Share your weird fishing stories

[Shoemoo]

Anyone who spends much time on the water has some weird stories to tell. Here are some of mine...

Earlier this year I caught a black crappie with no upper jaw. I know the old joke about ripping their lips off, but this crappie literally had no lip at all. The upper jaw just ended in a little point of cartilage right in front of the nostrils and there was no upper jaw hinge. The lower jaw was normal, which gave it a massive underbite and made it look like some freaky bulldog crappie. It looked like a congenital defect and not a traumatic injury. Didn't seem to affect the fish much, since it bit my jig and was around 12" long. Showed it around to the other people fishing and no one had seen anything like it. I'm still kicking myself over not taking pictures of it.

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When I still lived in Washington, I used to cast plug cut herring for salmon. Basically, you take a good sized herring and cut the head off at an angle. The setup you use is a banana weight attached to a leader with two snelled hooks tied on it, one several inches above the other. You run the bottom hook through the herring and out the other side, and poke the top hook through the edge of the cut end so the hooks are on opposite sides of the bait. Then you chuck it out and jig it back so the herring spins in the water. It's kind of unwieldy to cast, but very effective for kings and silvers.

I was standing on a pier where the fish sometimes run right underneath. About halfway in, I felt a thump and the line started going crazy. I knew it was a fish because it was running all over the place, but I couldn't control it at all. I'm thinking it was a monster king, until I finally manged to get it in and look down over the side. It was a silver with the top hook lying flat against its back just in front of the dorsal fin. The line to the bottom hook was looped under its belly behind the pectoral fins, and the bottom hook was snagged on the top hook. Somehow I managed to lasso a salmon by the armpits. The pier was fairly crowded and someone had a drop net, so we were able to get it up onto the dock without much trouble.

 

[PanfishHunter]

not weird, but rather cool.

About a year ago we were jigging for crappie in the Trinity river bout 1/4 mile from the Dam. We werent having much luck. caught a few, not many. we were fishing close to a little island in the stream (pun intended). I look over my shoulder and i see an 8 point whitetail buck swimmin across the channel.

A sad story.

Again maybe a year ago, we were jigging for Striped bass on Lake livingston. (slab Spoons by a friend of ours.) And all we were catching for white bass, so i wasnt holding extremely tightly. i was gripping it hard, just not hard enough. As soon as the spoon hit the bottom, i try to lift my rod up and it got pulled out of my hand. This was about a 200 dollar setup. Abu Garcia reel and nice rod of my dads.

Now another cool story.

Couple years ago, i found an old 3 foot zebco pistol grip rod. this thing had some backbone. probably a medium action. We were fishing the shad spawn in the shallows for catfish. i set the little rod in the steering wheel, as i had 2 other rods out. next thing i know i hear a clang, and then a sploosh. That was the rod going in the water. so i thought it was lost. until we pull up the anchor rope. the catfish wrapped around the rope a few times and was still on the line. the catfish got antsy and broke the line as soon as we put the anchor in the boat. Hey i got my favorite rod back. I dont use it anymore as one of the guides broke off and it is probably a 30 year old rod anyways.

 

[AndyLane]

Well just as I know many of you all could I could write a book of fishing stories. This one may be more "Crazy" "Lucky" Than weird but I swear it is true. When I was 15 my parents bought a house in a subdivision that was built around a big lake that was full of big bass, catfish and huge grass carp. One summer morning I was fishing for catfish and carp with worms on one pole and with corn on another. I hooked into one of the grass carp on my corn pole. The line screaming off my pole told me it was a good one. I was fishing with one of my smaller poles with 12 lb test so It was quite the fight. I was by myself and had forgotten my net at the house so after about a 40 minute fight he tired out. I had to walk off the dock and wade out in the water and wrestle this fish onto the bank. It weighed 47 lb. I tied it up with a big rope and tied it to our dock. I was keeping it because the owner of the subdivision was paying a small bounty that summer for grass carp. They stocked too many way back when and they were eating too much of the moss and vegitation. ( i made some decent money that summer. lol)...Anyway I went to the house and called the guy and told him I caught another one and it was the biggest one yet. He told me he would come down and see it in a bit. I went and grabbed my net and went back to the dock. I re baited the one pole with corn and casted it out and put in rod holder. I reeled in and re baited the other with a glob of worms. I casted out and then I heard Ol boy say "How big is he?" Without thinking I just laid my pole on the boat that was flipped over on the dock and walked over and grabbed the rope. "Ah he is just a little guy" I said as I horsed him up on the dock. He said "Geez!! Hold him up and let me get a picture" I did and like a second after he took the picture I heard my pole slide off that aluminum boat and splash in the water. Yeah I bet that guy had never heard a fifteen year old cuss like I did. lol Now for the cool part. After I quit cussing and what not and the guy left I decided I was done fishing for the day. I picked up my other pole and started reeling it in and I got snagged on something. kinda felt like I was reeling in a tree limb but low and behold It was my pole and even better it still had a fish on it. I got it untangled and I fought it for a bit and finally got it in. It was a catfish just shy of 10lb. The subdivision owner used the picture he took of me and that carp in a newspaper Advertisement for houses he had for sale around the subdivision. lol I've got a copy put away somewhere. Biggest fish I've ever caught on rod and reel.

 

[PanfishHunter]

thats awesome andy! thats a friggin huge grasser. i need to remember some more stories to post up.

 

[hookup]

I got two.

First, was out kayaking & fishing and smelled a god-awefull smell coming from a small trip to a major river. For those in the know, the major river was the Potomac, and the trib was right below Great Falls - a class V+ rapid. A week before a fisherman fell in and got dragged down river in the rapids & never came up. The god aweful smell was the fisherman after he'd been dead a week. We called the Coasty's, but their boat didn't make it up the trib, so we helped pull the body bad out of the trib to the boat.

Next one's a crack up. We had a good flood in 1996 - here's a kayaker running Great Falls

Couple weeks later, the water fell to a manageable level, & my buddy & I were floating & fish'n the river. I saw what looked like a body in a collection of tree's & bruch at the front tip of an island and said "here we go again". As I got closer, I realized what I saw & almost fell out of the kayak laughing. Someone had lost their compansion. In the bruchpike, handing up side down by 'her' legs, ready for some action was an inflated blow up doll. Called my buddy over & we had a good laugh. The doll stayed there for three weeks until someone recovered 'her'.

 

[PanfishHunter]

that must have been hard to bear... Funny blowup doll story.

 

[waynesburgjay]

That's some scary looking river

 

[Shoemoo]

I imagine finding someone's body in the water would be really sad. Never come across one myself, but I have been out on the water while searchers were trying to find someone's remains. Where I was growing up, someone drowned after jumping off a rope swing tied to a small tree. He went down, got tangled in debris on the bottom and never came up. When I went fishing there a few days later, the search team was motoring around in a boat with a corpse-sniffing dog trying to find him.

Authorities cut the branch off the tree, but some idiot shimmied up this 100+ foot tall maple to tie another rope to another branch. So the fire department cut the tree down and that was that. Made the park a lot nicer to visit anyway, since the rowdy drunk teenagers quit coming.

On a happier note, here's another one some of you southern folks can appreciate...

I grew up near the Seattle area, but my mom is from South Carolina, where her side of the family still lives. We were out visiting them when I was a kid in the early 80s, maybe 7 or 8. My brother is two years younger than me.

One day Grandaddy decided to take us kids out fishing with my dad at a stream nearby. I remember riding through the swamp in the back of his pickup, slathered with bug repellant to keep off the mosquitoes. After awhile, we stopped and got out next to a stream bed. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and all the fish were in the shade. We got out and slogged through the mud about 30 feet away under the trees. What followed was some of the fastest fishing I can ever remember. We were hauling out bluegills right and left, big ones too.

Somehow we managed to aggrivate a cottonmouth that was hidden under a stump on the opposite bank, though. I looked up and it was swimming across the water straight at us flashing its white gums. It lunged at my brother and Grandaddy grabbed my brother fishing pole and started to beat it over the head. Then it went after him.

So he commences jumping around backwards through the swamp trying to whip the snake to death, the snake chasing him, my dad running behind trying to stomp on it, and us standing on the bank gawking at the whole ordeal. Then Grandaddy starts yelling, "GRAB A GREEN STICK! GRAB A GREEN STICK!" Dad grabs one the green branches, and makes a lucky strike at the snake, smashing its head against a rock.

Grandaddy decided all of us had had enough, so we started to leave, but of course the truck had to get stuck in the mud. So he walked out to call a friend to come pull his truck out. So no one was hurt, except my mom nearly had a heart attack after she heard about it when we got back.

 

[PanfishHunter]

I imagine finding someone's body in the water would be really sad. Never come across one myself, but I have been out on the water while searchers were trying to find someone's remains. Where I was growing up, someone drowned after jumping off a rope swing tied to a small tree. He went down, got tangled in debris on the bottom and never came up. When I went fishing there a few days later, the search team was motoring around in a boat with a corpse-sniffing dog trying to find him.

Authorities cut the branch off the tree, but some idiot shimmied up this 100+ foot tall maple to tie another rope to another branch. So the fire department cut the tree down and that was that. Made the park a lot nicer to visit anyway, since the rowdy drunk teenagers quit coming.

On a happier note, here's another one some of you southern folks can appreciate...

I grew up near the Seattle area, but my mom is from South Carolina, where her side of the family still lives. We were out visiting them when I was a kid in the early 80s, maybe 7 or 8. My brother is two years younger than me.

One day Grandaddy decided to take us kids out fishing with my dad at a stream nearby. I remember riding through the swamp in the back of his pickup, slathered with bug repellant to keep off the mosquitoes. After awhile, we stopped and got out next to a stream bed. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and all the fish were in the shade. We got out and slogged through the mud about 30 feet away under the trees. What followed was some of the fastest fishing I can ever remember. We were hauling out bluegills right and left, big ones too.

Somehow we managed to aggrivate a cottonmouth that was hidden under a stump on the opposite bank, though. I looked up and it was swimming across the water straight at us flashing its white gums. It lunged at my brother and Grandaddy grabbed my brother fishing pole and started to beat it over the head. Then it went after him.

So he commences jumping around backwards through the swamp trying to whip the snake to death, the snake chasing him, my dad running behind trying to stomp on it, and us standing on the bank gawking at the whole ordeal. Then Grandaddy starts yelling, "GRAB A GREEN STICK! GRAB A GREEN STICK!" Dad grabs one the green branches, and makes a lucky strike at the snake, smashing its head against a rock.

Grandaddy decided all of us had had enough, so we started to leave, but of course the truck had to get stuck in the mud. So he walked out to call a friend to come pull his truck out. So no one was hurt, except my mom nearly had a heart attack after she heard about it when we got back.

While ive seen plenty of snakes on the water, including one about 3 foot away, ive never been attacked. i did manage to aggravate a C-Mouth hikin in the woods behind my house a while back. it was... about 6 inches away from me, layed out straight, mouth wide open. big ole boy, bout 4-5 feet. I thank the lord i had my red ryder with me. (this was WAY back.) I shot that son of a b in the head about 200 times. what was left was a bloody snake and a boy who almost crapped his pants.

 

[Shoemoo]

I like snakes. I used to have pet pythons. I don't like cottonmouths. Rattlers and copperheads might have more potent venom, but at least if you leave them alone they'll leave you alone. Cottonmouths are just plain mean, and at times they will go out of their way to come after you with absolutely no provocation.

 

[PanfishHunter]

i like snakes too. i want a pet corn snake or ball python. i hate cottonmouths though.

 

[Pepop]

Here's 2 "Dumb Luck" stories; #1. While fishing Lake Meredith during Spring Break my junior year of high school, I was wading the shallows and doing pretty good. I never noticed till I was loading up at dad's car that I had lost my brand new senior ring. I was SICK! A beautiful gold ring with a crystal insert. That was 1970 and the lake was only about 20+/- feet low. I never gave it another thought since we moved to Iowa Park as soon as school was out and I got a new senior ring from IPHS and graduated there in '71. Right after graduation we moved to the Tyler area, time passed, I married my 1st wife, had a couple kids, etc, etc. Along about 1982 I got a small padded envelope in the mail. In it was my Amarillo HS ring and a note. Seems I had lost it wading and it hung up on a thorn bush instead of settling into the muck of the lake bottom and when the water level dropped enough the ring was visible. Meredith is almost 101' low now so in '82 it was probably 30-40 ft low. The person that found & returned the ring to me came upon it while hiking around the Alibates National Monument, looking for arrow head's several hundred feet away from the lake shore and saw it hanging on the bush. There was no return address.
#2. I was crappie fishing with my son from his pontoon barge, Late Feb. of 2004, under the main bridge across Lake Palestine. We each had 3-4 rods out baited with minnows (that was before I got converted) and none in rod holders. One on my rigs was a $150 setup, baitcaster on a then-pricy Boron rod which I kept my hand on most of the time. Hybrid Striper's are known to mill around that bridge and when I just looked away for a moment, something (prolly a hybrid) took the rig swimming. I was pretty ticked (mostly at myself) but what could you do? About 15 min passed and my son hooked up on something big & strong. Several minutes of fighting later, he boated a 6# hybrid, but there was a line of monofilament tangled with my sons line so he grabbed it and when he pulled on it, it pulled back. My boy proceeded to hand-over-hand, bring in a 7# hybrid attached to a crappie hook. He started pulling in the other end of the line (with a little resistance) only to find it attached to my Boron rod & baitcaster. I still have that rig in a rack in my office.

 

[PanfishHunter]

both those stories are awesome. i thought you were a little younger than that actually. thought you were in your forties.

 

[Pepop]

Alas! I WAS!

 

[PanfishHunter]

haha, its ok, my dad is turnin 50 this year.

 

[Pepop]

I would love to be 40 or 50 again except for the fact I'd have to still be working. Think I'll stick with 60 for a little while. LOL

 

[eyecrosser]

Years ago I was fishing with my father and 2 brothers up on the St. Lawrence River near Clayton, N.Y.. We were in a bay catching perch, crappie and a few smallies. One of us noticed a hen mallard and her 8 ducklings making their way towards a batch of docks. My father told us of the large pike and muskies that occassionally feast on these ducklings if given the chance. Not 10 seconds after he explained this there was an enormous splash; the hen and her ducklings scattered every which way. When they rejoined there was the hen mallard and 7 ducklings. Nature is both wondrous and unforgiving at the same time. This happened only about 75 feet from our boat. Absolutely amazing to watch and I will never forget it.

 

[PanfishHunter]

thats crazy. i wish we had yellow perch, muskie, pike, smallies, etc in Texas.

 

[ridgeliner]

This happened last year. My brother and I were in the boat catching bluegill and yellow perch. I had a bluegill on the way to the boat. There was a big splash. It was a muskie. I told my brother good thing the muskie didn't take my fish. Just as I said that my rod bent in half. I fought that muskie a good 5 minutes. It tried twice to get under the boat. I only had 8 lb. test line. It went around the boat to the other side. It finally let go of my bluegill. I reeled in the bluegill. It only had a few scratch marks on it. I took the hook out and let him go.

 

[snake River]

I got two.

First, was out kayaking & fishing and smelled a god-awefull smell coming from a small trip to a major river. For those in the know, the major river was the Potomac, and the trib was right below Great Falls - a class V+ rapid. A week before a fisherman fell in and got dragged down river in the rapids & never came up. The god aweful smell was the fisherman after he'd been dead a week. We called the Coasty's, but their boat didn't make it up the trib, so we helped pull the body bad out of the trib to the boat.

Next one's a crack up. We had a good flood in 1996 - here's a kayaker running Great Falls

Couple weeks later, the water fell to a manageable level, & my buddy & I were floating & fish'n the river. I saw what looked like a body in a collection of tree's & bruch at the front tip of an island and said "here we go again". As I got closer, I realized what I saw & almost fell out of the kayak laughing. Someone had lost their compansion. In the bruchpike, handing up side down by 'her' legs, ready for some action was an inflated blow up doll. Called my buddy over & we had a good laugh. The doll stayed there for three weeks until someone recovered 'her'.

that guy in a kayak is nuts.