15# replica fish on the wall.. but it hasn't happened yet.

We won't even get started on offshore Sea Monsters.. Some times it's better when they get off!

Bazz

Don't ask I still cry when I think about the ones that got away.

I have seen and set the hook into a Forkness Monster.

I shall get my revenge someday.

too many to wanna think about

honestly not that many....I truthfully don't hook very many big fish, and the only fish I remember loosing that was big was about an 8 lber nearly 2 years ago.

You and Me both Bro.. I will get even with the Forkness Monster or close enough to touch Her just once..

Bazz

i lost one last week in lake timpson, and another wed. on lake nac. seems like those big fish are hard to stick really well.

Only the three biggest that I ever hooked...

One of them, on Nacogdoches in about April of 1996, was a sure ShareLunker. She came off a bed, ran by the boat, snapped my 20 lb. Trilene XT like it was thread, then jumped a few feet off the back of the boat just to rub salt in the wound.

I had a giant saw me off on a boat dock post during a night tournament on Tyler two years ago. That fish would have won our club's progressive big bass pot and about $1,500 for me.

But probably the biggest fish I ever hooked was on a private pond/lake near Garrison about 15 years ago. The guy I was fishing with had been carrying every big fish he caught at Murvaul up there and stocking it for 20 years. I hooked into a dinosaur and got it all the way to within five feet of the bank before she ran and snapped my line. That was a huge, HUGE bass. I hate to even estimate it because I know it will sound like a fish story, but I think that fish may have been in the 15 pound range. The guy who stocked the lake caught an 11-9 out of there about a week later and said my fish would have eaten his.

Many! All at Lake FORK!

Lost a double digit on Grapevine, 1½ hours before weigh in.

Decided i wanted to use my finesse rig with a small stick worm, Fought her, but never could get her to the top, seen her roll several times just under the surface, then she wrapped a limb and made one last slow roll about 2 foot under the surface and thats when i seen her in her full glory and relized what i actually had. Tried to get the net on her for her next roll but the line snapped about that moment from the wrap.

Was upset about it, but being under tournie conditions made me go home thinking about it the rest of the weekend.

But you live and learn, i've made some changes. Im hoping it wont happen again, but im sure it will

Edit: I think Fork owes everyone on these forums something when talking about this topic.Even me

MY SON AND I WAS FISHING A YOUTH TOURNEY ON IVEY LAST WEEKEND AND HE HOOKED A TOAD ON A SPOOK. IT TOOK THE SPOOK OFF THE WATER LIKE A DOLPHIN WOULD, HE SET THE HOOK AND WITH IN 1/2 SECOND WAS AIR BORN SHAKING THAT THING LIKE CRAZY. THAT'S WHEN I SAID "IT'S HUGE!!!!, KEEP HIM COMING AND DON'T LET HIM JUMP" THAT SAID HE JUMPED THREE MORE TIMES. WHEN HE GOT HIM TO THE BOAT, HE DOVE STRAIGHT UNDER AND CAME BACK UP ON HIS SIDE ABOUT 8 FEET FROM THE BOAT WITH HIS HEAD POINTED AWAY FROM US, HE REALLY DIDN'T THRASH JUST KINDA WENT TO SWIM AWAY AS MY SON TRIED TO PULL HIM BACK SO I COULD NET HIM AND THE SPOOK CAME FLYING OUT OVER MY HEAD. HE WAS 2 FOOT OFF THE END OFF MY NET. WE JUST WATCHED HIM SWIM A WAY. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN MY SONS BEST BY FAR. HE IS ONLY 12, BUT MAN HE CAN FISH. THE FISH WOULD GO 9-10 RANGE EASY. I FELT HIS PAIN AS WE WATCHED IT SWIM AWAY. ALL HE SAID WAS THAT WAS A BIG FISH DAD. I WATCHED HIM SHAKE LIKE A LEAF FOR THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES AND I TOLD HIM "THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT AND NOT TO WORRY HE WILL GET A CHANCE TO FIGHT ONE LIKE THAT AGAIN."

All I can recall right now is one on Ray Roberts on a T-rig, one on Texoma on a t-rig and one on Lavon on a crankbait.

For the record Nitro-Blake I have to cut my # down a bit on the voting. Haven't lost 7 plus fish over 10 lbs. There I admit it!!! More like 3.

I remeber the first time i ever went to fork was with a guide, and the first fish I cught that day was a 9.6, thre cast later i set the hook and drag slips immeaditly and i can barley hold my rod up, and then it was gone. I didnt care to much cause i had just caught a 9.6. LAst year on my birthday i hooked a 7-8 lber in a pond on a buzzbait 3ft away from me, had my hands on it than lost my grip and said goodbye:)

If you night fish... You are going to lose some good fish. They have an advantage that you dont have much except feel to detect a strike.. or you can hear them on topwaters.

most good fish lost at night picked up the bait on the fall and ran under the boat before I realized they were on. But the rewards out weigh the losses in most cases.



Bazz

i really hope to start night fishing alot.

Blake..

A lot of folks don't throw crankbaits at night but I have done well on them over the years. Get you a couple Lhure Jensen Brush Baby cranks and paint them Black with Krylon rattle can... just before the paint dries sprinkle just a touch of Emerald Green glitter down the back I usually put a little Red glitter on the Chin area too. After the Black paint dries completely use some Urathane clear coat spray to seal in the glitter.

One of the best night fishing memories was the one that got away on a crank bait. I was fishing an Island on Fork and had been catching some good slots right at dusk. The bite continued ater dark when I tied on a Black hand painted Brush Baby crank.

I was throwing the bait at some stumps on the outside edge of hydrilla so my bait just ticked the grass as it went off the ege of a good drop. I had a Hawg hit and turned toward the timber. I knew if she made it to the timber or it was over but the cying.. I had to stop her from taking drag and turned away from the stumps.

I did all I could to stop the fish.. I put my thumbs on the spool... using 30# braid and thought the rod was going to explode just as the nose of the boat turned toward her. Then the hooks pulled free... she was gone... but Man what a pull she had... what a fight to remember!

Bazz

Good one!

Scads

GOOD GOSH!!!!

Mine happened yesterday morning on Pines. I was fishing a soft swimbait and I backlashed on the throw. As soon has I started reeling she hit. She made a couple of short runs and then she jumped, throwing the hook on the second jump. She was at least a 10. I had to call my wife and wake her up just to calm down a little.

lost alot of big ones enogh to break a 20lb test line and break a pole makes me mad that i didnt get to see those fish

Bazz, im going to try that crankbait thing. that sounds like it will work! thanks for the info.

Everyfish that I lose is huge...

Make that an 8+ pounder at the boat, saw the hook pop out...in a tournament 2 weeks ago...sickning

pshhh 8's are weak. i mean big cam

Lost a fair number of fish. Only (2) that I actually got to see first and knew they were big fish.

One on Caddo. I was flipping a jig up against cypress trees and hooked on and he got hung up on a knee.

Another at Lake Nac on a rattle trap. It was way out there and he jumped, he was probably the biggest fish I ever lost. Possibly bigger than my 9.5# off the same lake.

I know alot of people that believe to much about ripping hook out on hookset. I don't loose many big fish when they jump just wrap on something. I usually jerk a 10 inch fish OVER the boat at least once every time out. But I do not lose fish when they jump, most people I fish with do. Plus an over agressive hook set points the fish up before they respond into brush with first surge this cuases fish to swim away from stucture initially then I can recover and land big easier. Escpecially soft plastics. My rule, single hook in soft plastic no lighter than Med heavy rod. Treble hooks, not quite as hard of hook set, and medium power rod.

Bazz, sounds like we have alot in common on Fork. Most people don't take the time to really learn about about fishing for huge fish! Big fish are a lot different than say 5/6#. Started fishing for trophy bass many years ago. I was fishing Palestine and Monticello pretty hard late 70s/80s. My first DD was 10.4 caught on a crankbait on January 1, 1980 at the famed Monticello.... Talk about getting bit with obsession. All I can say is those huge bass are heartbreakers and dream makers..... Lost more than I landed. Sometime you win other times they win. Thats what keeps me in the hunt for them. Hope your next fish is that trophy you've been looking for......

Monk..

Some of those Monsters that broke us off on Monti were Flathead Cats.. I remember when the 10" Berkley Power worms came out we caught several around the discharge area.

went out to a fishing barge last night and killed the whites... stayed up all night and went outside in the morning to catch the bass that were pushing all the bait up close to the shore. i had loosened the drag on my shimano for white's and forgot to set it back before i went out there...

i lost one that would have easily gone 7-8 because i didnt get a good hookset..

would have been my new PB

More than I'm willing to admit!

It seems like more than I want to remember.

to many to count!! there will always be more tho.

i cant remember hooking & lossing any big fish

Two years ago in bohemian had some flooded grass with current moving through it all to myself in about 90 minutes I lost 11 fish. Went back for Fun n Sun the next week had a fish that would have easily went 6 in same spot all the way to boat partner had net fish is done laying on top and out pops fluke. would have put us in the top 5. Thats when I figured out about small hooks and flukes.