What'd you catch, that wasn't a fish ??

[lew]

Waynes story about them catching the 2 x 10 on GBay yesterday reminded me of a similar thing happening to me a few years back while musky fishing on the Upper Niagara River near the Peace Bridge.

 

We had about 6 boats in our group and we trolled in behind the boat in front of us to get tighter to shore and just as we got in my rod doubled over and the fight was on. It felt like a big fish with plenty of head shakes and she was moving all over the place trying to break free while my rod tip bounced like crazy. During the fight I looked over at the boat beside us and he was also fighting a biggun and I figured this was great with 2 huge fish being fought only a couple hundred feet apart at the same time.

 

After about a 5 minute fight my line starting coming up and my partner had the Frabil ready to scoop her, but instead of the big slimer I was expecting, all I saw was a large red lure hooked to my bait with the line running over towards the other boat.

 

Yup, it wasn't a fish at all, but I'd snagged the line of buddy in the next boat when we cut in too close behind them and I tangled lines

 

Anybody who's fished the river in that location knows what the huge current is like, and with us fighting each other & with the boats bouncing in the waves & current, you may be able to understand what we were experiencing.

 

Disappointing to say the least, but it's provided plenty of laffs ever since

 

So howz bout you, what'd you ever catch that turned out to be something other than what you thought it was ??

[Rizzo]

at least you won the fight! My bizarre catch story is also from the niagara. A few weeks back my buddy hooked in to an anchor. Such a heavy one we had to drag it into the shallows to get it

[Alumacraft]

I've caught 2 rods and reels bottom bouncing the Lower Niagara for trout. Both were baitcasters with Diawa's reels on them(my fav. brand).I've also pulled in a cell phone. Once while trolling for ski's on lower Buckhorn I hooked into someones cut anchor line. I've been lucky though with 20 years fishing the Lower Niagara I have not pulled in or seen a floater.

 

Rob

[cram]

both a seagull and a snapping turtle (twice, actually).

[Fish Farmer]

My buddy trolling Center Lake with his wire line for Splake, hooked into what he thought was a fish, yelling get the net, got it to the boat, was a plastic bag full of you know what running out the bag "SMELL" you wouldn't believe . Then he had to take it off his lure, what a laugh. How it got there who knows, maybe someone ice fishing with the cramps. Little to say he got the gag award at our clubs award night, in front of 300 people, the place was howling as I told the story . You'd never guess what was on his award plaque He till has the plaque hanging in his rec room.

[mbac31]

I pulled in an old burned out frame of a matress a few years back on Balsam with tons of lures in it. I had gotten snagged but used my lure retreiver to get it out. Ended up gaining a ton of Crankbaits.

[Guest gbfisher]

caught a Timex indiglo down 85' while bouncing the riggers for lake trout. It was still ticking.....lol

I thought it was a good story but Timex I guess has heard them all. I doubt they understood what it meant to hook something that small in the middle of a lake down that deep, still ticking....lol.

My 9 year old Son wears it. He thought it was a great catch...

[StoneFly]

Snapping Turtles several Times, a couple that were HUGE and I would guess over 100lbs,...Man those things can be viscious on land.

[ChrisK]

I caught a rock while walleye fishing

[crappieperchhunter]

A couple years back I was out ice-fishing on St John's. Slow warm morning. I was moving around and drilling tons of holes and got all sweaty...then it got cold. I was shivering and miserable the rest of the day. Felt like crap the next couple of days at home before I finally went to the DR.

 

Seems I had caught pneumonia Wish I had released it instead of taking it home with me

[MCTFisher9120]

I caught a water snake when I was a little guy, and about 2 years ago fishing off the public dock on Scugog(Port Perry) I thought I had about a 10-15lb catfish on the line, turns out when I brought it in it was a fold up camping chair...

 

[trapshooter]

I was out for walleye one day and realized I forgot my net.... wouldn't you know it, about an hour later a guy in my boat brings an old net up off the bottom!! Unreal coincidence.

[danbouck]

This summer in Dunnville I was fishing with my 3 year old Jacob when he dropped his scooby doo fishing rod in the water (5 minutes earlier I was thinking about attaching it to the boat). It instantly went under while we were trolling. I tied a deep diver on and casted to where I thought it would be and caught it on the first try

 

I am glad I did because the tears were insane.

[glen]

The only story i can think of is the time i caught a board.

[Kinger]

Salamanders, Painted Turtle, Ring-billed gull on a smithwick rogue, a next to new fishing net, a line tangle with 50 or so lures in it, a dead (already filleted) chinook salmon.

[irishfield]

The only story i can think of is the time i caught a board.

 

But man... what a board!!

[Lake Ranger]

After reading all your posts, I realize the giant snapping turtle I caught is not unique. However, would you believe I caught a full bag of potatoes, a lawn chair and a crutch all in the same trip? I wonder if the owner of all that is still down there.

[tdotfisherman]

I've caught a Snapping Turtle while fishing for Pike up at Georgian Bay. The Snapper hit my X-Rap on the pause. I snapped him off with my pliers real quickly. I've also caught Crayfish while fishing for catfish with worms.

[Twocoda]

in the river - countless floats and stray lines

on the lake - 8 feet of an 10 foot PT fence post with about 60' of barbedwire attached to it ( took about an hour to get it out of the water)

- scuba divers shoe and a rubber boot

- many other boats ( seems other boats have a tendency to follow me )

- fishing rod and reel

- camera

[Rizzo]

actually caught a loon once up at the cottage. Hit a minnow under a float. Lots of snapping turtles, one water snake and a giant frog on a hula popper in the lily pads!

[BassAsin]

i've caught a few odd things now but the one that comes to mind first was when i was about 8 yrs old. my uncle had taken me out on lac dore near pembroke and we were steel line and lead lining for lakers, Doug (my uncle) had a nice laker about 3 lbs at the side of the boat and sure enough told me to net it. well i dropped the net. we carried on the rest of the day without it and continued trolling around, a few hours later Doug was reeling in another one about our 6th or 7th of the day when " wow it just got a lot bigger, i didnt think it was this big" he had said turns out the fish hit the NK mag spoon and swam through the mesh in the net and he reeled in both the net i had dropped earlier in the day and about a 14 inch laker. i can remember when he was reeling in that fish and said to me "grab the net" laughing

[splashhopper]

I recently caught a Black and Decker skill saw ( battery type with no battery)... was fishing a narrow section of a river under a bridge.... there was also a lawn mower too far out to reach at the same spot ..

 

Hooked into a couple of grocery buggies, had a helluva time bringing those to shore.... they are still there as far as I know ( Thames river in London... what a cesspool )

 

 

and last but not least,,, i have caught the back of the leg of my waders a few times....

[lew]

I was fishing a few years back and dropped an expensive outfit in the drink, Shimano V-rod and Curado , and definetely wanted them back. I tied a heavy spoon onto another rod and began dragging bottom in hopes of snagging it.

 

Believe it or not I caught a 5 pound pickeral while dragging the spoon. Who ever heard of a pickeral taking a big red / white Daredevil off the bottom

 

Never did get the rod back though.

[Joey]

I caught a turtle, a dead sheephead (it was pretty ripe with no tail) and Paul caught a minnow trap.

[muddler]

When I was about 10 years old (early 1960's), we'd hike up to a local lake and fish off the shore. One day I snagged something and it wouldn't budge. I those days we'd just jump in and swim to the snag and unhook it. So I did just that. About 50 feet from shore in about 12 feet of water I dove down and there was my red and white daredevil hooked onto a Sears(Ted Williams model) outboard. One of these 2HP with the gas tank on top. I dove down and freed it from the mud and eventually dragged it to the shore. We finally got it home and copied the serial number from it. Went to the Sears outlet in town and asked if they could track down the owner. A few weeks later I got a letter from a fellow in Ohio that said it was his. He wrote that it was a kicker on his boat and it had fallen off that spring while he was travelling across the lake. He said he had replaced it and that I could have it if I wanted.

WOW! After cleaning it up and pelacing the plug it started up no problem. We used it for years and finally sold it so that I could upgrade to a new 4hp Mercury.

 

muddler