Fish of a Lifetime

Time frame is June of '05 and my young Daughter and I are in my stick steer boat, chasing Bass in the northwest corner of Lake Monroe. The guys at work had been getting a few good fish over the past few weeks and I had even gotten one or two myself, but nothing like today would bring. Summertime in Florida so it's hot, the water flat with no wind, and the sun hadn't been above the horizon long. Jessie is using a topwater and I'm throwing a Wave Worm Tiki Stik. Green with a chartreuse tip on the tail. Basically a Senko but smelled like Licorice, impregnated with salt it was heavy and cast like a rock. 7' medium heavy rod with an Ambassadeur loaded with braid, I wanted to land a good one if I got the chance. The way I use these was to cast and let it settle, then slowly lift the rod and move the worm a few feet, and then reel down to it again and repeat. Super slow. I had treated the line with fly line dressing so it would float and it acted like a giant cork, telling me if anything fooled with the worm.

We had both boated a few fish and were now up inside the rim of Pencil Grass, casting between the patches and sparse little clusters. I made a cast to an area I hadn't yet gotten into before and let it settle. In only a few feet of water, it didn't take long for it to settle to the bottom, but this time it never got there. The line did the textbook twitch and my heart rate went up a notch. I reeled in the slack and leaned forward to set the hook, and let her have it. She didn't move. Not even a little. So I reel up whatever slack there was, said "OH JESSIE!", and hit her again. That did it. The biggest Largemouth I had ever had on my line in my life goes airborne, from right to left, covering about a distance of three feet. Jessie says "Holy Crap Dad, I didn't know they came that big!" Now the fish is coming back from left to right, head out of the water, shaking her head back and forth trying hard to throw the hook, but the 5/0 Gamakatsu is buried into a good spot and holds true. Line is tight as a Banjo string and I'm starting to apply a little pressure, trying to keep her out of the grass, and she doesn't like it--at all! Here she goes back into the air in a repeat of the first jump and we both get a real good look this time. Where the sag of the belly went up towards the meat in front of the tail is almost vertical, looking like 90* to us. Well now the fight is on in earnest and she starts pulling and trying to get back to open water, and it seems all I can do is hang on and pray. Between her and open water is two tight clusters of the pencil grass about as big as a softball is round. I remember saying, "I'm not losing you in no grass" and leaned on the rod a little more to pull her to this side of the clusters and "POP!" The 10lb Fluorocarbon leader I had on from a previous trip had let go. I always used 20lb but had changed it on a previous trip and forgotten to put the heavy back on. She was gone, my heart was thumping super hard, hands shaking, and Jessie saying "AW Crap Dad!" By several pounds, that had been the biggest Largemouth I had ever done battle with. I pulled the 20lb leader material out and began to re-rig.

The image of the two jumps that fish made still fresh in my mind, I had to find out how big it might have been. The head was enormous and the drop of the belly was like nothing I had ever seen, even on a wall. Down in Winter Springs is a big bait and tackle called Bitters, that had a big board for the customers to post a photo of their fish, and I headed down there Monday morning after I got through with my morning turn. Lots of fish were there to be compared, but none had the overall size, drop in the belly, but most of all was the size of the head. The biggest one there was shown in two pictures, one held in his hands and the other laid out on it's side next to a tape measure. The tape read close to 26" and the weight written on the pic was 13lbs and a few ounces, and it was close but the one Jessie and I had seen airborne twice was a much better fish. My best guess is that she would have been between 13 and 15lbs, and would have been returned regardless. She was a valuable asset making babies and after the pics and measurements I would have slid her back with a thank you.

And so ends my story of "The One That Got Away" . Twelve years in the past I can still see her fighting for her life in my mind. I've caught many in my life but that was big and never to be repeated. I moved to Tennessee in August that year and caught almost nothing for a while as I became accustomed to cold deep water instead of hot shallow water. Then came the Crappie, which consume me more every day. Maybe one day I'll pull out the heavy stuff and see if I can find her cousin. Should I be smiled upon, I'll update that story here. Thanks for taking the time to read this and visiting with me today.......Skeet

Good story and even though she got away, you've got the memory of her. She at least gave you a look. I don't really have a fish that got away story, but I do have a big buck that got away memory........biggest, widest buck I had ever seen in my life came through chasing does and stopped right in front of me.........I missed. Never saw him again. I can still see the whole thing in my mind. Used to bother me, but now I just enjoy the memory of having seen him. GTT

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Skeet you lucky devil.
It's not everybody who gets to see twice the one that got away and then have the vivid memory to live with til the end of your days....Thank You for sharing a very special fishing story.
Hope you are getting to fish all you want.