I sometimes think of TGO's jaw-dropping (Was it 25" 26" 27"?) bass where he had no camera. Then someone just told of a 50-inchish pike that flopped into the water before a pic could be taken. So, what's your best fish with no pic and why didn't you take a pic?

Mine would be a musky I caught off the end of the island where I was camped. I was shore fishing and managed to one third land it, getting about a third of its length on the sloped rock. It was amazingly calm for me, so I unhooked it and eased it back into the water. My camera was back down the shoreline in my canoe by my tent. I didn't want to risk hurting the fish by keeping it out of the water for all the time it would take to work my way down the shoreline. I've caught measured 46" and 47" muskies. This was longer. I've seen four 50" plus fish. It wasn't that long. I made the right call. I'm sure she had many, many children.

I have 3 The first two were Northern Pike in Jackfish bay Basswood Lake in the same day back in the early nineties . They were huge 25 pounds easy and I had no camera, I wish I would have got a photo of them. The other one was a giant smallmouth I lost on the Mississippi River. I lost this fish twice in the same season it had a very distinctive mark and it was gigantic. I have caught a 6 pound smallmouth bass twice and this fish could have swallowed them .

5 pound 8 ounce golden trout outta elbow lake in the wind river mountain range. Broke many world records that day not knowing it.

Mine was a giant sauger on the saint croix river. Had it in the rubber net hanging over the gunnel of my boat getting ready to pull her out for measurement and picture when a cruiser rolled by with a big wake which rocked my little boat and turned my net into a trampoline. Goodbye sauger.

Mine is probably when I was forced to go on my first solo trip because someone backed out on me the day we were to leave for Quetico. It was either stay home or go alone, so I went alone. Just so happened that 9/11/2001 happened on my third day out in the woods. That is also the day I caught a big pike and had no one there to take my picture. I had a couple of disposable cameras, but the one I had with me was full and didn't have any more pictures left on the roll. Wish they had digital cameras back then with timers. So here is a clip from my journal on the day the world was changed forever and I had no idea until 9/15/2001.

I needed a break after this much fun, so I paddled over to a point on the island. I figured while I was there, I might as well make a few casts with the Lucky 13. On the second cast, I popped the lure almost to shore. About three feet from shore, I see this log swim right up and grab my bait, it's a huge pike. I let it swim about a foot and set the hook. It makes a few good runs, but since I hooked it so close to shore I had plenty of leverage on it and it was easy to tire. Then I pulled it along the shore to a level spot down by my canoe and landed the fish. I held it behind the head, while I grabbed the measuring tape out of my tackle box. I laid the end of the tape by it's tail, and brought the rest forward, it said 42 inches. I said wow, it can't be that long, so I looked back to the end to make sure it was at the tail and I had actually pulled the tape up an extra inch. The fish ended up measuring 43 inches. The worst part about it, is that I was out of film. I had just taken my last picture of a smallmouth. There's no way I could have paddled back to my camp and got my other disposable camera and have that fish live. So I just revived the fish in the water and watched the log swim off. That was the longest pike I had ever caught before. It was 2 and a half inches longer than the one I caught in the Spring, up by Kawnipi. I don't think this one weighed as much though, the Spring time fish had more girth.

Last summer on Lac Seoul, my 12 yo son hauled in a northern that was a shade over 40”. I was holding the net over the side and trying find my camera when...plop, out of the net. We did get a picture of his 28” walleye a half hour earlier though.

not my fish but my friends , ice fishing , he had a monster sucker he put it on a tip up and pulled out a bunch of line because it would trip the flag all day , i figured this musky scooped him up off the bottom (something to think about) but i had caught a 44" musky that was #23 this thing was 40" and hit the digital at #30 crazy fat fish , no camera :(

My best fish was not a large one. It was a trout on the Battenkill in Vermont. What made it soo memorable was that it was rising on the opposite side of a large rock from my location and I could not see the rise. I could hear the noise it made when it rose, and then I could see the rings from the rise as they floated on down into my line of sight. I cast a fly over the rock with part of the leader still on the rock and when I heard the next rise I set the hook and the fish was on. It swam downstream where I could play it and land it (and release it). It was only about a 13 or 14" brown trout, but for me it was a remarkable feat. That was nearly 40 years ago now.

There is was fishing out in front of our cabin in Minnesota. I grew up on the lake and had fished it a thousand times. I was catching the usual 2-3 pound hammer handle Pike when all of a sudden my rod bent big time. I hogged it in and had a 46” Muskie in a death grip on my 3 pound Pike. Good thing I still had 30 pound Suffix line on my reel from a Canadian trip I had just took. I looked it up and figured it was about 25 lbs with a 3 pounder in his mouth. No camera because I was just having some fun fishing and a few cold ones. I had heard rumors of Muskies in the lake but had no idea they were true. I did take a picture of the dead Pike at home. If you look you will see 5 1/2” bite radius two different times.

That is a cool story!

I am not sure this qualifies as it wasn't an official catch. Back in 1983 I was on a trip in the BWCA with my dad and a buddy of mine. We crossed a very deep small lake to get firewood in the early evening hours. We loaded up the middle of the canoe with a couple thicker braches to cut up back at camp. I flipped out a deep diving crank bait to troll on the way back. We were cruising at a hard clip just because we were hungry and just wanted to get chores done quickly when the rod doubled over and line starts stripping off the reel. I pick up the rod and feel no fish just dead weight. No head shake not even a little push from a swimming fish. The line is coming off the reel very slowly as the wind pushes us away from line. I am thinking snag all the way. I really don't want to lose this rapalla as it has been hot on walleye all trip and it is tore up a bit but also the last one left. I tighten the drag (fatal mistake) and canoe stops moving I start to reel and keep feeling for fish nothing. Then the wind starts moving us again and I since I tightened up the drag a bit no more line is stripping off. I said great we are snagged on a tree limb and it is coming up. I hand the rod up to my friend and tell him to keep reeling slow and try not to break it off I want that lure. I get into the middle of the canoe and on top of the firewood. Both arms over the side and down in the water as far as I can reach, chin almost to the water. As I wait I turn my head back to my friend as we talk. About the same time he says it is getting close I started thinking out loud and said, "You know, I don't know how we snagged a branch, it is way too deep for us to have been near bottom even with that much line out and going that fast". I turned back to the water to see the largest northern I have ever seen before or after that. Mouth open, gills open just being towed along. Probably wondering what had the audacity to drag him up to the surface. I am embarrassed to admit this but I screamed a garbled "Gaaa" as I launched myself up out of the water and right out the opposite side of the canoe into the water. My only saving grace was that in midflight I did yell out "Open the bail, open the bail" before I plunged in. My instructions were too late. I think I startled him as much as it startled me. In the midst of my yell and flailing he simply turned his head and dove and broke us off. (only 8 lb mono was rigged for big walleye not northern). Our best estimate was definitely +45". Magnified in the clear water and all flared open it is hard to tell but we both got a very good look at him as he turned. was able to scratch a line on the canoe paddle to throw a tape on later as a guestimate. So not really a catch but if I had been thinking more and been in less of a hurry.....who knows it could have been a once in a lifetime fish.

One evening I was fishing "Jim's Landing" on the Kenai River. Jim's Landing (IIRC) is a trophy area for rainbows. I was only catching smaller ones, 12-16 inches. I was the only one in the immediate area. But, a guy wades up to me and asked if I minded if he fished next to me, causing me to move a bit up river. He explained that he was going to make a few drifts past a boulder in the river and catch a large rainbow. I think he was more hopeful than confident. Since I was interested in watching him catch a big fish than me catching small ones I said what the heck and gave him some room. After several drifts he hooked up and the fight was on! I put my rod away and got out my camera. He walks this rainbow to the shallows and I'm taking pictures. He gets this tape measure out and measures it while I'm still taking pictures. It was just over 36" long! I had taken pictures so you could see one end of the tape at the mouth and the other end at the tail so there was no fudging. He carefully picked it up and I took several pictures of the two before he slid it back into the waters of the Kenai. I was amazed. I had never seen a rainbow that big. I went to the car to get pen and paper, got the guys name and address and told him I would send some pictures when I got the film developed. This was back in '94. Several days later, after talking more pictures, I was thinking I should be hitting the end of the roll. The picture counter said 38 pictures, I was confused. After careful examination of the camera I discovered that I didn't have any film in it! I was a little bummed for me because I had taken some nice shots. But I was hugely bummer for the guy that caught the big rainbow and would not be getting any pictures of it.
So, this isn't a story about the one that got away from me that there isn't any pictures of, but rather for someone else. But I can certainly vouch for someone that caught a 36" rainbow at Jim's Landing back in '94.

OldTripper: "One evening I was fishing "Jim's Landing" on the Kenai River. Jim's Landing (IIRC) is a trophy area for rainbows. I was only catching smaller ones, 12-16 inches. I was the only one in the immediate area. But, a guy wades up to me and asked if I minded if he fished next to me, causing me to move a bit up river. He explained that he was going to make a few drifts past a boulder in the river and catch a large rainbow. I think he was more hopeful than confident. Since I was interested in watching him catch a big fish than me catching small ones I said what the heck and gave him some room. After several drifts he hooked up and the fight was on! I put my rod away and got out my camera. He walks this rainbow to the shallows and I'm taking pictures. He gets this tape measure out and measures it while I'm still taking pictures. It was just over 36" long! I had taken pictures so you could see one end of the tape at the mouth and the other end at the tail so there was no fudging. He carefully picked it up and I took several pictures of the two before he slid it back into the waters of the Kenai. I was amazed. I had never seen a rainbow that big. I went to the car to get pen and paper, got the guys name and address and told him I would send some pictures when I got the film developed. This was back in '94. Several days later, after talking more pictures, I was thinking I should be hitting the end of the roll. The picture counter said 38 pictures, I was confused. After careful examination of the camera I discovered that I didn't have any film in it! I was a little bummed for me because I had taken some nice shots. But I was hugely bummer for the guy that caught the big rainbow and would not be getting any pictures of it.
So, this isn't a story about the one that got away from me that there isn't any pictures of, but rather for someone else. But I can certainly vouch for someone that caught a 36" rainbow at Jim's Landing back in '94."

That made me feel really bad for the guy, right up until I remembered he just called his shot on catching a 36" rainbow. I bet he is still smiling.

I was out in the middle of Wickstead Lake gett8ng water in the evening. I threw out a red eye spoon on a lark and boom thought I was snagged even though I was only fishing a few feet deep...Sara is annoyed as she just-filled up the water...didn’t blame her. But then the canoe started moving, shortly after my drag is screaming...5 or 6 runs and much canoe towing later we finally see the largest Northern Pike I have ever seen. It freaked Sara out, “that looks like an alligator”...still in the middle of the lake the fish comes up exhausted...I didn’t have a pliers, net, camera and I see the spoon is in the top of his mouth but he was so big I would have to reach a whole hand length deep into his mouth to reach the hook.

I looked at him and said, “I am going to unhook you and let you go, if you clamp down on my hand this will end badly for both of us,” on que he flares his fills and opens his mouth wide, I shakingly reach my whole hand into his mouth and the hook pops out quickly. This was August there was no ya I was paddling to shore or lifting him out of the water for a pic. Besides that his girth and weight were so high I could not of picked him up out of the water anyway without tipping the canoe. I put a tape measure on him along side the boat and got 42 inches but to be honest with the waves and my hands shaking he could have been 44 or 40 inches. I have caught many 39 inches and he seemed way bigger... I was too shook up and excited I never measured his girth but that was the most impressive thing about him.

We floated around for about 5 minutes gently keeping him next to the canoe...then he took a couple of fierce pushes of his massive tail and left for the depths again.

Sara was pregnant so we had a Satelite phone in case of emergency. I used the phone to call my brother that I finally bested his biggest fish. He told me that without a picture it did not count, but later behind my back told Sara he believed me because he knew I was too cheap to spend money on a satellite phone call for a fake story.

It would be cool to have a picture but I do not regret it for a second. I have the memory for life, I know I gave the fish the best chance for survival, and it has provided countless brother arguments on who has the biggest northern. Also when I am 80 that fish might be 48-50 inches long by then :)

T

Hooked a musky on East Pike lake on a solo in my prism. Had him by the boat, was over 36” sure, went to grab my net and the least bit of slack, cya!
True story, don’t believe it, I also saw a cougar in BW. May wonders never cease...

I hooked a low-40's pike on a solo trip and had no way to get a decent photo while still getting the fish back in the water in a reasonable amount of time. Nothing all that unusual re: the fish, but with extended arms and the right camera angle, I could've made that thing look at least 48''!!

I was pitching a little jig in the Kettle River for walleyes and hooked up with a 57" sturgeon on 6 pound line. He immediately started rolling and thrashing, and in so doing came up onto the slow-tapering ledge rock I was standing on. Then he just stopped and settled down. He was in about 3 feet of water about 50 feet away from me down this little slope, tucked right in a little current break about ten feet from whitewater. I could see him clearly, and he just sort of started drifting slowly toward that whitewater. I took off running toward him, reeling as fast as I could, got a hand on his tail, then two, and started walking backward and hauling him toward shore. He was bucking like a bronco, and I was knocked down a couple times but didn't let go. Got him measured against my rod, and let him go. Would love to have a picture, or better yet, a video of that one. Some kid did see it happen. By far the best fight of my life, fishing or not. No camera, of course.

My second one was on Lake of the Woods...this is not a catch, but a too soon release...

We were trolling lindy rigs for walleyes and really slaying them. After catching a nice 19 incher drop my worm rig down felt a little tap tap, set the hook and just a solid pull down. I announce I am snagged we start backing up as we get over the top of it I am trying to get the snag out and then there are two huge tugs, almost pulled the rod out of my hands. My younger brother saw it too and yells you have a fish on! For the next 15 minutes there is just a steady pull no real tugs and I start to doubt it is a fish, maybe just a log shifted? My Dad and middle brother are making fun of me for fight8ng a log for 15 minutes and waist8mg all of our good walleye fishing...

But my middle brother checks the GPS and says “OMG”, “what?” I ask. “We are over 200 yards away from where you first snagged—-there is no way you are snagged” if you have ever been on Lake of the woods you know it is disorienting when you are out from shore, but the whole time we thought we were in one spot, my rod was always pointed straight under the boat.

Another 15 minutes go by and then my rod starts bouncing like a fish is on but the most powerful tugs I have ever felt. Finally my Dad believes it is a fish (he didn’t trust the GPS—some resort owner told him 1999 that you should always use a map and don’t trust the GPS so that is what he will do the rest of his life—even though he thought the owner was an idiot) I finally start making some headway.

I’d gain about 10 feet pumping the fish up then it would just go back down. I am now an hour into the fight and the fish is still on the bottom. I lose my patience and tighten the drag up, I start pumping the fish up slowly gaining ground on each run. Finally an hour and 20 minutes in the fish is com8ng up my brother has the net ready, and he soon realizes the futility of the net as a sturgeon appears below the surface looks like it is 4-5 feet long. Looks at the boat and then just dives so hard and strong my drag couldn’t keep up...should of backreeled and the line just went ping!

No one said a word for about a minute...normally loosing a fish at the boat would cause immediate ridicule. I had bruising for weeks on my stomach where I was digging the pole into for leverage, my reel was completely useless, all the gears were stripped, I had 10 pound test lien and it was all stretched out and brittle from that final run you could just break it with your fingers. Never seen line do that.

I wish we would have gotten a picture or that fish and landed it to see how big it really was. But that was a fun memory.

Oh and the walleyes turned off the rest of the day...the ridicule started later...sure we wasted almost 2 hours chasing a fish you lost and missed the great walleye fishing.

T