Strange But True Fish Tales

[haggard]

On 6/15/2019 at 6:05 PM, jbmaine said:

comes a huge bull moose swimming right at me. I just froze, didn't know what to do. He saw me and changed course just enough to miss me. 

  I don't know why I did it, but as he swam past me, His big eye staring at me, I moved my hand just enough so I could touch his antlers as he went by.

Jim... the title is "strangest" not "scariest"

 

I was in the yak on a pond using ultralight gear for panfish. Got a fish, unhooked it and laid the rod across the yak while I released the fish. I didn't realize it but the lure was dangling a few inches below the surface. Released the fish, picked up the rod to make another cast, and there was a fish on it.

 

[Jigfishn10]

15 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I found a guy in the water that I kept hoping was a manikin or scarecrow. Unfortunately it wasn't 

That must have been awful?

 

Not to mention a thread killer.

[TnRiver46]

13 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

That must have been awful?

 

Not to mention a thread killer.

 

It was slightly creepy but luckily I wasn't involved with any of the awful parts. I try to stay out of bus stations and train stations. 

https://www.wvlt.tv/home/headlines/Body-found-in-Fort-Loudon-Lake-198389671.html

 

[Troy85]

These are some great stories.  Nothing to crazy but I got a few.

 

1. Trolling down a grassy flat pitching a worm into holes in the grass.  Come up to a small isolated tree stump, I look back to my brother and called the shot.  I tell him, there has to be a fish next to this stump.  I pitch my worm next to the log, and sure enough.  There was a bass there, but instead of eating the worm like he should, the fish spooks and jumps about 3' out of the water.  We both got a good laugh. Came back about an hour later, 2nd time he acted right and took the bait.

 

2. I was cat fishing a few years back.  Only caught 1 that day but I didn't actually hook the fish.  I hooked the eye of a hook that was already in the fishes mouth.

 

3.  Fishing around a bunch of lay downs.  I see this log, that just looks like it has to have a bass.  It just looks perfect, how could a fish not be sitting there.  On the log is a baby turtle out catching some sun.  I make my pitch, as my lizard is in the air it spooks the turtle into the water.  As soon as the the turtle makes contact with the surface, the largest topwater explosion I have ever seen, turtle just vanishes.  My lizard lands in that same spot about a half second later...if only I had beat the turtle to that spot.  

 

 

[Don Harris]

Not necessarily strange or weird but a rare sighting nonetheless. I once saw a bass eat a duckling at Shelby Forest in Tennessee. Mom was leading them in a line. Suddenly there was a huge boil in the water and one of the ducklings vanished. 

 

A buddy of mine and I were fishing a creek WAY back in the sticks. This is the kind of place you hear banjos playing. There was an old man named Whited that lived nearby. We heard splashing around off in the distance and low and behold, Mr. Whited comes walking out of the lily pads with a rifle. My buddy asked him what he was doing. Mr. Whited said, "Deer hunting." This was the middle of summer. My friend asked what kind of rifle it was and he said a .22. I asked him if he was worried about getting in trouble with the Game Warden and he replied, "Ain't no Game Warden gonna mess with an old man out walking around in a swamp with a .22 deer hunting." Crazy old man. 

 

The same friend and I were at the same creek fishing in his 2-man scamp. Suddenly we had a ricocheted bullet go right between our heads. Scared us both to death. We kinda laughed nervously and said it must have been Mr. Whited deer hunting again. 

 

Once I was fishing a private 300 acre lake. I kept hearing something thrashing in the water on the other side of the cove. After a few times, I went across to see what it was. When I got over there it stopped completely. I went back across and started fishing again. The huge explosions started back again. I couldn't stand it. I had to see what it was. I went back across. This time it continued. It was a huge bass with a large bluegill stuck in its throat/mouth. I lipped the bass and forced the bluegill out, released both and they swam off. 

[Hyrule Bass]

I once "lassoed" a catfish

 

 

[Dirtyeggroll]

This happened last Friday. 

Jig fishing a rock pile I get a bite and set the hook. I had definitely hooked into something but it felt more like something inanimate like a small twig or bag. Reeled it back to the boat and it was a ~4 lb bass. Dead. Not sure if the hookset was too much stress for it or if the hook had somehow hit an important nervous system structure but the fish was dead. It definitely tugged on my line prior to the hookset.

[N Florida Mike]

Here’s some more.

I was rowing a jon  boat once and facing backwards I saw a fish swimming all around erratically. I went back and when he came by I scooped him up. I put him back in and he wasn’t any better. I reckon I konked him with the oar while rowing. Happily, he was not wasted.

 

Another time I was cast netting bait in a tidal creek and when I pulled it up there was a redfish skeleton in it. 

 

Recently I hooked a bass , reeled it in, and saw The bait had gone all the way through the gills and out and the fish was hooked in the side. No gill damage either.

I told this one before awhile back. My wife asked me what I wanted for Father’s Day one year, and I told her a new baitcasting combo. She didn’t reply, which generally means NO. So the next day she took the kids fishing, had what she thought was a bite, reeled it in , and there was a baitcasting combo on her line. 

I got my Father’s Day present...?

[OCdockskipper]

I was skipping some docks during the middle of the day when I came across this in about 2 feet of water.  It took me about 30 seconds to figure out what it was, I kept thinking it was an otter or something else that you would never find in Southern California.

[Troy85]

9 hours ago, Dirtyeggroll said:

This happened last Friday. 

Jig fishing a rock pile I get a bite and set the hook. I had definitely hooked into something but it felt more like something inanimate like a small twig or bag. Reeled it back to the boat and it was a ~4 lb bass. Dead. Not sure if the hookset was too much stress for it or if the hook had somehow hit an important nervous system structure but the fish was dead. It definitely tugged on my line prior to the hookset.

You weren't fishing from a bridge were you??!?!?  When I was 3 or so, fishing from a bridge.  My uncle snuck down under the bridge and very carefully hooked a dead speckled trout on my line that he had caught an hour or so earlier.  I found out years later when I was looking at some photos and my dad said "hey, theres that dead fish that your uncle hooked on your line". ?

 

[TnRiver46]

Another one last night..... I had to drive in-between the police boat and the fire department boat in pitch black dark and fog to get back to the ramp. Luckily my buddy had sent me this screenshot 30 minutes prior so I was expecting it. Honestly this isnt too out of the ordinary, I live next to a small airport and they crash land pretty often 

[BigSkyBasser]

On 6/18/2019 at 6:29 AM, TnRiver46 said:

 

It was slightly creepy but luckily I wasn't involved with any of the awful parts. I try to stay out of bus stations and train stations. 

https://www.wvlt.tv/home/headlines/Body-found-in-Fort-Loudon-Lake-198389671.html

 

 

I remember you telling me about this. Still sounds horrible!!!