Strange things that happened while bank fishing

[big g]

This happened several years ago while bank fishing in Weston, Florida.  I caught a bunch of bass and released them at the bank edge, they all swam off right away, except one.  This special guy was about 2 pounds, and when released it swam right into a potato chip bag that was carelessly left in the shallows, close to the release point.  The fish's entire body was enclosed, except the tail that propelled it into deep water at a good pace.  It disappeared for several minutes and resurfaced toward the middle of the lake.  The chip bag traveled all over the place and finally moved back into the shallows.  It got close enough to the edge that I could get my rod tip into the bag and finally remove it.  It was funny seeing the chip bag moving all over the place like it had a mind of its own. 

[Lipripper]

That would have been funny to watch and glad you were able to help him out of the bag.

[Capt. BassinLou]

This happened several years ago while bank fishing in Weston, Florida.  I caught a bunch of bass and released them at the bank edge, they all swam off right away, except one.  This special guy was about 2 pounds, and when released it swam right into a potato chip bag that was carelessly left in the shallows, close to the release point.  The fish's entire body was enclosed, except the tail that propelled it into deep water at a good pace.  It disappeared for several minutes and resurfaced toward the middle of the lake.  The chip bag traveled all over the place and finally moved back into the shallows.  It got close enough to the edge that I could get my rod tip into the bag and finally remove it.  It was funny seeing the chip bag moving all over the place like it had a mind of its own.

That's hilarious.. and fortunately you were able to remove the bag. I will have to think about my bank fishing adventures and hopefully come up with one.

[West6550]

That's awesome lol

[SFL BassHunter]

That's a funny story right there!

[big g]

That's a funny story right there!

Rick, I actually reported this story on FBN when it happened.  Several days later, I was contacted by a local newspaper in central Florida and they included it in the sports fishing section.  It certainly was a strange day!

[SFL BassHunter]

Rick, I actually reported this story on FBN when it happened.  Several days later, I was contacted by a local newspaper in central Florida and they included it in the sports fishing section.  It certainly was a strange day!

There you go your 15 min of fame!


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[LgMouthGambler]

Maybe he couldnt eat just one? 

[nats]

I got nothing to compare to that story, But bank fishing near some lilly pads using a fluke, hooked up but immediate cut line,figuring a pickerel. retied and on first cast hooked and landed a pickerel that had the previous cast fluke and hook in its opposite side of its mouth.  then later switching to a floating worm hooked and landed a good size bullfrog.  not a banner day  but interesting.

[Smallie_Stalker]

On one of my outings to my favorite pond some years back I made a long cast with a jig into the midst of a field of lily pads. I dragged and hopped that jig through the pads and just when it cleared the edge I felt a tick and set the hook. I felt some weight, but the line didn't move off so I set again just to be sure and felt a pull and the line went down not off to the side. Every time I reeled I gained some ground but each time I stopped I felt that fish pulling, and the line moved down not to the side. I finally reeled it in and there it was in all its glory - an orange strap with a huge silver buckle marked Falcon Ambulance Service. 

I swear to this day that that thing was fighting back. 

[Lipripper]

nats I've never caught a bullfrog on a floating worm but have caught one on a HB Frog.

Smallie I never caught an Ambulance strap before but I did catch a Black Bra once 

[Smallie_Stalker]

Smallie I never caught an Ambulance strap before but I did catch a Black Bra once 

What goes on in the strip club stays in the strip club. 

[Lipripper]

What goes on in the strip club stays in the strip club. 

now that you mentioned it it was one of them strip mine pits that use to be a local night party hang out.

[FloridaFishinFool]

That old strap was fighting back! Some good humorous stories.

I think the strangest thing that happened to me bank fishing was hooking into the same bass as my buddy was into across the pond, and fishing until past sundown and having big ole gators chasing the fish I was reeling in. I had to let one gator have the fish as I backed up the bank away from the water with a gator following the flapping fish where he grabbed it on shore and immediately turned and went back into the water with it and I intentionally snapped my line after he grabbed it. And needless to say it, but with that I immediately gave up fishing for the day and continued to back away from the water there hoping no other gators would be following.

I had this same problem with aggressive gators out on Merritt Island at Peacock Pocket which really surprised me because it is all salt water with no fresh water any where around there. And there were some big gators out there who were not scared of us at all and seemed to be surrounding us expecting us to catch a fish for them to move in on. I even tried throwing rocks at the gators trying to chase them off to no avail.

And when fishing out there on Peacock Pocket, you have drive on top of a dike so it is really narrow and steep dropoff on both sides down to water on both sides and gators on both sides and even more coming around after dark. If one of those gators came up on top of the dike there was no where to run except to climb up on top of your car or get in it. No trees. No bushes really. Nothing there for protection if a big ole gator decides to get aggressive and come after you or your catch. You just have to give it to them. And I do. And I make sure to get the hell out of there when the sun goes down to because those gators are more aggressive after dark and I'm in their territory hauling in dinner for them. So I really have to have a healthy respect for them and always have my own way out if one of them comes my way for any reason.

[Lipripper]

Noway would I be fishing in gator infested water after dark.

[analfisherman]

Well I have had many crazy things happen Shorebusting.

Well anyone who's been around me.........I have crazy things happen to me going to fish, coming home, shopping for tackle, tying on a lure, stopping for a snack (candy so as not to get lost )...........ok, ok...........just getting out of bed in the morning can be a comedy show if your me 

The alligators reminded me of his.

So I wade a lot when shorebusting.
I normally will wear Neoprene waders because I always seem to have to push the limits and I frequently wade out till the pocket on the chest hits water.
Well one more step could be a drop and hence fill the waders with water.....which is a comedy show in itself. 
So he tight fitting Neoprenes avoid too much water getting in. 

So this last spring I'm wading at a lake and it has mucho vegetation and clay/mud bottom.
Well in WI. we don't have alligators but we do have HUGE SNAPPING TURTLES.

So I'm wading at about mid-chest deep, pulling my feet out of the 'vacuum bottom clay' one step at a time.
This lake also has big Pike and Musky that roam the shoreline and frequently will even swim through my legs when they are feeding in the shallows and I'm standing still. (they like to come and sit in shallows to absorb the sun in early Spring.....along with the big Snappers  )
So I'm trekking a long casting constantly as I walk the bank.
I see a big Snapper come off shore into the water....no big deal....they usually aren't real aggressive.
So I continue working the shore, casting, pulling my feet out of the muck bottoms....my mind is everywhere BUT the thought of predators in he water.

All of a sudden I feel a huge powerful clamp right above me knee.
Thinking I must of walked into a submerged branch or something.....I simply moved my leg to remove my leg from the obstruction.......AND THE SNAPPER CLAMPED DOWN LIKE A VISE-GRIPS!!!!! 
I SIMPLY FREAKED OUT!!!!!!

I, out of reflex kicked my leg out and this thing, as Snappers do once they clamped onto something, just bite harder and harder.
After numerous kicks it let go.

Now I'm just a little flustered, confused and freaked out, so I wade to shore to gather back my mind/composer and above my knee you can cleanly see the imprint of this turtles jaw clamp on my neoprene's. 

Sure enough when I got home, I checked the bite area and a very CLEAN JAW PRINT was on my leg with the bruising actually showing the clamp impression. 

All I can figure out is the thing just happened to be swmiming by my leg....I moved and bumped it and out of reflex it snapped?

Just to give you an idea of the size of Snappers in WI. and their determination after clamping on to something.


The one I saw leave shore was pretty much the same size........I now ENJOY Turtle Soup.....EVEN MORE! 

[Capt. BassinLou]

Anal, after reading this post, I made a mental note. No wading for me....  . I only wade in one particular location I fish that, and when I mean wade, I'm saying mid shin at best, otherwise South FL and wade fishing don't mix. 

[Lipripper]

Anal you got off easy. Them things are hard to get their mouths open once they clamp down. Lou no way would I be wading down there with all them gators 

[big g]

Well I have had many crazy things happen Shorebusting.

Well anyone who's been around me.........I have crazy things happen to me going to fish, coming home, shopping for tackle, tying on a lure, stopping for a snack (candy so as not to get lost )...........ok, ok...........just getting out of bed in the morning can be a comedy show if your me 

The alligators reminded me of his.

So I wade a lot when shorebusting.
I normally will wear Neoprene waders because I always seem to have to push the limits and I frequently wade out till the pocket on the chest hits water.
Well one more step could be a drop and hence fill the waders with water.....which is a comedy show in itself. 
So he tight fitting Neoprenes avoid too much water getting in. 

So this last spring I'm wading at a lake and it has mucho vegetation and clay/mud bottom.
Well in WI. we don't have alligators but we do have HUGE SNAPPING TURTLES.

So I'm wading at about mid-chest deep, pulling my feet out of the 'vacuum bottom clay' one step at a time.
This lake also has big Pike and Musky that roam the shoreline and frequently will even swim through my legs when they are feeding in the shallows and I'm standing still. (they like to come and sit in shallows to absorb the sun in early Spring.....along with the big Snappers  )
So I'm trekking a long casting constantly as I walk the bank.
I see a big Snapper come off shore into the water....no big deal....they usually aren't real aggressive.
So I continue working the shore, casting, pulling my feet out of the muck bottoms....my mind is everywhere BUT the thought of predators in he water.

All of a sudden I feel a huge powerful clamp right above me knee.
Thinking I must of walked into a submerged branch or something.....I simply moved my leg to remove my leg from the obstruction.......AND THE SNAPPER CLAMPED DOWN LIKE A VISE-GRIPS!!!!! 
I SIMPLY FREAKED OUT!!!!!!

I, out of reflex kicked my leg out and this thing, as Snappers do once they clamped onto something, just bite harder and harder.
After numerous kicks it let go.

Now I'm just a little flustered, confused and freaked out, so I wade to shore to gather back my mind/composer and above my knee you can cleanly see the imprint of this turtles jaw clamp on my neoprene's. 

Sure enough when I got home, I checked the bite area and a very CLEAN JAW PRINT was on my leg with the bruising actually showing the clamp impression. 

All I can figure out is the thing just happened to be swmiming by my leg....I moved and bumped it and out of reflex it snapped?

Just to give you an idea of the size of Snappers in WI. and their determination after clamping on to something.


The one I saw leave shore was pretty much the same size........I now ENJOY Turtle Soup.....EVEN MORE! 

Anal, besides gators, pythons, and poisonous snakes, we have alligator snapping turtles that can grow to well over 100 pounds.  No wading for me down here! 

[analfisherman]

Ya I know about he alligator Snappers.
Their mouths open twice as far as traditional snappers and they have a little appendage on their tongues that wiggles like a little worm.
They sit very still for very long periods of time.
When a fish swims in to eat the worm...... BAM...dinner time. 

They are considered ambush predators where as the traditional snapper is an actual predator that actually chases it's meals or hunts for it by moving often large distances to find it's next meal.
You put your hand in front of the Alligator Snapper and it will just sit and watch you....traditional Snapper will actually jump at it's prey so you put your hand even a foot in front of traditional snapper and it will actually jump to reach it. Vicious little things.

Which brings me to another bank fishing story...........

So 4 of my friends and I ride our bikes to a lagoon on the Mississippi (one I did the clinic at, actually) to fish for crappie one Spring.
Now we would branch out and wander the banks fishing lay-downs and pockets and such.
We would put the fish on those wire stringers with the metal clips on them.
We had a BANNER DAY.
Well over 25 large Crappie,.
We actually had multiple fish hooked to a single clip.

During the day we would see this HUGE Snapper out swimming in the Lagoon and every time someone would see it they would call out to the others and we would all run over in fascination to stare at it till it went under again.
Well the day got slow and we all had wondered off leaving the stringer tied to a small tree root.

We decided to leave so we headed back to the bikes and the stringer to go home and clean fish.
On the way to the bikes we were joshing each other about who had to clean what, as young men do. 
So we got all the fishing rods and stuff together and then came the inevitable discussion of 'who had to carry the fish on their bike home'. (which was like 5-7 miles from the Lagoon)
So we decided on taking turns on the way home starting with the biggest kid first. (little did he know, three of us smaller kids had gotten together and figured we could ride faster with no fish and when it came to our turn........WE'D BE SO FAR AHEAD WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HEAR HIM YELL TO TELL US IT WAS OUR TURN. 
Anyway he goes down to the water and pulls up the stringer...........EVERY SINGLE CRAPPIE WAS GONE.....EXCEPT FOR THE HEADS WHICH WERE STILL CLIPPED ON TO THE STRINGER!!!!!!  
That big old Snapper must of swam up by shore and ate the Crappie off the stringer. 
Needless to say......we all rode together that afternoon home.     
 

[Lipripper]

Yelp Anal they love them free meals on a chain.

[basss]

You guys thinking what I'm thinking ... Doritos Locos lure with some treble hooks ... hey, it made taco bell over a billion dollars ... could be worth it.

[Lipripper]

You guys thinking what I'm thinking ... Doritos Locos lure with some treble hooks ... hey, it made taco bell over a billion dollars ... could be worth it.