Crazy Catches

[FlatsNBay]

Let's hear about your crazy catches. It could be the crazy way that you've caught a fish or even a strange fish, animal, or strange object that you've caught. Tell us about your crazy catch.

I have a few..

A couple of years ago, I was fishing in a rockpit and catching a few bass on a drop shot rig. I found a little spot that had a school of bass on it, and I was able to get a hit on every cast. The fishing was good! I casted out my drop shot and felt a hit. I set that hook and reeled in a bass about a pound. Much to my surprise, the bass wasn't hooked, he sucked in the drop shot weight. It was lodged between his gills. Pretty cool and unique. I thought to myself, I bet I never have that happen again.

A second crazy catch happened when I was bank fishing with a buddy many years ago in south Florida. We were both worm fishing and were casting our baits parallel down the shoreline. We both casted our worms which landed about 3 or 4 feet from each other. I felt the tap tap and a few seconds later my buddy felt a hit. We both set the hook and you guessed it, we both hooked and reeled in the same bass at the same time. It had both of our hooks in its' mouth! Pretty crazy!

I've got a few more about crazy animals that I've caught that I will share later.

[J.W.]

Let's hear about your crazy catches. It could be the crazy way that you've caught a fish or even a strange fish, animal, or strange object that you've caught. Tell us about your crazy catch.

I have a few..

A couple of years ago, I was fishing in a rockpit and catching a few bass on a drop shot rig. I found a little spot that had a school of bass on it, and I was able to get a hit on every cast. The fishing was good! I casted out my drop shot and felt a hit. I set that hook and reeled in a bass about a pound. Much to my surprise, the bass wasn't hooked, he sucked in the drop shot weight. It was lodged between his gills. Pretty cool and unique. I thought to myself, I bet I never have that happen again.

A second crazy catch happened when I was bank fishing with a buddy many years ago in south Florida. We were both worm fishing and were casting our baits parallel down the shoreline. We both casted our worms which landed about 3 or 4 feet from each other. I felt the tap tap and a few seconds later my buddy felt a hit. We both set the hook and you guessed it, we both hooked and reeled in the same bass at the same time. It had both of our hooks in its' mouth! Pretty crazy!

I've got a few more about crazy animals that I've caught that I will share later.

A second crazy catch happened when I was bank fishing with a buddy many years ago in south Florida. We were both worm fishing and were casting our baits parallel down the shoreline. We both casted our worms which landed about 3 or 4 feet from each other. I felt the tap tap and a few seconds later my buddy felt a hit. We both set the hook and you guessed it, we both hooked and reeled in the same bass at the same time. It had both of our hooks in its' mouth! Pretty crazy!

I've heard of an angler doubling up on fish, but not a fish doubling up on anglers! You've beat anything I can talk about. 

[Wizard]

One of those great spring days on Table Rock with the air temp 70 degrees at 10 am. A weather change that evening would bring snow and freezing rain to the lake. After a tremendous day of catching, we pulled the boat, using a steep ramp. With an ice storm coming, it was now or never for loading the trailer. Sure enough, the next morning found the ramps ice bound with ice under 4" of snow. We had another day's stay at the condo at Kimberling Inn with nothing to do.
Now, the story. Layered in sweaters under snow suits and resembling Penquins more than anglers, we fished from the bank. 28 degrees and I tied on a Spook. Don't look for a secret here. I'm just a wild and crazy dude. I flung the Spook as far as possible and started the retrieve. I turned my head to laugh at my partner and I got WACKED. Almost tore the rod from my hand before I could turn and look. A Seagull was flying off with the Spook, ran out of line, hooked himself and fell back into the water. It's not easy to remove a hook from a pissed off bird.

Wizard

[FlatsNBay]

Great story Wizard! 

Here's a couple of not actual crazy catches. I'll call them hookups.

Back when I was home from college, I was fishing Everglades Holiday Park. It was during the heyday and hype of the flipping technique back in the 80's, and I was in full blown flipping mode. I was working along the canal and placing my bait into every nook and cranny that I could find. I was catching a bass here and there and my confidence was high that my next flip would result in a monster bass. I flipped the bait into a weed filled pocket and let the bait sink. I lifted up my rod and felt my bait move sideways. I set the hook and my rod doubled over. I thought that I was hung on the bottom when all of a sudden, my line moved to the right. Next it moved to the left. I held on for dear life and leaned back as hard as I could. All of a sudden, the giant mouth of an 8-foot alligator came out of the water wide open! I almost fell over in shock. I had hooked the gator in the mouth. I fought it for a few minutes and then broke off. Growing up in Florida, I have caught a ton of alligators and all of them were on the top of the water. This was the first that actually hit me under water! Pretty strange.

The next situation happened when I was inshore fishing in Englewood Florida. My brother-in-law and I were catching a bunch of small seatrout, and we were having a great time catching a fish on almost every cast. I think our fast action attracted a bottle nose dolphin (porpoise). The dolphin started circling our boat waiting for us to catch and land a fish. When we released a fish, the dolphin would immediately track down and capture the fish for an easy meal. After a while the dolphin became almost a nuisance as fun as it was to watch. At one point, I hooked a small seatrout and was reeling it in. The dolphin started to chase my fish as I reeled it towards the boat. I reeled faster and faster and the dolphin was closing in. All of a sudden, the dolphin grabbed the trout (that was hooked to my lure) and then took off. My drag started screaming! Uh oh, I hooked the dolphin. I held on for several minutes when finally, the hook pulled free. Phew!!! That was a close one!