The one that got away!

My wife Teresa and I decided to do a little bass fishing on Cocalala lake near Sandpoint, Idaho, then try our luck at some catfish we heard were in this lake.

We started off bass fishing for a few hours with not to much luck. We caught a few 2 and 3 pounders .

The sun was starting to go down so we found us a small cove to put the anchor down get our catfish poles in the water and get out our sleeping bags.. We were in about 25 feet of water, baited our hooks with chicken livers and over the side they went.

We had ourselves a little dinner and  decided to go to sleep.....about 3:30 am we heard one of the poles bumping on the side of the boat ,I reeled it in and we had about a 3 pound cat on the line. I let her go and put the line back in the water.

Then around 4:15 am we woke up to cold and  heavy dew on the lake my line seemed to be doubled over so thought I would check it out. I woke my wife at this time and told her I thought we had a big one on the line. I gave her the pole to start reeling it in, she then told me," no it is just the line wrapped around the anchor" Disappointed I unwrapped the line from the anchor and starting reeling it in  again, but this time the line pulled back!.  I told my wife," NOPE WE GOT A MONSTER"

We worked this fish for over two hours. We tried to beach her, we kept trying to take the boat to shore but she would have none of that,every time we got close she would pull us back out. (We have a 1600 lb boat)...I then would pull up on the line with my hands on the pole and my wife would crank..we started seeing bubbles but she was still fighting...it remined me of the 250 I Halibut I caught in Alaska a couple years prior.

I thought there is no way there is a catfish this HUGE in this lake....So like I said we saw the bubbles coming up a lot more, then we saw our bait...I thought this is it! a few more cranks and we will be able to see this fish...so once more I pulled up and my wife cranked her in......then SNAP!!! the hook tore her lip and she was gone ....DANG!!!!..We never did get a look at her...but I know she had to weigh in at at least 60-90 lbs.

We went out a few days later to the same spot and caught a 8 lb'er.. so we are still on the hunt for THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!