Whats the wierdest thing you've ever caught.

[Caleb]

What is the wierdest thing that you have ever caught. This weekend my dad caught an anchor and last year caught a rock by one of the holes in it.

[cisco]

While trolling with a wire line rig on Lake Michigan I hooked into an old downrigger someone had lost. The only reason I could bring it in was because the lake was flat, my wife kept the boat in wide circles over the hookup, and my father in law reeled line while I brought it up hand over hand using leather faced gloves (which I always keep on board).

Some 50 other guys must have previously hooked that rigger and lost tackle to it. I had lures, sinkers, dodgers and flashers, snaps and swivels and a host of terminal tackle that came with the old rusted downrigger. The really scary thing was the fact a policeman had been killed and dumped into the lake and was missing -- with each pull on the rigger I thought I was hooked into a body.

[minneman]

I caught what we are sure was part of a human scull, (no kidding) I thought it was a coconut shell and as I threw it over the side back to the water, on shore was a sign that said Indian burial ground, among other things I caught a Bat (flying kind) on my lighted bobber, a pair of prescription glasses and a pair of pants with only one leg ?? weird eh?

[Hunter]

Wooden case of whiskey bottles(empty). Must have been from the rum running days. Alot of money was made running whiskey across the detroit river, back in those days. So much so Al Capone bought a house on an island in windsor with a great big warehouse outfront. I just bet he stored his cars in theyre.

[mnjimcarp]

a buddy and i were fishing when he decided it was time to go to shore and take a break. when we got to shore i said, i will continue fishing and you take an hour break. when i returned to shore to pick him up, i had quite an interesting story to tell. i told him i caught and released a 15 pound walleye.
later that day, i decided to take a break and he dropped me off for an hour. when he returned to pick me up, he had quite an interesting story to tell. he told me he caught an old lantern and the light was still burning.
i said, "wait a minute, i will take five pounds off the walleye if you turn the light out on the lantern"!

[Backwater Eddy]

:D

HA!!

I Love it!

Good one mnjimcarp!!

:)

Backwater Eddy.......><,,>

[Backwater Eddy]

OK, you asked for it.

I was fishing below a dam on the Red River for channel cats at night when my old 10' E-Glass took a bounce and then a run, looks like a good fish EH.

I set the hook and start wrenching in this monster with high confidence I was expecting a 25-30 lb class kitty to be on the business end of the line, nope.

Black as mud out that night I had a Maglite clenched in my teeth peering into the boiling backwater below the dam trying to pull this wallowing piggy up to shore for a peek. It would get close then the critter would seam to head for the current again, it took some time to get it close enough to try to land it.

With it finally near enough for me to confidently try a hold I grabbed the 40 lb Berkley Big Cat line with my free hand and gave it a pull while focusing my Maglite on the beast.

One mighty pull and in the beam of the light I see ---GULP--- a arm and a torso--EKKKK--!!

I spit out the light and backpedal up the shore a bit freaked out as to what I seen. After a minute or two I built up some courage to go see what the heck I hooked. I hauled it up and again the arm rolled in the current and flopped on the bank.

Man this was not cool, looks bad.

Grabbing the line and then the arm I pulled it up on the bank revealing the upper torso of a gosh darn store manican that was apparently half melted in a fire at one time. This made it even more ghastly in the dark!

Relieved yes, but that was weird even by my standards! Spooked the heck out of me man!

I called it a night, too much caffeine I guess?

Backwater Eddy

[Hans]

I probably would have needed to wash out my shorts b4 I went home!

Weirdest thing I ever caught was a muskrat on a Mepps spinner. Cut the line when I saw what I had.

Hans

[foreyes]

We were trolling the Wisconsin River and were catching nothing but small fish when the rod thumped and I picked it up and it was just thumping hard in the current. "It's a keeper", I said and my friend helped me net the lower half of of a tennis shoe- about a size 12. Was the best fight I had all day. Still have a picture of that stupid thing danglin off the end of a rapala.

[Sunshine]

I've caught a Mallard duck twice. I also caught a stringer w/ four very lively walleyes on it.

[cmb]

I got a great little fishing rod from lake erie some 15 years ago. cleaned it up, oiled the reel and replaced the rotted line. and I still have that little 5' spincaster today. It is a good little kid sized rod.

the freekeyest was a stinkey mass that I hooked into as a local quary as a teen. I broke off it before I had it to shore, thought it was a half rotten dog, bloated racoon or something. that evening on the news there was a report of a human torso found earlier in the evening at the lake where I was fishing. now, I am not 100% sure, but it was a couple of years before I ever went back to that spot. just freeked me out a bit!!

[ezmarc]

31" Walleye carcass! Man did that thing put up a fight.

[byron]

I was top line trolling a #7 rapala and got a hard hit. Thought i had a good fish until I saw the line going up into the air. A seagull dived on my lure, snapped it up in his beak, and took off. I had to reel in the poor bird after a few crash landings into the water. A simple flick with the pliers and he was gone. Must of gone 4lbs....

[cisco]

I'd like a $5 bill for every place in the northern woods and waters lands where Al Capone was supposedly a cabin owner, frequent visitor, hide-out proprietor, and the like. The guy died young (even with several years on Alcatraz), but certainly did get around the north country. It's amazing he ever had time to run the mob in Chicago.

[cisco]

That might be a line-class record.

[caleb]

oh yeah i forgot. I caught a loon last year. I was reeling in my spinner and I saw it dive then next thing I knew I got a bite. it took me a minute but I finished reeling it in and had to cut the line. And when I was younger snagged a muskrat by the foot. That thing put up a fight got it all the way to shore before the line snapped.

[eyeguy/mn]

I'm big on catching lawn chairs, those things are scrappy. once you get the location down after a good windstorm its easy to limit out. Last weekends catch of the day was an attwood battery hold down strap, cleaned it up, as good as new. One rod and reel. Several old tin ninnow buckets. Freind once jigged up a 4x3 buck deer skull. just get a line in the water, theres a winner every time!!! Paul

[Dave S]

My son and I were fishing for walleyes several weeks ago in South Dakota. Just as I got the keeper walleye along side of the boat and my son is netting the fish two other walleyes rushed along side of my hooked fish. My son lifts the dip net and we have three walleye on one hook. You know they are bitting when you can catch them three at a time on one lure.

[Smitty]

HAHAHAHA.... Do you charge extra for delivering these "alternative fishing experiences"????

[Scott]

I'll start off by saying I am not a Timex salesman. Six years ago my father in law and I were pulling cowbells for trout in Two Medicine Lake (Glacier Park, Montana). His string of bells were about 15 feet down and he felt them hit some weeds. He pulled them in and his hook latched on to a Timex watch. The band was broken on one end and the thing was still ticking with the correct time (just like the old Timex Torture Test). I don't know how long it had been there but the metal band was very discolored.
I put a new band on the watch and my mother in law wore the watch for 3 or 4 years and it purred like a kitten. She lost the watch in Arizona somewhere.
Am still amazed at the odds of hooking the broken watch band in a lake 5 miles long and 2 miles wide with a #6 single hook.
Scott...

[Cangl]

Trolling anything goes, some times less than desirable, with 3 of us longline trolling a local lake bottom. The more timid angler hooked up on and took almost 5minutes to reel in loaded Fruit of the Looms! Tears were in our eyes listening to him trying to get three sets of hooks out of that treasure. Might have been able to keep fishing if FishLips had not questioned as to whether they were cleaner than what he was wearing. May have been a fair exchange?

[walleyekiller]

i was jigging for walleyes on birch lake a few years back and thought i snagged a tree branch....or so i thought....it started to give way and i pulled up a wire fish basket filled with live crappies.....also on the same lake....my buddy managed to hook on to the last eyelet of a brand new rod and reel....couldnt have been more than a couple days in the water....

[EyeBoy]

Allright!!!! What was the lure??!!
ON-PLANE!!!TOM

[water_wolf]

Once I was fishing a small lake in Arizona.....;-)

Rich Ferguson

[Melonbob]

My better half was fishing sturgeon in the Missasaugi up here when she latched on to a fully decorated christmas tree...~~q:

[Riceburner]

While fall fishing for walleyes, I had two loons working the same structure. Just dropped a fresh chub over, watched one of the loons dive a few seconds later, and sure enough, the chub got active, and bit. I thought "Oh crap, now what am I gonna do with this loon". I actually set the hook kinda half-heartedly, tightened down the drag, and cranked in the line with very little slip-----only to reveal a 29" walleye...got my picture and measurements, and back in she goes....sure fooled me---but I'll remember that every time I see the loons feeding.

[RD]

A fellow I know was fishing from the bank below Lake Shelbyville Dam on the Kaskaskia River for walleye. He hooked what he thought was a big walleye - it tore off drag as it headed down river - it stopped and he started reeling it in only to have it take off down river again. This went on for about 20 minutes with many of the fellow bank fisherman following him up and down the river as he fought the fish. He finally landed his catch, much to his embarassment, it was an umbrella. The current would open it up and drag him downriver and it would hit a rock and close up and he could reel it in. Not all was lost however, he salvaged twenty some lures that were broken off in the umbrella.

[FJH1]

In college I took two "girl friends" out fishing on Big Green Lake in WI. We were sitting in about 30' of water casting to a 15' weed edge. Kris made a cast and had a bad backlash (yes they could both cast bait casting reels) and her Rattle Trap went sailing. Several hours later we were working the same area when Lisa also had a backlash. Fortunately she didn't lose the lure, however, after she picked out the backlash and reeled up low and behold, the Rattle Trap that Kris broke off was hooked to Lisa's lure.

Best Regards,

FJH

[Beaver]

LAST EDITED ON May-31-01 AT 09:25AM (CST)[p]Once while fishing with my dad up in Vilas county, I had a walleye pick up a crawler on a Lindy rig. While fighting the fish, the line became entangled in something and I broke him off. The next day, in the same spot, I was dragging a Lindy rig and crawler again and got snagged on something. I pulled a little and the snag came free, but I was reeling in some extra weight. When I brought it to the surface, there was the skeleton of a 18" walleye with about 50 crayfish attached to it. They had picked it completely clean except for the skull and that`s where all the crayfish were congregated. It was amazing just how clean the carcass was.
One other time I snagged what I thought was a stump with roots attached to it. Wrong, it was a deer head. Crabs must have worked over him too. Not a speck of meat or hair on it. How big? Had a friend score it. 152 P&Y (unofficial). Left it outside the cottage that night and found it chewed to pieces the next morning. Porkys got it I guess.

[wheels]

I didn't catch it, but I watched a guy reel up an open umbrella by the handle. It took him a while to get it up.

[Jim/UT]

I was fly fishing the south fork of the Snake in Idaho. We parked the boat below a riffle and I got out to wade fish. Nymphs were working well, so I grabbed by nymph rod and worked the run. First cast I had a take, tightened the line and popped it off with very little resistance. Not hard to do with 2 lb test tippet. I quickly tied on another of the same fly, cast out, had another take the first cast, brought in a 16" cutt. While removing my hook I found my surprise. There was my first fly in his lip! What are the odds of hooking him twice in two consecutive casts!

Jim

[cmb]

I had a similar experience on Erie with a Fish Ohio eye. near the end of a long fishless day my father in law and I both hooked into big fish- at just about the same time. mine fealt like the bigest fish I had ever hooked, but he busted loose after only a few seconds. I put my rod down and proceded to net the other fish. just as it was at the boat and I was about to net it the brim of my hat brushed the fishing line and broke it off. with a very upset fishing partner I went back to fishing. no sooner than a few secconds after I picked up my rod I had a big fish on!! a few moments later we could se that "my" fish had my father-in-laws red and white erie derie hanging from the corner of his mouth!! What are the odds!! fortunatly we cuaght a couple more hogs, one more each, so I wasn't chastized forever, but I now remove my hat to net large fish!

[Stump]

A few years back,the Wife and I were fishing Lake Delivan on a long weekend trip.We were each fishing two poles,on one we were fishing jigs and minnows and the other we fished medium shiners on slip bobbers.We were getting a mix of Walleye,smallies and the occasional pike.My wife had a hook up on the slip bobber pole and set the jig pole down(my 3 week old G.loomis).After netting her Walleye,I glanced back in horror as I watched my Loomis go over the side of the boat!@#%#&% #%$#!!!Same trip,3rd day...We were casting cranks over a hump,completely on the other end of the lake,when I hooked on something.Thought it was just a clump of weeds,but it had some weight.As I got it right up to the boat...sure enough...weeds,and a line.Yanked off the weeds and the line,but the line started pulling and so did I.Pulled up a 24in. pike with a jig in its lip on one end of the line and my weed tangled Loomis on the other.Weird or just D@#n lucky...both get my vote!! Tight lines and bent poles to all!!

[Bottomfeeder]

A few years ago we were trolling leadcore at Bay de Noc when a board went back big time. A My buddy was reeling it in he would reel, then it would take out line. It went from one side of the boat to the other. When we went to net the fish My other buddy said "man, its an anchor". The one on the pole said "yea it's huge". It was an ahchor, a tin can filled with cement with a 3' piece of rope. Fought better than any walleye we had that trip.

[dave]

Yep me to,caught a filleted walleye.Must have been 4lbs.

[Highlander]

My Uncle Walt took me on a fishing trip I'll never forget. Day ONE, A fishing trip to Hawk Junction in Canada, in a 17' canoe, 40' of H2O fishing for wallies. Uncle Walt said we'll jig here, that there's a sunken dam here, throw out the anchor....soooooo I did,....... forgot to practice my marlinspike skills. Day TWO, had to slow troll with spin-beetles since we now have no anchor, I hooked the end of the nylon anchor rope. To this point of the trip our total catch was 1 anchor. With darkness upon us we were paddling back to the car when I saw wakes on the surface of the water in the moonlight. With rocks and partially submerged trees looming all around us I slipped a three bladed mepps that I made,(two mepps with no hooks and one with fastened in cowbell fashion) into the water. After a couple minutes of paddling and a stern warning about the rocks, my rod took a deep bend. I grabbed the thing and set the hook while stating that I had something. Walt started grousing that had a 100 ton rock to which I replyied that the rock was pulling back. To our suprise it turned out to be a 6lb walleye. Sooooooo, we tied up to one of the trees that was sticking out of the water and we'd cast as far as we could and retrieved when we heard the splash of the lure, so as to keep the lure close to the surface. With one of my casts I didn't hear the splash. Walt said that I might have put it into one of the trees. I could not see the line while I was reeling up the slack until I noticed that my rod tip was pulling upwards. A brown bat had caught my spinner in mid-air! Yes, we limited out with walleyes in that spot. This was the greatest fishing trip I've ever had.