What's the most unusual thing you've caught on a rod & reel?

[scrinch]

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.

[Decker]

Good story, Scrinch.   

[steelfish]

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   

but yeah, your original story was pretty cool

[philaroman]

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   

skip the white & put it on the menu: Turducken de Mer

[Maxed Out]

 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

[SoCalAngler]

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.

[festus]

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.

[nelz]

Maybe one of these?