Missed large hits

  Many years back I was up on Ruth lake camping for the week withlong time friend and fishing buddy Tim.  We were trolling away from the dam, midmorning.  I was using my lead-line pole, and had maybe 6 colors out, and had a red wedding ring connected to about 5’ of leader.
   At some point in the troll, my pole went  MAJOR BENDO! I thought I snagged bottom it stopped so abruptly! Well, whatever it was that hit the lure it wasn't hooked.  Damn…. Reset the line back out at 6 colors, and made another pass through the area.  Nothing that pass, but on the next pass, the same thing! BAM, something HUGE was attacking the wedding ring, but it wasn't getting hooked.
  I wasn't thinking rite then, I should have realized the hook was way to small for whatever it was, and should have changed out the wedding ring for my 7” broken back rapala(?).  It has huge treble hooks and many of them.
  So, if I ever encounter any hits that huge again while using small tackle,the small stuff is coming off and the big guns are getting wet!  I still to this day, wonder how large the fish was?  What kind of fish it was? Large lake trout? Striper?  Never know.

Not knowing is the most sickening thing... I hate loosing fish.  I hate loosing fish that never show themselves even more...  We were bottom fishing off Albion one day when my buddy hooked what I'm pretty sure must have been an atomic powered Triton Class Submarine.  He hooked into what seemed to be a decent rockfish, and then came the tailgater.  Whatever it was continued to swim as if it didn't even know it was hooked, not really peeling line, just swimming leisurly, until he was almost spooled.. he locked down the drag, and POW... 40 pound test popped.  Great white? Killer Whale? Worlds largest Ling? Who knows...

Sometimes I wish I had never seen the one that got away. 

Fishing the Delta last spring, I tossed my t-rigged worm into a tule clump on the point.  A nice solid line tick..."bink"...wait 3...2...1...set the hook, BAM, and fish on!  Five seconds later the line is 40 feet away and heading for deeper water.  Then the fish jumps, oh SH!%!!!  Big big bass, head shaking, gils flared, big fat belly, maybe 10-12 pounder, MAYBE. 

I turned around to reach for my net, pull it forward, and hear a splash.  I turn and see my other rod, with a new $100 reel, a new $9 lure, and $20 of new braided line, slowly, slowly sink into the stained delta current. 

Meanwhile...the fish has decided that the deep water is not such a good idea.  She headed back into the same spot that she came from.  The point has an old dead tree sticking out of it, the 5 inch round branches making a thick "V", and she is way back under the main trunk.  About three minutes of yo-yo games and BOINK, line snapped. 

Fish gone, rod gone, and dead silence for 5 minutes.

You never really want to see the one that got away.

HobieBlue

A couple of years ago I was fishing for Salmon on the American river. I was  a complete newb to the whole thing and was standing in the perfect spot for a good drift. A couple of hours into it. BAM! Fish on! It rips down the river and I am doing everything that I can to keep the line from breaking and gently persuading the fish over to the landing spot that is a pool of calm water. I am making progress at this point but I seem to have forgotten that I am using a barbless hook. I lower the rod tip and start to reel up the slack only to find that the fish is gone. Crap!

I walk back the same spot and on the second cast... Fish on! Lost that one doing the same darn thing. Arrg! Lesson learned.

I never did see either one of those fish but they pulled like freight trains and I had a blast while it lasted.

Years ago, pre PB and pre yak for me, I was sturgeon fishing off the bank at Benicia State Park out on the point where it drops to over 100 ft within casting range.  I was in a hurry and ended up tying on a 20# leader,

Sturgeon fishing from the bank is a pretty limiting experience but that day i got the gentle pump, pump, reared back and set the hook and it was on, this fish just felt heavy and as it swam off I realized I had the star drag way too tight, so I procceded to race along the rip rap trying to keep up with the fish, I needed both feet and one hand to stay upright while pointing the rod towards the fish and trying to loosen the drag with my thumb.  

I wasn't fast enough,

never saw it,

don't want to know,

that way it can live on in my memory as the biggest fish I ever hooked.......

 

Had to revive this thread...

I was out recently at my new favorite reef and it was a fast drift, snag city...  lost more gear that day than I have all season...  but I was getting bites that didn't stick so I kept at it.  It's one of those reefs that makes my fish finder go nuts trying to get a fix...  really gnarly patch...  After unsticking yet another snag I was reeling in my line to check my swimbait, fast as I could reel.  Halfway up to the boat my line stopped, then a split second later my pole was almost yanked out of my hands and my 20lb line snapped like nothing.  All I could do was sit there in awe. 

Maybe a seal?

Had to revive this thread...

I was out recently at my new favorite reef and it was a fast drift, snag city...  lost more gear that day than I have all season...  but I was getting bites that didn't stick so I kept at it.  It's one of those reefs that makes my fish finder go nuts trying to get a fix...  really gnarly patch...  After unsticking yet another snag I was reeling in my line to check my swimbait, fast as I could reel.  Halfway up to the boat my line stopped, then a split second later my pole was almost yanked out of my hands and my 20lb line snapped like nothing.  All I could do was sit there in awe. 

Maybe a seal?

Eric if not a seal big lings get very agitated by a bouncing bait that hangs up then pops off and rockets away.    They get real pissed and hit the escapee on the run hard. I've caught some of my larger fish following that scenario using jigs and swimbaits.
If you hang up and have a nicked line, or caught a couple and have teeth scrapes even 40-50# will snap. :     BTDT

I was reeling in my line to check my swimbait, fast as I could reel.  Halfway up to the boat my line stopped, then a split second later my pole was almost yanked out of my hands and my 20lb line snapped like nothing.  All I could do was sit there in awe. 

Maybe a seal?

I had the exact same thing happen a few years ago at 4mile.
I was reeling in fast to avod getting snagged in the kelp, not working the lure at all just cranking it in. Whatever it was slammed the fishtrap like a ton of bricks and started taking line until it broke off in the rocks about 20 yards away. The last 4' of line was really abraded. I called it the "4mile monster", but I truly suspect a 35+" lingcod. I was only using 20lb mono in about 30' of water.
Writing that, it's like it just happened!

was reeling in fast to avod getting snagged in the kelp, not working the lure at all just cranking it in

Did you try it again??

was reeling in fast to avod getting snagged in the kelp, not working the lure at all just cranking it in

Did you try it again??

Of course! It seems like these types of hit-and-run power strikes happen only once per trip though. Just enough to keep us coming back...

Recently in Cambria I thought I had the biggest fish of a life time on.  Fought it for like twenty minutes thinking I was having the day of my life only to have a sea lion come up practically at arms Length.  Guess I wish I would have never saw that one.  Tried to cut the line as close to the swimbait as possible so as not to get myself killed. 

I think I would have messed my chestys if I saw that!