whats the strangest thing you have caught while fishing

[ChaosCatalunya]

My friend went spearfishing here in NE Spain, floating along looking for Octopus (they spit bones out of their nest, so are easy to spot the tell tale boneyard) and saw a box sitting on the sea floor. Not a normal place to spot boxes... So, on a busy Sunday with a full beach 100m away, and the owners possibly watching, they carefully, subtly retrieved it and were rewarded with 30kg of decent Moroccan hash.

This can be a very dodgy game indeed. Nearby, just up the coast, a gang of fishermen lost a large parcel one stormy night, ditching it as the Customs power boat was getting close and landing tricky in those seas. Somehow some local divers heard about it on the grapevine, so went to the area and dived for it, found it and got it to the shore, pulling the whole lot up a cliff. They then tried to sell it... In their local village, where the local fishermen aka smugglers, had lost the very same parcel... Unamused, but playing along, they sent a friend to recover the haul for them. He went to the remote farmhouse to take the haul off the divers where it was being dried.... Just as he is about to get stuck in to the tricky business of repossession, the Guardia Civil show up, they have been watching the whole thing from start to finish, busted the lot of them.

 

[stoned-trout]

I caught a cormorant sp? the other day ...using my surf rod on jetty. I hauled it in quick and it shot out of water and right into my hand ..for a second I thought it was the usual mess of seaweed....calmed it down got out hook and set it free...was pretty cool and mellow unlike when you hook a pelican..seagulls can be mean too....it was rather calm considering..yeehaw

 

[J man]

Puffer fish in the canal. They have teeth that look almost human.

 

[Buddle]

I have caught some big freshwater fish ..lake trout ,sturgeon,gar,catfish ,striper,musky ,pike...

52" Muskie in the St Lawrence River was my biggest fresh water fish..It was caught on 8lb test. The fish was definitely sick..That was the only reason we didn't release it.

 

[Bobby_Stainless]

Kid I was fishing with, caught a dead dog, that had drowned the fall before.

 

[ChingonLSU]

Bullfrog ate my cork one time, also snagged a duck in flight once. Largemouth bass on live shrimp in gulf of mexico off Louisiana coast (somewhat marsh, but mostly salt water).

 

[Bud Green]

My best buddy (R.I.P., man) and I were fly fishing in New Zealand 30 years ago..
He caught a seagull, out of the air, on a wooly bugger..

I was laughing my ass off as he reeled it in!

edit:.. P.S...I was laughing at my buddy, not at the poor, stupid bird...
He reeled it in, I wrapped a big towel around it, and we cut the leader off right at the birds beak....

 

[stoned-trout]

I hooked my second bird in a month here....both released unharmed...yeehaw...fishing been slow lately..small fish

 

[moose eater]

Late to the party..

We caught a 40+" lake trout hen at Kathleen Lake in the Yukon Territory, south of Haines Junction about 15 miles, and across the lake at a hole we commonly fished. She had a larger size carabineer in her belly. no telling how long it had been there, but you can assume it was never going to pass through her smaller intestine.

She no longer had a tummy ache when we were finished, however... She ate well, despite what might have been elevated levels of aluminum in her. ;^>)

Still have the carabineer here some place.

 

[armedoldhippy]

i have caught pelicans, gulls, & had ospreys dive on big live baits while pier fishing for kings on the Outer Banks. caught a hellbender while trout fishing years ago. big ugly slimy mother of a salamander. they are about gone now in these parts, water pollution killing reproduction...

 

[brickweeder]

once caught a 6-pack of Dad's root beer off the pier. The cans were sealed and looked fine. I tried one and it was salty, so I pitched the rest in the trash. Not sure how the salt water got into the sealed can.

 

[AgentPothead]

I didn't catch it, but one time in Florida at a pier I saw a guy pull in this thing that was all white, with big black eyes, and maybe 6-10 legs, some sort of crustacean that was high octane nightmare fuel.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

Earlier this Spring I was fishing a small Atom popper for bluefish and Bam! I got a hit.
Good fight, reeled it in and found a large three lb squid had nailed the popper.
We had a tasty calamari appetizer that night.

 

[armedoldhippy]

squid hit topwater plugs? damn, who knew?

 

[slacker]

Caught a baby seal by the paw, a seagull wich was like flying a kite and a duck wich pulled my rod in the water. Also a true cod with a baby sturgeon in its mouth and Eastern brook who's stomach had about 20 yellow jackets in it.cought my ear with a 1/0 gamakatsu with a 6oz weight wich was less thsn ideal!

 

[armedoldhippy]

chlamydia

Don't ask.

so, they weren't "biting" that day, i take it...

 

[pjlive]

I wish I had a pic of it. I once caught a 2.5 foot monk fish not too far off the Nantucket coast. I didn't even think it was a fish until I got it on deck. Ugliest fish I ever caught to this day.