The Most Amazing Thing You've Ever Caught That Wasn't A Fish!

[BassThumb]

I hooked a loon once on a jerkbait. 

I'm thankful it was able to shake itself free, because I likely would have cut the line. That bird was going berserk!

[Afishionado]

Craziest thing I ever caught that wasn't a fish was a 6-7 foot gator on a 4" shad on a jighead.. Don't know if he ate it or I snagged him but it happened subsurface and I thought I had the biggest snook known to man.. Had my kayak flying through this little backwater, my hands were shaking.. Then it surfaced and all of a sudden I was like ehhhhh I don't need that lure.. palmed the spool and popped him off.. Not that dream 40lb snook but it had my adrenaline pumping just the same for about a minute.. 

[bassfash]

Caught Some large rocks and snagged a bike while pulling up the anchor 

 

[N Florida Mike]

I was fishing under a bridge one time and heard a car stop above us.All of a sudden there was a huge splash in front of us from something landing in the water that sounded like 20 bowling balls hitting the water.We called the police and reported it to no avail.So I know how you feel!

[Red Bear]

On 3/23/2016 at 1:44 AM, tbone1993 said:

 

When I first started fishing tournament it was pretty cool to start catching shells. You always hear guys saying to fish shell beds and its a good way to find fish. I was snagging small ones and then I ran into one the size of my hand. That was pretty natural but some of the unnatural things I've snagged are a pole, my own lost bait, socks, trash bags,beer bottle, and much more. There's trash everywhere and it really sucks. The coolest thing was a giant metal table. I snagged it in murky water one day and didnt know what it was. I thought it was a metal piece of the dock. When the water cleared the next day I was able to see an entire outdoor table. No others near it to match just right in the water, I'll post a picture down the road if its still there. 

^ Couple weeks and the hooks on the spro still didnt rust out. I don't believe in the "hook will rust out" mentality.

well the thing is, and i dont know if true or not, is that people say that fish have an enzyme or something that will help rust the hook out. so if its not in a fishes mouth it may not have started to rust yet. atleast thats something ive read here, yet its not anything ive seen confirmed...

[tholmes]

On 3/23/2016 at 10:02 PM, FloridaBasser1 said:

Last summer I was fishing a small pond next to the St. Johns river. I had a KVD frog on, and I tossed it to one end of the pond and after a few twitches a Red Tail Hawk swooped down and grabbed it. For 10 or 12 seconds he was holding on to it and wouldn't let go, thank god he finally let it go! It was definitely the wildest thing I've caught.

I did that once, only it was an osprey. He grabbed a spook and flew off with it. Luckily, he dropped it before he got hooked. I wouldn't want to try to get that off of the hook!

Another time, I snagged an Ambassadeur 5000D on a Lew's speed stick. It cleaned up nice but I never liked that reel. I gave it to a buddy to use as a catfish rig.

 

Tom

[Basfshn9]

Two things...unfortunately, no pictures...

Caught a Seagull in mid-flight with a spinnerbait!  And I caught a really old lawn chair with a jig!

[the reel ess]

I let my ex-monster-in-law use a Zebco 33 combo of mine and she somehow managed to throw it so far out that I couldn't find it swimming. I caught it a few years later.

On ‎3‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 4:46 PM, FrogFreak said:

Best catch that wasn't a fish...my wife!

I've caught two. Threw one back.

[bentron]

Branches and line. I must be doing something wrong because i have never caught any rods!

[gim]

Sunglasses, rod n reel, measuring stick, lawn chair, drift sock all come to mind.  I also once hooked a loon when it was swimming underwater.  The bat story someone told earlier in this thread was awesome.  Those things carry rabies you know.

My old man hooked me last summer in the back of the head with a crankbait.  So if he were on this thread he would say "my son."

[hoosier18]

We were trolling for walleye up in Canada and I pulled in an ANCIENT zebco rod and reel. They had to have been down there for 30 years 

[mrmacwvu1]

Craziest thing that I have ever caught ended up busting my nose, blacking my eye and knocking me in the river. For when I was 12 years old I wound up for a big cast and little did I know my brother had walked behind me. I cast so hard that the hook actually broke off in his hand. After he beat the crap out of me and threw me off the dock. He helped me get back on the dock and I in return help do hook removal. When we went home I walk in with a swollen nose and a shiner soak and wet, my brother walks in with a bandage on his hand. Dad asked " How was fishing" " we both say good" He looks at us and says get cleaned up before your mom gets home.

 

Miss the days of when boys could boys

[Jd_Phillips_Fishin]

My dad caught this a few years ago

[N Florida Mike]

That looks like the one I lost a few years ago!

[everythingthatswims]

In January I caught a cheap 6'6" Med. Casting rod with a lews reel on it in perfect condition. Retail value of the setup was over $100

 

In Florida last spring my little brother caught a Tern while freelining a pilchard. We saw that it had a band on its leg. After unhooking the bird we took the band off and called it in, the bird was banded in North Carolina!

[Bass Turd]

On 3/22/2016 at 4:41 PM, Catt said:

Late 60s snagged & pulled up the body of a drowned angler!

Something I don't care to duplicate!

Catt... I'm very sorry but I just can't resist....

 

Did you have to pry his (insert your brand of reel here.... Lews, Shimano... etc...) from his cold  ...... hand?

That's how they are gonna find me anyway....

[Catt]

1 hour ago, Bass Turd said:

Catt... I'm very sorry but I just can't resist....

 

Did you have to pry his (insert your brand of reel here.... Lews, Shimano... etc...) from his cold  ...... hand?

That's how they are gonna find me anyway....

That's funny right there

[smr_hga]

a 3 foot snapping turtle...

[HoosierHawgs]

On 3/22/2016 at 10:13 PM, Centralinfinnesse said:

I have caught two chairs that blew off somebody's dock during a storm, a fish basket with a couple of crappie skeletons in it, and a tiny television someone must have tossed in the lake.  Unfortunately I have also caught numerous big angry snapping turtles while catfishing.  They are not any fun at all to unhook.

Yeah unhooking snappers is no fun. Caught one or two and they are quite feisty.

On 3/22/2016 at 10:23 PM, geo g said:

I once caught a red tailed hawk in mid flight.  I was fishing the alley and made a long cast across the canal.  A hawk flew out of no where and into my line, while the lure was in flight.  The lure went up out of the water and into the wing where it meets the body.  The Hawk dropped like a stone into the canal.  I pulled the hawk to the boat on its back with the talons opening and closing.  Luckily we had two big towels in the boat that we used to control the bird while we removed the hook.  It was a weird day!

 

I also caught the back end of a Chevy S10 back when the Alley was a two lane road with dirt ramps.  The Truck was in one of the cuts at a bridge.  My crank bait was firmly attached to the tailgate .  I notified FHP and the truck was removed several months later.  I think someone dumped it at the bridge.

 

[IndianaFinesse]

1 minute ago, HoosierHawgs said:

Yeah unhooking snappers is no fun. Caught one or two and they are quite feisty.

It's sure not easy to unhook them, most guys will tell  you to grab them behind the head with one hand and keep the rest of the turtle's body still with the other.  But the problem is first off getting your hand behind it's head with all of your fingers still attached, and if there is a place on a snapping turtles shell where they can't rake your hand apart with three inch claws, I sure haven't found it.  And unfortuanately for you, the place you normally fish is loaded with snapping turtles.  I've only fished there about ten or twelve times, and I have caught already caught two of them there.

[N Florida Mike]

I was surf fishing and we had the beach all to ourselves and here comes 3 surfers and they could have gone anywhere else on the beach but they chose to surf directly in front of our lines.I had cast out and the dang surfer started padding out and somehow the rig got hung on his fin.I hollered but he couldn't hear me and kept going. it was a good fight but I couldn't gain any line on him and he was spooling all the line off.I jerked real hard and it came loose without hooking him.He didn't even know what happened but he sure found out when he got back to the beach.I'm laid back but I told him he needed to go anywhere else on the beach but there and he did.

[Sam]

My wife.

[Kevin22]

I've caught quite a few rods. Most memorable was pulling a zebco 33 combo out from under a dock. I put it up on the dock and when I fished through the area again the next day there was a "thank you" sign on the dock. 

Funniest was when someone else in the boat, who will remain nameless, caught one of those swim fins that goes on your feet when diving. Fought it for 5 minutes while I was ready with the net. He will never live that one down. 

[acmintun]

Lake wateree, SC I caught a big deep diving crank bait on a Texas rig. I guess the hook had punched through the bait a bit and it caught the bait perfectly in the front eye. Still use it to this day.

[yugrac]

I have caught large clumps of Zebra mussels in lake Erie, I have also caught large mussels, hooked in there mouth opening, in the river I fish when the water is wadeable. Caught plenty of sticks, man its hard to belive how much a long stick feels like a fish for several seconds, fishing a local reservoir one Sunday morn I hooked what I thought was a monster, I am yelling for my wife to get the net out, she was having a hard time pulling the folding handle out, I was giving her hell telling her to hurry when..........out of the gloom a stick with a bunch of very heavy mono wrapped around it came up.  She started laughing so hard I thought she was going to fall out of the boat, the rest of the day she could not look at me without laughing.