chomps

I have lived in Louisiana my entire life and I have fished that lake every year. I have never seen this many or this variety of fish in the lake. Even when I was a youngin’ I never caught multiple reds off the bank. I saw someone catch a Jack while he was sitting right next to me.

I have been fishing pretty often, like every other day, and rarely have I come home empty handed. I will usually catch a few drum or a couple of specs and I am always catching Gafftops.

So last night I was fishing in my usual spot and it was about 1 am. I made a long cast to get into a deep hole that is out there. I got a strange bite. A fish barely grabbed my bait and I could feel the fish chewing on it. I tried to set the hook and it was like I was hung up. I tried again, and felt him fight a little and than the line popped again. I thought this must be a big sting ray. I threw in the same spot and got him hooked. He took off long enough to feel that I was going to have to work to get this fish in. I set the drag and while doing so he spit the hook out. Next cast, same spot and I got the same weird bite. I set the hook and we were in for a fight. I fought him for 45 minutes and probably walked a mile back and forth trying to keep him on. He was so big that when he dicided it was time to go there was nothing I could do about it. I kept fighting and got the fish about 15 feet from the bank. I was looking down and it was dark but the fish was easily over 4′ long. He surfaced and rolled on his side. All I saw was a black top part of the body and a snow white belly. I am going to guess he was at least 60 pounds (not exaggerating). His body was long, lean and not truncated. He was laying at the top, exausted and trying to give any fight he could. I tried to pull him closer and the leader (60 pound rest) broke. I didnt want to bring him on the bank because I dont know how I would have and whatever it was was not going to fit in the jeep. I wish I could have got a better look. I don’t know what it was but here is what is wasnt.
It wasnt a gar because I saw his skin and it didnt have thick scales.
It wasnt a drum because his body was slender.
It wasnt a black tip or a bull because the fish sat on the bottom. (Sharks rarely stay still)
It wasnt a red because the color was wrong.

If anyone has any idea about what this fish could have been please let me know. I am on a quest to catch the unknow again and feind out what it is.