I was working my downstream this afternoon mostly to get a ways away from the bridge where I got in but casually tossing a pair of wet flies as I went when I hooked into what would probably have been the biggest trout I caught this year. He came right back upstream at me and I was stripping line frantically when he passed me. As I turned I realized that this was no random run. A few feet behind me and to my right was a big dead-fall. I squeezed down on the line as he went by me but it was too late. The line went slack as he went into the brush. The instant that the fish felt the hook he made a beeline for that pile thirty feet away. I think there may be a big pile of rusted out hooks under that brush.
Bummer, but that’s the stuff that keeps us going during the cold winter months waiting for the season to open. You now have a challange to catch and land that fish!
Actually, that sounds like bass fishing to me. Last week while fishing a warmwater lake, I saw a splash over in a corner of a cove. I made a lucky cast (for me) and it landed right where I wanted it to. I stripped my fly back about a foot or so and it stopped solid. I thought that I had hooked a submerged tree limb, so I started to move my kayak over towards the fly to unhook it. Then, I noticed that the line was move through the water so I tightened up to land the surprise fish. I got the line tight, but I wasn’t even able to slow the fish down. It doubled the rod over and just kept taking line until the tippet snapped. I can usually tell when I have a bass on by the way they fight with the occasional head shakes and 8-10 foot surges to escape. This fish never sped up, never slowed down, no head shakes just a steady unrelenting pull until the leader tippet broke. I never saw the fish at all. There are some large 15+ pound bass in this lake but there are also some very large catfish. As much as I’d like to think it was a huge bass, I suspect that it was more likely a very large and somewhat annoyed catfish. Either way, like I said earlier, these are the experiences that we mull over during the cold winter months and get us primed for the next season.
Jim Smith
RB,
For me the initial hook set and the first few seconds of the fight are what it is all about, those are the moments I fish for. After that it is just getting the fish in so I can get it released and cast forth upon the waters for another fish. You had that, the thrill of the take, the rush of the first few seconds of the fight, maybe you even saw the fish? but no matter, you have a great memory of a fishing story that you can tell for a long time. Life is good, fly fishing is even better.
Larry —sagefisher—
Jim,
I have to agree with you. That run sounds much more like a large catfish than a bass. Good luck getting one of the 15 pound bass. 
Ed