man sorry to hear that buddy....thats enough to keep you coming back

They do that to me too.  They will fight hard and come into the bank and when you turn the light on or they can see it they head for deep water again.  This happens to me so much I will not turn the light on till they are on the bank in front of me.  

If you have someone fishing with you, have them in front of the fish with the net before the fish sees your light.  They will do a swim by in front of you instead of turning and going back the way they came.  Lots of times you can snatch them up in the net before they can get back out of shallow water.

If you think you are hooked now you are in for a suprise.  Once I landed a nice fish in the 30lb range.  That was 25lbs larger than the previous best and it took less than 24 hours before it sunk in and I had my sights set higher.  

One thing that drives most of us is that "There is a always a bigger fish than the one you just caught and it is just slightly out of reach of the pole you have in the water."

Keep going back and you will eventually get that fish.  Or better than that, his bigger brother.