Heartbreaking!!!!! Your Worst Misses. 2024
Jaderose reply :
Out at one of my local haunts tonight dragging a Booyah Pad Crasher through the slop. Twitch, twitch...slow retrieve....stop...twitch...when I heard the unmistakable "toilet flush" of a HUGE bass suck it down. I played it perfectly. Gave it a 2 count and tried to break her neck. SOLID hookup. Was throwing my Pro Qualifier with the drag turned all the way up to 10. She started swimming away from me like it wasn't even there. I kept the pressure on her when she suddenly about faced and came straight at me. It caught me off off guard for a second and as soon as she felt that slack she came straight up out of the water. She was beautiful and would have beaten my PB (9.3) by at least a lb...maybe 2. She got completely out of the water.....and spit the hook.
...and somewhere....the Gods laughed. I'm coming for you ol' girl. I know you're in there now. You will be mine..(for a minute or 2 until I put you back!)
That's my tale of woe. Let's hear yours
Catch and Grease reply :
This morning after a really tough day and only 4 bass I lost a nice 3 or 4lb bass at the boat 
vmabuck reply :
I had a bruiser give me two chances tonight on the frog, missed em both. Well, first crash he missed it and second shot I got too excited, set too fast, and just scared him real good. I know where he is though. I will give him a couple days to forget LOL!
masterbass reply :
I was in my kayak in some heavy lily pads frogging. I heard that distinctive gulp of a very large fish engulfing the frog and almost immediately the fish starts pulling my yak so I set the hooks. This fish pulls me about 15 feet and as I reel in I see him right next to me, but I also had a bunch of lily pads wrapped around my line. I go to land the bass and my heart is pounding because 2 days before I caught my pb (25" fish) in the same area and it looked like this one was close to the same size. Then all of a sudden I realize the all I have is lilies and the fish is long gone. Mentally I was so let down that I had trouble concentrating the rest of the day because I knew it was a good one that got away.
visagelaid reply :
I was fishing a Senko on 20# braid. Something hammered it on the initial fall. I set the mess out of the hook and my line snapped. There was a huge swirl, but I couldnt tell what it was. I think it may have been a turtle. It was either that, or a state record bass to be able to break 20# braid. Either way, I was pretty upset about not knowing what it was.
Felix77 reply :
I had one come off within a rod length of my kayak earlier in the season ... Fishing a swimbait she took it hard. I fought her for a while and she finally surrendered (or so I thought). She was sideways coming towards me. I kept a tight line on her most of the way. I inadvertently put a little slack in the line right at the yak and as soon as I did she slapped the water with her tail, one last lunge and was gone.
I would hate to guess the weight but all I know is she was big and fat. 
Raul reply :
Fish that got away don't count and I don't bother to remember when and how they got away, ask me abouth when, where, how and with what I caught my first bass ever, or my first 10 lber or my PB and you'll get even the most insignificant detail.
scaleface reply :
I lost seven lbers on back to back cast . I was fishing a topwater and just got to excited and tried to horse them in.
gardnerjigman reply :
Topwaters will break your heart more often than not. The ratio on hookups/landing is terrible. You can tweak certain things to improve your ratio, but it's still gonna happen. Buddy and I fished a tournament last week that was like that. Fish were buried in that nasty stuff. The 1-2lbers would destroy that frog and never miss. We had 4-5 big blow ups (big for that lake, guessing maybe 3-4lbs) that never even touched the frog.
I've come to the conclusion frog fisherman have the equivalent of battered woman's syndrome... Sometimes the kick our butt, but we just keep coming back for more! 
Nice_Bass reply :
2 weeks ago I set the hook fishing a slammer about 10 feet from the boat. I thought the fish engulfed it as I could see mouth opening and it and was easily the biggest fish I have ever seen personally out on the water. Most likely only in the 8 range, of course I will never know. it turned at the last second and I still don't know if I dragged it away or if it really did just turn away at the last second. I thought for sure I would feel weight leaning on it and it was a terrible feeling when I did not.
Wish I knew if I should have kept it steady, killed it and turned it, or if it was just not going to eat either way. went back in the general area for 4 days in a row and never caught another glimpse.
Jaderose reply :
On 6/19/2015 at 11:06 PM, gardnerjigman said:Topwaters will break your heart more often than not. The ratio on hookups/landing is terrible. You can tweak certain things to improve your ratio, but it's still gonna happen. Buddy and I fished a tournament last week that was like that. Fish were buried in that nasty stuff. The 1-2lbers would destroy that frog and never miss. We had 4-5 big blow ups (big for that lake, guessing maybe 3-4lbs) that never even touched the frog.
I've come to the conclusion frog fisherman have the equivalent of battered woman's syndrome... Sometimes the kick our butt, but we just keep coming back for more!
It's a sickness and I got it bad
*Hank reply :
I had A really slow day on saturday and landed A 1lb smallie and lost A 3.5-4lb lmb.
the reel ess reply :
I've been fortunate. I lost a lot of bigger ones when I was young because my tackle was inferior. My dad didn't believe in spending real money on fishing. But most of my biggest hookups I landed. I'm still looking for the monster wall hanger though. I won't keep it for a trophy though. Just a pic and to weigh it.
MrE1979 reply :
Drag SCREAMING faster than I could get line in. My buddy in my boat saying Oh my god man listen to the drag. Fought her for 5 minutes before all of the sudden NOTHING. Reeled the lure in empty. It was either the local beaver hooked in the tail or a MONSTAH bass. Wish I knew.
Lunker Addict reply :
My dad and I were at a lake about 45 minuites when I got snagged on the bottom. When I tried to free the snag it started swimming away. Don't know what it was but it was huge, probably a catfish or carp. Wish I would have been able to at least fight it for a while before it broke me off.
HoosierHawgs reply :
Get a picture and measurements and make a replica!On 6/20/2015 at 10:35 AM, the reel ess said:I've been fortunate. I lost a lot of bigger ones when I was young because my tackle was inferior. My dad didn't believe in spending real money on fishing. But most of my biggest hookups I landed. I'm still looking for the monster wall hanger though. I won't keep it for a trophy though. Just a pic and to weigh it.
hawkoath reply :
Ufff. Another "one that got away" story that just happened yesterday. I was fishing for trout that had just heavily stocked in a lake that I've been fishing at and that I've never heard of bass being there. So I used two poles, one with floating powerbait with a 4 foot long leader carolina rigged fishing from a little nook in the woods. The other setup used a 1/2 oz kastmaster as a search lure. I cast out my powerbait and just let it sit for a while and start flinging out kastmaster seeing if I can get some hits. After a while I go back to my powerbait rod and reel it in. It's snagged in some weeds, I tug it out. It get stuck again, and I do the same but this time around bang... something hits it. I start reeling it in and feel like I have a small stocker on the line. Then it starts fighting and going in extreme angles which these trout don't usually do. I finally get it in and pull in a 2.5lb SMB. Nice. I rerig my powerbait and throw it a little right of where it was before and go back to the kastmaster. Second cast after I hook into what I think is a small stocker without much fight. It bring it and see it's a 12 inch LMB. Nice. After a while I then go back to the powerbait rig. Dang it, it's in the weeds again and I have to tug it out and it get stuck again. Second tug and bang... This time though whatever I've caught is big and it's taking the line everywhere. Remember, I'm using a light trout setup so the drag is going nuts and I've casted the thing about 63 yards and let it sit on the bottom. I get it to about 25 yards away and the thing starts leaping out of the air and showing me how acrobatic it is. I now see the fish and it's twice as large as the first bass and really good fighter. I finally manage to get the first to within a feet of shore and flipping distance and it peels off again into the brush to my left and I am fighting not to let the fish get stuck into the branches 3 feet away from shore and suddenly I don't feel the fight anymore... I take a look and my powerbait is caught up in the some other line. Uggg... I lean over and get my hook untangled and I see the fish again right underneath the branches not moving seemingly totally tangled up. So I put my rod down and lean down to see if I can maybe just take some of the cover off and grab it... I come within an inch of it and its gone. A nice fight but ultimately the fish went back to where it belongs 
BucketMouth15 reply :
A while ago I was pike fishing in a canoe with my dad and we were carving our way though rocky outcrops and cliffs. I was just messing around throwing a spinnerbait about 20 feet from the canoe and letting it work its way down the banks. As I was pulling it in, I got a sudden strike from about right under the boat the broke my pole because my drag wasn't set right. I will be back for you this summer!
HoosierHawgs reply :
Lost one this morning on a squarebill crankbait. I ripped it out of some grass, had a vicious reaction strike. Was struggling to keep the fish down but ultimately he was too much. He breached the water, brought some slack in my line, and threw the hook. At least a 4lb fish
Jd_Phillips_Fishin reply :
My grandpa has a friend that's got a gin clear pond that has produced several big fish in the past. So we went over there and I had caught 4 or 5 2lbers on a shaky head. Out of no where a big 5 or 6lb. LMB swims close to the bank (maybe 20 ft. or so). So after 30 minutes of shaking the finesse worm in front of its face he finally eats it. After what seems like an eternity of fighting the big fish on light tackle, I finally get him close to the bank and when I reach town to lip him, he spits the hook. I don't what I did wrong, I kept the line tight when I reached down to get him. I've lipped fish before and I believe this is one of the only ones that has came undone when I was trying to lip him.
the reel ess reply :
How many of you feel you lost one because you tried to lip it but still won't use a net out of principle? 
HoosierHawgs reply :
None....On 6/21/2015 at 8:44 PM, the reel ess said:How many of you feel you lost one because you tried to lip it but still won't use a net out of principle?
Montanaro reply :
Ripped a crank out of a 7 or 8 pounder trying to get her to the net....
Flippin4Biggins reply :
I had a nice atlwast 5lb plus fish run with my jog and I started pulling her through the weeds and she dove down and I felt the line go slack and I had all weeds. I thought for sure when she jumped and I got her back down I had her but no....
Canyon explorer reply :
My worst miss was in a BASS Federation tournament at Truman Lake , Mo. where when I weighed in I came in second place and was.006 lbs. behind the winner. When I got home and flushed out my live wells I found two large craw fish that would more than cover the.006 #'s. made me a loser and cost me about $400.
BIGDFISHERMAN reply :
Fishing a booyah poppin pad crasher today on and around grass mats when I made a cast to the outside edge, frog hit the water and I let it settle and BOOM, huge blowup on it, let it take it reeled my slack, felt the weight of the fish, set the hook hard and started cranking in, made it to the inside edge and the fish spit the hook. There were several kids watching that were interested in how I was fishing and I would have loved to show them what blew up on my lure.
Grizzn N Bassin reply :
On 6/19/2015 at 10:02 PM, scaleface said:I lost seven lbers on back to back cast . I was fishing a topwater and just got to excited and tried to horse them in.
Had the same thing happen but she only bite once, in one of higher percentage spots . i was fishing all year for this one fish. This was last year. So i threw out my ms slammer let it sit for about 2 mins as soon as i twitched it BAM! brought her in a little then she stared pulling drag i tightened it up and started getting her in closer. She made one more hard pull and then nothing pulled right off the hooks. It was my fault tried to horse her in with my 8 foot swimbait rod and 30 # big game. NEVER AGAIN
Montanaro reply :
On 6/23/2015 at 10:11 PM, Canyon explorer said:My worst miss was in a BASS Federation tournament at Truman Lake , Mo. where when I weighed in I came in second place and was.006 lbs. behind the winner. When I got home and flushed out my live wells I found two large craw fish that would more than cover the.006 #'s. made me a loser and cost me about $400.
Gutted
gulfcaptain reply :
I can't say how big the fish was I missed this last Monday fishing, but I do know it was a nice one. I had already gotten 2 nice fish, one that was somewhere in the 4.5lb range (that's the last number I saw on the scale before she decided it was time to go). Pitched my bait into a weedbed and noticed the line pick up and start moving. Awesome, love it when they eat it on the drop. Clicked my reel in gear and the line came tight, set the hook, felt solid and then gone. Did I break her off, nope. Brought my punch weight and skirt in, no structure bug and a bent out 4/0 Gamma Flipping hook with 2 scales attached. That was a first. All I can say was it felt solid, and much heavier then either of the 2 fish earlier that day or the 3 from the day before which also included one over 4.5lbs. Maybe it was a faulty hook, but still makes me wonder how big she was to bend out that flipping hook.
visagelaid reply :
If it wasnt a faulty hook, I would imagine it would have to be a monster to bend out a hook.
visagelaid reply :
If it wasnt faulty, you would imagine the line would give out before the hook.
NathanW reply :
Was short lined by last year my a small mouth that nearly jumped out of the water to grab my crankbait as I was pulling it up out of the water. This fish was a giant and I was helpless trying to land it. Never had a chance regardless of how good it was hooked. I catch a lot of big smallmouth in the 4.5lbs range but this thing had to be a 7 maybe an 8. I have never seen a smallmouth this big in my life. It haunts me all the time knowing that I never got this thing on my scale. Maybe a new PB but maybe it just looked huge.
NathanW reply :
On 6/21/2015 at 8:44 PM, the reel ess said:How many of you feel you lost one because you tried to lip it but still won't use a net out of principle?
haha, yeah. I lost one memorable one trying to handland but way too many boat flipping. I only get out the net when I have friend out that doesn't fish a lot, a fish means a lot more to them and their day than it does to mine. I lost a 4lbs LM boat flipping where I over flipped right back into the water on the other side of the boat, that one actually got me sick to my stomach as I had to work so hard to figure out the largemouth bite that day.
1bad281 reply :
I can't say it was heartbreak for me but a guy I work with took me fishing and it was my first time ever. I caught my first bass ever during this trip. So it was getting late so I made the bet the next person to catch a bass has to buy the first beer at this restaurant. My buddy hooked this bass and as he was lifting it into the boat it came off the hook. I then caught the next fish and won the bet
d-camarena reply :
Today i caught a 4 pounder on a zoom lizard. I had it in my kayak when the fish made its last attempt to unhook itself and my snap swivel broke. I lost the fish with the hook in its mouth
Darren. reply :
For me, the worst miss was what I assumed
to be a new PB at around 8+ pounds. I thought
I had that sucker buttoned up, but as I brought
it close to the yak, I had my youngest son hold
out the net to get her secured.
As he held it and as I pulled the fish toward the
net, she promptly puckered her lips and spit the
hook back at us and did a tail dance before she
dove back down to the depths.
At least we got to see her. Wish I coulda weighed
her, but c'est la vie!
everythingthatswims reply :
This morning I was throwing a deep crank on a point in about 15 FOW, bait stopped, I made the textbook sweep set, line took off to the side and the hooks pulled within seconds. I'm telling myself that I just hit a big carp in the side of the head with the crankbait.
CrazyFluker reply :
Last weekend, I was fishing alone, had been a slow day with 3 in the boat, when the sun popped out. Getting over a cold I decided to head in but saw this sweet tree in the water on the edge of the lake. I got my boat up close, dropped a chatter bait down and started jigging it. I brought it up to drop over a branch and a huge bass came up from the depth following the bait and just started to open her mouth. I'd bet at least 7lbs. She saw me and went over the branch and out of site. I dropped it and a super fluke all through the tree for another hour without ever getting a nibble. I'm going back this weekend to see if I can get her on the boat and this time I will have my tackle box where last time I just brought a handful of stuff. I could've cried lol.
masterbass reply :
I had another heart breaker yesterday. I was bank fishing in this little pond catching little 1-2 lbers. I cast senko to a patch of weed in the middle of the pond and all of a sudden my line starts moving quickly so I set the hook and I know it's a good one because the rod bends into the back bone and stays there. I reel the fish in with a mouthful of weeds and get a good look at her. She's a beautiful 5 lber. I'm getting excited to get a great picture. I get her to me and reach down pull the weeds off her face and she's a real pig for this size of pond. Then she pops off the hook and swims away. All I wanted was told lip her and take a picture!
Rob96 reply :
Not a bass but this sunk my heart. I was wading in a river and I hooked into a Rainbow Trout that was around 9lbs. On my ultralight. After fighting and playing him I got him all the way in and as I was bringing the net around he raised his head out of the water and shook the hook.
Lunker Addict reply :
I had another one yesterday. I was fishing at a local lake and landed a 5 #er and the next cast I cast in the same spot and get nailed. I get it to dock and as I set my rod down he jumps and spits the hook. He was probably in the 6# range, which would have been the largest I have caught to date. It is now my mission to get that dang fish by the end of the year.
FishinCop646 reply :
About a month ago I had a tournament on Mosquito Lake. My morning started of slow and my co-angler was ripping lips. I was absolutely miserable in the pouring rain. Anyway, I went to swing a small one in to the boat and it came off while swinging. Needless to say it was lesson learned, no more swinging fish. 2 weeks ago I had a 3+ on the line while fishing alone. I went for the net, the fish jumped, and out came the hook. By far my worst lost fish of the year. Luckily I had a great night and still took the win by a few ounces. That fish definitely would have helped though. Still torn on boat flipping or netting...
d-camarena reply :
Same thing happened to me, lost a couple trying to get the net. I now flip and have not lost one. Yet
papajoe222 reply :
On 6/19/2015 at 11:06 PM, gardnerjigman said:I've come to the conclusion frog fisherman have the equivalent of battered woman's syndrome... Sometimes the kick our butt, but we just keep coming back for more!
Kind of like Cubs fans. Sorry, that just sounded so familiar.
My heart breaker wasn't a miss, but a fish I actually landed that was disqualified because I didn't know all the rules. Heart breaking only because she would have won me both big fish and the tourney.
zeth reply :
- Out on the Delta not too long ago in a tournament. It was a long two days. Had a decent boater day 1 and day 2 not so much. Day two was a grind. We were in some areas that were definitely holding fish but my boaters reluctancy to slow down and work over an area properly definitely cost us some good fish and some other things. Anyways so I'm just going with the flow getting frustrated because it is a combined weight tournament (not a team tournament). Last 45 minutes or so the tide is just right and I start catching them on every cast over one stretch. Nothing that would cull however. Then my donkey rig snags up in the weeds and I'm shaking it to get out with the rig hanging off in a pocket. A monster way over 10 inhales the bait jumps out of the water and as I watch my bait go flying back at my face as I was pulling to get it free at the moment it jumped. All happened so fast. That single fish would have put me in the top three if not first.
Couple days later I'm out on a local electric reservoir that is fished heavily and sadly has a good amount of people going out and keeping what they catch. Still however the bass seem to be smart and grow big on the regular trout stockings and avoid lures rather well. So here I am out throwing a Huddleston 69 Special creepin it in over some weeds in about 10-15' of water. I'm getting near the boat and the bait is coming up. Bam! out of nowhere a dolphin of a bas way way way over 10 (this reservoir has many and you can see them everywhere with the water being so clear but catching is another story as 6.05 is my best on the reservoir) comes and smashed the Huddleston but grabs only the tail and heads straight at the boat. My hookset rips it out of its mouth right in front of my very eyes.
I'm back on the Delta a couple days after the above incident and having a rough day overall. I mean I'm catching huge stripers, and small bass all day. So eventually I'm like yo lets fish this area (undisclosed for a good reason.) I'm throwing a spinnerbait along some pilings in like 35' of water. I just knew there was a pig down there. I made maybe 50 casts to the exact same spot paralleling the columns. Line get mushy and all day I've been fishing shallow in slop so in my head I'm like oh weeds so I just keep reeling in rather then setting hook (STUPID!!!) and right up to the boat another 10+ as my lure swims freely out of it's mouth.
10 minutes later on the opposite bank on the same bait my rod instantly bends over like nothing I've ever seen and my bait just comes to a dead stop. I swing for it and it's there fora few seconds and it's big. Then SNAP goes the 15lb. test fluorocarbon. Not at the knot but maybe 15' up from the lure.
Hasn't happened yet. Went to Clear Lake caught dinks up to 4 lbs. Nothing to write home about. Haven't been out in two weeks now.
CDMeyer reply :
I was throwing a swim jig on a creek bank and casted to some pads one nailed it. I thought it was small till it headed towards the stems..... Once I got it free it flew up in the air cause I had my rod tip up in the air to get it out if the pads.... It came out in open water and jumped at spit the hook. It was a biggin that runs through my head now at night. This was this Wensday in a tourney..... It all worked out though I did end up winning
BooyahMan reply :
Not me, but my girlfriend has been trying desperately to catch her first frog fish this year. For some reason she either goes with me when they're not biting topwaters or she misses them when they do strike as up until recently she hadn't figured out how to set the hook when using frogs.
During the last trip she came with me she had 6 blow ups and hooked 3. The first two came off pretty fast but the third one was a little more memorable. I didn't hear or see the blow up but I was looking at her when she suddenly set the hook, and her rod starting pumping with furious head shakes. I looked to where her line was and saw a huge splash and then a big tail disappear under the canopy of lilies. Maybe it was the heat of the moment but it looked like a solid 4lb+ fish, though I definitely could be wrong about that. Regardless, it was a bigger than average fish for this lake. I scrambled over to help her land it, but when I got to where she was standing the line suddenly went super tight and wouldn't budge. Being shore-bound, she put her faith in the 65lb braid that was loaded up on her reel and pulled the rod straight, in the hopes of just dragging up whatever it was stuck on. The line came untangled from the snag eventually, but the hook also came unhooked from the fish.
I feel terrible as this would have definitely been a PB for her. She's been trying so hard with the frogs and I almost feel bad the times I go out alone and have luck. I'm hoping she'll strike some better luck next week when she tags along again.
Kevin Beachy reply :
Was fishing a pond yesterday, and was bringing my mattlures boot tail bluegill right by a "floating branch" and just when It got to the edge I felt a thump and saw a HUGE swirl, but it must have just grabbed the tail because I didn't get it;)
probably was 10+
~Kevin
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