strangest things caught? 2025

Cravin reply :

I was curious to hear the odd things experienced or caught while fishing!

I seen someone hook a frog and another guy pull a fishing pole from the depths.

I pull in some broke off line with a live catfish still attached.

I'm sure this wont even scratch the surface of odd thing that have happen.

KYbassman67 reply :

Caught numerous box turtles, but recently caught a MONSTER soft-shell turtle off the bottom of the licking river with a hotdog, released with no problem luckily.

Also caught a large water moccasin snake :-? while wading in the rapids of the licking.

Muddy reply :

Jimmy Hoofa; Underneath the Brooklyn Bridge ;D

Grey Wolf reply :

Pulled out two rod and reels this summer in working condition.

bladeslinger reply :

Just like vintage cartoons, I reeled up a boot once. I couldn't stop laughing for about fifteen minutes ;D

Tom Bass reply :

I have caught (snagged) a variety of strange stuff over the years.

I caught a tire, a pair of shorts, a few junky fishing poles, lots of sticks...but the wierdest thing I ever caught was a small rock. This little rock had a little hole in it and my crank bait's hook found it. The rock now rests in my wife's little aquarium. The funny part about catching this rock was that my friend caught 9 bass that day and all I got was a rock....I felt like Charlie Brown at Halloween. ;D

Cousin Vinny reply :

My son caught an Oscar in the everglades last year while we were LMB fishing. The guide said most people have them as fish tank pets and then when they get too big, they releae them into the wild. Then odly enough while fishing with a friend this summer, he also pulled up an Oscar. They can get pretty big in a large body of water.

I caught a 24 inch snapping turtle this past spring and promtly cut the line before landing it.

I have caught a number of old Mack dump truck parts at an old gravel pit I use to fish as a youngster, to inlcude an old air cleaner, dash board parts, and a tire or two

KYntucky Warmouth reply :

My dad has hooked a beaver before.

kikstand454 reply :

ive caught a pelican.... and ive missed catching an owl several times with a buzz frog. ;D

T-rig reply :

;D ;D

T-rig reply :

I didn't catch this ;D but I think the pic is pretty cool! And I thought Switzerland is neutral. ;D

bassfisher2 reply :

I caught a 5 pound note while fly fishing in England a few years back.

A 6 foot turtle off the coast of Gambia on a prawn - after 20 minutes I cut the line , every time I thought I had him he would come up for air and then charge off revitalised !

MALTESE FALCON reply :

I don't think the deck of that aircraft carrier is long enough to get that FA-18 up and flying.LOL

Falcon

T-rig reply :

Quote
I don't think the deck of that aircraft carrier is long enough to get that FA-18 up and flying.LOL

Switzerland is a small country, so we use small aircraft carriers. ;D

Catt reply :

Manta birostris

bassinri reply :

I could have cought, if I dint jerk the lure away very fast, a seagull with my MS Slammer. Its happened more than once too. Just shows you how well they move.

fastcasterjo reply :

went to the beach this summer and caught a 3 foot eel, a skate, and I was fishing on a dock and I look down and me and my buddy saw two manatee swim underneath the dock. needless to say, we pulled in our lines pretty quickly. ;D ;D

T-rig reply :

Quote
Manta birostris

I hope not as big as this!

tritz18 reply :

A backpack. We wanted to open it hoping there was a stash of money in it but it was way to slimy and smelled terrible.

Skunked in DR reply :

A hat, a shopping cart and a seagull. I've luckily just avoided beavers and otters but both have come very close to getting snagged.

ejtaylor822 reply :

A turtle, old shirt, tree limb with three cranks in it and fishing line that when I pulled in had a chatter bait I had lost earlier in the year.

BassinAssassin171 reply :

A seagull, a 40 inch softshell turtle, several alligator snappers, a few rods, a catfish on a fly , several newspapers, a padlock, an old tacklebox...

but the best of all was when i snagged some fishing line that i pulled up to find attached to a jig which was still in the mouth of a 4 pound bass my friend had lost earlier that day ;D ;D ;D

underwraps1 reply :

Haha, I've only caught a shoe and a metal bar so far.

KU_Bassmaster. reply :

I caught at least 1 rod and reel for about 4 years straight. The streak ended this year .

One day a couple years ago while throwing a DD22 all day I brought up all sorts of stuff. Notables were a few old Coors cans and a pair of bra and panties. All were caught in about a 50 foot radius of one another. ;D

Andrew Coleman reply :

ive caught a foldable chair

baboosicbass08 reply :

Caught a pretty big snapping turtle a few years ago, and while fishing with some friends a few years ago i got snagged on something big and we went up the bridge to see if we could see what i was stuck on then we noticed i was hung up on a mongoose bicycle haha, guess i'll have to switch to heavier line next time i go there lol

DADto4 reply :

Over the years I also have snagged many things like fishing poles,beer cans,lots of old line,1 snapping turtle and a 5 #anchor with 50' of line that I still use today!

By far the strangest thing caught was by my wife.

We were trolling for stripers and she snagged a plano tackle wallet full of Strike King spinner baits!.....All in great shape!

flatbass reply :

A fish stringer with three rainbow trout.

TrippyJai reply :

Nothing strang, but there was this one time my rod fell into the water. I expected it to be gone forever, but I caught it after 2 hours of fishing. I was pretty surprised.

Tucson reply :

Caught two alligators in 2 years. Snagged one on a 1/4 oz ballhead jig, the other took a black senko and made a heckuva run before the line gave up.

firefightn15 reply :

Didn't catch him, but had a bald eagle dive for a crazy crawler I was flinging a few years ago. Mid air, I stopped the spool and yanked back really hard. I don't think he missed it by more than 5 feet. Glad he missed.

bass or bass ? reply :

One day while fishing off the Deerfield Beach fishing pier in Florida, I caught a seagull while casting a Mirro-lure. The gull caught it in mid air while on the cast. I had to fight it down out of the air. Nasty little son of a gun! Had to cut the line to keep from being bitten. Happy fishing.

~B.A.S.S.~N.A.F.C.~BoatU.S.~N.R.A.~A.M.A.~

Crumb reply :

I caught my buddies head once...he screamed like a little girl. Teach him to stand in the middle of the boat.

Danny1991 reply :

Quote
I caught my buddies head once...he screamed like a little girl. Teach him to stand in the middle of the boat.

LOL ;D ;D

Had a mallard duck chase my top water once and caught a T-shirt on a crankbait as well as a old fish basket. ;D

fivesixone reply :

;D ;D

B**** ate my friggin' brand new Bomber... :'(

little_stephen reply :

past the snake i caught the one time i just got another. i basically pulled myself & my canoe over to a HUGE branch that had sunk when i hung a jig on it just before it oo old to fish 2 weeks ago. I muscled the monster up outta 5feet or so of water to be suprised that the branch was longer than my canoe. THANK GOD FOR BERKLEY FIRELINE! that thing was a monster, i used another rod tip to bust my jig free and watched that big old branch sink down and turn up a ton of silt when it hit bottom! so i basically like to say that i reeled in half a tree! ;D

mrbassky reply :

Me and some buddies were fishing a small lake and one of my friends lost a good bass on a crankbait when it wraped him up around a tree. Later that week I caught the same bass. It still had his crankbait in its mouth (a shad rap to be exact). I got the crankbait out and gave it back to my friend. The bass weighed 3'8. I also caught several turtles, carp (on lures), frogs, salamanders, I also caught a cardboard cup holder you get a drivethru. When I pulled it went sideways and if I lost it I would have sworn it was a big bass.

fishinfiend reply :

I have caught a baby alligator, several alligator snapping turtles over 75#, 50# paddlefish, and I almost caught an owl on Sunday ;D

Bassboss reply :

A snapping turtle on a crank bait, after I got it in, it continued swallowing the crank bait!! Dumb @$$ turtles!! ;D

frogtog reply :

I think I posted this a few months ago. I caught a dead man that had been missing for three months. Then about two months ago I watched two plans run into each other and crash in the river about a quarter mile from me.

jbass reply :

The idea of a rock isn't strange but what happened while catching the rock. We were fishing Clear Lake here in California and fishing an area called Bass Alley, there is a really great break there. I was throwing a deep diving crankbait, when it stopped dead in it's tracks. I set the hook and the fight was on. What had happened the rock became dislodged from were it was at and started down the break, well I thought I had a world class fish on that bait it gave me everything I wanted and then some. Well long story short, my partner had the net ready and then we saw the rock. I did land it by the way. I was almost perfectly round an was covered with small holes and both treble hooks had a hold of it and it wasn't getting away. I venture to say it was probably 6 lbs, but it seemed much more during the "fight".

smcentee reply :

Much to my chagrin, I landed a bag of rocks. Apparently someone had tried to bait an area and used a plastic mesh bag, the type oranges are sold in, and filled the bag with rocks to make it sink. I snag this thing on the retrieve, reel in about a foot of line and my drag starts going crazy. I guess I had moved the bag enough to dislodge it, and the bag goes slidding into the abyss. Folks along the bank thought I was reeling in the monster of the day. There was quite a bit of laughter when the bag broke the surface.

The Rooster reply :

Hooked a white duck while fishing in a pond. Casted a nightcrawler and it got too near the duck and it came charging after it so he got hooked right in the tongue. I had to reel him in, hold him by the neck and cut the hook off to pull it out before letting him go again. He put up quite a fight until I got hold of his neck and then he was quiet as a mouse and fought no more. He was glad to get loose when I was done with him though.

Otherwise, I've caught a rock once in the same manner as others have said, had a small hole in the side and my hook hit it just right.

I reeled in a log once. Was several feet long, hooked it solid but it was giving fairly easily so I pulled on it until it came into view and saw what it was. I was disappointed, I thought I might have had a monster fish on that was too big to swim fast.

And of course, I've caught clothes before. Shirts, socks, shoes, swimsuits, panties......I don't think I've caught any pants yet though. ;D

grimlin reply :

Clam on a white spinnerbait.

fishfordollars reply :

Didn't catch it, but three ducks were flying toward me and as they got closer two veered off. The other kept coming and hit the water three feet from my boat stone dead. I netted him and he was shot up pretty bad. I threw him in the cooler. Don't remember what I ever did with him.

macmaster761 reply :

i caught a good sized chocolate labrador one time. We were trolling striper diving cranks, and pulled up on shore to stretch our legs from the long kayak paddle when the dog saw the moving crankbait attached to my rod and went for it. It got the hook right through the lip and the fight ensued...

BamaBassn78 reply :

Catfish on cranks, spinnerbaits. Caught a cooler with a Poe's I wasnt loosing that lure, the cooler put a good fight the hooks were dug in to the handles also several rods and reels. Lots of wood and rocks. Funny how the trebles find the holes in the rocks.

FivePoundBluegill reply :

Seagul while cat/carp fishing... what a fight.

2 Coots

1 Duck

about 5 turtles

sock

myself

Oscar in a community lake (ask for the pic)

Mayan Ciclid in another community lake(ask for pic)

Lobster while sea fishing

landing net

Marc reply :

Does this qualify?

Caught it dropshotting in 40 feet with a 4" worm, and a 3/8 oz QuickDrop!

Guess!

Sam reply :

Mark,

The fish qualifies if it is the only fish you have ever caught.

Crumb reply :

Marc...very nice Burbout. I didn't know they had tournaments for freshwater ling.

I would venture a guess that you caught that at Banks? I saw one of those cruising the shallows in one of the airport bays last year. Very strange fish indeed. Word on the water is they're very good eating.

Marc reply :

Yep, it is a big Burbot, aka Freshwater Ling; and yes, I caught it at Banks Lake during an ABA Bass Tournament. Metered the fish and dropped down to it, and was hoping it was a huge smallmouth. It was pretty disappointing to see it was a Burbot.

Seems I often make strange catches during bass tournaments. One TriCities tournament I actually caught a big carp on a Sammy topwater (in Chemical Bay). At another Columbia River tourney (Northwest Bass) I caught the World Record 6lb test line class walleye. At a Sammamish ABA (that I won with 22lbs of smallmouth) I also caught two nice catfish on my dropshot worm. Of course there are the 5 pound rainbows on crankbaits during tourneys (many do this) and the Potholes walleye I caught flipping a lizard. Once in So. CA I caught a 4 pound goggleeye goldfish on a crankbait, and in tidal river bass tournaments back in Delaware and Maryland I caught all manner of saltwater fish during bass tournaments. On Long Lake during a tourney I caught a huge crappie on a 5" Senko. I was also spooled on the Columbia when I was fishing a dropshot worm in 35 feet and a sturgeon took off with my bait. On another Willamette River tournament I caught a nice 22 pound Springer (King Salmon) on a 4" Green Pumpkin Flippin Tube! One of these days I'm going to write a magazine article about the crazy catches I have made over the years! ;D

ZeNoob reply :

Caught me a 3' scooby doo rod. Cleaned it up, greased it down, spolled it with 15lb line.

Crumb reply :

Quote
One of these days I'm going to write a magazine article about the crazy catches I have made over the years! ;D

That would make a great article.

Record 'eye on 6 lb test....how heavy would that be?....10-11lbs?

Muddy reply :

I caught these once, since it's a family site I can't give details. BLUE OINTMENT KNOCKED EM DEAD

Marc reply :

That 6lb test World Record Walleye weighed 13 pounds, 12 ounces. Caught it dropshotting in 27 feet of water, with a #4 Gamakatsu dropshot hook, 3/8 oz QuickDrop, and 4" worm. Line was 6lb test Sugoi Fluorocarbon on a Lamiglas TBS603 rod, Shimano Stradic Mg 2500 reel. It was fun.

roadwarrior reply :

WOW!

Now that's impressive...

Crumb reply :

I would like to second that...very impressive and outstanding pics Marc. Thanks for always sharing your insight and stories, not just on this site but where ever you have the chance. You are highly respected in this state and I hope to some day get a chance to meet you.

ilovefooffur reply :

Not sure about strange but I've caught two tagged fish: a bass w/ a $200 reward tag and a striper for nil. Boy was it fun!

CaptMikeStarrett reply :

A body in 1982 in DC Washington Channel.

Used a crome blue back rattle trap. Hooked him in the scalp and had to tie him to the boat and drag him to the Police station 100 yards away.

Capt Mike

J Francho reply :

My uncle reeled in a rotting dog carcass once. It was really horrifying.

Brute reply :

I caught the same exact fish 2 weeks in a row.

He had a rectangular bloody scar about 2" x 3" on his side.

Gator bite maybe?

It was good to see it healing the next week.

Brute

Jeremy D. reply :

I have caught some strange things be for but fish wise I have to say these are the wierdest inbreed fish, as you can tell by my face i dont even like to touch them cause they have these little bitty teeth. This is prob. the 4th one I have caught this one prob. being one of the smaller ones......Can any one guess what this is or am I the only one that didnt know till a couple years ago when I caught my first one on accident!!!!

J Francho reply :

Amia calva, or bowfin, dogfish, mudfish, etc.

Jeremy D. reply :

Not sure what the proper name is and even if there is a proper name its like a mix. Anyway people down here in alabama call it a Grenal or Grenoll (how ever you spell it)

J Francho reply :

No, its a legitimate species, and an ancient one at that. Grunnel is another name for them as well. They've been around a lot longer than bass, that is for sure. I catch a few every year. Hard to argue with a fish that fights well, and can approach 10#. The teeth are an issue, and they will try to bite you. I use a fish gripper that I bought for Northerns to land them, or you can just man up, and grab them behind the gills. Your fish was a female. Here is a small male in full breeding color:

------------------------------------------------

Here's a pic of an oddity my buddy caught a few weeks ago. It is a severely deformed brown trout, a big male at that, weighing in at over 7 lbs. This shot was taken straight on:

Korean Bassmaster reply :

I live in michigan and my strangest fishing story probly would be when i caught a dog fish on senko. and my friend also caught a dog fish on pop r. ive also have hooked a cotton mouth missouri!!!

Korean Bassmaster reply :

ya jermy d i live in michigan and we have them too, but we call em dog fish!

J Francho reply :

Google Search reveals:

I could go on....but i don't want to spoil your fun.

CWB reply :

A very angy muskrat.

Next would be a seagull.

Scott C reply :

caught a hooded sweatshirt up in WI a number of years back. Washed it and wore it for a long time!!!

Worst part was, there was some chapstick in the front pocket. well, when you ran it all the way out, you could see how far the water had penetrated. My dad, being an ever frugal father as we all know them, cut it off and used it until it was gone!!

Most recently I caught a 13 lb rock from the tailwaters of Wheeler, on Wilson. Lol....was supposed to catch smallies....didnt' work out so well. At least i didn't come home empty handed!

slonezp reply :

A push broom in Lake Michigan and a dead duck in Lake Guntersville

River Rat 58 reply :

i havent caught anything out of the ordinary but ive had birds land on my reel when i was fishing in the middle of the lake

bassmaster3000 reply :

The wierdest thing i have ever caught while fishing was a coot. that bird did not like me!!!

MichiganFisherman reply :

Wow, never seen anything like that pike J Francho! That would be crazy to reel that thing in!

Strangest things I've caught, which aren't too strange, are a big snapping turtle, a mirror carp, and a salmon with a big *** lamphrey attached to it (never seen one before).

Some of you guys have caught some strange stuff. Never would have thought anyone here has caught a dead body though!

Palmetto Fisherman reply :

I'm not sure I can do this story justice in writing but I will try.

I was a teenager fishing a local Friday local tourney with my dad. Earlier that week a group of kids, several of whom were close friends of mine were swimming in a local hole and jumping off a nearby bridge. Well one guy who was on my football team and a friend since we were literally 3 jumped off the bridge and never surfaced again. they had searched the water for a few days and as yet had no luck finding thee young man. The immediate area was roped off to keep boaters and lurchers away when the search party ended at dark. My dad had canceled his normal fishing partner just to get me out of the house and try and have a lil fun.

Here we are just after dusk maybe 200 yards away from the bridge on the second pier back in a small cove. Banging Texas rigged zooms off the bottom when I get a "bump" slightly rod tip move and another "bump" slam home the metal and start cranking...

Immediately I feel dead weight, shot it was brush, no NO its moving its fighting this is a fish and a MONSTER.

I'm cranking for all Im worth, this target is flopping back and forth fairly rythmically but slowly rising. Dad gets the net and prepares to land our money fish....just then as it breaks the water we both draw back as the large round bloated orange object starts to appear, I am instantly nauseous and nearly drop the rod.... a few more pulls and its surfaced again...I just knew I had caught the corpse of my friend...I know thi sounds morbid but it seemed like I had top pull it up whatever it was probably only 10 seconds after it first broke the water but they were agonizing hours in my mind as tears streaked down my face....

As I pulled it up and clear again, what i had caught was a medium sized orange bucket. not 5 gallon more like a mop bucket or something you would wash a car with, I was hooked into some cork type grip on the handle and I guess in retrospect as I pulled it up the bucket was flopping back and forth providing the fight. The color, shape and location and probably a bit of pent up emotion projected to make me think it was something else....but it was just an orange bucket. When we finally figured out what it was I literally was hysterical with laughter...not even sure why.

So thats my odd catch

[bTW the body was recovered a day or two later inside the roped off "search" area...just missed the first time]

Jason Schwartz reply :

the strangest fish i caught was caught yesturday. it was about a 2lb gizzard shad that i caught on a senko. the funny thing was it was hooked in the mouth like it tried to eat the senko lol

619bassman reply :

I've caught ducks, turtles, a seagull, and a bat on a topwater once. But the funniest by far was a glove that I caught by ( you guessed it) the middle finger, it was hilarious. my brother and I laughed for a good ten minutes.

bigbssr reply :

I caught a Buddist vase with Jewelery, money, and enuff rice for 2 meals 2 years ago in the ocean off of No. Cal, coast. I dono just fish.

Bass XL reply :

I caught a cat on at tow water frog. Scary, but all went well.

Other. reply :

I have never caught anything abnormal really. I have snagged a dead and decaying largemouth bass before, that was really nasty.

tiny reply :

I caught a rainbow trout with a panther martin coming out the other end (you know what I mean?) The lure was all rusted up and not pretty but it was there.

A 10# catfish on brown jig

A landlocked stealhead buck on a chrome/blue rattle trap in the Yorty Creek arm of Lake Sonoma

A bullfrog on a plastic worm fished on some weedbed

nacsa reply :

This shell was my stangest catch. The catches the head of the plastic fish

uiubassmaster reply :

Quote
Manta birostris

U caught a sting ray!?!?!?

You would be amazed at some of the junk u can pull up from the bottom of the mighty mississippi river.....

I've caught a number of usual and unusual things over the years, broken rods

mussles

a scummy old flannel shirt (luckily there was no one inside it)

random pieces of metal

my best friend sent a hook through the front of my shin on his back-cast once (d**n x-rap)

best thing i ever remember catch would have to be when i hooked a muskrat in the tail, luckily he freed himself boatside while thrashing in the water..... :-/

LCpointerKILLA reply :

roughly ten pound speckled trout

christopherjake reply :

I caught a girl who later became my girlfriend while fishing w/ some buddies. Unfortunately she released me after a couple of months. Oh well, there are more fish in the sea.

swilly78 reply :

A duck, he was not happy, and released himself about three feet from the shore. A few big mussels, and numerous snapping turtles. Also, the same stupid bullfrog twice in a row. you think after the first time he would have figured out that spro frog was not edible....

Fishing Rhino reply :

Does things I've "caught" during my commercial lobstering years on pot warp count? If so, here's a list.

Several anchors, some more than a hundred pounds.

Winch cable from draggers. Some New Bedford draggers empty the cable from their spools by streaming it out in Buzzards Bay on the way home. The stuff is an inch thick and all a hauler can do to raise it to the surface in 50 - 90 feet of water.

A main sail from a Hinkley Yacht, and a few days later, the sail bag for it.

Sections of railings from wrecks.

Boulders the size of fifty gallon drums when the line takes a hitch on them.

Dragger nets.

Gillnets

Comforters, yes the bedcovers.

Sea turtles

Basking sharks

A sunken runabout

Wood ship timbers

Thankfully, no human remains.

jack1 reply :

The weirdest thing I caught was a plastic shopping bag.

My bro-in-law's buddy caught a dead Hispanic guy in a river. That would have freaked me out!

rippin_lips reply :

Fishing Rhino: I heard this summer that a lobster man on the cape found not one but two dead bodies floating in cape cod bay, on two separate occasions. Thats just bad luck!

As for me, nothing strange freshwater, but did hook a lobster while fishing.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Well, I've caught all the typical animals such as turtles, gators, ect. and clothing such as shirts, shorts, ect.

Strangest tho would have to be the time my cousin and I caught 14 bull frogs on zoom centipedes. We took them home and ate frog legs for supper that nite. We actually hooked 16, but two of them broke our line after gators swam done the hooked frogs.

Mobydick reply :

Quote
Google Search reveals:

I could go on....but i don't want to spoil your fun.

I was just looking at that top photo a little closer, the one of the pike. The body of the smaller one is layed the wrong way...the head would have to be upside down. It could be a fake. If you pull out the gill on the larger one...you could place the smaller one inside the gill, then with the right camera angle, it would look real. If you look close and look at it long enough you will begin to think it's fake...I did.

Ian

Ineedanewscreenname20170204 reply :

Caught a condom in the Ohio river when I was a kid. Didn't enjoy getting it off the hook...

bass wrangler569 reply :

I was night fishing on a small lake in the poconos and hooked a beaver on a buzzbait. It wasn't happy.

UrbanRedneck reply :

Quote
... and a pair of bra and panties.

Did you smell them?

fishinfiend reply :

ku bassmaster caught a pair of panties and a bra and bassmaster caught a beaver.

These guys must have been fishing together. I guess bassmaster got ol' girl out of her clothes first.

;D ;D ;D

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