Big One That Got Away

[Festus_Haggen]

Stripes were running one day and you'd catch a crappie every now and then. I had a 6" or 7" creek chub for bait on a gold hook. My floater disappeared, and I think I should have waited and let the fish take the bait a little longer, but I tried setting the hook anyhow. I could feel a good fish on the line, but he got off. I was reeling the bare hook in, and a yellow bass pounced on it. Got him in, and a fellow standing fishing to my left says something like, "Wow, that's the first time I saw a fish hit a minnow bigger than he is!" But another fellow to my right actually got to see the big fish that got away, he said it was brownish, possibly a catfish, walleye, sauger, or smallmouth. Later in the day, some older fellow hooked a big fish on raw shrimp, I got a small peek of the fish, it came to the top, rolled onto his 17 lb. test line and it snapped. The fish was at least 4' long and I think maybe a muskie or big gar. The fish hit his shrimp as he was reeling it in very fast to check his bait to avoid snags.