Biggest fish i ever caught was a 36" golden grass carp, I was fishing the sandy area next to the boat ramp at 3am in late July at Lake Pleasant from my float tube. I was using a worm at the time and just dead sticking it off the bottom with the drag set, I was actually hoping to catch a bass or catfish.
At the time I'd heard that there were carp present in the lake but I'd never caught one before. I was glad i'd velcroed my pole to the tube because all of the sudden the drag just started screaming and line was peeling off the reel like crazy I'd never seen anything like it. I started tightening the drag and reeling in and this fish was pulling me around the cove, if wasn't so deep he'd have snagged the line on something, and was he ever strong.
I got him in after a long half hour fight on an uglystick with 10lb. spiderwire, there were so many times i was sure it was going to just snap the line and go, the circle hook held. I unhooked the carp and pondered whether I'd keep such a fish and whether I hadn't stressed the fish too much to release it. I decided to try to revive the fish by gently rocking him back and forth for about ten minutes before he started to show some vigor again, and then I watched it swim away, determined to try to catch another one sometime soon as that was pound for pound the strongest fighting fish I'd ever had on a line. I'd never had such fun bringing one in.
<-----NOT MY FISH, i didn't have a camera then, just including this pic for size reference.
