Biggest fish caught using your lightest rod, reel, and line setup

[outrider58]

I WILL catch a tarpon one day. That is my mission. Nice fish!

Here's a couple of mine: 20lb test line on a surf rod:

several this size and a little bigger

This guy took a loooong time to come in

Hooked in to a bigger one that same day. Here he is on a run while I hold on. Eventually i had to just pull to either drag him off the bottom or break off...I ended up breaking off, and landing on my ass.

Nice! What kind of ray was that?

 

[gtodave]

Nice! What kind of ray was that?

Smooth butterfly ray I believe

 

[outrider58]

40# king salmon on an 8wt fly rod. I can't recall the specific tippet size I was using. Nothing over 20# test. I'll have to check my vest to see what my heaviest tippet test is later.
I fought the fish for 45 minutes from the bank, then she turned downstream and hauled azz, dumping my reel deep into the backing. We jumped into the jet boat to try and stay with her. On her run downstream, the fish ran through another school of kings, tail-wrapping a 25# king in my fly line, so now I had almost 70# of fish on my now very taxed 8wt rod. I eventually caught up the the smaller fish and unwrapped it from my line. Finally the 40# hen king taking us about a mile down river, swam head first in a giant log jam in the middle of the river. The guide slammed the boat into the jam and jumped into the river, over his chest waders. He nearly disappeared under water as he reached into the snag and pulled the fish out, slamming it onto the front deck, one handed(the guides nickname was Yogie the bear. He was a big fella).
My arms were so gassed from the fight, I could barely hold her up!

Heres "Yogie" holding the big girl before releasing her to continue her spawning run.

 

[remrug]

Fishing for flounder and croaker in the Pocomoke Sound I hooked up with a ray. I was using medium weight UglyStik ,basic Shimano spinning reel with #12 lb mono. Took 45 mins but got it in the boat. We estimated it to be around 40 lbs.

When cicadas are here, we catch tons of carp. Using ultralight gear and #4 lb test mono,we have boated some up to 15 pounds or so,we never weighed any so some could have been heavier. Tons of fun tho

 

[Derwood]

Mid 1990's -- ~5 acre farm pond at my grandparent's house in Georgia. I was 9 years old and fishing alone. I caught 3 bream that I planned to eat later. It was hot and I didn't have a cooler, so I put them on a stringer and set them in the water to try to keep them fresh. I stuck a stick in the mud along the bank and tied the stringer to the stick. About 30 minutes later, the stringer and stick suddenly got pulled into the pond and I watched helplessly as it got pulled to the middle of the water and then down beneath the surface. I figured the fish were gone. A few minutes later, I saw some splashing on the far side of the pond around a tree that had fallen into the water. I walked around the bank to investigate and saw the red line of my stringer hung up on a branch of the fallen tree. I walked down the trunk of the tree, jumped in the water, and managed to grab a large mouth bass by hand, detangle the stringer from the tree, and swim it back to shore. It measured 29" and remains the biggest largemouth I've ever caught. I didn't have a scale to weigh it but I still have the picture of it laying next to a ruler. My grandfather had last stocked that pond in 1979 and neither he nor anyone else fished it much after that.

I suppose you could say nylon stringer line is pretty heavy gauge tackle...but since I ended up grabbing it bare handed at age 9...I'm counting that as my best catch on light tackle! And yes, I was able to pull the stringer back in too so I didn't lose the other 3 fish! We pulled the one fish he'd eaten out of its stomach and it was still good to go.

 

[gtodave]

40# king salmon on an 8wt fly rod. I can't recall the specific tippet size I was using. Nothing over 20# test. I'll have to check my vest to see what my heaviest tippet test is later.
I fought the fish for 45 minutes from the bank, then she turned downstream and hauled azz, dumping my reel deep into the backing. We jumped into the jet boat to try and stay with her. On her run downstream, the fish ran through another school of kings, tail-wrapping a 25# king in my fly line, so now I had almost 70# of fish on my now very taxed 8wt rod. I eventually caught up the the smaller fish and unwrapped it from my line. Finally the 40# hen king taking us about a mile down river, swam head first in a giant log jam in the middle of the river. The guide slammed the boat into the jam and jumped into the river, over his chest waders. He nearly disappeared under water as he reached into the snag and pulled the fish out, slamming it onto the front deck, one handed(the guides nickname was Yogie the bear. He was a big fella).
My arms were so gassed from the fight, I could barely hold her up!

View attachment 428949
Heres "Yogie" holding the big girl before releasing her to continue her spawning run.

View attachment 428950

Awesome fish and story!

 

[gtodave]

Mid 1990's -- ~5 acre farm pond at my grandparent's house in Georgia. I was 9 years old and fishing alone. I caught 3 bream that I planned to eat later. It was hot and I didn't have a cooler, so I put them on a stringer and set them in the water to try to keep them fresh. I stuck a stick in the mud along the bank and tied the stringer to the stick. About 30 minutes later, the stringer and stick suddenly got pulled into the pond and I watched helplessly as it got pulled to the middle of the water and then down beneath the surface. I figured the fish were gone. A few minutes later, I saw some splashing on the far side of the pond around a tree that had fallen into the water. I walked around the bank to investigate and saw the red line of my stringer hung up on a branch of the fallen tree. I walked down the trunk of the tree, jumped in the water, and managed to grab a large mouth bass by hand, detangle the stringer from the tree, and swim it back to shore. It measured 29" and remains the biggest largemouth I've ever caught. I didn't have a scale to weigh it but I still have the picture of it laying next to a ruler. My grandfather had last stocked that pond in 1979 and neither he nor anyone else fished it much after that.

I suppose you could say nylon stringer line is pretty heavy gauge tackle...but since I ended up grabbing it bare handed at age 9...I'm counting that as my best catch on light tackle! And yes, I was able to pull the stringer back in too so I didn't lose the other 3 fish! We pulled the one fish he'd eaten out of its stomach and it was still good to go.

That's a HUGE fish. GA (and world) record is 22lbs, and was 32" long.

George Perry's world record bass - Bassmaster

Four score plus one is a long time if you're talking years. That's how long George Perry has held fishing's most important record.

www.bassmaster.com

 

[Russ D]

42#s caught on a 6ft medium action bass rod with 10# Fireline and a 10# flouro leader. 88# black drum on 12# mono. Tarpon was 10# flouro .

 

[rbird7282]

Two 100+ pound Tarpon caught on 30# IGFA leaders. One with spining tackle and one on a 12wt fly rod.
Both landed and released.

The one on spinning tackle(pictured) took 1.5 hours to land. It being my first Tarpon, back then, it was customary to pull it aboard for a trophy pic.

My fly caught fish was a two hour fight the same day.
View attachment 428935

Damn, that's a hell of a day fishing!

 

[tdt91]

Mid 1990's -- ~5 acre farm pond at my grandparent's house in Georgia. I was 9 years old and fishing alone. I caught 3 bream that I planned to eat later. It was hot and I didn't have a cooler, so I put them on a stringer and set them in the water to try to keep them fresh. I stuck a stick in the mud along the bank and tied the stringer to the stick. About 30 minutes later, the stringer and stick suddenly got pulled into the pond and I watched helplessly as it got pulled to the middle of the water and then down beneath the surface. I figured the fish were gone. A few minutes later, I saw some splashing on the far side of the pond around a tree that had fallen into the water. I walked around the bank to investigate and saw the red line of my stringer hung up on a branch of the fallen tree. I walked down the trunk of the tree, jumped in the water, and managed to grab a large mouth bass by hand, detangle the stringer from the tree, and swim it back to shore. It measured 29" and remains the biggest largemouth I've ever caught. I didn't have a scale to weigh it but I still have the picture of it laying next to a ruler. My grandfather had last stocked that pond in 1979 and neither he nor anyone else fished it much after that.

I suppose you could say nylon stringer line is pretty heavy gauge tackle...but since I ended up grabbing it bare handed at age 9...I'm counting that as my best catch on light tackle! And yes, I was able to pull the stringer back in too so I didn't lose the other 3 fish! We pulled the one fish he'd eaten out of its stomach and it was still good to go.

29'' LMB is a giant, in the high teens weight wise i bet

 

[Baldheaded]

I am impressed with all these nice fish you guys have caught. We have some serious fishermen here. I will share a story of a friend from my old fishing club who is now passed. We would go out to Deep Creek lake every October. It was a group of about 15 from the club as an end of year trip. We would rent a big water front house on the lake. One year me and my buddy were fishing a cove and about 100 yards away was 2 other guys from the club in their boat fishing. We wanted to see how they were doing so I started trolling over to them and I saw Tony fall out of the boat. He was a big guy and he hooked a fish and when he leaned back to set the hook the seat broke and he flipped out of the boat dropping the rod in the process. The other guy Frank reached over and grabbed him and pulled him back into the boat. Frank then grabbed his rod and cast his lure back into the water and as he reeled it back in snagged the line from the rod Tony has lost. Tony grabbed the line and pulled it back in until he got to the rod. Once he had the rod he noticed something still pulling and realized the fish was still hooked. He was able to reel the fish in and they got it into the boat just a me and my buddy got there. As he told the story we were in disbelief. He reach down in the boat and held up the fish. It was a Northern Pike. It measured just over 50". He released it back into the water to fight another day. The state record was smaller than that fish. To bad it wasn't official but it was one hell of a story and I was there to see it. Below is my biggest Northern Pike from Deep Creek Lake. I think it was from 2007.

 

[-Mil-Surp-Phreak-]

Back in 2010 had the itch real bad to go fishing.....in the snow......on a half frozen pond. Was rewarded with a 2.5-3lb Largemouth on 4lb test on the small spinning rod on crappie jighead and crappie colored swimshad bait.

 

[outrider58]

I am impressed with all these nice fish you guys have caught. We have some serious fishermen here. I will share a story of a friend from my old fishing club who is now passed. We would go out to Deep Creek lake every October. It was a group of about 15 from the club as an end of year trip. We would rent a big water front house on the lake. One year me and my buddy were fishing a cove and about 100 yards away was 2 other guys from the club in their boat fishing. We wanted to see how they were doing so I started trolling over to them and I saw Tony fall out of the boat. He was a big guy and he hooked a fish and when he leaned back to set the hook the seat broke and he flipped out of the boat dropping the rod in the process. The other guy Frank reached over and grabbed him and pulled him back into the boat. Frank then grabbed his rod and cast his lure back into the water and as he reeled it back in snagged the line from the rod Tony has lost. Tony grabbed the line and pulled it back in until he got to the rod. Once he had the rod he noticed something still pulling and realized the fish was still hooked. He was able to reel the fish in and they got it into the boat just a me and my buddy got there. As he told the story we were in disbelief. He reach down in the boat and held up the fish. It was a Northern Pike. It measured just over 50". He released it back into the water to fight another day. The state record was smaller than that fish. To bad it wasn't official but it was one hell of a story and I was there to see it. Below is my biggest Northern Pike from Deep Creek Lake. I think it was from 2007. View attachment 429152

Wow!