What are Your Strange Cathches ?

[Mark Stine]

I was just thinking of all the strange catches I've had in the last 58 years.

A starling picked up a rooster tale I tied on to try out a new rod in the back yard.  Two seagulls ate my minnow, A mallard and  a black duck got hooked when they swam by unattended popping bugs took two times to learn my lesson.  A low flying pelican got tangled in the line from my surf rod and became an attack pelican while I cut it free.  Two baby alligators ate my  minnows (their mama was highly upset and I had to move to a new spot).  I hooked a full Cooper river size gator (8 ft?) using a 10" bream for catfish bait it broke a seven foot med. action ugly stick.  Various turtles.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I caught a bowfin once, that scared the helloutta me. I didnt expect the big beast to come up right in my face, and I lost my hat in the process. And I once caught a fishing rod - one that I had lost weeks before. Lets just say I was amazed to  see it again.

[John Sheehan]

Wonderful Idea Sharon!!! Next time you can bite that"Water Mocassin"  back like a real Outdoors woman!

[10.5" RES Sharon]

I caught a water moccasin on a hook twice before my grandpa killed it. I have since learned it was just a common black water snake.

[10.5" RES Sharon]

Maybe you should start an InFur Magazine John.

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

I had a strange catch about 15 years ago and still think of it some times and laugh. A buddy and I were fishing for gills with fly rods and I had a white popper on and was catching a few gills. THen the local Mallards decided to investigate what was going on and next thing I know I'm hooked to a Mallard that decided to fly off with the popper still in his mouth. I suppose it was amuseing to watch and of course my buddy laughed alot.

  Thing is if you are going to fish for Mallards use a heavier than normal leader cause they  break off very easy when they get to the end of the backing, which is exactly what happened to me. NERVER SAW THE MALLARD OR POPPER AGAIN!

  TOOTY

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

This is a photo of a small Lamprey, a type of sucker fish that attach to their host......They get a whole lot bigger than this one...I've caught a few fish with small lampreys but nothing as big as the fish like LOFR mentioned....

[John Sheehan]

I like this topic Mark its bringing back memories Thanks!!  

 I once hooked the neighbors cat throwing a Rapala in the yard .He came out of nowhere took drag and I instinctivly set the hook into its fur . I caught up to the cat and extracted a bunch of fur. He fortunately didnt have it in its mouth .It was both funny and horrifying at the same time to me.Only horrifying to the cat. 

[John Sheehan]

My first wrist watch come from the pocket of a pair of pants I caught while fishing Packanack Lake as a kid .I recall just before dropping the soggy muddy pants back in the water from the boat ,I said to my friend, "I better check the pockets ,maybe theres money in there"

 

   I have caught two Bass on one crankbait once in my life. A Bill Norman 1/4 oz crankbait caught two Largemouths one on each treble.It happened on a fairly cold October morn with steam coming off the lake.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Cool stories Mark... In the Sring of 1983 I arrived in Charleston, S.C. for my first duty assignment in the Navy....Being an avid angler I immediately began my search for freshwater fishing locations to catch Bluegill....That May I was turned on to a place called Treasure lakes adjacent to Interstate 26....It said swimming, snorkeling and campground so I wasn't optimistic......To my surprise one afternoon, I began to do well with some crickets catching some hand sized Bluegill....Fish were averaging 7 to 8 inches so I had a ccuple around 9 inches. I sailed out my spincasting rig again and a powerful gill grabbed it and we began the fight...About 20 feet from the shore in clear and relatively shallow water there was a massive explosion in the water, the line went slack and to my amazement off flew a mature Bald Eagle with my nice gill dwarfed in his grip and my orange/white float drifting behind him as he headed for his perch....This lake was about 6 acres and somewhat wooded so I hadn't even seen this bird before the attack... 

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

 Four years ago I caught a 12 inch bluegill that had a 12 inch lamprey attached to it, it was nasty looking,  the lampery had attached itself to the blue gill under it mouth , It dropped off before I could get it in the boat or take a photo of it.