Dang it i'm hung up....CRAP NO I WASN'T!!!!!!

[LouisianaFishNut]

I was fishing on my pier at Caddo Lake with my brother-in-law one night. We were using cut bream for bait and tightlines on the bottom. We also had yo-yos out on the trees nearby. Everytime we'd get in the boat to get a fish off the tree, one of the bells on the poles would jingle and we'd scramble back up the pier only to miss them. Finally, Kevin set the hook on one and when he did, I thought I was going to need to pull him from the edge. The pole was doubled over and he was leaning back against it. I think he was fishing with 20 lb test. Well he fought it a good 10-15 minutes and when it finally came to the pier, there was a 4 foot alligator gar and the hook had somehow snagged it through the meat about 5 inches in front of his tail. We didn't keep him, but it was a heck of a fight pulling it in tail first.

[skeetbum]

2 1/2 yrs ago in June I lived just north of orlando. My young daughter is my fishin partner and we go as often as possible. 10 minutes from the house was the ramp to Lake Monroe, a part of the St. Johns River. We were throwing sinkos in pencil grass looking to get one of the big bass the guys at work had told me were active lately. 6 1/2 ft mh baitcaster braided line, 5/0 gamakatsu, no junk tackle here. Pitch into this one area with less grass than was around me elsewhere. Bait doesn't sink 6" and the line jumps. Count of 3, reel down, lean forward and set the hook. The fish doesn't move. I said"OH-JESSIE"!!! She turned around as I took a few more turns on the reel and lifted again and the biggest Bass of my life clears the water completely with the hook buried deep in the corner of her mouth. Jessie sez" holy crap dad, I didn't know they came that big"!! I've still got a tight line and the fish is going back towards where it had jumped from, head out of the water, thrashing left to right. That being unsucessful it turns back around and jumps again, fully out of the water. Now the fight is on. She heads towards open water and I'm thinking maybe I've got a chance. About halfway there she heads for a small clump of pencilgrass and, being absolutey brilliant as I am, I lean back to steer her around it. Great idea. Only problem was the bite had been finicky, and I had tied a 6' piece of 10 lb fluro leader on that day, and it couldn't take the pressure. You know the rest. The back of that fishes gut was almost verticle. I've seen and handled lots of big bass, and this was far bigger than any so far. I went to a local tackle shop with a bragging board the next day while it was still fresh in my mind and the closest pic was 13lbs and it didn't have the gut my lost fish had. I'll never know just how big, but I know its 2 1/2 yrs later and I still haven't forgiven myself.

[rreal]

had to wake my buddy up where canadian meets arkansaw river so he could catch 45lb blue while using my pole .his lucky day.

[Bluegillfreak]

One of my worst was I had hooked a good sized bluegill and it swam under a tree so I'm sitting in my boat watching my line go under this tree and then swim back towards me and I'm like now how in the heck am I going to fix this problem. I thought he had swum back out of the tree so I tried to reel in and felt like I was hung so I just laid that rod down and started to bait another when I got done I reeled in and managed to get the fish after he had swam back out of that tree.

[FFTulsa]

Was fishing in the Arkansas River several years ago for sandies with 8lb test line and a medium sized spincast when I hooked something that started taking line , I couldn't do anything with the fish, line just keep going out and as I got near the end of my spool I saw a 50lb plus spoonbill jump out of the water about a 100yards away and "snap there went the end of my line", bad thing was I was catching lots of fish and now I had to go because I was out of line. Always take extra line with me now.

[Foxy]

Was bass fishing at my favorite hole with my uncle last summer. He went back to the car for a minute to get something. So anyway, I make a cast towards an old wooden dock and my lure goes right over it. Anticipating a definite snag, I start to reel - and sure enough, the line goes tight. But then, suddenly the head of the largest bass I've ever seen pops out of the water on the other side of the dock - and stays there. Suddenly I realize that a.) I was not snagged and b.) now a I really AM snagged and that I've got my trophy largemouth pinned against the dock, half way out of the water. My hear raced and seconds felt like hours as I tried to figure out what to do next. I couldn't walk over to the dock because the water was too deep. Couldn't walk along the shore either as there was too much shrubbery. Finally, as a last resort, I flipped the bale on my rod. The line snapped immediately and my trophy bass got away. About 10 seconds later my uncle came back. I told him the story, but to this day he does not believe me