Fish-that-got-away stories are always exciting and come with an incredible conclusion

In my next life I hope to get some answers to one of my deepest and most perplexing questions: Just how big was that fish I lost?

About 10 years ago I was fishing solo at San Luis, scouting the west end of the lake. I was using a 9-foot pole and a big striper reel loaded with 20-pound test line. While trolling some lures around an island, my pole bent over and the line started screaming out. I grabbed the pole and could feel the power of a big fish that wasn’t slowing down one bit.

The fish had run a good 50 yards and I was saying to myself, “You’re the fish I’ve been looking for!” Then I felt that sick feeling you get when your line goes slack. My big fish had run out a good 80 yards of line, on a stout setup, more than I had ever had before. I wondered just how big it was and what had happened?

I was perplexed because my line wasn’t broken and I could see the lure as I brought it in. Then I saw that the fish had ripped the middle hook right off the lure and bent the other two treble hooks completely out. Every time I upgrade my hooks and split rings I think about that fish.

I went to Sitka, Alaska, a couple years ago and fished for several days. The last day I caught a 140-pound halibut followed by a 60-pound lingcod in 325 fet of water. My hosts had set me up with a huge halibut reel spooled with 150-pound test line matched up with a massive meat rod you could do pull-ups on. After catching two great fish on it, I had a good idea of how much pole bend and the amount of drag a big fish would take out as the captain set me up again.

I was watching the captain put out another pole on the port side when I heard a weird sound behind me. I turned to see my pole bent over like a light trout rod and the massive reel going backwards like it wasn’t working. The pole remained fully bent to the water as I futilely tried to get it out of the holder. Suddenly the huge pole came flying upward. The fish had gotten off but not before it had run a good 50-70 yards at full blast. The power of whatever I had on was a good quantum level above the other big fish I had caught earlier. The other fish barely bent the big rod and only took a few yards out when they ran. What was it? Alaskan guides suggested it might have been a huge salmon shark by the way it took off.

Failures like these keep us going; it’s the nature of the beast. And yes, I’m quite sure after much consideration that the monster I lost had to be over 500 pounds! It makes a better story. Never give up!

This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Fish-that-got-away stories are always exciting and come with an incredible conclusion."