Bizzare

[Lanier Sealy]

What's the most bizzare thing you have had happened or seen happen while fishing? Mine was finding an old car that fell into my lake about 30 years ago. The only reason why I now it was from that time is cause someone car went missing around the area my lake is in.

[Jon P.]

once while fishing near watch hill in Connecticut a gutted pig floated by

 

looked like something out of a horror movie

 

[gim]

LOL

[Master Bait'r]

I've had a Unabomber-looking dopehead up and decide we were encroaching on his beachfront shooting gallery so he started yelling at us to leave...  We of course died laughing so he started to rage swim out to our boat madder than a wet hen.  We held the oars up over our heads and asked him if he floated.  He treaded water there for a second weighing his options and then just quietly swam back to shore, got his stuff and left.

[Bluebasser86]

Just yesterday I walked down to a bridge by a small creek that I fish occasionally that has an assortment of different kinds of fish in it. I'd been there for a minute or two when I started to smell cigarette smoke like someone was standing next to me smoking. I heard something move behind me and looked under the bridge to see a guy who was obviously living there. This is out away from town a bit, not really a place you expect to find someone living under a bridge. The fact that he was under there and behind the tall grass was a bit unnerving also and he'd obviously been watching me because as soon as I saw him he said "Hi, rude not to say hi to someone when you first meet them". I was done fishing at that point. 

[scaleface]

I saw a duck disappear and not come back up . 

[Torn Thumb]

I caught a 1.5 lber with baby bird feet sticking out of its throat.  

Nothing too bizarre I guess.

[CDMeyer]

For me its my own stupidity , I had just bought a brand new rod and reel (Abu Garcia) really nice especially for a 16 year old... I dropped it in the lake and had to use a rake to scourer the bottom for it.

[Darren.]

Bizarre for me was the first time I encountered
an otter in our local reservoir. First, I had no idea
they were in the area. Second, it surfaced about
15 feet from me, quickly coming toward me with
just its head and part of its body snaking thru the
water.

My startled blood-draining guess was that it was
the largest python head I'd ever seen, but as a
snake guy, I knew we didn't have them here in
VA (yet).

I backed up my kayak and made a phone call to
the Ranger station and asked if we had otters here.

Freaked me out then, but I've seen a number of
them over the years since....

 

[lo n slo]

[geo g]

Over the years I have founded three vehicles dumped in canals along Alligator Alley.  One was when the Alley was a two lane road, and it was at one of the bridge cuts where people used to camp out on weekends.  It was a S 10 pickup.  I caught it on a crankbait.  Then years later when the Alley was improved to a four lane road, a car was dumped at the MM41 ramp and you could see oil floating to the surface.  It was dumped during the night.  Another was with my new Lorrance  depth finder, and you could see the outline of an old van, dumped at the MM39 ramp.  It seems years ago dumping vehicles was a common occurrence in south Florida.  FHP had them removed.

[CenCal fisher]

A cow that got stuck in the mud and died

[soflabasser]

I can spend hours discussing all the strange things I have seen fishing in Florida.Have seen plenty of cars inside canals and lakes.Me and my family saw a black panther or black puma walking in front of us in a forested area shorty after hurricane Andrew hit. Seen monkeys, caimans, and other exotic animals in the everglades. Never a boring fishing trip down here!

[Lanier Sealy]

7 hours ago, Darren. said:

Bizarre for me was the first time I encountered
an otter in our local reservoir. First, I had no idea
they were in the area. Second, it surfaced about
15 feet from me, quickly coming toward me with
just its head and part of its body snaking thru the
water.

My startled blood-draining guess was that it was
the largest python head I'd ever seen, but as a
snake guy, I knew we didn't have them here in
VA (yet).

I backed up my kayak and made a phone call to
the Ranger station and asked if we had otters here.

Freaked me out then, but I've seen a number of
them over the years since....

 

Sounds like the same experience I had. Except it was when I was duck hunting and it was a beaver. I swear it came 5ft away from me slapped it's tail and scared the mess out of me! Not to mention I was in waders in a swamp so not ideally the best conditions for a stumble. Yep I fell and had to call it early thanks to mr. B (that's what I named him).

[gardnerjigman]

22 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Just yesterday I walked down to a bridge by a small creek that I fish occasionally that has an assortment of different kinds of fish in it. I'd been there for a minute or two when I started to smell cigarette smoke like someone was standing next to me smoking. I heard something move behind me and looked under the bridge to see a guy who was obviously living there. This is out away from town a bit, not really a place you expect to find someone living under a bridge. The fact that he was under there and behind the tall grass was a bit unnerving also and he'd obviously been watching me because as soon as I saw him he said "Hi, rude not to say hi to someone when you first meet them". I was done fishing at that point. 

Heck... he just thought you were rude because you whistled at him. Obviously he didn't know the whistle wasn't from your mouth! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Man I crack myself up!

[N Florida Mike]

We were fishing the Ocklawaha river once when without any warning two fighter jets flew over us at tree top level.My heart started beating faster just now thinking about it.It was and still is a pretty remote area with little noise .We were totally and completely blown away by the suddenness of it.

Another time we were at the folkston Ga entrance into the okefenokee swamp and my son and his friend were fishing at the boat docks and his friend hooked a big mudfish.As he was pulling it up it fell off the hook and landed on a mud bank.He was just about to jump down and get it when a giant 10-12 foot gator shot up on the bank, grabbed the fish and sank back in. 

[Jon P.]

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 6:23 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

Just yesterday I walked down to a bridge by a small creek that I fish occasionally that has an assortment of different kinds of fish in it. I'd been there for a minute or two when I started to smell cigarette smoke like someone was standing next to me smoking. I heard something move behind me and looked under the bridge to see a guy who was obviously living there. This is out away from town a bit, not really a place you expect to find someone living under a bridge. The fact that he was under there and behind the tall grass was a bit unnerving also and he'd obviously been watching me because as soon as I saw him he said "Hi, rude not to say hi to someone when you first meet them". I was done fishing at that point. 

at least he was polite

[Bankbeater]

Last year I was fishing a small lake and saw something sticking out of the water near a point with a drop off. I got closer and discovered it was a baby stroller.  Fortunately it was empty.

[Ski]

13 hours ago, soflabasser said:

saw a black panther or black puma 

You would be the first as there has never been a melanistic puma photographed, caught or shot. 

[soflabasser]

3 hours ago, Ski said:

You would be the first as there has never been a melanistic puma photographed, caught or shot. 

I wasn't the first person to see it since my mother saw it first and she pointed it out to me.Other members of my family saw it as well. I saw this black puma or black panther in Virginia Key and it was walking on the edge of a forested area on a beach we where on. This happened +20 years ago and it is something I will never forget. 

[daviswill]

In the same weekend, I saw ospreys grab schooling bass from the water and a hawk grab a squirrel from a tree.

[Lanier Sealy]

23 hours ago, soflabasser said:

I can spend hours discussing all the strange things I have seen fishing in Florida.Have seen plenty of cars inside canals and lakes.Me and my family saw a black panther or black puma walking in front of us in a forested area shorty after hurricane Andrew hit. Seen monkeys, caimans, and other exotic animals in the everglades. Never a boring fishing trip down here!

I've heard many stories from the Glades and you are absolutely 100% right on that! I've never been but have been wanting to go for awhile now. 

[soflabasser]

25 minutes ago, Lanier Sealy said:

I've heard many stories from the Glades and you are absolutely 100% right on that! I've never been but have been wanting to go for awhile now. 

I definitely recommend you visiting the Everglades on one of your vacations.Its a beautiful place with great fishing for several types of fish.Another animal I have seen in the glades that I haven't seen anywhere else in South Florida is Otters.They are awesome hunters and very fun to watch.

[Jd_Phillips_Fishin]

saw a dear swimmin across a river 300 yrds long

[the reel ess]

Nobody believed this one when it happened. Everyone wasso sure I was lying that I could see there was no convincing them and shut up.

It was a rainy day and I was catfishing off my parents' lake house pier. I got a bite and ran from the canopy of the pontoon boat and started reeling. There was a fish on for about half the fight. Then I just felt dead weight What I reeled up was just the head of a smaller catfish. I figured I was reeling up the fish and a turtle grabbed it and bit off all but the head. That's the only explanation. There weren't any toothy critters at that lake back then. Looking back, it could have been a gar, but I didn't know there were any there until about a year ago.

13 hours ago, Ski said:

You would be the first as there has never been a melanistic puma photographed, caught or shot. 

A judge told me he saw one here while hunting here in SC.