I caught him TWICE!
The first time I caught him with a broken-back Rapala. I thought I'd hooked a tree limb or something and was pulling it in when all of a sudden he jumped and threw the lure! I thought I was going to die. I was so discussed with myself for not setting the hooks like I should have. I cast 20 or 30 more times and nothing. So I decided to try something different. I put a 7 1/2" black plastic worm on and about the 15th cast he HIT AGAIN! No way was I going to loose him this time!! I set the hook HARD and reeled him in as fast as I could and pulled him up on the bank. My heart was going a hundred miles an hour! I grabbed him and got away from the water in case I dropped him.(Grin) My biggest till now was 8 1/4 pounds which I caught at Lake Okeechobee in Florida....years ago.