Whats the strangest thing U caught?

[Slim1]

I'll start with this story.

I was making a couple false cast as I was eyeing a fishy looking pool in the Stanislaus river. I then let the line go, hoping to hit the target on the river with the anticipation of a nice rise to my fly. But some was amiss. The line stayed in the air, no bushes , no trees in the area.

(???) :shock:

I pulled the line in to see. While I was false casting, the line wrapped around a dragon fly in such a way that he could keep flying & pull my fly line with him!!!

Of all the years of fly-fishing I finally caught a fly!!

For Real!!


I've also caught a bat.

How about you???


Slim

[mike N]

A bat took my dryfly once while fishing to risers at a less than admirable creek outside of Winters, CA. This was prior to this creek becoming less than admirable.

What a trip, the cast went out and just kept floating around, back and forth and sideways and every way in between. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on.

I heard about the potential transfer of rabies from bats to humans, so I stripped it in fairly close, gave the bat a nice hard slap on the water to stun it an unhooked it with my hemos. The bat kinda squealed when I pulled the hook free

I went home after that, and the trout catching was good that evening.

This was below Lake Solano.

MN

[SteelieD]

I've caught a dragonfly on a couple of occasions. Fishing dries at dusk. It is ironic, isn't it?

[David Lee]

Bats . I hate Bats . Why'd it have to be BATS :?:

Actually ........

I was fishing a local pond . 4X , #10 Olive Birdnest , pea-sized Corkie ..... the Corkie twitches , I set ........ Like hooking a rock . The 'rock' starts to move in a jerky fashion :shock: . After fooling around for about 5 minutes ..... here comes a foot-long Red-Eared TURTLE :x . Hooked him (her ???) in the rear foot .

Also Clams (too many to count) , Bullfrogs , a Snake , and several Crayfish . My Border Collie Sasha crossed my six a few times , and has been hooked twice , much to my profound regret .

David

[PaulC]

Probably the oddest thing I've caught which actually put up a good fight in the surf, was someone's swim trunks.
I surmise some poor guy had to run back to his car naked on a crowded LA beach. lol.

Another good one was this WSG (White Sea Glove) I caught last April.
It didn't fight as hard as the swim trunks and was released carefully into a trash can.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Cronin/WSG.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Cronin/wsg_2.jpg

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

My brother Dick caught a Mallard duck at Rancho Seco on a big dry fly he was using for Red Ear perch.

We caught Frigate birds at Christmas Island in the Central Pacific on poppers while casting for Trevally.

I caught a turtle in Florida on a black woolly bugger while fishing for bass and panfish.

My friend Harry Boley caught a large Sealion at Redondo Beach while fishing for Bonito.

[dtp916]

:lol: This thread is great!

Let me see....I caught a swallow fishing dries on a slow moving run of the Middle Fork of the American off Mosquito Ridge Rd. Swooped down an ate my Elk Hair Caddis right off the surface....Well, he really was hooked, he flew around for a good 2 minutes before I got him off :lol: :lol: :lol:

Other odd things, pieces of black plastic on the Truckee, there's a heavy population of them under bridges....and of course my dog (twice, sorry bud) :D

[DocEsox]

My strangest were not fly fishing.....yes.....some of us still fish with our old heathen techniques....what can I say....I'm old.

25 years ago I was walking Newport Bay in Southern Cal casting a jig for spotted bay bass....as I brought my backcast forward the line was ripped outta my hands and I turn around to see the local cat with my jig firmly embedded in his palate take off. Broke the line....went to my car and got my army jacket....followed the blood trail and find him under a bush...he actually let me reach in ...clip the barb and remove the hook. Saw him a few weeks later and he was doing fine....threw him a little fish for dinner.

A decade ago when my lab was young on was on the Beaverhead using a worm (please don't kick me off the website.....I sometimes give in to my weaknesses) I set my rod against the car while I answered the overpowering call of nature.....as I walk back to the car my rod is laying on the ground and my lab is looking very suspicious. I pick the rod up and trace the line to her mouth....the meathead ate the nitecrawler and got the hook stuck in her lip...what a pinhead.

Was flyfishing poppers for bass when the largest bullfrog I've ever seen came crashing up on it....scared the heck outta me...ugly spud.

Have also caught pelicans, cormorants, seagulls (they can be flown very well.....just have to have your drag set right) and myself.

Brian

[Ed Wahl]

I caught my brother once, right in the middle of the back. Several frogs, and even a few lizards. Although for the lizards I broke off the hook at the bend. I was fishing at Stumpy Meadows years ago during a heavy midge flight, bats were skimming the surface and lifting my fly and leader off the wate before dropping it.

[snrubnivek]

I was fishing my favorite run on the Trinity about 3 years ago. I had taken off my fishing glasses to wipe the fog off the inside lense & they slipped out right into the run. The water as usual was freezing & I was actually looking for an escuse to tell my wife why I needed a new pair so it wasn't a huge loss. Well on my next cast I hooked something & as you are now well aware it was not an "Adult". Even though I found them it was not long till I had my new pair. The next trip I left them on the top of my truck & they blew away.

[OregonSalmon]

I did not catch the oddest thing I have ever seen hooked, some dude on the bank of the American did: it was my buddy Tony Nelson!!! We were floating down the American in the summertime, Tony was in an inner tube holding on to the raft. We noticed a line 3/4 of the way across the river, ried to avoid it, to no luck. The guy on the bank was trying to reel up as fast as he could but ended up hooking Tony in his jean cutoffs. Got him right in the ass. Needless to say there was some drinking on the floating mission and a few other nameless mind numbing ingredients, but I will never forget seeing Tony yell "OH SHEET!!!....I'M HOOKED!!! Plus seeing the guys rod do a substansial bend. Of course we are laughing like ten thousand maniacs at Tony's plight considering we didn't have a hook in our shorts, but Tony was slighty less than happy as I recall yet in a time of trial, the fought the bank fisherman off, freeing himself of the treble hook bondage and breaking him off.
The happy ending, though it was in Tony's end, was the hook never caught skin which lead to my conclusion that treble hooks are not only useless, but a pain in the butt.

[Jay Murakoshi]

I have the best catch :D

I have caught bats, sea gulls, harbour seals, a crocodile (in Houndrus), and a tourist - I take that back. I"ve caught two tourist - while fishing the surf. One in the hat and one in the sleeve of their jacket. Heck, since I'm rambling on I've also caught a yellow lab.

:shock:

Jay

:D A couple of mates and myself were casting dahlberg deer hair poppers around for saratoga and barra's in the Wenlock river in Cape York, when my buddy was stripping back and a small Salt water croc chose the wrong time to poke his head up and we jagged him fair in the back of the head.
Needless to say he was very upset. :twisted:
The hardest part was getting the fly back!!
And you don't realise how hard the little buggers are until you have been Wacked!

:D A couple of mates and myself were casting dahlberg deer hair poppers around for saratoga and barra's in the Wenlock river in Cape York, when my buddy was stripping back and a small Salt water croc chose the wrong time to poke his head up and we jagged him fair in the back of the head.
Needless to say he was very upset. :twisted:
The hardest part was getting the fly back!!
And you don't realise how hard the little buggers are until you have been Wacked!

[Ed Wahl]

Okay! Okay! In my opinion crocs gotta win. You guys take the cake. Unless someone out there has hooked a hippo or elephant I think we have a winner. :shock:. I'm gonna start working on a small dog imitation, maybe if I can hook a mountain lion on it I'll be back in the game. :D. Real good stories guys. Ed

[bigtj]

-Got a bat on an elk hair caddis (no big deal there).

-Caught a starry flounder on a marabou pattern fishing for King Salmon (pretty unusual).

-Lassoed, out of mid-air, a cliff swallow with a birds nest...I didn't hook it, I rodeo-roped it!. The fly looped on the leader and had the bird around the neck. One in a million chance, try doing that again I wonder if anyone has ever done that with anything.

[mems]

Aloha, I've caught all kinds of weird things, racoon wanted a trout I was reeling in once. An alligator ate a largemouth bass I had on the line. I have had numerous sea birds attack my poppers offshore. I have hooked and released sea turtles and eagle rays. Probably the one I remember most was a large flying fish that ate a popper. When I set the hook it took off and flew 30yards past the boat. Now that was fly-fishing. Mems.

[Wednesday Caster]

Unfortunately, I was the strangest thing another angler caught. I was scuba diving along the jetty down in Newport Beach when a fisherman's line got tangled on my tank. I signalled to my diving partner to ascend. When we got to the surface, the crowd gathered was disapointed the fisherman did NOT have a keeper.

[Jeff C.]

I hooked a duck that took off just as I casted a dry fly. It broke off (5x tippet). Landed a tire this summer in the Feather Low Flow fishing for salmon (0X tippet). Jeff C.

[Darian]

Don't know how strange this is, but I once LDR'ed a shopping cart on the Low Flow of the Feather.... :? :? Actually, that could occur on any river now days. Guess it doesn't really count after all. :roll: :roll:

[jbird]

I havnt caught anything really odd that stands out. I did catch a stick once that had just the right shape to swim and throb and even break the surface. I thought about keeping it for slow days 8) :D . Then just yesterday I added something to the list. I caught and realeased Mark Sandlins cat. He ran through my leader as i pulled the rig out of Marks boat. Poor little guy :cry:

Jay

[Hairstacker]

Man, I must be fishing in the wrong places. . . . :lol:

[sculpin]

Jay
You must have got a couple of Pelicans and Frigates when we were in La Paz this year . I know I caught plenty of both .

Mark

[Terry Thomas]

Not a catch of mine...however. When I use to take sixth graders up to Sly Park I had an interesting experience. On their last day of camp the students could choose an extra activity. One of the activities was fishing. Jenkinson Lake is just a short ride down the hill: so off we go. The DFG had planted and some of the kids were catching a few trout. One of the students, a son of a Sacramento D.A., starts to reel in something really heavy. He is really having a hard time. Just before the line breaks he lifts it up... a boot, just like in the old time movies! Everyone had quite a laugh.

[Dustin Revel]

I caught a fish once.... it was exciting :lol:

[slim]

LDR'D a beaver on the Truckee once. Ahh...nothing like hooking into some beaver!
slim

[rasbrown]

Up until a couple weeks ago I thought a bat was the strangest thing that I'd ever caught, but that is pretty run of the mill I guess. Caught a lamprey eel on the Trinity a couple weeks ago, even our guide was a little mistified by that.

[Loren E]

i landed a ski poll while dead drifting nymphs under a cator on the truckee

[lee s.]

Caught a heifer once.....well. LDR'ed one. :wink:
.....lee s.

[smokeater]

I got the family dog once under the chin with a bass popper. It was actually pretty funny because I kept feeling something on the back cast as if it was bouncing off something but when I looked back it was clear except for Sam who was sitting with this anxious look. So next time I watched my backcast sure enough she was following the popper so I told her "you better not" and in that instant WHAM! DOG ON!

One day out on the AR I snagged a submerged marine biologist on the leg of his wetsuit.

The most remarkable thing I ever caught was a largemouth bass at Folsom lake on a rattle trap. The remarkable thing was that I had hooked into the eye of a barrel swivel that was still tied to a rubber worm legally set in his mouth. Now my question to you guys.......do you think that counts as a legal hook up?

[SullyTM]

...lately, I haven't been catching anything :?