Strange things that have happened while bass fishing. 2024
geo g reply :
Have you ever had a strange thing happen while bass fishing?
One of the strangest happened to me years ago, and I will never forget it. I was bank fishing in Weston Florida in one of the biggest man made lakes in the area. I had caught a bunch of bass in the 1 to 2 lb, size. I caught a nice two pound fish and released it at the edge of the bank and it swam several feet and right into a potato chip bag that was in the water for some time. I don't know if he thought it was a cave to swim into for shelter. The entire fish was in the bag except the tail that was sticking out. The bag with the fish raced away into deep water and disappeared for a while and reappeared in the middle of the lake on the surface. For quite a while I watched the bag motor around the lake changing direction, and diving every once in a while. This went on for at least 30 minutes. The bag finally made it back to the shallows and within reach. I positioned myself to be within rod length. I finally got my rod tip in the bag and my little friend was free at last. I don't know who was happier me or him. It was definitely one of the strangest fishing days I have ever had.
Darren. reply :
For me it was my first encounter with an otter in our local
reservoirs. Quite the experience for me as I didn't know we
had them...after the encounter I had to immediately call
the ranger station and make sure I wasn't delusional.
MassYak85 reply :
On 1/2/2017 at 9:53 AM, Darren. said:For me it was my first encounter with an otter in our local
reservoirs. Quite the experience for me as I didn't know we
had them...after the encounter I had to immediately call
the ranger station and make sure I wasn't delusional.
I had the same thing happen to me haha. I was fishing from shore at my home lake and I look over and see two what I assumed to be muskrats at first swimming. When I looked over again it was quite clear they were not muskrats but I had never seen an otter in the wild in my entire life to that point so I just stared at them for a minute to make sure I wasn't going crazy.
wdp reply :
Dang, you fish long enough like me, and you get quite a few of these stories.
I hooked a big water moccasin once when I was young. I was fishing with a live minnow & a cork right at dusk. Cork went under & I set the hook on the ole Zebco 33. Reeled it in & that snake scared the poo outta me. I dropped the rod & ran back about 30 ft. Luckily, the moccasin got off & slithered back into the water.
Also had a baby gator jump up and snap at a frog I was fishing once. Another time, I had an egret swoop down & pick up the Spro frog I was fishing. It flew up about 20 ft before I kinda snatched back a little and my frog plopped back down into the water. I had to reel it back in real fast as it tried to swoop down & take it again.
panfish12 reply :
I had a beaver scare me half to death on a small lake once. I was fishing from a small rowboat and the wind had just pushed me against the shore when a large brown object came flying out of the brush behind me and landed with a loud splash. It gave me a good scare; and the best part was that the beaver kept swimming around the lake for the rest of the evening. That was really cool to watch since I had never seen a beaver before.
RO_Watkins reply :
I was wading in a local river crappie fishing with a live minnow on a cork. My brother and I were standing about 5ft apart and a cotton mouth dropped out of a tree top about 20ft high and started swimming towards us. We eventually managed to scare him off and continue fishing.
N Florida Mike reply :
We had a long thread on this earlier in the year so Im not sure if I already told this one or not.
I took a friend's teenage son bass fishing.As it began to get dark we started seeing bats.He made the comment that he was really scared of bats.I explained how this kind just ate insects so no big deal etc.
It wasn't 15 minutes later than that,when a bat flew between his line and rod and GOT STUCK ! He didn't notice because he was focusing on fishing.The bat struggled and freed himself just before David turned and would have seen it.I said Hey man ,a bat was stuck on your rod.He just turned and kept fishing.I think he thought I was pulling his chain.
In all my years of fishing he's the only one who said he was scared of bats and it was the only time I ever saw this happen.
NCbassraider reply :
The beavers at my place like to sneak up on the boat near or after dark and tail slap us. Scared the crap out of us the first few times but now we expect it. It's not fun getting splashed in cooler weather.
This past summer had a huge black snake climb into the boat at a buddies pond. I'm told it's quite common as they are vulnerable in the water and think boats are land.
CTBassin860 reply :
I used to fish this small pond next to a dam and used to encounter beavers all the time.The strange thing was they would always swim by my line and slap their tails on the water.I was never sure if they were trying to scare the fish away so I couldn't catch their meal or if they were trying to knock out fish on the surface.They used to do it constantly.
N Florida Mike reply :
I was walking through a field by the lake I'd been fishing when I was 14 or so and saw this giant rat with a long tail.I mean 3 feet long.Could not believe it.
Found out later it was a nutria,but we always called them swamp rats until we found out there real name.
flyingmonkie reply :
One of my friends called this afternoon to tell me he was forced into a tree by two pit bulls at a pond he was fishing. No cell phone, so he sat up there patiently for 45 minutes until they lost interest. 
NCbassraider reply :
On 1/2/2017 at 11:19 AM, MassBassin508 said:I used to fish this small pond next to a dam and used to encounter beavers all the time.The strange thing was they would always swim by my line and slap their tails on the water.I was never sure if they were trying to scare the fish away so I couldn't catch their meal or if they were trying to knock out fish on the surface.They used to do it constantly.
Beavers are herbivorous so they were not scaring away fish. They are territorial and use tail slapping as a way to tell you they don't want you around. I've never seen one get more aggressive than the occasional tail splash.
In real small ponds they will tail slap if anyone gets near the pond. In bigger bodies of water they slap near their dams.
Kyhokie reply :
No too weird, but saw a blue heron stalk and kill a fairly good size brown water snake while I was about 15 feet away in my canoe. Also watched my buddy put 4 of 6 hooks on a crankbait through his hat and into his scalp on a windy day. No joke...He calmly cut his line and tied on another crank. I thought he might be in shock as blood was starting to flow pretty good down the side of his face. I told him we'd better get him some medical attention and he said, "not till they quit biting." LOL! Took him another 5 min to get dizzy and we called it a day.
mixel reply :
Way in the back of a lake in Central California, friend and I were fishing some grass beds. We look up and way high up in the sky are two beautiful bald eagles circling. All of a sudden one of them dives crazy fast towards the water and we're both thinking this is going to be so cool to watch! The eagle dives down about half way and then calls it off and goes back up to join his friend again. Must have been a false alarm for him. Then I reel up my swimbait and make another long cast. As soon as my lure hit the water, here comes Mr. Eagle again diving like a furious banshee. I realized it was my large trout looking swimbait he was after! I had visions of getting my face torn up trying to untangle a bald eagle from my lure and then landing in jail for destroying a national treasure. I reeled it in as fast as I could. This time he came down almost to the waterline before peeling off and heading back up to circle with his friend. My friend reeled up too and we promptly left that spot on the lake. Found out later they nest in one of the trees in that cove.
wdp reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 12:34 AM, mixel said:Way in the back of a lake in Central California, friend and I were fishing some grass beds. We look up and way high up in the sky are two beautiful bald eagles circling. All of a sudden one of them dives crazy fast towards the water and we're both thinking this is going to be so cool to watch! The eagle dives down about half way and then calls it off and goes back up to join his friend again. Must have been a false alarm for him. Then I reel up my swimbait and make another long cast. As soon as my lure hit the water, here comes Mr. Eagle again diving like a furious banshee. I realized it was my large trout looking swimbait he was after! I had visions of getting my face torn up trying to untangle a bald eagle from my lure and then landing in jail for destroying a national treasure. I reeled it in as fast as I could. This time he came down almost to the waterline before peeling off and heading back up to circle with his friend. My friend reeled up too and we promptly left that spot on the lake. Found out later they nest in one of the trees in that cove.
Wow. I fish a lake occasionally that has a bald eagle's nest. I've actually seen one swoop down & fly away with about a 2 lb bass in its claw. Pretty amazing sight.
Hez reply :
On 1/2/2017 at 11:32 AM, N Florida Mike said:I was walking through a field by the lake I'd been fishing when I was 14 or so and saw this giant rat with a long tail.I mean 3 feet long.Could not believe it.
Found out later it was a nutria,but we always called them swamp rats until we found out there real name.
Seeing a Nutria Rat for the first time while fishing was also one of the more stranger things that's happened to me.
Saw an otter yesterday that startled me lol
Josh Smith reply :
Last winter I caught a nice smallie while river fishing.
When I released it, it refused to leave. Just swam up next to me and stayed put.
I picked it up and tried to release it again. Again, it swam back to me.
Finally, I picked it up for a third time and released it a ways downriver.
Josh
Josh Smith reply :
On 1/2/2017 at 12:07 PM, flyingmonkie said:One of my friends called this afternoon to tell me he was forced into a tree by two pit bulls at a pond he was fishing. No cell phone, so he sat up there patiently for 45 minutes until they lost interest.
This is an excellent way for some irresponsible dog owner to get a couple pets shot.
My only encounters with dogs have been positive. One place I fish has a Rottweiler that regularly goes seeking pettings from all who pass through his territory. His name is Caesar and he appreciates treats too.
Josh
2tall79 reply :
I was fishing an oxbow off the Columbia River near Kalama on a summer day a few years ago. It was midday and I hadn't had a bite in a couple hours. I was half-heartedly throwing a 4" lizard into a row of 4 pilings that stretched all the way across the slough and eating a ham sandwich in between casts. I noticed out on the main river a huge cargo ship making it's way upriver. About 5 minutes after the ship had passed, the water in the outer bay rose 2 to 3 feet and water started gushing through the pilings turning the water white. I caught 4 good fish in the next ten minutes and then the water returned to normal and the bite was off. It was like those fish knew that was going to happen from time to time and they were ready to take advantage of anything that rush of water would wash out of those pilings. I've been back a few times but could never duplicate those conditions again.
geo g reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 2:10 AM, Josh Smith said:
This is an excellent way for some irresponsible dog owner to get a couple pets shot.
My only encounters with dogs have been positive. One place I fish has a Rottweiler that regularly goes seeking pettings from all who pass through his territory. His name is Caesar and he appreciates treats too.
Josh
I fished with a guy that loved when boats passed close to where we were fishing. He stated the wave stirred up the bait fish and bugs around the weed stems and the fish feast! similar to your story.
"hamma" reply :
I have "some" stories of strange behavior.
One is,.... My home lake has alot of homes on it with docks, and there was this one home I liked that was for sale, and I'd dream of buying it, well it sold, and one day after I was flipping the line of docks where its located, and I was moving along quietly and caught a few smaller fish as I was doing so. I got to a few docks away from "my dream home" and noticed a woman sunning herself on it's dock with some earphones on. So I just continued on flipping and when I got to her dock I flipped in next to it's piling and BAM! instant hit, I set the hook on a nice 7 or 8 pounder, as I lipped it I said "YEAH BABY!" as it was the best fish I had caught in a while, and the woman jumped up, as I startled her,.I apologized,.. but she just kept slowly backing up, I said again, "Im sorry, I didnt mean to startle you", before I released the fish,.. and she replied "I didnt know there's fish that big in here", and quickly scurried off the dock and into the house. a few weeks later I was back fishing those docks, and there was a for sale sign back on that lawn again.
One day just after work, I decided to go bait fishing for stripers at the bridge not far from home, before dinner. I grabbed my gear and cooler with some mackeral in it and off I went. I got there and was surprised that there wasnt many people fishing, just a few there. Traffic was heavy as it was about 4 pm, so i figured everyones just getting home from work. I got my tackle ready, when it was all set I cut a large piece of bait, put it on the hook and cast as far out as I could,.. Instantly a seagull dove down on the bait, came up with it in its mouth, and proceeded to swallow it.,..
so,..., there I was during rush hour traffic, on a busy bridge, battling a seagull with a surf rod, I got hollers, horns beeping, and some people stopping to see whats about to happen. I finally get the bird close to the rods tip and its going frantic by now, I grab the line and pull it close, but not close enough to hurt me or it, and cut the line as close as I could to it, I had no other choice as this thing was flailing about trying everything but attacking me, to get free.
About a few days later I pulled into the Beverly peirs parking lot (just downstrem) and one of the lobstermen, that I give some of the mackeral I catch off the pier, for him to use as bait, in exchange for a couple lobsters now and then, had the same gull under his arm and was removing,....MY HOOK!,. The gull had landed on his boat and kept following him around till he noticed the hook stuck in its beak..so I had to explain my story. Now thats irony
burrows reply :
Seen bigfoot taking a dookie behind some bushes. I got so scared I dropped my brand new tfo fly rod.
lonnie g reply :
when I was a kid me and neighbor boys trying to catch bull frogs by hand. heard a big splash I had a old fashion long eared black and tan coon hound. she caught one! I guess she was watching us. sad part, I guess she was smarter. go figure?
slonezp reply :
About 20 years ago, I was shore fishing with my son in the Chicago River. A homeless guy covered in prison tats, was talking to himself and obviously hallucinating, acted out a crime scene shoot out with the police. I can guess it was probably something he had witnessed or lived thru. Was quite unsettling as, at times, he was withing 20 feet of us shouting at the top of his lungs. Honestly, I have no idea if he even knew we were there. We were below street level at 5:00am. Had something bad happened, there was no one around to witness or help. Mind you I've had plenty of dealings with the homeless over the years and I can handle myself. This guy was a special kind of scary.
On 1/2/2017 at 10:45 AM, N Florida Mike said:We had a long thread on this earlier in the year so Im not sure if I already told this one or not.
I took a friend's teenage son bass fishing.As it began to get dark we started seeing bats.He made the comment that he was really scared of bats.I explained how this kind just ate insects so no big deal etc.
It wasn't 15 minutes later than that,when a bat flew between his line and rod and GOT STUCK ! He didn't notice because he was focusing on fishing.The bat struggled and freed himself just before David turned and would have seen it.I said Hey man ,a bat was stuck on your rod.He just turned and kept fishing.I think he thought I was pulling his chain.
In all my years of fishing he's the only one who said he was scared of bats and it was the only time I ever saw this happen.
I don't know about your experience, but when flocks of bats are feeding together, the fishing is usually phenomenal.
bonzai22 reply :
I have 2 really strange stories that come to mind. The first one me and my friend were wading a creek below a spillway. We found a big heron that had gotten caught in fishing line attached to a tree and broke his wing in half. He was still wrapped up in the line so me and my friend worked our way close enough to him. I had a net to hold out just in case he tried to attack us which he didn't. My friend was able to cut him free so at least he had a chance of survival. The other story me and a friend were at a power plant lake a few hours away. We were fishing when we saw a green snake swimming by our boat. He started freaking out because he doesn't like snakes and tried to get away with the trolling motor. We lost sight of him so we thought he had just disappeared. So hours later we packed up and left and went to cracker barrel on the way home probably an hour in. As we get out of the car he starts freaking out again. I see the green snake's head sticking out of the boat motor. I took the motor cover off and he was coiled around the motor. I have no idea how he stayed in there with the boat running and the hour car ride but it was pretty crazy. I got him out of the motor and let him go luckily green snakes are not at all aggresive.
the reel ess reply :
Last fall I had an owl try to take my topwater bait on two consecutive casts in daylight. It flew across the cove and swooped down and landed. Then it came back the opposite way. I had to yank it away both times. If I was a Darling on The Andy Griffith Show I might have been a little superstitious about that occurrence.
My dad and I caught the same fish once. It bit my worm, I let the rod tip down and set the hook. I said "I got one!" and my dad said "Me too!" We reeled up the same 1 lb bass.
My buddy, who is a smallish guy, was fishing a public place when a car stopped beside the road and a big guy got out of the passenger side and the car drove off. Big Guy walked up to my buddy and asked him if he was doing any good. He said no. The guy asked my buddy if he had any money and he said no. My buddy said the guy just stood next to him for an uncomfortable length of time and finally just walked off down the road. My friend said he thought Big Guy was just standing there deciding if it was worth the trouble to try to rob him and finally thought better of it.
My dad and I saw a fish basket (trap) in shallow water and went to investigate it. It took both of us to pull it up. When we did there were several dead catfish and a live softshell turtle in it. The turtle was thrashing so hard it threw dead catfish bits all over us. We stunk so bad we had to knock off fishing and head for the shower.
Gundog reply :
Snakes creep me out. Unfortunately one of the places I fished before I had a boat was loaded with copperheads. One side of the lake had some of the best fishing but also had a rock wall. I would climb down the rocks with my fishing pole in my teeth and my tackle box tied on a rope and slung over my shoulder. One day on the climb out I looked over to my left and there was a copperhead just a few feet from me. I've never climbed so fast in my life.
N Florida Mike reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 10:26 AM, slonezp said:About 20 years ago, I was shore fishing with my son in the Chicago River. A homeless guy covered in prison tats, was talking to himself and obviously hallucinating, acted out a crime scene shoot out with the police. I can guess it was probably something he had witnessed or lived thru. Was quite unsettling as, at times, he was withing 20 feet of us shouting at the top of his lungs. Honestly, I have no idea if he even knew we were there. We were below street level at 5:00am. Had something bad happened, there was no one around to witness or help. Mind you I've had plenty of dealings with the homeless over the years and I can handle myself. This guy was a special kind of scary.
I don't know about your experience, but when flocks of bats are feeding together, the fishing is usually phenomenal.
We have bats here nearly every evening in the summer, but I don't see any pattern with that and fishing here.
slonezp reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 11:07 AM, N Florida Mike said:We have bats here nearly every evening in the summer, but I don't see any pattern with that and fishing here.
I don't see many bats locally. I get to Sturgeon Bay a few times a year. I've had it happen many times where I fished one night with swarms of bats and fish going crazy. The next evening no bats and slow fishing. I've also noticed while walleye and smallmouth fishing on the Wisconsin River where fishing was exceptional during the day with swarms of bats at night. Could be a moon thing, could be a barometric pressure thing, I doubt it's coincidence and never got into it enough to have actual evidence proving my theory.
N Florida Mike reply :
Talking about the homeless, I went surf fishing and before I could even get my stuff unloaded I was approached by a man and woman.With a story,and needing 2.37¢ for bus fare.So the man was covered with sand.I asked what happened and he said he just got beat up and as if on cue a third man showed up and just came walking slowly up like a zombie without the foot drag.So he walks up,looks in my truck,and grabs a rod holder and turns and walks off.I said Hey, bring it back .He keeps going.So I'm wondering if I want to fight over a rod holder or not.And have decided I will.The woman suddenly pipes up and says " bring it back!" He immediately spins around,comes back and drops it in the back of the truck and walks away.Never said a word.Im thinking " If there's one within a hundred miles they'll always find me "
I just loaded my stuff back up and went somewhere else.
slonezp reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 11:27 AM, N Florida Mike said:Talking about the homeless, I went surf fishing and before I could even get my stuff unloaded I was approached by a man and woman.With a story,and needing 2.37¢ for bus fare.So the man was covered with sand.I asked what happened and he said he just got beat up and as if on cue a third man showed up and just came walking slowly up like a zombie without the foot drag.So he walks up,looks in my truck,and grabs a rod holder and turns and walks off.I said Hey, bring it back .He keeps going.So I'm wondering if I want to fight over a rod holder or not.And have decided I will.The woman suddenly pipes up and says " bring it back!" He immediately spins around,comes back and drops it in the back of the truck and walks away.Never said a word.Im thinking " If there's one within a hundred miles they'll always find me "
I just loaded my stuff back up and went somewhere else.
When I was young and boatless, I spent many an evening fishing Chicago's lakefront for bass. Got to know most of the regular homeless population near Monroe Harbor and Diversey Harbor, and never got hassled, as most wanted a couple bucks or a beer. I never gave them either and they stopped coming around begging. These are 2 of the nicer harbors downtown. There are a number of harbors south of Burnham Harbor that are unsafe, especially at night.
wdp reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 11:27 AM, N Florida Mike said:Talking about the homeless, I went surf fishing and before I could even get my stuff unloaded I was approached by a man and woman.With a story,and needing 2.37¢ for bus fare.So the man was covered with sand.I asked what happened and he said he just got beat up and as if on cue a third man showed up and just came walking slowly up like a zombie without the foot drag.So he walks up,looks in my truck,and grabs a rod holder and turns and walks off.I said Hey, bring it back .He keeps going.So I'm wondering if I want to fight over a rod holder or not.And have decided I will.The woman suddenly pipes up and says " bring it back!" He immediately spins around,comes back and drops it in the back of the truck and walks away.Never said a word.Im thinking " If there's one within a hundred miles they'll always find me "
I just loaded my stuff back up and went somewhere else.
Ok, that really is strange. ?
Scott F reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 11:21 AM, slonezp said:I don't see many bats locally. I get to Sturgeon Bay a few times a year. I've had it happen many times where I fished one night with swarms of bats and fish going crazy. The next evening no bats and slow fishing. I've also noticed while walleye and smallmouth fishing on the Wisconsin River where fishing was exceptional during the day with swarms of bats at night. Could be a moon thing, could be a barometric pressure thing, I doubt it's coincidence and never got into it enough to have actual evidence proving my theory.
Bats, like fish, eat insects. When there is a big bug hatch going on on a river, the bats and the fish will both take advantage to eat the insects. If there is no bug hatch, the bats won't be by the river.
geo g reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 2:50 AM, 2tall79 said:I was fishing an oxbow off the Columbia River near Kalama on a summer day a few years ago. It was midday and I hadn't had a bite in a couple hours. I was half-heartedly throwing a 4" lizard into a row of 4 pilings that stretched all the way across the slough and eating a ham sandwich in between casts. I noticed out on the main river a huge cargo ship making it's way upriver. About 5 minutes after the ship had passed, the water in the outer bay rose 2 to 3 feet and water started gushing through the pilings turning the water white. I caught 4 good fish in the next ten minutes and then the water returned to normal and the bite was off. It was like those fish knew that was going to happen from time to time and they were ready to take advantage of anything that rush of water would wash out of those pilings. I've been back a few times but could never duplicate those conditions again.
I fished with a guy that loved it when boats would pass close to us while we fished. I would say, why would you like these guys passing within casting distance of our boat. His answer, The waves stir up the bait fish, bugs, and little critters that live in the weeds along the bank. This rings the dinner bell for the bass, things are going to get good now!
Preytorien reply :
I can only think of one weird thing. This last summer I had some time off and took the kayak out in a small pond near my house. It was dead calm conditions and I started throwing a Whopper Plopper as soon as the sun came up. I had some good success in more ways than one. I was throwing parallel to the bank with my kayak resting against the bank edges in very shallow water, and as I reeled in one fish, it must've scared another that was in the shallow water, because it jumped clear out of the water and INTO my kayak! It wasn't big, pretty small, but it's the first time I've had a fish just jump in. So I guess it was two fish caught at once, with only one of them being hooked.
Can't say that'll ever happen to me again.....
the reel ess reply :
On 1/3/2017 at 1:31 PM, geo g said:
I fished with a guy that loved it when boats would pass close to us while we fished. I would say, why would you like these guys passing within casting distance of our boat. His answer, The waves stir up the bait fish, bugs, and little critters that live in the weeds along the bank. This rings the dinner bell for the bass, things are going to get good now!
Fish are captives in their environments and can get used to anything that doesn't kill them. There's a video on YouTube of Captain Shane fishing in the Everglades as airboats go by and he continues to catch fish right where the boats passed over. I recall just slaying the bass on a bank one day as a ski boat pulled skiers through a bouy course over and over. We had a hard time keeping our distance from the bank, but it was worth it.
I think about this when I see trash like chairs, sunken boats or dock parts in the water. Fish don't know that's trash. It's habitat.
Snipe Hunter reply :
Somewhere around 1980, I was with my fishing buddy John and we hiked (sneaked) into a private pond in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Ca. It was either spring, winter or fall because it doesn't rain in the summer there. A heavy cloud cover rolled into the area and just sat there. It was dark and misty and getting darker. I had just bought a boron spinning rod and this was the first time using it. Anyway, I had what I thought was a muscle spasm run up my right arm and I heard a beep. It happened a few times. Then I switched the rod to my left hand and it happened to my left arm but no beep.
It got even darker when my friend John said he saw what looked like an electrical arc at the tip of the rod. So I watched. Then I saw it too. I don't exactly know what was happening but the cloud was discharging current and using my new boron rod and me as a lightening rod. I had a digital watch on and it would beep when I got shocked. I don't understand it and most folks wouldn't believe it but it was a strange thing that happened while fishing. John always used a glass Fenwick rod and he wasn't getting shocked.
RichF reply :
I've had a few cool things happen on the water.
I was flipping a huge milfoil bed on the St. Lawrence River during a tournament and got caught on some 60lb braid. While hand-lining it in I felt something heavy on the end which turned out to be about a 6 pound smallmouth! It jumped right next to the boat and spit the tiny hook/6in wacky rigged senko before we could get the net under her.
I came across a 3 pound largemouth belly up that looked really fresh, like it just croaked a few minutes prior. I rolled it over and it had a huge crappie lodged in this mouth sidways. I pulled the crappie out and the little sucker darted off. I held the bass upright for a minute and he took off as well!
Last summer I was fishing a small river in my boat and had a black bear pop up out of the water about 20 yds from where I was, hopped up on shore and ran off into the woods. Scared the crap out of me.
Jon P. reply :
once while fishing at a flooded quarry a little one pounder bass slammed the spinnerbait I was fishing and the second he did so a gator pike, the biggest one I had ever seen comes plowing towards my fish in under a foot of water and plows the little bugger. it ripped the fish off the hook and chased it in circles before cornering it by a sunken bulldozer and swallowed it whole.
Senko Junkie reply :
This isn't too strange but my fishing partner and I had this family of ducks following us for at least 3 hours while we fished an entire feeder creek one Saturday.
scaleface reply :
I was trailering my boat to a tournament . It was dark and a deer ran out in front of me . I hit the brakes and a second deer jumped in my boat . I came to a complete stop and saw it flop to the highway through my rear view mirror . I put the van in park and got out , the deer was gone . There was blood and hair all in my boat and the upholstery had several rips and holes from the deer's hooves .
side note , I limited out and placed 2nd .
the reel ess reply :
On 1/5/2017 at 3:09 AM, Senko Junkie said:This isn't too strange but my fishing partner and I had this family of ducks following us for at least 3 hours while we fished an entire feeder creek one Saturday.
Expecting to get fed probably.
CTBassin860 reply :
Sometimes when the bite is slow the turtles like to chase my frog around.So I catch myself playing fetch with the turtles for a half hour.
I also have a habit of catching bullfrogs with the pad crasher.Cannibalistic frogs
scaleface reply :
On 1/4/2017 at 10:13 AM, Snipe Hunter said:Somewhere around 1980, I was with my fishing buddy John and we hiked (sneaked) into a private pond in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Ca. It was either spring, winter or fall because it doesn't rain in the summer there. A heavy cloud cover rolled into the area and just sat there. It was dark and misty and getting darker. I had just bought a boron spinning rod and this was the first time using it. Anyway, I had what I thought was a muscle spasm run up my right arm and I heard a beep. It happened a few times. Then I switched the rod to my left hand and it happened to my left arm but no beep.
It got even darker when my friend John said he saw what looked like an electrical arc at the tip of the rod. So I watched. Then I saw it too. I don't exactly know what was happening but the cloud was discharging current and using my new boron rod and me as a lightening rod. I had a digital watch on and it would beep when I got shocked. I don't understand it and most folks wouldn't believe it but it was a strange thing that happened while fishing. John always used a glass Fenwick rod and he wasn't getting shocked.
You're lucky to be alive .
I was fishing 1/4 ounce tubes at Bull Shoals , there was a thunder storm approaching and I was trying to get one last cast in . As the tube was sinking , there was a big arc in my line heading skyward . I got off the water immidiately .
ww2farmer reply :
The strangest things that have ever happened to me are, in no particular order:
#1: Sunny warm fall day, my seasonal allergies were kicking my butt, and I only had Benadryl in the boat. Knowing full well it makes me sleepy, I took it anyways. I was at the south end of the lake, got bit off by a pike, trolling motored out a ways off the spot to sit down and re-rig.......................next thing I know it's several hours later when I wake up and am almost at the north end of the lake. I make sure I have non-drowsy allergy meds. with me at all time from that point on.
#2: Hot summer day, I was up tight to the bank behind a point frogging and punching some slop, and shade that usually hold some good fish during the heat of the day, they didn't seem to be there that day, so I come around the point to hit the deeper water grass line on the other side, and the row of floating swim docks that are anchored over deep water. On one of the swim docks were two very attractive collage age young ladies sunbathing...........not an uncommon sight around here.............except they were buck neckid, and seemingly un-bothered by me. Let's just say I was more shocked then they were, and I quickly pulled up the TM and got the heck out of there before I made a fool of myself.
#3: Doing a drift and drag for smallmouth in the fall, when I hook into a hard fighting fish.......or so I thought. It was a flip-flop covered in zebra muscles. I hooked by the strap and evidently the water resistance, and flip flopping it did made it feel like a decent fish.
#4: Windy crappy day in the fall............the clouds break and the sun comes out and gets real warm, real fast. I take my rain coat off and spread it out on the back deck to dry off. Then the wind picks up and takes my coat with it. I didn't even know it was gone for a long time. I went to pull up the TM and move and seen it was gone, I idled around looking for it in the general area I lost it, but it was no where to be found. A week or so later, I am cranking over some submerged milfoil..............ABOUT 2 MILES AWAY from where I lost the coat and hooked into it. And other than a few bugs stuck to it, and a treble hook poke hole it was good as new. I still have and wear it to this day.
3rdDon reply :
I haven't been fishing all too long, so the only thing I've encountered was an angry old woman on a golf cart. A local golf course here has a few ponds that are open to fish. I called the clubhouse to verify before driving out there.
Anyhoo, my cousin and I are standing on the bank minding our own business when all the sudden I hear the whine of an electric cart and the hen-like noise of an angry woman quickly approaching. She gets up about 10' from us and stops. Screaming that we cant be there because we'll disrupt the golfers. We both look around and there's not a single golfer in site. I say, "yes ma'am, we'll be sure to stay out of their way". She then starts to drive away and yells "good because I'm calling the police!". We laughed it off, but also left the area pretty quickly since my cousin was breaking a few laws unbeknownst to me until then.
the reel ess reply :
On 1/5/2017 at 3:26 AM, MassBassin508 said:Sometimes when the bite is slow the turtles like to chase my frog around.So I catch myself playing fetch with the turtles for a half hour.
I also have a habit of catching bullfrogs with the pad crasher.Cannibalistic frogs
Your post reminds me I caught a turtle lsat summer. Not really unusual on live bait, but this was on the back hook of a Spook. This is one of my favorite topwaters, so I tried hard to get the hook back but it broke that prong of the trebles off and I dropped the turtle.
Snipe Hunter reply :
On 1/5/2017 at 3:30 AM, scaleface said:You're lucky to be alive .
I was fishing 1/4 ounce tubes at Bull Shoals , there was a thunder storm approaching and I was trying to get one last cast in . As the tube was sinking , there was a big arc in my line heading skyward . I got off the water immidiately .
Fortunately, I had another rod and the boron sat idle till the storm passed. I'm pretty sure it was an old Skyline Graphite rod which wasn't quite as conductive as the boron.
Mosster47 reply :
I've had all kinds of birds take my anchovies off my line salmon fishing, so that's not too weird. I accidentally hooked a pelican in mid-air casting a 14ft surf rod. That was interesting.
I've seen a few Ospreys dive to their death. They would go down for a planter in a shallow area. Our reservoirs had a really dark green grass that would totally cover the bottom on flats. They would free fall down at what would have to be close to terminal velocity into a couple feet of water.
The oddest thing I've seen was we were back in the river section of a local mountain reservoir and they had clear cut that year all the way down to the water, but it was summer and it was low so there was about a 20ft cut bank. It's the middle of summer and dead calm. We hear something crashing though the forest and these four deer come running out of the tree line. Three go up and across the unit, the fourth one goes down and just flies off that cut bank into the water at full speed. I've seen deer swim a bunch of times, but this thing looked like a stunt man going into the water.
Hurricane reply :
Was fishing at a pond and felt burning on my leg.. Thought it was maybe a pricker bush or something.. Looked down and saw about 10 bees stinging my leg... Threw my rod and started running around.. they were all over me.. It was nuts... Got stung probably around 20 times... Beer and Benedryl took care of it...
Sam reply :
I have been giving this thread a lot of thought and I can't seem to remember anything "funny" or out of the ordinary while fishing.
I must be concentrating on my presentation too much and am missing a lot of things going on around me.
The funniest things I have seen are at the ramp when others launch and trailer their boats. As I have said before, if you have a local ramp near by and nothing to do on a weekend in the summer, take a chair, cooler, umbrella and sit back and enjoy the show.
IndianaFinesse reply :
On 1/6/2017 at 12:23 AM, Chris. said:Was fishing at a pond and felt burning on my leg.. Thought it was maybe a pricker bush or something.. Looked down and saw about 10 bees stinging my leg... Threw my rod and started running around.. they were all over me.. It was nuts... Got stung probably around 20 times... Beer and Benedryl took care of it...
Ouch. Once I was hiking though the woods in Michigan to fish a secluded lake, and around lunch time I came across a little clearing and decided to take a break and eat lunch. So I sat down, took my bacback full of gear off, and started eating. Problem was I didn't notice that the clearing was full of fire ant holes, tons of them. I was sitting down eating a sandwich when the first fire ant bit me, so by that time I was covered with them. I had fire ants on my legs, up my shorts
, on my arms, all over me. I ripped my clothes off while running as fast as I could out there, while screaming and cursing. It would have been funny to watch, and it's funny now, but it sure as heck wasn't at the time.
scaleface reply :
On 1/6/2017 at 2:48 AM, IndianaFinesse said:Ouch. Once I was hiking though the woods in Michigan to fish a secluded lake, and around lunch time I came across a little clearing and decided to take a break and eat lunch. So I sat down, took my bacback full of gear off, and started eating. Problem was I didn't notice that the clearing was full of fire ant holes, tons of them. I was sitting down eating a sandwich when the first fire ant bit me, so by that time I was covered with them. I had fire ants on my legs, up my shorts
The Benny hill theme song was playing in my head while reading this .
IndianaFinesse reply :
On 1/6/2017 at 2:50 AM, scaleface said:The Benny hill theme song was playing in my head while reading this .
Benny hill? Never heard of that show.
wdp reply :
On 1/6/2017 at 2:51 AM, IndianaFinesse said:Benny hill? Never heard of that show.
It's an old British comedy variety type show. It's pretty funny. Benny Hill was the comedian.
Choporoz reply :
I had an eight inch long baby bass swim off my port quarter while I worked a shoreline for over half a mile. Stayed about three feet from the boat the entire time....occasionally swimming up to check out my retrieving lure...and then returning to his place off the back corner of the boat....crazy....guess he was drafting
wdp reply :
On 1/6/2017 at 2:09 AM, Sam said:I have been giving this thread a lot of thought and I can't seem to remember anything "funny" or out of the ordinary while fishing.
I must be concentrating on my presentation too much and am missing a lot of things going on around me.
The funniest things I have seen are at the ramp when others launch and trailer their boats. As I have said before, if you have a local ramp near by and nothing to do on a weekend in the summer, take a chair, cooler, umbrella and sit back and enjoy the show.
This jogged my memory. A buddy & I were fishing on Father's Day when a guy & his 2 teenage sons show up and launch at the ramp for what was obviously a father & son Father's Day outing. This was an old gravel ramp & the water was low so it was easy to get the back tires down in the mud where the gravel ended. They fished a while & headed back in while my buddy & I continued to fish nearby the ramp.
And of course, they got stuck once the boat was trailered & they went to pull off. We must've chuckled for near 30 mins watching them try to get their truck outta the mud. I'd have offered assistance but had no rope or anything in my truck to help pull em out. Not even sure my lil 4 cyl Ford Ranger woulda been up to the task.
They cussed & hollered the whole time. The highlights were when 1 of the sons yelled to his Dad who was spinning the tires non-stop. Dad! Dad! Stop!!! You're just making it worse. The dad got out yelling at the top of his lungs, I knew it! I knew it! I knew something like this was gonna happen! To this day, my buddy & I yell "I knew it!" as a sort of catch phrase. ?
d-camarena reply :
I was fishing in a creek, i got a bite and set the hook on a bass that looked around 2 pounds. As i was about to grab it out of the water a snake comes out of the water and grabs it from the tail.
RIP bass, i wasnt gonna fight that snake. I watched helplessly as dragged it into the water, later i saw the snake appear with the bass in its mouth on the other side of the creek and ate it.
DrMarlboro92 reply :
On 1/2/2017 at 10:18 AM, wdp said:I had an egret swoop down & pick up the Spro frog I was fishing. It flew up about 20 ft before I kinda snatched back a little and my frog plopped back down into the water. I had to reel it back in real fast as it tried to swoop down & take it again.
You know this type of thing happens a lot more than you would think. I've caught a loon, and great blue heron.... I've never managed to get my baits back though.
wdp reply :
On 1/6/2017 at 3:57 PM, DrMarlboro92 said:You know this type of thing happens a lot more than you would think. I've caught a loon, and great blue heron.... I've never managed to get my baits back though.
Wow. Well, that was my fear which is why I kinda gently popped back my rod hoping the hooks wouldn't get the bird's foot. Luckily, my frog popped out. When he came down for that 2nd pass at it, I was gonna make sure he didn't get it again.
Lunker plucker reply :
My wife and I were out fishing and had been on the lake for a few hours it was mid summer and hot so I had anchored the boat near the shore to get in the shade of the overhanging trees to take a break and re-tie some tackle. My wife picked up my zebco 33 rigged with a live worm and a cork; I typically bring it along in case nothing else is really bitting. So there we sat me re-rigging poles while she fished. I was about half way through with what I was doing when I looked up and saw my wife with the Rod she was using nearly bent all the way down to the water. "You get hung on some timber?" was the fist thing I asked with a smirk. That smirk quickly vanished as the line began to scream off the reel. She quickly handed the rod to me and I immeditly felt how much weight was on the other end. 12 mins later I finally got to see it, she had hooked into a 28lb grass carp. It was a heck of an experience
bassinhole reply :
Had an owl pick up my Super Spook Jr. 3 times one day. He was convened it was edible. I'm glad the owls feet didn't have any soft tissue to hook.
Also had a sparrow fly right into my line on a cast. (Worst Birds Nest Ever)
bassinhole reply :
One more... When I was about 11 I went snook fishing with my dad near a spillway which was flowing rather quickly. When he got a blowup behind his topwater plug he totally quit paying attention to the current/trolling motor as he got ready to set the hook. Needless to say the boat drifted swiftly into piling and he toppled out and broke his rod. As he was struggling to get back in the boat, like a good son, I grabbed the broken rod from him and landed the fish.
It never occurred to me why he would be so upset at me when he got back in the boat. It was a good catch!
DrMarlboro92 reply :
On 1/6/2017 at 9:42 PM, wdp said:Wow. Well, that was my fear which is why I kinda gently popped back my rod hoping the hooks wouldn't get the bird's foot. Luckily, my frog popped out. When he came down for that 2nd pass at it, I was gonna make sure he didn't get it again.
Yeah when I hooked mine the loon skated across the water and dove on my paddle tail that i was throwing over a school of shad, and I tried popping it free and when I did the leader snapped up close to his bill from the looks of things. The heron scooped up a spook and I knew then and there it was gone and I thought about pulling it to me but i was worried jerking him out of the air might be too hard on it and couldn't figure out what I would do once I got him there so I cut it off. I felt extremely bad for the birds in both situations. Someone needs to start a "What to do when a bird takes your lure" thread.
IndianaFinesse reply :
On 1/7/2017 at 7:53 AM, DrMarlboro92 said:"What to do when a bird takes your lure"
Fight him for it.
scaleface reply :
I was night fishing for channel cats in the middle of a reservoir . The bats were drawn in by the bugs attracted by the light . I kept feeling the bats hit my line . I guess one of them actually bit it because when I set the hook on a fish the line failed a few feet from the tip .
pondbassin101 reply :
The only thing that comes to mind thats kind of strange is that iv'e caught snapping turtles on senkos and spinners and catfish on square bill cranks
Largemouth21 reply :
One time i was fishing a live sucker in a river mouth because a huge pike kept flopping (I think it was a pike but I cant be sure) A seagull came down and grabbed the sucker and took off with it. At first i thought i had a big fish and set the hook but then realized it was a seagull. It took off and started pulling my line out, i didnt want to lose all my line but there were people everywhere and the game wardens patrol the place too. So i started reeling the bird in and fighting it like a fish. By then there was a bunch of people watching. Finally the bird let go of the sucker and flew away. That was my weirdest day! Though that was a long time ago
BigSkyBasser reply :
This happened last year while we were driving from one spot to another. The area we were fishing is littered with deer so you will see them all day long. My girlfriend yelled at me to stop because she thought she saw something strange with these deer like a cute fawn or something. When I backed up so I could see the clearing they were in, we see these two deer keeping close company with this turkey. At one point they were even laying down with this enormous bird as if they'd raised it from birth. We spend nearly every weekend up here and had never seen something this bizarre.
Then as if nature couldn't get weirder, we pull up to this dredge pond we like fishing and I hear this strange shrieking sound coming from behind a point around the other side of the pond. We walked around to this end and found an enormous bald eagle dive bombing a great blue heron, and the heron would scream at it when it came close to it's fishing spot it had secured on a log. I regrettably couldn't find the pictures we took of the birds fighting.
WTnPuddleJumper reply :
fishing one of our many river runs in my neck of the woods, I was bank fishing one day with a spinnerbait throwing around cypress trees and knees. I hung a quality 3 lb largemouth to realize my braid was riding a top a cypress knee which eventually cut a trench in the wood during the fight. I tried to wrestle the fish over the knee but the the fish slid right up the side of the knee and then my line broke. So there I am standing on the bank with a quality fish hanging off of this knee (I didn't want the fish to die) So I tied on another spinnerbait and tried to flip it over to the knee to hopefully pull the fish off of the knee. 1st attempt my bait went past the knee so as I was reeling back in another good bass hit the bait and I reeled him in. After a few more attempts I pitched it right in his mouth, hooking him with a 2nd spinner bait. After a few jerks the fish was freed and I got my spinnerbait back.
the reel ess reply :
On 2/16/2017 at 3:20 AM, WTnPuddleJumper said:fishing one of our many river runs in my neck of the woods, I was bank fishing one day with a spinnerbait throwing around cypress trees and knees. I hung a quality 3 lb largemouth to realize my braid was riding a top a cypress knee which eventually cut a trench in the wood during the fight. I tried to wrestle the fish over the knee but the the fish slid right up the side of the knee and then my line broke. So there I am standing on the bank with a quality fish hanging off of this knee (I didn't want the fish to die) So I tied on another spinnerbait and tried to flip it over to the knee to hopefully pull the fish off of the knee. 1st attempt my bait went past the knee so as I was reeling back in another good bass hit the bait and I reeled him in. After a few more attempts I pitched it right in his mouth, hooking him with a 2nd spinner bait. After a few jerks the fish was freed and I got my spinnerbait back.
Mad skills
On 1/6/2017 at 2:59 AM, wdp said:It's an old British comedy variety type show. It's pretty funny. Benny Hill was the comedian.
That song's named Yackety Sax.
mixel reply :
My partner and I were in his boat working a rocky bank and we slowly trolled around a point. On the other side was a small sandy cove. And in that cove was a beautiful mid 20-ish girl, fully nude, posing in front of a similar aged photographer. Almost as if we were reading each others minds, my partner and I remained as quiet as possible for the same reason, to get a longer look before they notice us. 
They didn't notice us for a bit and then finally the photog looked up and scrambled to get a jacket for her. They hid behind some rocks until we motored out of there. 
NYWayfarer reply :
I was bank fishing once when I noticed a wake heading my way. As it got closer I was able to see through the clear water that it was a muskrat swimming underwater right towards me.
I took a few steps back ready to run if it came out of the water but just as it reached the waters edge it disappeared. Upon closer examination it had went into an underwater entrance to its den which I was standing over the whole time.
Wayne P. reply :
A couple of unusual incidents I can think of involving bears:
Was heading back to the ramp on an electric-only lake and as I got near the ramp area I heard someone yell "there is a bear behind you". I stopped and turned around, saw it swimming along about 20 yards away, and it changed direction and swam back to the shore. After I got to the ramp and got my vehicle back to the ramp, the bear was swimming across the lake again and stopped on an island. I got my video camera and filmed it leaving the island going to the opposite shore.
Another lake I kept hearing a lot of splashing and went in that direction and saw a bear on top of a beaver hut. Two beavers were swimming back and fourth out from the hut smacking their tails on the water to try to scare the bear away. The bear noticed me and ran away. I then could hear some beaver pups calling from the hut.
Another one involving a beaver. I was fishing along a shore line with a topwater plug and a beaver surfaced, ran into my line and that pulled the lure into it. The hooks stuck and the beaver kept going submerging and surfacing splashing its tail occasionally with me following it with a tight line. After about 100 yards, we got away from shore, I got around to the opposite side where the lure was and it pulled loose.
UPSmallie reply :
This was more of a lack of common sense, but one time my cousin and I were fishing at my Uncle's lake in his johnboat with a trolling motor. Had done well on catching the bass along the weed edge, but decided we wanted to start fishing the other side of the lake not even a quarter of the mile away. Turned on the trolling motor and for whatever reason the propeller would barely spin. We were moving literally 1 inch forward per 5-7 seconds. Sat in the boat for about 35 minutes and had covered about 50 feet of water. Finally I looked down and somehow the boat's battery connection was loosened up. Screwed around with it and we then reached the other side of the lake in less than 2 minutes. Felt pretty dumb at the time, but pretty funny looking back.
cgolf reply :
I have had many.
The eriest is having musky stick their head up out of the water enough to swim around and eyeball you.
Coolest was hearing a noise behind me and turning around to see an eagle swoop down and grab a perch off the water near the boat, it was louder than you would think with its wings putting on the breaks.
Funniest was watching a turtle try to go up a small spillway to move up the river only to continue to wash back down. The crazy part was watching him, it actually looked like he was having fun and gave up trying to move on and was just enjoying the ride.
The I almost had to run home for a new pair of shorts moment. I was fishing on a very foggy morning around dawn from shore where I could see out 10 feet max on the river. Well as the fog was lifting a bit and I casted to a spot I had already casted to many times I saw what looked at first like a person standing in the river. Scared the snot out of me, but turned out to be a Blue Heron. I was very lucky that day that I didn't hit the Heron with one of my casts.
Last_Cast reply :
Was fishing with my buddy and something nudged our boat really really hard.
We checked around us to see what was going on, but everything was clear..
Still wonder what it was
spencer12 reply :
Nothing too bad. Here's a few:
I saw my buddy catch a water moccasin on a junebug senko.
Caught a 3.5 foot alligator on a topwater frog.
I set the hook on a machine gun bite and lost my worm, I figured it was a bream. About 5 minutes later (Same buddy as above) caught a bass with my worm still in its mouth.
Fishing in a small 100 acre lake in south ga in about 17 foot of water in the summer, I kept seeing something come up to the surface and making a hissing or sucking noise. I thought it was a turtle but then I saw what looked like a lamprey or something similiar come up grab some air and go back down. ( I still have no idea what it was)
I used to fish the Suwannee River with my grandparents as a kid for panfish (They were very serious panfisherman), and I'm honestly certain my grandparents both caught state record red breast sunfish or "Redbellies" as we called them. This was before I knew about records. I watched them pull many of those little basketballs from that river, I miss that.
I was fishing another lake that I had fished with my father as a kid. I hadn't been in close to a decade. So I decided to go one Monday morning. I arrive at daylight and I have the place to myself. Apparently the lake was taken over by hydrilla unbeknownst to me. So as it's cracking day I'm puddling along, dredging through hydrilla that is lodging up my trolling motor ( I'm in a 14ft jon boat) I'm sticking my hands in the water pulling it out, and splashing about. As the sun starts peering up about 50 yards in front of me staring at me is about a 10ft alligator. Alligators do not bother me at all, but this one made me nervous. If he wanted to get me out of the boat he could have.
jimf reply :
Like most everyone I've had my share. I caught a bat, but that was fly fishing for trout, and that's actually not that uncommon.
One time I really got the heebie-jeebies - I was fishing a river at night and hooked into what I'm pretty sure was an eel, and it was huge - 3-4' maybe. It was dark with just a little bit of lighting so I can't be sure. At first I thought it was a carp I foul hooked, it was heavy but didn't fight all that much. I probably had it 20 feet from me when it finally came up and rolled the surface and in the dark river it looked something straight out of a horror movie. I fought it for another minute and saw it come up again to the surface and cut the line. I'm not ashamed of it either. I had convenient place to beach it, I wasn't sure what it was or if it could bite me or spear or lord knows what, so just enough of this and let them go.
wdp reply :
On 3/21/2017 at 3:07 AM, jimf said:Like most everyone I've had my share. I caught a bat, but that was fly fishing for trout, and that's actually not that uncommon.
Whoa whoa whoa! You caught a bat, and that's not uncommon? ?
RMax reply :
My first ever fish on a fly rod got ripped off of the hook by 5 pound largemouth
One time, I was in Chippewa Falls sitting in the cabin we were staying in and saw a big bald eagle swoop down and grab a fish. It started to fly up and was immediately dragged back down into the water. It must have grabbed onto a giant pike, because for the next few minutes, it couldn't get off the water surface until it went around the corner nod dragged whatever it was into the reeds on shore.
jimf reply :
On 3/21/2017 at 3:44 AM, wdp said:Whoa whoa whoa! You caught a bat, and that's not uncommon? ?
It's not unheard of that's for sure. I also caught a bird once in the same manner. The evening hatch will bring out the bats right at dusk, they are eating the same things the fish are it's just they are picking them out of the air instead of eating them as they have stumbled or fallen into the water. When you cast you throw the fly backwards and then forward at least once, maybe two or three times as you work line out so that fly is in the air for a bit. It's a weird feeling as the rod loads up all normal like, and then you start forward and the weight thing is just all messed up. Think of that sensation of picking up an empty can of beer when you think it's full, reverse that and x100 and that gives you an idea of what it feels like.
jimf reply :
The bat, the eel, and the other thing that happened which had a Rmax story kind of theme. Took a boy scout troop fishing/camping trip on private property, guy had two nice spring gin clear ponds with nice bass and bluegill. Kids caught on pretty quick that bluegill could become bait if you weren't in a hurry to reel them in, and one kid had a really nice bass - 5 lbs easy - attack the bluegill on his line. Had the fish(es) both near shore when they both broke off. Nighttime settles in, kids are doing the campfire thing so I decide to get a little fishing of my own in. Using a fly rod cast a big deer hair popper and I hook up with a big one, reel him in, and it was the same darn fish with that bluegill stuck still in it's gullet. Kids just loved it, they all have a story just like this that they can write about in a thread just like this.
I have a story about a topless sunbather too, but I'll keep that for later.
nameiztaken reply :
On 1/4/2017 at 10:13 AM, Snipe Hunter said:Somewhere around 1980, I was with my fishing buddy John and we hiked (sneaked) into a private pond in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Ca. It was either spring, winter or fall because it doesn't rain in the summer there. A heavy cloud cover rolled into the area and just sat there. It was dark and misty and getting darker. I had just bought a boron spinning rod and this was the first time using it. Anyway, I had what I thought was a muscle spasm run up my right arm and I heard a beep. It happened a few times. Then I switched the rod to my left hand and it happened to my left arm but no beep.
It got even darker when my friend John said he saw what looked like an electrical arc at the tip of the rod. So I watched. Then I saw it too. I don't exactly know what was happening but the cloud was discharging current and using my new boron rod and me as a lightening rod. I had a digital watch on and it would beep when I got shocked. I don't understand it and most folks wouldn't believe it but it was a strange thing that happened while fishing. John always used a glass Fenwick rod and he wasn't getting shocked.
"Only in Santa Cruz!" haha
On 1/5/2017 at 12:25 PM, Mosster47 said:I've had all kinds of birds take my anchovies off my line salmon fishing, so that's not too weird. I accidentally hooked a pelican in mid-air casting a 14ft surf rod. That was interesting.
I've seen a few Ospreys dive to their death. They would go down for a planter in a shallow area. Our reservoirs had a really dark green grass that would totally cover the bottom on flats. They would free fall down at what would have to be close to terminal velocity into a couple feet of water.
The oddest thing I've seen was we were back in the river section of a local mountain reservoir and they had clear cut that year all the way down to the water, but it was summer and it was low so there was about a 20ft cut bank. It's the middle of summer and dead calm. We hear something crashing though the forest and these four deer come running out of the tree line. Three go up and across the unit, the fourth one goes down and just flies off that cut bank into the water at full speed. I've seen deer swim a bunch of times, but this thing looked like a stunt man going into the water.
Haha! Those danged ospreys had it coming!
clark9312 reply :
A couple weekends ago I was just beating the bank and pulled up on a guy and girl..... I looked at my father in law and he said "are they doing what I think there're doing?" I couldn't help but to bust out laughing! They heard me and it embarrassed them. They pull their pants up real fast and just layed on that big rock starring up at the sky. I was having a hard time not laughing.
scaleface reply :
On 1/4/2017 at 10:13 AM, Snipe Hunter said:Somewhere around 1980, I was with my fishing buddy John and we hiked (sneaked) into a private pond in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Ca. It was either spring, winter or fall because it doesn't rain in the summer there. A heavy cloud cover rolled into the area and just sat there. It was dark and misty and getting darker. I had just bought a boron spinning rod and this was the first time using it. Anyway, I had what I thought was a muscle spasm run up my right arm and I heard a beep. It happened a few times. Then I switched the rod to my left hand and it happened to my left arm but no beep.
It got even darker when my friend John said he saw what looked like an electrical arc at the tip of the rod. So I watched. Then I saw it too. I don't exactly know what was happening but the cloud was discharging current and using my new boron rod and me as a lightening rod. I had a digital watch on and it would beep when I got shocked. I don't understand it and most folks wouldn't believe it but it was a strange thing that happened while fishing. John always used a glass Fenwick rod and he wasn't getting shocked.
Something similar happened to me . I was fishing a quarter ounce jig . After making a cast and letting the lure settle the line was in an arc shape up in the air . There was a storm coming but still miles away . I reeled in and headed back .
jimf reply :
The lightening stories really scare me. I'm usually one of the first off the water when bad weather comes in. The most dangerous lightening risk is often before you see any lightening or rain, right at the front of the storm.
The deer story where one went flying off of the bank would have been cool to see. Ever accidently sneak up on a bedding deer and not know it until you practically stepped on. That's a good test for the ol' ticker. I thought I was going to have a heart attack when thing jumped up and decided to bolt.
Snakes .. never caught one but I had a Fox Water Snake just fly past me when I was wading in the river and I swear it went right under my arm. I didn't care for that much either.
dnj21 reply :
Caught a Sea Gull as a teenager trolling in my canoe with a diving plug. Had NO idea of what I was going to do with it, fortunately it came off right before boatside. He was NOT happy.
Wife caught a snake once before we met, had some teenagers come unhook it for her. Fishing with her nephews, they thought it was awesome.
I have had snakes try to get in the boat, snagged fishing poles, watched Eagles pick up trout close to the boat and all sorts of interesting sights.
My best stories are from duck hunting though, wandering around the marsh in the dark. A Blue Heron spooked when you dont know its there sounds EXACTLY like something Stephen King would dream up....
SneakyPete reply :
https://weather.com/sports-recreation/video/angler-snags-bass-with-fish-in-its-mouth
THIS IS AMAZING
Mark Albert reply :
got a funny story from fishing down in Kissimmee FL. It was early morning, got my first line in the water. When my son pulls on my shirt jumping up and down saying"daddy I thought cats don't like water" so I turn to see what he's so excited about. And he's running after an otter ?
BigmouthForever23 reply :
One time I was fishing topwater with a zara spook. I had a hit and as I landed the fish, to my amazement it wasn't a bass, or even a pike...it was a catfish.
Jtrout reply :
Just had a osprey dive next to me and flew away with a 12 in palomino trout.
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