The one that got away, or Why I love fishing...

Chris,

My first guess would have been a carp, just the way it took off instantly, I
just caught one recently that took off like a bat out of hell and ripped off
probably 50 yards of line before he finally gave up. If you snag one of
them in the tail, then it is on!

Chris
"Christopher P. Cericola" wrote in message
roups.com...
Tonight went out to my home lake and within minutes landed a whopper of a
1/4#...I figured he was small but it was signs of what was to come. Well,
it wasn't. I walked the entire lake and not even a hit..UNTIL...I was
just
about to leave.

I was tossing a rat-l-trap and reeling it in until my reel was
smoking..and
then BAM! My line seemed to be going backwards. In fact, it was..my drag
was coming out VERY quickly and I was watching my line in the water wave
back and forth..it was crazy, I couldn't react fast enough...reeling in
did
nothing, pulling did nothing..all I could do is watch this guy steal what
little line I had left(I know, I should've respooled before I went
fishing)...and then it happened. He got away....at least he didn't get
the
lure.

I have no idea what he was but I'm goign to assume a VERY large bass.
There
are no stripers here and there's nothing else in the lake that would have
that kind of pull. I would've considered it being a turtle but this was a
fish..very different pull. I even though maybe I speared a catfish or a
carp but it wouldn't have felt like this...

The fight that I lost lasted no more than 15-seconds from start to finish.
During that time, my heart beat like no tomorrow and it felt like an
eternity. I may have lost him, but that memory is enough to keep me
fishing
another ten years...

In lieu of having a real picture of the fish, my wife has done this
"police
sketch" of what I expected it to be...


http://users.snip.net/~ccericola/ima...-Depiction.jpg

Christopher

"Chris Rennert" wrote in message
. ..
My first guess would have been a carp, just the way it took off instantly,
I just caught one recently that took off like a bat out of hell and ripped
off probably 50 yards of line before he finally gave up. If you snag one of
them in the tail, then it is on!

I was thinking carp but I've never known them to really strike lures let
alone lures that are speeding through the lake like a bat out of hell. If
anything I think I might've hit the tail, like you said. I still hold to my
"police sketch".

Christopher

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 19:04:00 -0400, "Christopher P. Cericola"
I was thinking carp but I've never known them to really strike lures let
alone lures that are speeding through the lake like a bat out of hell.

Carp will occasionally hit an artificial lure. AMOF, a couple of
years ago, I landed a 27# carp which slurped in a bass-sized popping
bug. What a fight on a 9 ft. fly rod with 6 lb. tippet! Happened on
Reelfoot Lake.

Many years ago, during a hatch of 13 year cicadas, carp in the Stones
River of Middle Tennessee were sucking them off the surface. I caught
them on popping bugs then too.

"Chris Rennert" wrote in message
. ..
My first guess would have been a carp, just the way it took off instantly,
I just caught one recently that took off like a bat out of hell and ripped
off probably 50 yards of line before he finally gave up. If you snag one of
them in the tail, then it is on!

I was thinking carp but I've never known them to really strike lures let
alone lures that are speeding through the lake like a bat out of hell. If
anything I think I might've hit the tail, like you said. I still hold to my
"police sketch".

Christopher