# Haunted ? ?



## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Have a fish that haunts you ?A fish lost or maybe one seen that you just didn't get to strike ? Maybe a Giant smallie or lrg/mth with a jump and a thrown hook ? A huge muskie that even a figure 8 couldn't persuade ? A giant crappie boatside, a ragged hole in its soft mouth and you horrified, witness the hook fall free ? 
Plenty of fish haunt me. I've had a couple dandy muskie follow that just didn't make that final connection and one jumbo striper that was lost after an epic nite battle that I'll never forget but the one fish that haunts me most often is a brook trout. 
The fish wasn't huge as fish go but for a inland brookie a giant, and he lives in my head for ever.
On a Oct Indian summer day near the Wht mnts of N Hampshire I waited on a beaver dam with my trusty muzzle-loader for a deer drive to hopefully push a buck my way. While I waited I flipped a small green hopper into the nearby black water created by Mr beaver. The hopper kicked once maybe twice, a small shadow maybe 6"- 8" appeared beneath the grasshopper and then the insect disappeared in a small swirl. In went another and then another small hopper with similar results. On a whim I pitched the last hopper near a small underwater log and again the shadow of a small trout appeared but this time before grabbing the struggling insect the small fish suddenly darted back to the depths and safety of the log. Suddenly the shadow of a Giant Trout appeared under the hopper. (16"maybe 20" but I'll never know for sure) Slowly the fish rose nearer and nearer to the surface, suddenly in a flash and much larger swirl the struggling hopper was gone along with the shadow. 
I stood motionless on the dam with my heartbeat momentarily elevated and I seem to remember my hands shaking. Fish from these mnt streams are rarely over 10" but that fish was a true giant for those waters.
I planned to hike back to the beaver pond and fish its cold dark water someday but unfortunately never made it. Hundreds of times in my mind I've see the shadow of a great brookie slowly rising to the surface of the cold New Hampshire water and --- suddenly he's gone forever
What fish haunts your dreams ? (Many I hope)
Merry Christmas N
Good luck and good fishing !


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## Masterbaiter66 (Sep 3, 2016)

Been trying to get a 20lb + carp


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## Tinknocker1 (May 13, 2013)

Empty belly haunts me sometime if I can't ketch something for supper lol Merry Christmas buddy !


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Masterbaiter66 said:


> Been trying to get a 20lb + carp


 Fly fisherman ? ?
That's a lofty goal on any rod, good luck and make sure to post his pic.
Good luck and good fishing !


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Tinknocker1 said:


> Empty belly haunts me sometime if I can't ketch something for supper lol Merry Christmas buddy !


I've seen your cooking pics--- you ain't going hungry  n drink one for me around the cooking fire-- I'm trapped inside until the W/E 
Merry Christmas !


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## Masterbaiter66 (Sep 3, 2016)

garhtr said:


> Fly fisherman ? ?
> That's a lofty goal on any rod, good luck and make sure to post his pic.
> Good luck and good fishing !


No, just fishing with doughball, corn, anything. Caught an 18lb er out of the Cuyahoga river in 1987....


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

I’ve had a few that hurt but one that comes to mind was an easy 18-20” smallmouth in a ridiculously tiny creek this summer; it rose like a brown football and sipped my rebel wee craw off the surface, then proceeded to straighten the tiny wire hooks out all within a few seconds (I was using an ultralight with a loose drag even). I’m still salty about that.


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## stonen12 (May 13, 2019)

Last summer I was tenkara fishing a pond behind my father in-laws house with a foam spider for blue gill. I hooked up almost every cast, I was bringing in a smaller gill that was struggling quite hard as I was getting him in and right at the bank a 6-8# large mouth came up and engulfed the gill and swam off calming with it in his mouth. My heart has never pounded so hard! I tried to pull him in with the gill but he just spit it out, I targeted that bass all summer long it seemed, I haven’t seen him since and hope to have another crack at getting him this spring.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

garhtr said:


> Fish from these mnt streams are rarely over 10" but that fish was a true giant for those waters.


Kind of made me think back to 1974 and I was in the Air Force stationed in nowhere (Cannon AFB) New Mexico about a 3 hour drive from the mountains and the Pecos Wilderness Area.
My self and my friend decided to take a trip to fish the Pecos River a few miles north of the town of Pecos. The road wound up into the mountains for like 20 miles or so and just ended.
In the spring, when the snow melt would chill and raise those mountain creeks we'd often head up to fish those waters for trout.
On this one trip I took a friend who had never been. We used spinning gear with 2# or 4# test line, a #10 or #12 hook and whatever bait we could find along the shore, usually small worms. Normally it was no problem to get a limit of 10''-12" rainbows.
This one day we fished a different section and found a new hole I'd never seen before. The waters were deeper there and the banks were more undercut. I offered the spot to my friend to make the 1st casts. I sat and watched as he drifted his small bait down with the current. Every time he'd make a cast he got hit along this one particular boulder but he'd set the hook and miss. Finally after 4 or 5 such attempts he asked me to try.
Well on cast #1 of course I got lucky and got a hook-up and it was a true beast. After a long and exciting battle I landed my prize, a 22" trout. Now here I sit 45 years later and I still see that fish.
Was it a ghost...not really, I got that one.

For the fish that haunts me, I reserve that for the crappie I lost last year. Just as I lifted it to the surface I told my friend to get the net. He glanced back and thought I had a bass, he though who cares, it's a bass. He took his time getting the net and just when he realized that it was a crappie it made a flip and was gone. If I live to be a hundred, I'll always remember that one.


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## Lil Crappie (Jun 17, 2013)

Was fishing in Canada with my grandparents, when I was 14. Trolling for Pike, hooked a BIG one. Heavy! Trolled around a rocky point and hooked up! Had a spin cast outfit. Stood up said I’ve got one . Grandpa said don’t horse it! Was on 30 seconds. Never saw it! Remember I was watching a porcupine walk up the bank on that spot. Was using a silver weedless spoon with a white pork rind trailer. Just came off!


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Good thread, it hits home. I've been fishing a overwintering hole in the Wwr since August. I've been seeking a big smallmouth bass, that I named Biggie Smallie. I've had him miss a whopper plopper twice, spit a neds rig on another occation and broke my leader knot the last time out. He has called me out and I have to catch him and will continue to fish that spot untill I do.

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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Tom 513 said:


> He has called me out and I have to catch him


 Good luck, this mild weather may help and I hope you find time to seek him out soon.



crappiedude said:


> I reserve that for the crappie I lost last year. Just as I lifted it to the surface


 I have a bad habit of losing larger crappie nearly at hand, that last head shake at the surface has cost me some good ones---- we'll get-em in the New Year !
Good luck and good fishing !


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

stonen12 said:


> a 6-8# large mouth came up and engulfed the gill and swam off


 Reminds me of a time when my father and I were pond fishing for bl/glls from a small john boat. We were keeping the larger ones for dinner. I deep hooked a small one and released it but it came to the surface and struggled, my dad decided we may as well put it in the cooler, it was obviously gonna die. The fish was barely out of reach and Dad tried to "rake" the small fish closer with his paddle, the gill swirled around in the wake made by the paddle and a huge bass made a grab for the fish - missed-- again dad raked the bluegill closer and again the bass attacked, this time successfully taking the small fish and leaving a gigantic swirl.
Dad tried a minnow plug for some time with no success,  guess the gill filled the bass up.
Good luck and good fishing !


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

kingofamberley said:


> 18-20” smallmouth in a ridiculously tiny creek


 The miraculous attraction of small water, you just never know what will happen.
Hope you get him this summer (on a fly )
Good luck and good fishing !


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## G-Patt (Sep 3, 2013)

I like to fish East Fork for crappie but I always have a cat rod with me. Occasionally, I'll fish for bluegills if the action is slow with the intent of using the gills for catfish bait. On a hot, slow morning last summer on my kayak, I decided to catch a gill and catfish instead. The plan was to drift a sharp cliff/drop-off that had submerged trees from an old landslide. As I drifted over this landslide, my rod bent angrily, shook and broke my 40 lb line. Dummy me forgot to set the drag before I began my drift. That one hurt real bad!!!


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## fishwhacker (Jul 16, 2010)

We had caught several nice eyes that night most in the 26 - 28 inch range. Set the hook on another and immediately almost fell forward. Thought it was a rock, then it started moving. Immediate thought was carp then quickly changed thinking to a nice pike. My buddy grabbed the net and once it got close started yelling giant eye. He missed twice saying it wouldnt fit in the net. When he tried a 3rd time it got off and slowly swam away. Cant even describe the girth/length. Biggest eye we both had ever seen with 1000s of eyes landed between us......painful to think about


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## steelshep (Feb 16, 2011)

Two summers ago I was fishing one of my usual runs. It was getting on in the evening so I decided to start throwing topwater (Poe's Jackpot to be exact). I had only made a handful of casts near some down wood when the surface blew up near my bait. The fished missed the lure but I could tell from the explosion it was a huge fish. I reeled up and recast. The fish blew it up again but this time I got hooks in her.

In the ensuing battle she broke the surface about halfway back to the boat. One look at her and I instantly felt adrenaline surge. I've caught a good number of muskies in my day and i estimated this fish to be a mid to upper 40's fish, easily a PB for me. With my knees and hands shaking I got her to boat side. She took one more mighty dive and I felt my line go slack. When I pulled up it looked like someone had taken a pair of scissors and cut my leader cleanly in two (80 lb. Fluoro).

Needless to say my heart sank and after a lengthy string of swear words I tried to regain my composure.

While I was trying on a new leader, almost as if to tease me, the fish jumped about 10 yards from my boat, head shaking, Jackpot still hooked in the corner of it's mouth. I continued to work trying to decide what to throw next and the fished jumped again. I could hear the rattle of the Jackpot as the fish fought to throw it. I decided to hang there for a few minutes and the fish jumped a third time. This time the fish dislodged the lure. I watched the fish go one way and my red and white Jackpot go the other and plop down on the surface. I promptly trolled over and retrieved my lure (still cursing the fish).

That Jackpot was my best lure that summer so I was happy to get it back but that incident still stings and that fish still haunts me 2 years later.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Casting for musky on Lake Of The Woods with my best friend Ed and our Indian guide, Isadore.
We saw a wake behind my surface lure that looked like a muskrat was making it and then the long back showed just above the surface, looked to be about four foot long and then the tail about another foot behind the back. The fish followed to the boat, watched the figure eight and slowly sank out of site. Isadore said it was the largest musky he had seen in over twenty years on the lake. Managed to raise that fish each of the following two evenings but it wouldn't take. Isadore estimated the musky between 50 and 60 pounds. I will never forget the size of that fish and often re-live those moments in my mind while sleeping over the last 56 years.


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## JOSH gets2fish (Aug 16, 2018)

I have been fortunate to land many of the great fish I have seen or hooked, there are some haunting fish though for sure. A 15” black crappie at a spring OGF tournament that would have won it all that came unbuttoned on the surface. A giant brown trout in clear creek tracking down my inline spinner, only to turn away at the last second. A giant summertime flathead exerting its will to go wherever it pleased on a hot summer night below a spillway that eventually tangled my line in the rocks and escaped. A 7-8lb bass that spit my hook at Rocky Fork lake. A 8-10lb saugeye that came unbuttoned on a husky jerk at at the Deer Creek Spilway. For the most part Im at peace with these experiences.

I am most haunted by One Largemouth Bass.

I was around 15 years old, spending spring break with my Dad at my grandparents place down at the famous Lake Fork in Texas. I was fishing live shiners under their covered floating dock in the middle of a sunny calm spring day. We had been catching several Bass in the 5-6 lb range. But in the middle of the day the bite usually slowed down. My Dad had gone back to the house for lunch. All alone dipping a live shiner in the crowded boat slips full of sharp metal boat floats, I dropped down into a two ft hole at the heart of the dock between the boats. I felt the shiner get nervous and then just turn into dead weight. With my woefully light quantum energy baitcaster and 12 lb mono I set the hook and strangely began to slowly lift up what felt like a cinder block. There was no movement to give a clue that what I hooked was alive but it was clearly very heavy. With my rod fully bent I began to crank up this perplexing weight. Well emerging from the dark shadow of the dock, suddenly the bass on the line was Illuminated as I lifted it to the surface. What emerged was the largest bass I have ever seen that was not swimming in an aquarium. Laying perfectly on its side so I could clearly make out its freakish shape. No doubt over 10 lbs and possibly much more. I was awestruck by its proportions. It may have measured 15” from belly to back. It was not like any bass I had even dreamt of. The fish was so huge that my tiny hook, line and rod was just a small annoyance, that had slowly lifted her out of her shady hole. The moment I saw the fish was also the moment it saw me and she realized she was hooked. In an instant it ripped downward under my feet, peeling drag off my rod as I stuck the tip down in the water to keep the line from rubbing on all the metal dock edges. Within 10 seconds of a straight fast run it ended with a broken line, likely on one of Lake Forks famous flooded standing timbers that surrounded the deep side of the dock. 
It took me a long time to fully comprehend what I had just seen. I learned so much from that one fish. Reeling in my busted limp line that day led me to a series of revelations. 
I realized how relative fishing tackle size is and how powerful a fish can really be. I saw clearly how hooking a fish, and landing a fish, are two totally different experiences. They each have their own excitement and satisfaction, or lack thereof when the end result is failure.

As far as largemouth bass go, I have no doubt I will never hook another one that size in my life, I think I knew that right away...


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

Erie 4-29-07




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Fish-N-Fool


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May 4, 2007











  








June Trolling Vermillion




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Fish-N-Fool


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Apr 6, 2012








My netman above with his first 10lber (summer not this trip) and another with a giant "pigeye"

2007 on Lake Erie in spring up off Wagon Wheel reef I had a buddy for our first trip drifting harnesses. I believe second week in April. The walleyes were stacked up and catching a limit was easy with all the 2003 class eating size. It was our first trip and were were happy to take a two man limit of "eaters". We didn't complete 2 drifts in the first hour and already had 4 perfect eyes. I had made the marks and we set up for the third drift when my partner boated a larger eye - 26.5 inches. Next thing I know I've got one on and she is heavy...I mean HEAVY in that cold water. We are shocked as she surfaces - looks like a salmon more than a walleye. Partner nets it and gets it in the boat...she won't fit in the smaller live well. 30 inches long and nearly that in girth....no scale on board. We are so excited - never seen an eye this size.

My second rod goes down before I calm down....this one is every bit as heavy - every bit! As you guys that fish that time of year know there isn't much fight typically due to the cold water temps. This was like reeling up a log! I get her up to the surface and this one is another Salmon size even bigger than the first! Partner has her on the edge of the net when she spits the harness, flips sideways and disappears. It was a 15lb eye we are sure...biggest we have ever seen and larger than the trophy I had just boated.

FYI - that first eye weighed 13-4 and 13-6 on two scales AFTER sitting on board all day. On my wall and still my largest eye, but always think about that fish! We both talk about it...partner won't let his botched net job go, but as I remind him every time it takes two to tango and in the excitement I made a mistake too! Dayton Daily saw the pic and did a write up in the Cox publishing papers at the time. Trust me, the other one was a lot bigger....maybe a legit 16!!!!!


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## Alaskangiles (Aug 15, 2019)

I was on the hard water of Beer Can (Campbell) Lake in Anchorage, AK. Popped me a hole and dropped a line. Action was hot! I couldn’t even get all the way set up before a fish would take my spoon. All the fish were small so after a while I just let it hit the bottom and went to finish setting up.

I caught movement and it was my rod heading towards the hole! The next half and hour I spent trying to get this thing to move when I wanted it to. This fish did whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted. Basically felt like I had zero control and wasn’t ever going to catch a glimpse of it.

That’s when it went past the hole for the first time! Freaking GIANT Arctic char! I yelled like a little girl to the guy across the lake. He came over to see what I was yelling about. The fish had gone by the hole a few times now. And I even had him head up at one point and couldn’t get him in the hole. The fish just had to much girth. With 3’ of ice, I couldn’t reach him to force it either. Only choice we had was to drop another hole next to the one I had.

You guessed it. Fish freaked when the auger plunged through and we cut the line with the auger. 

That next summer a kid landed a 25+ lb Arctic char out of that lake under a plastic red bobber. To this day I try and be happy for that kid. I think all us fisherman know the truth of how I really feel.


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## Nategreat208 (Jul 2, 2017)

I had one last year. I was using a custom painted jerk bait got a decent size bass on the line.
He put up a good fight watched him jump trying to spit it got him close to the bank and the line snapped on me.
It haunts me not just the size of the fish but cause i lost that lure. 
That fisg haunts me cause i check my line alot more for frays now.


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