Strange fishing tactics you have seen people do.

[FivePoundBluegill]

Just wonderd what are some of the most odd strategies you have seen people do while fishing? These are some of the odd things I have seen done. Most of these things were done by people that were completely clueless. Yes I laughed at a lot of these people but after 10 minutes of watching I would show them the propper way of doing it or give them some tips. I mean I am sure we all did some silly things while learning to fish ourselves.

Here are some of the unsuccessful odd things I have seen people do while fishing.

A guy with a spinnerbait tied on under a big red and white bobber.

A woman fishing with some kind of inline spinner with a weight and sitting it on the bottom like it was a dough ball. She also had a bell on here line.

Someone with one of those huge saltwater white rods you buy from wall mart rigged with 2-4 LB test and fishing for bluegills.

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

Here are some of the successful things I have seen done.

An elderly woman fighting a big 7-8 LB catfish. She would consistantly crank the fish in even when it was takeing drag. She actually managed to land the fish though but only because she had a huge heavy action rod with probably 30 LB test.... Come to think of it maybe she was actually a decent angler and knew she could do that with the gear she had.

There was this guy who used to live in a house right on my neighborhood lake. He would set the rod up in his yard then somehow put his line going over the footpath that went to the lake into the water without it being tripped over. He would set his rig up at night time and would just leave it there. He supposably caught some nice catfish.

I was fishing at a small pond and saw two kids. Probably 10-12 years old come down to look around the pond. They obviously had no clue how to fish since they did not have rods. They were exploreing the lake and found a tangle of line. A while later they found a hook. They then rooted through the garbage and found some bread. They then proceded to catch a good amount of bluegills. Yeah they obviously had never fished before but they got the right idea pretty quick.

[J Francho]

A woman fishing with some kind of inline spinner with a weight and sitting it on the bottom like it was a dough ball. She also had a bell on here line.

This sounds like "plunking" for trout.  Basically a tight line rig with bead, swivel, adn spinner.  The spinner is called a "spin-n-glow."  Look up Bill Herzog, and you'll see the rig in detail.

One of the weirdest things I've seen is walleye anglers dragging chains.  Presumably, the tactic kicks up all kinds of critters, which draws the baitfish to the area, which in turn draws the 'eyes.  Kind of like chumming, but without chum.

The weirdest thing I do is prefish for tournaments without hooks.  Crankbaits are the most fun, since you can "play" them all the way to the boat, if you're real careful.

[IDbasser]

I have seen the people who use surf rods to catch perch.  

[MALTESE FALCON]

My late brother-in-law would fish with the spinning reel on top and reel backwards. Used to crack me up.

Falcon

[Sam]

A lady and her two sons, ages 12 and 10, were fishing at a pond for bream with saltwater equipment.

Their hook was bigger than the fish.

So I gave them some tackle and wished them well.  

[CWB]

I see alot of people fishing for panfish using "musky" size tackle.

Softball size bobbers, massive hooks with steel leaders, and whole nightcrawlers.

I usually try to show them that if they use a smaller float, enough split shot attached to just keep the float floating, and a size 8, 10 or even 12 hook with a waxworm or piece of nightcrawler they can vastly improve their success. Usually get a beer or two out of it. Some people just say get lost, I know what I'm doing so I leave them alone. Spinning reel mounted to casting rod and used with reel sticking up is always a good one.  

[fishizzle]

How about that new commercial with a remote control boat for trolling lures.  Then you just drive it over to yourself and land the fish.

[Captain Obvious]

I've seen a guy fish with a spinning reel on a baitcasting pole,

I've seen a woman that could only cast with a spinning reel if the drag was as lose as you can get it, she would reel in then just cast out without opening the bail  

[fishizzle]

I've seen a guy fish with a spinning reel on a baitcasting pole,

I've seen a woman that could only cast with a spinning reel if the drag was as lose as you can get it, she would reel in then just cast out without opening the bail

Is that wrong?

[farmpond1]

I was fishing at a small pond and saw two kids. Probably 10-12 years old come down to look around the pond. They obviously had no clue how to fish since they did not have rods. They were exploreing the lake and found a tangle of line. A while later they found a hook. They then rooted through the garbage and found some bread. They then proceded to catch a good amount of bluegills. Yeah they obviously had never fished before but they got the right idea pretty quick.

This is exactly the sort of thing I used to have to do.  Having received no allowance (what's that?), scrounging was the order of the day.  One of the things I used to do is lean over a bridge, lower a garden worm (caught myself, of course) into the water using a nut as a sinker, and catch yellow bullheads.  Even nowadays with my boat, electronic gizmos, and a kings ransom of shiny lures, I still look back very fondly on those days.

[Muddy]

Burley and The Beast fish naked!  

[christopherjake]

Craziest thing I ever did was throw one of those Storm swim shad swimbait w/ the plastic hook cover still on it.  I felt a couple of strikes but thought the fish missed it only to find out about the hook cover when the sun came up.

[uicdent11]

X2 with the plastic hook cover. Did the same thing with a buzzbait. What a frustrating day when you see the fish hit it, but can't set the hook. What is even better is that my wife is the one that figured it out.

[BARON49_Northern NY]

My late brother-in-law would fish with the spinning reel on top and reel backwards. Used to crack me up.

Falcon

I see this a lot with people who fish for panfish around bridges,  I have to laugh.  ;D

[SMfisher]

seen a man fishing with a spinning reel that way last summer, wore me out watching him cranking it backwards. it looked hard to fish that way.

[FivePoundBluegill]

My late brother-in-law would fish with the spinning reel on top and reel backwards. Used to crack me up.

Falcon

Rofl dude. I forgot to say I used to see a guy a few years ago who fished like that. Funny thing was he would actually catch fish.

[FivePoundBluegill]

A woman fishing with some kind of inline spinner with a weight and sitting it on the bottom like it was a dough ball. She also had a bell on here line.

This sounds like "plunking" for trout. Basically a tight line rig with bead, swivel, adn spinner. The spinner is called a "spin-n-glow." Look up Bill Herzog, and you'll see the rig in detail.

One of the weirdest things I've seen is walleye anglers dragging chains. Presumably, the tactic kicks up all kinds of critters, which draws the baitfish to the area, which in turn draws the 'eyes. Kind of like chumming, but without chum.

The weirdest thing I do is prefish for tournaments without hooks. Crankbaits are the most fun, since you can "play" them all the way to the boat, if you're real careful.

Nope it was in a lake with NO trout at all. She just had the spinner bait casted out with a weight and sat the rod in one of those catfish rod holders.

[Scorcher214]

about the spiining reel upside down thing, my cuzin katie did that and used a deep diving crank bait, she caught a 20 inch northern though, i didnt get nuthin :-?

[mtnbasser]

when I was a kid me and my brothers would go to the pier and find empty cans and discarded line tie the line to the can tab roll the rest around the can and with a hook and some cut bait( all the anchovy guts,heads,etc that people would leave on the pier) would catch Spanish mackerel all day; When we needed to get the bait to the bottom we used everything from lug nuts to spark plugs for weight.  Makes me really appreciate all my fishing toys I got now.

[mazdabassmaniac]

iseen someone fishing for crappie with cut up hotdogs,i seen the bread ball trick too