For me I guess it was a 4 foot gator back around 1974. I was fishing with a college buddy from the bank of a freshwater marsh just off the beach and the gator hit my bait. It wasn't really a fight, more like pulling in a small log. The gator would let me pull him in close, then he'd spook and run out about fifty feet. The process repeated itself a few times --and finally when I got him in close enough he dove down to the bottom and buried his snout in some grass about 5 feet under and wouldn't budge. I handed my spinning rod to my buddy and told him to keep the line tight while I went down under the water, grabbed the gator around the neck with my hands and hefted it back up on the bank. I tied its snout and studied it for a few minutes before releasing it. I grew up catching all sorts of critters, so no big deal with the gator --I was more concerned with keeping an eye on the big gators that were sunning around the area.
There's nothing unusual about hooking turtles, but I caught a snapping turtle once in my grandfather's farm pond when I was about fifteen years old. My little brother held the turtle while I forced its jaw open with some long pliers and put my fingers in its mouth to remove the hook. I shudder now when I think about my stupidity in doing that and how lucky I am to have all my fingers.
Many moons ago (when I was a teenager) I was fishing in a pond. As my worm hit the water a grass snake appeared out of a bed of rushes and inhaled it - it wasn't much of a fight :(
And I got bit trying to get the hook out >:(
Back in the mid 70s my friend Gordo and I went to Pinole pier in the SF Bay Area to fish for Sturgeon. It was January and pretty cold. We got set up with our grass shrimp and waited... we checked out bait every 30 minutes or so to make sure we had fresh bait. Mid morning Gordo got a bite...classic Sturgeon bite. He socked him hard twice, his rod doubling over. The fight was very dogmatic, no long runs or jumps. The current was running hard on the out go...he would gain some line only to loose it straight away. After 45 minutes Gordo was over it and looked at me with questioning eyes... I encouraged him and suggested he button down the drag on his Jigmaster 500S. He did so and finally started to make headway. We could tell the fish was done and I readied my pier gaff... as he cranked in the last few feet of line it came into view . It was a 7 footer !... A 7 foot Christmas tree ornaments and all !!!
Cool
Back in the 70's I used to fish at Santa Monica pier a fair bit. One day I reeled up a ten speed bike, one of those french ones. Cleaned it up and road it for a few years, nice bike!
I went offshore one time to bottom fish with my brother, his wife and my nephew. We were in 70ft of water anchored up and pulled out the Publix fried chicken for lunch. My nephew finished eating first and fired a bait down and caught an nice 15# Red Grouper that spit out a chicken bone when it hit the deck. We were dying laughing for sure, so I put a chicken breast carcass on my hook, fired it down and caught a 10# Red Grouper immediately. That's why I always take Publix fried chicken offshore with me and break it out when fishing is slow ;D
I guess a Yellowtail on a 10lb rig and on a small squid jig.
We tend to fish for squid with very light tackle and on that particular day with two jigs. I felt the squid and was slowly winding it up when suddenly the line went very tight and started to peel of my reel.
After 20 minutes my buddy gaffed a smallish Yellowtail for me in total amazement. It had the one jig wrapped around its gills and was solidly hooked. A fairly large squid was stuck in its gullet.
After some discussion we decided this is what happened:- Squid got hooked on one of the squid jigs, while I was winding him up, Yellowtail came around and saw an easy meal, took squid and in the process got the second jig wrapped around and in his gills" both squid and Yellowtail became a meal. ;D
duck, duck, goose... literally: ducks took carp bait a couple times &
I'm not quite sure who was who in the hunter/prey dynamic w/ the goose
A 58# halibut while surface trolling at 5knts
I've caught turtles in both fresh and salt. I've caught a tern, seagull and pelican on the same day... a hat trick!
I caught a moray eel at the Alijos rocks... the Capt wouldn't touch it and just cut the line... wimp!
A BAT!!!!!
Actually, it was my Brother, Ken,
Our family was camping at Wrights Lake, about 70 miles east of our home in Orangevale, CA,
and as usual, he and I were goof'n off,
he was trying to fly cast with a 6' spinning rod and his Garcia Mitchell 304, when it was getting dark, the sun had set, and bats were flying around,
When a bat tried to swoop down and hit his dry fly, he yanked up and ended up catching a bat by its left wing.
Some slackline and the bat was able to fly away.
We still today laugh about that evening's event.
Wayne and for my Brother Ken, Ken
Seagull a couple of times.
One gave me a hard time when trying to remove the hook.
Sal
Quote from: MarkT on April 11, 2020, 09:36:07 PM
I've caught turtles in both fresh and salt. I've caught a tern, seagull and pelican on the same day... a hat trick!
I caught a moray eel at the Alijos rocks... the Capt wouldn't touch it and just cut the line... wimp!
Pretty much the same here. Caught lots of Sea turtles, birds and Moray eels. The Captain was smart as they just twist themselves up in a knot along the leader and it wouldn't be fun untangling them. Octopus are a pain to untangle also. I have caught a Sawfish before, which isn't that common. Not sure if you have the in California but possibly in Southern Baja where there are some Mangrove habitats.
Seagulls, sea turtle, pelicans (fresh and salt), giant wry mouth eel, sea pens, rocks, sea enenemies, fresh water clam, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, coral, sea fans, dungeness crabs and one day while jigging I snagged a humpback whale .............. !!
Cheers:
Todd
Quote from: Hardy Boy on April 12, 2020, 12:30:38 AM
Seagulls, sea turtle, pelicans (fresh and salt), giant wry mouth eel, sea pens, rocks, sea enenemies, fresh water clam, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, coral, sea fans, dungeness crabs and one day while jigging I snagged a humpback whale .............. !!
Cheers:
Todd
What? No Carpacuda ???
Cool
A blue heron,,,,,,,, ;D
A swan on my solid baitcasting rod and Abu Revo combo. The said swan came ashore and I was able to get hold of it and retrieve the jig head without any injuries - that fishing day was no fun.
Quote from: Hardy Boy on April 12, 2020, 12:30:38 AMone day while jigging I snagged a humpback whale .............. !!
Did you land it? ::)
I caught a sea slug, beautiful red octopus, and a rock covered in barnacles and some type seaweed, all while fishing for calico and sandbass on structure.
I had a great day fishing that day!
Bottom fishing for small catfish, hooked something really big. Had to chase it around the lake shore for quite a ways before finally landing it... a softshell turtle, it got snagged by one of its legs. Looked like a dog-gone flying saucer, it's shell was like a yard in diameter! :o
I was never very efficient with a bait caster, always got back lashes. Needless to say when I got my first Mitchell 304 in 1965 I never used a bait caster again, but when I was about 9 or 10 I was practicing casting out in our driveway with some old JC Higgins level wind, probably a Bronson trade reel, an old 5' steel rod from WWII era and a real plug with treble hooks. Dad didn't have any casting plugs and using a lead bell sinker was out of the question because I'd probably pitch it through a window. My aunt & uncle came to visit for the weekend and things were boring so I headed outside to practice casting. I'd pitch that lure from up by the garage out and across the street. It was a lot easier to drag that old lure across concrete than through the grass. ;) Well my sister was 4 or 5 at the time and decided to come outside and ride her tricycle. She was riding back and forth across the driveway up the garage. I went to make a cast and it stopped immediately behind me. My sister let out a blood curdling scream. I had just hooked her in the forearm. My dad tried to get the hook out but it was so deep they had to call the doctor. He met them at his office and had to cut it out. :o At 66 she still ceremonializes that day when she wants a little sympathy, but hey, kids have always been kids. ;)
Landed or just hooked? Landed a Western Grebe at Eagle Lake in N.E. Calif. Took a crappie killer jig I had below a bobber. Good chop on the water gave it great jigging action. The hook was in a soft part of the bill. Easy to release, once I got his neck. Hooked a endangered Monk Seal, broke my spinning reel bail, a major bummer. Broke him off, but I felt bad about hooking a mammal, especially when you leave the lure in it. I've hooked Green Sea Turtles and it dosen't bother me as much, is that wrong?
Fishing for steelhead after a quick storm went by, while wading on the American River at Glen Hall Park (across the river from the back of Cal Expo), in the early 70's. I was bouncing a nightcrawler on the bottom, when I had a tremendous hit. Once the line came tight, it was back and forth, as I fought the catch across the current to my side of the river.
My 20 pound line was whistling in the breeze as I fought for every inch of line. I thought that maybe I had hooked a King Salmon, because there were no acrobatics nor fast runs. I finally got the catch to the surface, about 40 feet away, but I couldn't identify it. After a few more minutes, I saw what it was. I brought it alongside me, unhooked it and let it go. It drifted downstream in the current and out of sight.
It was a very dead, stiff, and huge jack rabbit!
My saltwater fishing has been very limited, when I was younger and visited the coasts, fishing wasn't a priority. Lounging in a tiki bar, soaking up rays and crusing up and down the beach were more fun.
Last time I was in Panama City Beach very little of anything was biting. Easter weekend, 2001. My girlfriend's sister owned a condo down there and she was a very good fisherman and usually knew the best fishing times. She told us fishing had been dead for a few days but we tried anyway. We tried everything, shrimp, some type of cut fish we bought at Walmart, cut crab, and a few freshwater lures. I caught a puffer, talk about something that doesn't put up a fight, it was like reeling in a football. Also caught one of those catfish that's considered trash that resembles a freshwater channel cat with an overgrown dorsal fin.
Finally I hooked something on a Roostertail spinner, a long skinny fish, maybe 15" long and a diameter of 2-1/2" Nobody on the pier could identify that thing. It had teeth, a spiny dorsal fin, and reminded me of a cross between a freshwater hellbender and a bowfin. Or maybe a deflated freshwater sculpin Even the man who ran the pier had no idea what it could be. We didn't get a picture and I've never been able to find it an any books.
On a recent trip my friend hooked the frayed remains of the rope on a commercial lobster pot, at a guess someone had run the line over and cut the buoys off. Managed to retrieve the rope on his line, and then we got two strong men on the end of it and with some strategic boat driving we managed to raise the pot. I would estimate it at over 200lb so this was no mean feat. It still had the nameplate they're required by law to have in these parts so we left it by the boat ramp for the owner to presumably find.
On our last trip out my father hooked a piece of weedy old rope, which upon retrieval turned into an extremely tangled setline, tangled in the middle of which was the remains of a small gill net! All of this detritus was removed and disposed of responsibly; sadly based on the tangling of some parts of the setline I suspect it had, at some point, multiple fish caught on it.
Quote from: festus on April 14, 2020, 01:00:27 AM
My saltwater fishing has been very limited, when I was younger and visited the coasts, fishing wasn't a priority. Lounging in a tiki bar, soaking up rays and crusing up and down the beach were more fun.
Last time I was in Panama City Beach very little of anything was biting. Easter weekend, 2001. My girlfriend's sister owned a condo down there and she was a very good fisherman and usually knew the best fishing times. She told us fishing had been dead for a few days but we tried anyway. We tried everything, shrimp, some type of cut fish we bought at Walmart, cut crab, and a few freshwater lures. I caught a puffer, talk about something that doesn't put up a fight, it was like reeling in a football. Also caught one of those catfish that's considered trash that resembles a freshwater channel cat with an overgrown dorsal fin.
Finally I hooked something on a Roostertail spinner, a long skinny fish, maybe 15" long and a diameter of 2-1/2" Nobody on the pier could identify that thing. It had teeth, a spiny dorsal fin, and reminded me of a cross between a freshwater hellbender and a bowfin. Or maybe a deflated freshwater sculpin Even the man who ran the pier had no idea what it could be. We didn't get a picture and I've never been able to find it an any books.
Sounds like you might have caught a Lizardfish?
the family dog, it wasn't really a catch, but still. I tied up a batch of leadhead jigs with rooster hackles for our local catfish and took a smoke break outside and the next thing our dog comes pawing me with what I thought was a big spider trophy, turns out, it was a leadhead and it had got him straight in the lip. Big problems as I had to wait for my parents to get home, I was still at school and couldn't drive the dog to the vet. Also big trouble for smoking.
So far the xmas tree wins!!!
Good photo of a Lizardfish. Several species here. I catch one type on the reef and another one over deep sand, always on a jig 'bout 1/3 as big as themselves. They are almost perfect trolling bait. They remind me of a lingcod, hanging on the bottom and ambushing their prey. Like a ling, large mouth, with big spike-like teeth, only there are many rows.
Sea turtle, hard to land by the way. a young sea Lion, put on a heck of a fight and finally broke off. a humpback whale, snagged him with four lines while fishing sand dabs with grandkids. got it all on video too. they will not fit in a salmon landing net. funniest one was when my brother caught me. While fishing some backwoods lake in BC I was about 10 yrs old and my brother was 14, he had snagged a branch under water and was playing it up like he had a huge fish on, I ran up behind him to look over his shoulder and watch the fight, I didn't see anything except his rod doubled over loaded with tension, when suddenly the lure slipped off the branch and came flying straight at us, I must have been in shock that lure went right in and hooked me deep inside my left cheek. I began running in circles wildly screaming my lungs out, my brother whips out his pocket knife and I thought for sure he was going to cut my face off to save his lure, after all it was me that lost his favorite red devil while fighting a monster bucketmouth bass back home, he never forgave me for that and no I was getting my payback. But he simply cut the line to free me up from the rod. No sooner did he cut the line when I turned and ran as fast as I could back to camp. My family heard the noise from across the lake and were preparing for my arrival expecting to see me with at least a limb missing. Granny sat me on a stump while mom, dad, granny and gramps had a pw wow, we were at least 50 miles from the nearest town and granny was quite proficient at removing hooks from flesh. Gramps used to come home from a day of fly fishing the sierra lakes with numerous flies stuck in his back where he couldn't get them out and so she did the honors. they reassured mom that everything would be fine. It was after all a small treble hook. I believe it was a mepps spinner. So granny says to me, im gonna count to three and when I say three, gramps is gonna pull the hook out and I want you to scream as loud as you want. Nervous but not wanting to be deprived of the attention I sat patiently while granny counted, One, two, that's when gramps deftly pulled the hook, I sat there silent and wild eyed, granny puts her hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eyes and says three! there was a long silence, I couldn't believe what they had done I didn't say anything, well go ahead and scream she said! I was shocked at being cheated but happy the hook was out. Grandpa just looked at me and chuckled out loud. They congratulated my brother on a fine catch and all went back to normal.
Quote from: Darin Crofton on April 11, 2020, 06:51:31 PM
I went offshore one time to bottom fish with my brother, his wife and my nephew. We were in 70ft of water anchored up and pulled out the Publix fried chicken for lunch. My nephew finished eating first and fired a bait down and caught an nice 15# Red Grouper that spit out a chicken bone when it hit the deck. We were dying laughing for sure, so I put a chicken breast carcass on my hook, fired it down and caught a 10# Red Grouper immediately. That's why I always take Publix fried chicken offshore with me and break it out when fishing is slow ;D
Had this happen too. I was fishing the pipe off Huntington Beach for sandbass and we were just throwing the bones overboard. I catch a nice sized turd roller and as soon as it hits the deck it spits out a leg bone. Both the leg bone and sandbass went back into the water for a successful catch and release.
In Baja I have caught all sorts of stuff that I have no idea what it is so no telling what the strangest is for me. I guess a seal was strange. Hooking a seal can happen from time to time, it is sort of rare but does happen. What was strange was this seal bit a yoyo iron. The seal was only about half the size of a full grown one so I'm guessing it was like a seal teenager. Just shows teenagers of any species can do stupid stuff. But, I bet it will never do that again.
My favorite fish story is when Wayne (el pescador) caught his own ear. ;D ;D ;D ;D Dominick
On the last day of our 2018 Cedros trip the wind and swell came up as we were several miles off the south end of the island slow trolling mackerel for yellowtail. I was having trouble keeping my bait down with the big swells and wind blowing, and I repeatedly had to jerk the bait out of the way of seagulls diving for it. At one point I got distracted watching someone fight a fish in another panga, and when I finally brought my attention back to my own fishing, I found my line streaming up behind the boat at about a 45 degree angle into the beak of one of those gulls probably 80-100 feet in the air. I instinctively gave the line a yank, hoping but not expecting to get my bait back. I was pleasantly surprised to see the mack slip out of the bird's mouth and fall back to the water. Just as the mack hit the water a medium-sized dorado exploded out of the water, grabbing the bait and dancing with it. I yanked again and brought in one of only two dorado caught on that trip.
It wasn't really what I caught that was so unusual. It was the sequence of first catching a bird and then immediately afterward the unexpected leap of the dorado that surprised me.
Good story, Scrinch.
Quote from: scrinch on April 14, 2020, 06:51:09 PM
On the last day of our 2018 Cedros trip the wind and swell came up as we were several miles off the south end of the island slow trolling mackerel for yellowtail. I was having trouble keeping my bait down with the big swells and wind blowing, and I repeatedly had to jerk the bait out of the way of seagulls diving for it. At one point I got distracted watching someone fight a fish in another panga, and when I finally brought my attention back to my own fishing, I found my line streaming up behind the boat at about a 45 degree angle into the beak of one of those gulls probably 80-100 feet in the air. I instinctively gave the line a yank, hoping but not expecting to get my bait back. I was pleasantly surprised to see the mack slip out of the bird's mouth and fall back to the water. Just as the mack hit the water a medium-sized dorado exploded out of the water, grabbing the bait and dancing with it. I yanked again and brought in one of only two dorado caught on that trip.
It wasn't really what I caught that was so unusual. It was the sequence of first catching a bird and then immediately afterward the unexpected leap of the dorado that surprised me.
dang.. I was expecting to read that after a dorado took the mack, it came a huge grouper and ate the Dorado and when the Dorado was a gaff distance a great white took the grouper ;D ;D ;D
but yeah, your original story was pretty cool
Quote from: steelfish on April 14, 2020, 08:14:54 PM
dang.. I was expecting to read that after a dorado took the mack, it came a huge grouper and ate the Dorado and when the Dorado was a gaff distance a great white took the grouper ;D ;D ;D
skip the white & put it on the menu:
Turducken de Mer ;D
Love that one Scrunch !!
We had a ling cod follow up a 8# sea bass. The ling never grabbed it, just swimming under it. Reeled slow and right when the sea bass rubbed against the boat was when the ling tried to snatch it. Gaffed the ling without ever having to fight it. Good chance a hook and line mighta lost the battle. Back at the lodge the ling cod scaled out at 44#
For you that have never hooked a seal, just come fish in Puget sound. They follow boats around waiting for a salmon to get hooked. I've lost count of how many I've hooked, and the seal always wins
Quote from: Maxed Out on April 15, 2020, 12:28:26 AM
Love that one Scrunch !!
We had a ling cod follow up a 8# sea bass. The ling never grabbed it, just swimming under it. Reeled slow and right when the sea bass rubbed against the boat was when the ling tried to snatch it. Gaffed the ling without ever having to fight it. Good chance a hook and line mighta lost the battle. Back at the lodge the ling cod scaled out at 44#
For you that have never hooked a seal, just come fish in Puget sound. They follow boats around waiting for a salmon to get hooked. I've lost count of how many I've hooked, and the seal always wins
Not always do the seals win. Had a around 300 lb or more knot head grab the yt on the left of this pic. You can see the V shape of the seals mouth on the bottom of the fish just behind the gill plate. After about what seemed like a 15-20 minute battle with the seal I was able to get in close enough to the boat for the deckhands to scare it away with gaffs. Not bad on 30 lb test.
Having a seal grab a fish on your line is one thing but hooking one in the mouth on a yoyo jig was totally different. No way was going to be able to stop that teenage seal. I just buttoned down the drag until I was able to break the line at the jig when the seal was around 150-200 years away and still peeling off line like it was nothing.
Quote from: conchydong on April 14, 2020, 10:16:00 AM
Quote from: festus on April 14, 2020, 01:00:27 AM
My saltwater fishing has been very limited, when I was younger and visited the coasts, fishing wasn't a priority. Lounging in a tiki bar, soaking up rays and crusing up and down the beach were more fun.
Last time I was in Panama City Beach very little of anything was biting. Easter weekend, 2001. My girlfriend's sister owned a condo down there and she was a very good fisherman and usually knew the best fishing times. She told us fishing had been dead for a few days but we tried anyway. We tried everything, shrimp, some type of cut fish we bought at Walmart, cut crab, and a few freshwater lures. I caught a puffer, talk about something that doesn't put up a fight, it was like reeling in a football. Also caught one of those catfish that's considered trash that resembles a freshwater channel cat with an overgrown dorsal fin.
Finally I hooked something on a Roostertail spinner, a long skinny fish, maybe 15" long and a diameter of 2-1/2" Nobody on the pier could identify that thing. It had teeth, a spiny dorsal fin, and reminded me of a cross between a freshwater hellbender and a bowfin. Or maybe a deflated freshwater sculpin Even the man who ran the pier had no idea what it could be. We didn't get a picture and I've never been able to find it an any books.
Sounds like you might have caught a Lizardfish?
Conchydong, whatever I caught had the similar length to girth proportions, but it was more eel-like. A few days later after we got back home and it was fresh on my mind, I checked all my fish books and surfed the net and never found anything like it.
Maybe one of these?