The one that got away...

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breachless

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I had it. I had the largest bass I have ever seen on Saturday morning out on Cross Lake... Was out frogging with my pops and caught quite a few decent fish, but this one... It really was the biggest bass I have ever seen in person. Got it up alongside the boat and had it all tired out. My heart was beating like CRAZY: this was the fish of a lifetime! Then I reach over the side of the boat to lip the thing, and it gets that second wind and took one last run, and can you believe it? He actually managed to snap my 30 lb braided line. I was in shock.

It's all I have thought about. What if he dies with that **** frog in his mouth? I would have removed the frog and just took a picture and put him back, but man... And the funny thing is my dad offered to land him with the net. I have never used a net to land a bass (but I had never had a fish on like this before) but for some reason I said no. 10 seconds later it was gone.

So we left the lake and hiked down to the river and fished smallies for the afternoon. Nice change of pace. All in all, it was a great fishing day: I caught a TON of bass (both Large and Smallmouth) but it was all just kind of nothing compared to fighting that monster of a fish... I was sad that he got away, but it was extremely exciting: like I said, I have never seen a bass that big before in Minnesota. At least I got to look at her up close and even got to touch her before she gave me the middle finger and took off (and it was nice that my dad and my brother in law were there as witnesses to the size of this thing...)

Anyway, I will be there working that shoreline every Saturday and Sunday for the rest of the summer in hopes of hooking it again. I am convinced this was the same fish that got away the first time I fished that spot in the spring, and I caught it on the very same frog.
 
Blah....I think we all know how that feels. Atleast you know where it lives and had witnesses to its size. I pretty much net everything when on the boat. When I largemouth fish, I don't care about the fight at all, all's I want is to fool it into eating my bait then get it in my hands asap, snap a pic and let it go. I'd rather catch river smallies or stripers for the fight than a LM, but I still just wanna catch a huge PA LM more than anything else. There are 7-9lb bass caught around here on a somewhat consistent basis, I just really wanna break the 10lb mark in my home state.

When I was maybe 16 or 17 I was fishing my favorite lake from shore, tossing frogs onto solid pad mats. I hit a tree branch on my backcast and got a wicked backlash. My big frog sat 15 feet from shore on the pads. It took me atleast 20 minutes to get the backlash out and I then twitched the frog. A monster bass erupted on my frog and I had it hook just long enough for me to rip it out of the pads....then it was gone. Was well into 7lbs if not more. Of course she would not hit again. Biggest bass I caught out of that lake was maybe 6lbs. Almost 10 years later I still relive that 5 seconds of crazed bass mayhem, we are sick sick people, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Good luck with catching your lunker, frog fishing is by far my favorite way to LM fish.
 
This one was a good 7 lbs I am sure... Which is monstrous for a Minnesota Largemouth.

Yeah: to me it seems like the frogs are the best way to get BIG bass in the summer... You can fish other plastics and probably catch more fish in a day, but I consistently get big fish in this particular spot with frogs, and it doesn't seem to matter too much what time of the summer it is or even what time of the day. Yesterday we seemed to be getting the majority of strikes about 10 to 15 feet from shore, but when the sun came out, the bite died. Then I got a strike 6 inches from the shore and decided to keep trying to flip them up on shore, and once we started doing that, it picked up again. The water was probably 80 to 85 degrees, and the fish were sitting in less than a foot of water! Nice ones too.

But yeah I hear you about the smallmouths... Pound for pound, nothing fights like a smallmouth. Especially those river smallies. Plus, when it's a hot day, few things beat putting on a good pair of sandals and wading out into the river and standing in the water all day catching fish listening to the water rip by. Awesome.
 
I fish my frogs on 65lb power pro, after I watched a buddy loose the biggest fish of his life. (easy 8 lbs). They might straighten the hooks or break the rod, but they ain't breakin that line. My buddy questioned my judgement until he witnessed the power of the 65 heaving a large tree limb out that the ole' bass though she could escape by wraping me around. Maybe worth a try.
 
That's probably what I will end up doing: that's good advice! I am also starting to wonder if perhaps my knot wasn't good enough. All that kind of stuff enters the mind and just bugs you to no end! What knots do you guys like to use with braided line?
 
I have 2 knots for braid...

regular plastics - double palomer knot - same as a regular palomer, but when I go to loop the first knot, I take it through 2 times then pull the bait through it

frogs & jigs - braid knot.. - https://www.sportsmanschoice.com/terminal_tackle_knots.htm. I also use this knot a lot of times on regular fluorocarbon lines... never had it fail me, and I have hauled a few 7s, 8s and 9s with 30lb braid when frog fishing or flipping 1oz jigs in heavy standing timber. And for the record, 30lb is as heavy of line as I throw. I only throw Stren Super Braid (the old stuff they don't make/sell anymore... so I've got about 15 spools of it left)

forgot about this knot... it is what I'm slowly switching over to for fluorocarbon & Braid -- San Diego Jam Knot - https://www.netknots.com/html/san_diego_jam_knot.html
 
I have never had a palomar knot fail, thats pretty much all I tie. I only use 30lb sufix, I have never broken a fish off, I really cannot see using any heavier than that, although I know a lot of people do. I would rather cast farther and hold more line than use 65lb rope on my reel, but thats just me 8)
 
jkbirocz said:
I have never had a palomar knot fail, thats pretty much all I tie. I only use 30lb sufix, I have never broken a fish off, I really cannot see using any heavier than that, although I know a lot of people do. I would rather cast farther and hold more line than use 65lb rope on my reel, but thats just me 8)

x2
 
russ010 said:
jkbirocz said:
I have never had a palomar knot fail, thats pretty much all I tie. I only use 30lb sufix, I have never broken a fish off, I really cannot see using any heavier than that, although I know a lot of people do. I would rather cast farther and hold more line than use 65lb rope on my reel, but thats just me 8)

x2

X3

=D>
 
Stinks that you never got to hold it...or us see it:)
I hardly ever net either but I do bring one now...even though it's normally underneath everthing.

I'd fish that place ever chance I got around it,bit once,it will again.
 
I go 50lb Sufix Braid for frogs. I had 30lb break a few times when a good bass ate a frog and dug deep into pads so thick you could walk on.

And may I saw, that was dumb to refuse the net #-o :lol:
 

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