I know all fishermen lie but this is a true one. I was wade fishing early one morning at the Sanibel Causeway about 10-12 years ago and I hooked a pretty good sized snook who must have gone 15 pounds (well maybe 12). After a splashy fight and a couple of good runs I was bringing it to hand to get my fly back and let him go and the whole while I was mugging for and talking into the camcorder that my wife, at the time, was pointing at me. I was speaking with a phony Austrailian accent like I was some sort of rugged, outdoor TV host, "This heah snookah is about plied out". When I grabbed his lower jaw and started to lift him he shook his head ferociously and made one more run. Right between my legs. My 9' rod bent to a sickening 180 degrees in the direction of the running fish so I reflexivly swung one leg over the line, spun around and fell flat on my ass in about 2' of water. I lifted my rod as high as I could,cleared the line and eventually subdued the snook but not before the whole debacle was captured on an oft-played video. Thankfully, I'm still a baritone.vl

PS another good source of fish stories is Ian Frasier. He has a compilation of his essays out called The Fishs' Eye and John Gierach is always entertaining.