[BryanK]

What is your favorite species of fish to catch?
Largemouth bass
Favorite bait/lure for favorite species?
Shiners- either large or medium
What was the largest fish ever caught?
46" rockfish
Any "fish tales" or "hard to believe" stories?
It was 1:00p.m. on a sunny July afternoon. My stepfather, stepbrother, stepsister and I were fishing a local pond no bigger than an acre. We had only caught a few 2-4 pound largemouth bass up until then. We were short on bait, and my stepbrothers reel had crapped itself. My stepdad threw it on the shoreline around I'd say 11:45 or so with the worm still on the hook, and the line out about 2 feet from the shore. At approx. 1:00 the disabled tackle skyrocketed away from the shore with a vengance. My stepdad lunged just in time to grab the rod. The line snapped, but it broke above the bobber which had about a 3 foot leader (don't ask me why). He said it felt like a monster. We watched as the unknown critter swam around the pond before settling all the way across at the 12 'o clock position. We threw all we had at it. Down to the last 2 shiners, I affixed them to the hook and gave it one last shot. I saw the beasts bobber go down, then mine. I was reeling it in and remember saying "she ain't that big". Apparently she was swimming towards us. Her head broke the water, and my stepdad dove in the mucky pond to grab her. He flung her on the shore, and we gasped. We had no camera, no tape, and no scale. We put her in a 5 gallon bucket, but only half of her fit. We had to hug the beast in order to stabilize it. My stepdad decided to let the fish go so we may have another shot next time (he's a big catch and release guy). feeling the weight of her, she had to be at least 12-13lbs, breaking the current MD state record at the time, but I was only 12, and I figured he knew best. Hind sight is 20/20 when your staring at the ass-end of a winning horse. Hard to believe it, but it happened.

I didn't see any threads for this subject in any of my searches. If I am mistaken, please remove.