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Let's hear some crazy or funny fishing stories

6K views 56 replies 32 participants last post by  fisherman505 
Was fishing for bass with a buddy on the Tamiami Trail down in Florida one morning and the only lure that was working was a long 3-hook Rapala. We were in a boat and working both banks of the canal and my buddy made a lousy cast and his Rapala ended up 10-feet up on a small branch in a tree. Not to worry says I and when we got the boat directly under the lure, I whipped out my Ruger .22 and told him I'd shoot the branch in two just in front of the lure. Well, maybe it was because the boat was rocking but I shot his darned lure plum in two. He wasn't overly happy and said since I destroyed his lure, I should give him the one on my rod which was the only Rapala I had. I did and he went on to have a marvelous fishing trip out-fishing me three or four fish to one and I never heard the end of it for years. So much for being a good Samaritan.


Cheers.....
 
My X-Wife and I were fishing Big Creek above the Bogey access on Norfork. We had been catching small white bass all day. I think we had a string of 11 or 13 casts in a row with a caught fish. It was crazy. The only trouble was that we were catching the small males. All day we had been watching a couple Bald Eagles off in some trees. I noticed one of them start flying toward us and we both stopped fishing to watch this magnificent bird. It was only a speck in the sky. It was very very high in the sky and directly overhead. All of a sudden it tucked it's wings and nose dived. It was dropping like a rock and coming right at us. It hit the water about 15' from the boat. It was incredible. The water from it hitting so hard sprayed us in the boat. It was like a huge belly flop. Almost as quickly as it hit the water, it flapped those tremendous wings and rose directly overhead with the biggest White Bass of the day. It couldn't of been more than 20' overhead as it circled our boat 3 times and then flew off to what we think was a nest in those trees. I still believe today that the Bald Eagle came over to show us how to catch the big whites and then circled us to show off its catch. I've never seen anything in the wild to top it. It was early 90's. We didn't have iPhones then. I sure wish I had that one on tape. It was an incredible display.
Had something similar happen back in Float Creek, Doug. Was over a brush pile and pulling crappie in from 35-feet down. A few were to small so I chucked them back over the side. Well, at that deep, the poor things had an air bladder full and were floating around on the surface. Usually, after a bit, they expel the air and go on their way. Anyway, an Eagle on the other side of the creek jumped off his perch and swooped in and captured one of the crappie while it was still floating. Maybe 10 feet behind the boat. Made a heck of a splash and definitely a bad day for the crappie.


Cheers.....
 
One night a couple of years ago, I was working the banks on Norfork fishing for spawning walleye. There was no moon and it was pitch black. The walleye were in small pods of 6 or 8 males next to the bank waiting for a female to come up from deep water and when she got into the shallows, they would be all over her releasing milt while she was releasing eggs which would get fertilized and then sink down in the rocks to hatch a few weeks later. You could hear them splashing along the banks when a female got near them. Anyway, I chucked out my Rattling Rogue and hooked a pretty nice fish which was thrashing around on the surface when I got it back to the boat. I had a large striper landing net and when I swooped it through the water to net the fish, it felt quite a bit heavier than I though one fish would weight. When I got the net in the boat, I shined a light down into it and I had netted three walleye. Apparently the other two sensed the one on the hook thrashing around in the water was on a female and they came over to the boat to do their thing. Easiest three walleye I ever caught.


Cheers.....
 
That last one about the walleye fishing on Norfork reminds me of a fishing trip with my brother off the coast of Oregon a few years back. My brother and I were bottom rock fishing up near Brookings in 40-50 feet of water when he got a pretty nice 5-lb red rock fish on his line. He's slowly bringing it up when all of a sudden, the line got really heavy. We figured a big Ling Cod had grabbed the rock fish so we decided to try to get them both in the boat. Bro told me I would have once chance in netting them when they got to the surface. He had a good size salmon net for the job. Anyway, up they slowly come and I could see the bright red of the rock fish stuck sideways in a 35-pound Ling Cod - which has a really big mouth incidentally. Just as they hit the surface, I gave it the old college-try and got both them suckers in the net. Both fish made excellent table fare shortly after that.


Cheers.....
 
Couple of alligator stories:

I was fishing a canal down south of Miami for tarpon and came across this 8-foot alligator floating in the middle of the canal. I had a pretty heft rod with a salt-water spinning reel so I thought I'd give this critter a hard time. Cast the spoon I was using on the other side of the gator and when the lure hit the crease between his belly and his hand leg, I gave the rod the old heave-ho. The gator went nuts and rushed across the canal to the other side, up the bank and into a marsh . I really put my drag to the test but in the end, had to say goodbye to my spoon. Was fun while it lasted though.

During another time, I was down in Panama fishing a small pond fairly close to Lake Gatun which forms the Canal. I was using a pretty big popper and looking for anything that would bite. My daughter was standing along side me and about 20 yards out in the pond, there was a 4-foot Cayman just floating and looking at us. I put the popper along side and behind it and told daughter that when the Cayman went for it, I'd pull it away before he could get it in his mouth. As the lure got close to it, it started quivering ad when it lunged at the lure, there was no way I was going to out-maneuver it. It grabbed my popper but with a flick of it's head, threw it maybe 10 feet away. I thought I had pretty good reactions but this critter was twice as fast as I was. But at least I got my popper back.


Cheers.....
 
A friend and I were night fishing for stripers on Norfork a few years back in April and it was pitch black with no moon. We were using the big Rattling Rogues with three treble hooks. It was a good night with plenty of bites and for the first hour or so, we were both catching fish. Later on, I was still pulling them in but my friend was getting bumps and jerking but not hooking anything. We kept it up for another hour or so and ended up catching 16 stripers but my friend only caught three of them. When it was time to quit, we swung the lures in to hook them in the rod eye and my friend had one treble hook left and it was the one directly behind the bill. During that first hour of fishing, the stripers had ripped two hooks off his lure. I would add that we through all the fish back.


Cheers.....
 
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