Strange/unusual things you've seen fishing

[livemusic]

Somebody mentioned in another thread seeing a bass hit a live dragonfly flying above the water. Made me think of crazy things I have seen. What have you encountered? Natural or not, lol.

 

We were fishing schooling bass on Toledo Bend decades ago. When they would bite (sometimes they would not!), that was fun! I fished out of a 12 ft jon boat, believe it or not! With a 10hp Merc and the smallest troll motor ever. Amazing to me that we fished out of that boat on that giant lake. Of course, in those days, there was still a lot of timber above water and the wind wasn't as bad. But we'd fish in the dog days of summer, brutally hot, and not much wind. Anyway, they had these big boat roads cut and you could boogie around full speed in that little boat and we would chase the schools when they'd bust water. I had a rod I wasn't using laying in the boat and the end of it was sticking over the gunwale. A school surfaced and we went to catching them and a bass jumped out of the water and bit that Redfin lure with the treble hooks that was sticking outside the boat! Mad scrambling to save the Ambassadeur reel on the Fenwick pistol-grip rod! Now, that's some easy fishing.

[Log Catcher]

While fishing one day I heard splash near the bank. It didn't seem like a normal splash a fish would make so I wondered what it was. Then it splashed again. I looked over and a water snake was coming out of the water with a small catfish in its mouth.

[Jig Man]

Woman sitting on a ledge.  Asked if we would take her fishing.  Then she took her top off and shook her girls at us.  Thanks but no thanks.

[huZZah]

I was trying to pry a fish out of rocks when an otter went casually swimming by. 

[Deleted account]

We were fishing in a small center console in front of the keys over the reef, hooked a small yellow tail maybe 8-10" and as I quickly reeled it in to try to get it away from the cudas, a blackfin tuna came up at full speed and tried to eat eat and knocked itself out on the hull, made a huge thud. Gaffed it and put it in the cooler.

[Dens228]

Just last week I was fishing a place where I see beavers all the time but they always whack their tail and dive before you can even get close, often before I even see them.  I was in my kayak and came out of a channel and a huge one was just on the edge in the water chewing on something and facing the other way.......as I silently floated past within about 5 feet or so and came into it's view it just froze..........lol    It literally stopped mid chew.  I kept floating and after I got about 30 feet or so it went on chewing. 

[Black Hawk Basser]

Probably when I came upon a meth head campsite at the river. ?

[Bluebasser86]

Had an owl swoop my Jitterbug while I was nightfishing once. Made a huge splash and was a heck of fight for a minute or two. 

[Catt]

Late 60s on Lake Vernon near Fort Polk Louisiana I found a dead body...that'll leave a impression in a teenager's mind.

 

Night fishing on Toledo Bend you'll see a lot of amazing sights, space debris entering the atmosphere, some even hitting the lake. On certain nights you can see the space station as plan as day.

 

Last month I saw one of these!

 

 

[Deleted account]

10 hours ago, Dens228 said:

Just last week I was fishing a place where I see beavers all the time but they always whack their tail and dive before you can even get close, often before I even see them.  I was in my kayak and came out of a channel and a huge one was just on the edge in the water chewing on something and facing the other way.......as I silently floated past within about 5 feet or so and came into it's view it just froze..........lol    It literally stopped mid chew.  I kept floating and after I got about 30 feet or so it went on chewing. 

LOL.

I can usually find some sort of compromise with most beavers, some just don't get it. 

[galyonj]

This isn't terribly strange or unusual, but it's what I got.

 

Last year, fishing on the morning of what was gonna turn out to be a brutally humid July day, I briefly made a friend:

 

 

This duck got up on the platform I was fishing from and hung out with me for I guess the better part of a half hour before it realized that, no, I really don't have any food for it.

[galyonj]

17 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

LOL.

I can usually find some sort of compromise with most beavers, some just don't get it. 

 

I haven't been out there in a good while, but one of the ponds I used to fish had a resident beaver that got real mad at anybody using the dock. I never saw him, but I'd hear him tailslapping to tell me how big and scary he was.

[softwateronly]

New to the lake we have a place on in Michiana....  Nesting bald eagles and Ospreys dive bombing for juvenile carp/panfish.  So far, the Osprey has found most of my favorite feeding flats, in the end I'm sure I'm gonna learn more from him than the other way around.

 

scott

 

then there's this normal occurrence....

 

[gunsinger]

While fishing last weekend, two male Mallard ducks came swimming towards my boat.  As I moved on, they followed.  They stayed right beside me for several minutes.  Finally, i took their picture.  That must have been what they were after as they moved on afterwards.

[Catt]

One of the coolest things I ever saw on Toledo Bend was back in the 70s. 

 

England Airforce Base was in Alexandria Louisiana and was home of A10 Warthogs. One cloudy misty afternoon I was sitting on the end of a long point when one of the A10s came out of the cove and around the point about 50' above the water. As I was getting over the shock & awe another A10 dove on the point from above. In total there was 4 A10s doing strafing practice on the point.

 

I laid my rod down & enjoyed the show!

[Stratocat_Joe]

Although I'm originally from Missouri, I recently moved to SW Georgia, about an hour from Lake Seminole and Lake Eufala.  It was my first time on Seminole and I was fishing a pocket with a Zoom Horny Toad.  I decided to lay that rod down on the deck of my boat and try a different rod/lure.  The toad was just slightly hanging over the side of the boat when I noticed something coming up from underneath.  Being from the Midwest, my first thought was this is going to be a fish.  Then, I quickly realized it had teeth and a snout!  As this was my first experience with an alligator, I let out an "Oh, no!", which caused the gator to freeze just underneath my lure.  I'm no expert on estimating the size of a gator but I was in about 10-12 feet of water with visibility of only about 2-3 feet.  All I could see was the teeth and snout...I never saw the body.  We both froze in that instant.  My first thought was "Please don't eat my Horny Toad!" My next thought was that I had to try to get a picture (again, first experience with an alligator!) As I slowly reached for my phone in my pocket, the gator must have seen my movement and quickly darted underneath the boat out of sight and I heard thrashing underneath some vegetation that was about 10-15 feet off the side of the boat!  Needless to say, I learned a lesson that day... don't leave lures hanging out over the side of the boat!

[livemusic]

31 minutes ago, Stratocat_Joe said:

Although I'm originally from Missouri, I recently moved to SW Georgia, about an hour from Lake Seminole and Lake Eufala.  It was my first time on Seminole and I was fishing a pocket with a Zoom Horny Toad.  I decided to lay that rod down on the deck of my boat and try a different rod/lure.  The toad was just slightly hanging over the side of the boat when I noticed something coming up from underneath.  Being from the Midwest, my first thought was this is going to be a fish.  Then, I quickly realized it had teeth and a snout!  As this was my first experience with an alligator, I let out an "Oh, s#*t!", which caused the gator to freeze just underneath my lure.  I'm no expert on estimating the size of a gator but I was in about 10-12 feet of water with visibility of only about 2-3 feet.  All I could see was the teeth and snout...I never saw the body.  We both froze in that instant.  My first thought was "Please don't eat my Horny Toad!" My next thought was that I had to try to get a picture (again, first experience with an alligator!) As I slowly reached for my phone in my pocket, the gator must have seen my movement and quickly darted underneath the boat out of sight and I heard thrashing underneath some vegetation that was about 10-15 feet off the side of the boat!  Needless to say, I learned a lesson that day... don't leave lures hanging out over the side of the boat!

 

I saw a Roland Martin youtube recently where the gators were def interested in the lure he was casting. I was surprised.

 

As for gators, I have been catfishing several times where gators were a nuisance. This is hanging limb lines from overhanging tree limbs and a weight with a hook and bait. We kept losing entire lines. Finally figured out it was gators and over time, it became apparent that they would watch us bait the line and lie in wait. When a fish got on the line, they'd go eat the whole thing and snap the line. When I was young, we never had gators here and over time, they have moved north and we have bunches now.

[Tucson]

Been there - While fishing in Florida I got a big hit on a Senko.  Took off on the fastest run I've ever experienced, completely out of control.  It stopped about 75 feet away, my Senko was released and I saw a big fat alligator rise up.  Real glad I lost it.

[galyonj]

4 hours ago, Catt said:

One of the coolest things I ever saw on Toledo Bend was back in the 70s. 

 

England Airforce Base was in Alexandria Louisiana and was home of A10 Warthogs. One cloudy misty afternoon I was sitting on the end of a long point when one of the A10s came out of the cove and around the point about 50' above the water. As I was getting over the shock & awe another A10 dove on the point from above. In total there was 4 A10s doing strafing practice on the point.

 

I laid my rod down & enjoyed the show!

 

Christmas before last we went to Oregon to visit the woman's family, and we went with her sister and nephews to the Evergreen Museum.

 

I got to be up close and personal with so many of the fighters, bombers, and helicopters I grew up reading about and building models of, but one of the most exciting was the A-10.

 

[Randy Price]

I was fishing with a buddy on Lake Winnebago on a scorcher of a day when we drifted by a boat with a man and woman in it.  The guy was still fishing but the lady had stretched out to even her tan and had removed her top (she had a great rack).  Since we were drifting we didn't make any noise and the guy just looked at us and smiled.  We both gave him "two thumbs up" and continued our drift.  I guess they thought they were far enough out who would see them?? 

[Bass bass]

I caught a fish!!!! That never happens. Very strange occasion 

[fishingtx]

I was bank fishing on the Rio grande in Colorado and I saw a pile of syringes. I kept a very good distance from those.

[Captain Phil]

Here in Florida, alligator encounters are commonplace.  Fishing at night with a top water lure attracts alligators.  I've snagged a few with a rattle trap more than once.  Once while night fishing in the everglades, I hooked an alligator with a worm on the bottom and it pulled my boat around until I could cut the line.

 

I once watched a fight between a snake and a blue heron.  The heron had a large black snake wrapped around his bill.  It looked like a standoff.  I wondered who was going to win the fight?  The heron started beating it's bill on the ground until the snake went limp.  Herons are tough...

[AmmoGuy]

Chupacabra. 

[fishingtx]

4 minutes ago, AmmoGuy said:

Chupacabra. 

I saw one on lake amistad