Chuck7

Mine was January 1 st 1983. I was in Bible college and my new wife decided to run off with her boss. I was very bummed. I had only been in Florida for about 10 months. Up to this time my best bass was 14" 2 pounds from Maryland.

Earlier that day while Crappie fishing I caught my first 3 pounder. I was very thrilled. Later on I went to Lakeland's 2nd biggest lake. I started walking around and just quietly talking to God. I noticed a pit that ran off from the big lake. Around the pit was large clumps of hydrilla....and there seemed to be fish slushing about in it. I sat down on the shore and put on a blue worm. WOW another 3 pound bass. I caught 2 more 1 1/2 pounders and cast to where there was some heavy activity. Oh my a big one is stuck in the hydrilla. I waded out there and pulled out a 4 1/2 pounder. I continued to fish and I caught a 5 1/2 pounder. That was my best day fishing. Not many days after a fishermen pulled up in a bass boat. He had a voice box in his throat. We made friends and he would meet me out there and let me drive his boat. He taught me a whole lot. When we were done fishing he would have us cook th efish right there on the shore and he also carried hushpuppys ready to drop in the oil. The Lord used fishing in those days to keep my sanity. I've had days where I've caught bigger fish and more fish but this day was very special to me.
C7

m.t.hands

can i tell about two, first one i had a young guy i was working with who had never bass fished much, and he didn't have a lot of paitence[:@], well i had gotten on some pretty good fish on a little power plant lake (2700 acres/ fayette county,tx) was not having a problem cathing 3-5 pound fish, so i figured this would be the perfect time to take this aspiring new bass fisherman along, we also took the cam-corder, long story short we both caught the biggest fish we had ever caught, his was a little over 6 pounds, he must have opened the livewell 50 times looking at the fish, yes i let him keep it to mount, this was several years ago, we got some nice video of him and his fish, well as luck would have it i went up in some standing timber and took a black and blue jig and tossed it up around this one old tree, i can still see it just like it was yesterday, i must have tossed the ole jig 7 or 8 times when my new fishin buddy said you really believe there is a fish there don't you, well somewhere around cast 10,11, or 12, my line went totaly slack, i yanked back on that big momma and she went around the tree i was fishin by, two old men pulled up and one of them said "son you might as well give it up that fish is good as gone" at which time i switched the trollin motor to high got on the other side and freed big momma, of course by this time my line (15# berkly big game) looked like yarn, the fish weighed a little over 9.5 on my digital scales, i thought the fish would go over ten (would have been my first double digit fish) seeing that it did not make my self imposed size limit i let the fish go, now heres the kicker, my new fishing buddy, was going to film all of this, when he picked up the cam-corder he started recording, boy i got some great pictures of the carpet of my boat[&o], as soon as i tell him to push the little button, well you guessed it, the camera shuts off and i got no footage, other than when he cut it off andi was releasing the fish[:@]

other one that didn't get away, tookthe son of a women i worked with,nine year old boy, bream fishing, he had never fished a day in his life we were catching a few bream when all of a sudden he was reeling in a small bream across the top of the water, when a 6 pound largemouth decided it was dinner time, this was on 4 or 6 pound test line and a light action spinning rod, biggest fish this kid had caught was about a half pound that day, he finally gets the fish in the boat, and he dosen't have a hook anywhere in his mouth, the bream had gone thru the fishesgills and gotten tangled, and my new little fishin buddy had his fish of a lifetime, the smile was worth a million bucks,

great memories, thanks for letting me re-live them again, keith

Chuck7

This year was exciting for my son and I . My wife and I had adopted a little boy who has emotinal problems . One of the places I fish you must take a picture of the fish because the bass must be released. We were at the tail end of the spawn and Iwas pitching a worm in the sticks of the shoreline. I presently have 5 small bass. Aaron is labeled Oppositional Defiant so it is nature to back talk and argue with adults. However; this time it paid off for him. Aaron says," Dad why are the fish so small?" I said, "I guess the females have laid the eggs and the small males are guarding the fry." He says," Then why are we not fishing in the middle after big mama." With that, he begins casting a white weedless spinner bait out in the middle as I continued to reach and pitch. My back needed thatold age stretch and as I turned around Aarons face is distorted and skinny arm is struggling to turn the reel. His rod is bent over. I paused to make sure Aaron is not in the process of busting my rod on a hang up. The line begins to run hard to the right and then I see Mrs. Bucketmouth bust through the top of the lake. Immediately I stopped everything and watched every move. After he sees the fish and it's size he smiles a smile I've never seen before. It was probalbly the best smile on Aaron I've ever seen. Finally I netted the bass. He measured 24 " and was a nice 6 1/2 pounder. I took around 8 pictures. NONE developed. I felt sick. The flash had been turned off. I now carry a spare disposable camera. Aaron reminds us all how he has beat Dad this year. And whenever he brings it up I smile. I still can't believe it.

KonaBoy

"Tell us your best fishing story of the one that didn't get away"

You mean some people actually land fish !?!?!?I've always released them before they got to the boat, so they could keep their slime to protect them and stuff.........


Cory

mauser06

march 28, 2006...trout fishing with my buddy from college...he fished the creek before..i never have...its artifical lures only and opened all year to fishing...stocked by the fish commision and also the orvis fly shop stocks a few "lunkers" upto 10lbs in it every year......we get there and EVERYONE is fishing nymphs...theres a BIG whole behind the flyshop that gets pressured HARD but it has 100s of fish in it...so we squeeze in....i notice fish rising everywhere...right by peoples strike indicators...pretty much everyone there fly fishes...a few guys around were saying they used to be guides and been all around the US fly fishing blah blah blah and how they have 900$ fly rods and blah blah....here i am...i barely every flyfished till this day lol...i noticed the fish were rising to a bug i thought looked like my blue dun flys...tied on an 18 or 20....HOOK UP...nice trout...nothing huge....ahhh my fly wont float now!! went into the flyshop and bought some floatant..came back out....threw the fly back out...bam! one rose and missed my fly....BAM..did it again...WHOAA that thing looked HUGEEE ...cast again...he didnt come up....next cast BAM!!! reel starts screamin! i set the hook a few times for insurance purposes...i wanted that TINY hook buried in his lip...guy around me are chittin...the fish was running hard....i kept my cool and fought him like a pro..after 10 minutes or so he ran downstream towards a guy that says he was a guide in colorado or somewhere with his 345424$ 3wt rod..i run with the fish and about plow him over...and beached it right where he was fishing....all that with a 40$ fly rod and reel combo from walmart....








sorry for all the pics...i got more lol....they just dont do it justice....it was a HEAVY fish...thick...long...girth..colors...had it all....my biggest trout of my life.....

pa_yote_hunter

Has to be when i hooked into my biggest smallmouth! It was a hot day and the water was very clear. Most the day i was throwing a zoomfluke weightless and fishing it just under the surface. This lure was dynamite! First few cast landed two smallmouth that went for 12 and 15 inches. I was happy with that and with all the smaller ones i was catching thought the day couldnt get any better. I cast to this overhanging tree where i thought there might be a fish. My lure hit the water and didnt go anywhere. I pulled and thought i was snagged untill my line started to move slowly to the right and then back to the left. I was like grrrrreat!!! I probably got a turtle snagged, and then she cleared the water by two feet! I about fell with joy. Was the hardest fighting fish i have ever cought! After that i cough another one that went for around 15 inches!!

you can see the pick where all the other compitition pictures are!!!!

Scott/IL

For me it would have to be awhile ago when I was just a little kid following my dad around on fishing trips. I was probably 8 or9 years old and hardly had the patience to sit down and fish for catfish. Well one night me and my dad went out and we had caught a3 or4smaller cats perfect for eating. When we were getting ready to leave we had pulled in all the poles but one then WHAM!!! My pole just took a violent jerk and the fight was on. At the time I just rigged up with what was easiest so I had real light line and a cheap hook. Well this big cat took my little arms for a ride. In the middle of where we were fishing there was a log sticking up and the cat managed to snag itself in there. I just sat there not knowing what to do and it untangled by itself. I get it to the bank and realized we didn't have the dip net, so I just tried to pull it up on the bank. I get itto the edge of the bank and the hook pulls out of it's mouth. Luckily my dad was standing there and reached in the grabbed it real quick.

With my reaction at the time you would of though I just caught a 30 pounder, but in reality it was just an average 4 pound channel. That fish though is what got me hooked on catfishing and fishing in general.

Kyle_Hamm2

I've got one experience that sticks out in my mind. My grandmother was watching me at my old home where we had a farm pond. I was probably 5 or 6. I kept begging her to take me to the pond but my poles were on our houseboat, but dad had a fly rod in the barn. To make a long story short i sweet talked her into taking me with dads rod, i couldnt cast so i sat on the bank just swinging the rod around in boredom. The fly was at least 1 foot above the water and a bass JUMPED out of the water and tried to grab it. I dropped the fly right in the water and he hit instantly. Im not real sure how big he was as things seem bigger at that age :-) but I would guess he was at least 2 lbs. Dad got home shortly thereafter and needless to say he was quite astonished

Oneshot7

there are two for me

The first one is when i was about 8 years old. I had caught many bass but none over 4 lbs. Well i am fishing a grub ( my favorite lure at the time) tequilla sunrise and BAM a big fish hit it in the pads and i fight him out and get him in the boat. WEll i put it in the livewell to mount it and a few minutes later when i was doing something else my dad released it and told me it was to small and it swam outta the hole i was mad at the time but i got over it[:'(]

The next time i am 11 years old and told my dad i wont keep it unless it is over 8 lbs. well we have caught numerous 5 lbers that day on flukes and probably about 50 fish total, well i throw it out and bamm biggest bass i have ever caught is on the line i get him in the boat 25 in estimated 6 1/2 lbs cuz it was real skinny but still a great fish.

MY friends story. We are fishing and have caught a bunch but no big ones in the same lake as the 6 1/2 lbr well he cast out and works it in real slow (first time actually targeting bass and bam a big fish 5 to 6 lbs and he wanted to mount it but couldnt keep em due to beddin season.

HighDesertWolf

I have a couple stories id like to share with you all, the first is about my first monster flathead that took me nearly a half hour to land.

During the spring every afternoon after school let out my best friend and I would set up a couple trot lines, then we would go check them every morning before school.

this particular morning my senior year caused me to have my first truancy ever. We set out like every other morning to check our trot lines. as we were going along through one of our coves after checking our last line, I noticed a huge fish on the fish finder setting on the bottom of the channel that runs through the cove. I had this hunch it was a big cat.

I told my buddy to get a couple rods out of the locker we were gonna do a little fishing since we still had about 2 hours before we had to be at school. we had dozen or so leaches in the baitwell from the day before. I setup a vertical rig on my big cat rig which is a 7 foot medium action ugly stick lite with a shimano corsair 300 reel with 20 lbs berkley big game.

I was bouncing my leach off the bottom as we trolled the channel, this is a popular technique for cats it helps cover alot of water fast. after an hour or so and catching a half dozen nice blue cats between the two of us. I put on my last leach at this point we really needed to start heading back and get our butts to school.

We stopped the boat my buddy reeled his line in and we began getting everything put up, me being stubborn and having to fish up and till the last second I put my rod in a holder and let my line set. Just as I went to reach for my rod to reel it in wham!! the rod tip was in the water and the drag was peeling off like it was nobodies business. The fish had so much force on the rod I had a little trouble getting the rod out of the rod holder. As soon as I had the rod out and was standing up I gave the it a good hard hook set, the fish started to run even harder felt like I was giving it everything just keep the rod from ripping out of my hands.

the fished peel a good solid 150 feet of line off the reel I used the trolling motor to follow the fish and reel in the line but at several points the fish was peeling line off faster then the trolling motor would move the boat after about 10 minutes of this the fish finally tired out and I was able to get the fish about 10 feet from the boat I could see it was about a 3 foot long flathead at that point it had alot more fight left in it as soon as it saw the boat it took off again it peeled about 60 or so feet of line of the reel this time it had me wrapped around a couple trees.

while reeling in and carefully manuevering the boat in and out of the trees I got the fish within netting distance we got this monster flathead in the boat and headed for the boat ramp. we got the boat loaded up and were on our way to school by this point we had already missed first period at school so we stopped at the local hunting/fishing shop to get some ice and have the fish weighed. She weighed 35 lbs 7 oz, Gary a friend of mine who owns the shop said it was a female and was deffinately full of eggs which got my good sportsmen ethics gears turning and I began thinking more of the fishery than my pride.

Needless to say we no longer needed ice. there is a service road off the main hiway that leads to the cove where I caught the fish. So Gary who is also a taxidermist took measurments and a dozen pictures of the fish and said if I released the fish he would give me a discount on a plastic replica.
so I took her back to the cove and released her.

By the time we got to school we had already missed 4 periods, and during the 5th period we were in the dicsaplinary principles office thankfully he too is a fishermen and I told him the story about our before school adventure. I took the entire blame my buddy didnt get punished and I got 2 days afterschool detension which was a huge break considering the normal punishment for truancy was 3 days suspension. My parents never found out about it and never really questioned my 2 days detension.

heres a pic of the mount, being a replica mount it didnt come out exactly like I remember the fish but it is pretty darn close.