Graham - very true, a mate of mine lost one on blithfield that he saw, right up close, I was about 20 yards away and clearly saw the fish's flank roll it was a deep as a 30lb carp. The bloke had it beat, edging towards the net and it made one last lunge, he stopped it from getting to the anchor rope and the lure flew back over his shoulder.
I spoke to him on several occasions since and he is still devastated by it all, he said he keeps questioning the decision to stop the fish, would it have just gone under the boat then been dragged back and netted safely. I told him a load of times not to beat himslef up over it, I'd have done exaclty the same. Buut I know it still hurts him a lot.
Especially when I tell him it looked nearer 50 than 40?.