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

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/images/20040809-Newton/TOTGA-Depiction.jpg

Christopher

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