The big one always gets away.

An article in “Bassin Times” about a pro’s memories of fish he lost that really hurt him in tournaments made me think about losing fish.  Few tournament weigh-ins go by without someone telling about losing a big fish or a key fish.  

All this makes me remember some of the big ones I have lost or been in the boat with a partner that lost a big one.  They range from fishing with Linda to Top Six tournaments fishing with future pro fishermen.  Too many of the loses were at the end of my line!

Back in the 1970s big largemouth were common at Jackson Lake. I landed my first eight pounder there in a tournament in 1976 and my second in another January tournament in 1979. But one I lost in practice around 1980 stands out in my mind.

The fish hit a crankbait on a rocky point on a November trip.  I fought it for several minutes, seeing it flash in the water and knowing it was much bigger than my eight pounders.  When it came to the surface about ten feet from the boat and turned on its side, I just knew I had the bass we estimated to be at least 12 pound.

I pulled a little too hard trying to drag it to the net and the lure popped out of its mouth.  It slowly swam out of sight taking my heart with it.

Linda hooked a bass at Clarks Hill on a big seven-inch-long plug fishing a rocky bank in the early 1980s.  It too came to the top and turned on its side, with the plug sideways across its mouth. It did not go all the way across! Then it turned and swam off. Linda did nothing wrong, and we never figured out how those treble hooks came loose.

Future pro Tony Couch was giving me a lesson on fishing spinnerbaits in a Top Six at Eufaula in 1980.  We stopped at a small pocket and he said there was a big bass spawning by a stump in it. When he ran his spinnerbait by the stump his bait stopped. When he set the hook an eight-pound bass, worth several hundred dollars in the big fish pot, jumped completely out of the water and threw his bait back at us.

In a 1980s tournament Jim Berry was fishing with me at Sinclair and we had not caught much.  Late in the day he cast a Countdown Rapala between two docks and hooked a big bass. When it cleared the water on its first jump, giving us a good look at its eight pounds, it threw the plug!

More recently, at a club tournament at Oconee three or four years ago I was having a bad day. With 30 minutes to fish I caught a keeper bass on a small point and felt a little better. Then if fished some docks past the point.

A bass hit my worm by one of the docks and immediately ran around a post.  Somehow my 14-pound Sunline held and I pulled it back to open water. As it got it near the boat it surged back toward the dock twice but I stopped it. It was close enough to see it was an eight pound plus bass.

The third surge toward the dock was its charm, the hook pulled loose and it went back under the dock!

I have had many fish I never saw break me off in brush under the water.  Since I never saw them I have no idea how big they might have been, but some pulled like huge one.  I have landed flathead catfish up to 35 pounds on my worm rod so I have an idea how big fish pull.

One winter at Clarks Hill I did see what hit. I was jigging a spoon for hybrids on a channel edge when a striper lazily came to the surface chasing bait. It was about 20 yards from the boat and I saw it plainly, guessing it to be over 40 pounds. I quickly reeled in and cast my spoon in the direction it was headed.

A hard thump was following by a line screaming run, with the fish running near the surface straight away from the boat. As my line peeled from the spool I hit the trolling motor button and followed it.  After about 100 yards I started to gain a little line back, then felt sick. The fish was headed straight toward one of the three underwater trees I knew about in that creek.

As feared I felt my line start to rub on the tree for a few seconds, then break.  That was the biggest freshwater fish I ever hooked.

    I have lost many other big fish over the years but have landed some of them, including the big flathead, a 35-pound big head carp and common carp up to 30 pounds. I have also landed seven bass weighing more than nine pounds each.

But it seems harder and harder to hook a big bass each year, so it becomes more important to try to land them!