Funny fishing stories

I don’t know, I thought it might be interesting to hear everyone’s funny fishing stories–I’m sure there’s a few out there that’ll garner a good chuckle!!

Here’s mine…

One day a few summers ago we were cranking some rip rap for smallies out in the West Channel. We have occasionally caught some northern (including a 9 and 10 pounder) and big cats there. So we trolled along, casually chatting with a few campers on the shore and hooking a few bass when suddenly a big ol fish slammed my crankbait!! Wham!! My pole doubled over, much to my delight and much to the amazement of the campers now gathering on the shore to watch the fight. So there I was, looking and feeling like a pro cooly engaging in another battle with what I thought was going to be a bragging size northern or, God forbid, smallmouth!!! What’s more, the Island Girl slowly made it’s way down the channel behind us, allowing several more amazed onlookers to view me, a guy who obviously knows what he’s doing!! LOL Finally, the battle was nearing it’s end and I caught the first few flashes of my trophy as it neared the surface. My dad was now up on the deck of our boat, ready to net the fish. Then, I shook my head and sort of dropped my rod while my dad let out a cackle and landed the biggest carp I have ever seen! LOL It still makes me laugh to this day!! What a fighter! Anyway, we released the trophy carp. Perhaps he’ll pull the same prank on some other unsuspecting bass fishermen some day!!

I was just a kid and my dad took me ice fishing with some of his buddies. It was a rather slow day but we had fish. Nothing but crappies. Well, one of the older fellas in this small group had to go answer a nature call and while his back was turned, my dad and another friend put 2 crappies on the same hook, attached to that older fella’s rod. The fish didn’t have too much life left in them so they wouldn’t swim off with this guys ice rod. But he came back, saw the bobber down, “sets the hook” and pulls up 2 crappies!! Nobody let on. Not even me! He looked at the fish……………looked at the guys……………looked at the fish………….shook his head ………………………rubbed his chin, looked at the guys ………….everyone’s fishing, silently. Let out a quiet “Hmmmph”, took off the two crappies, put them in his bucket, and continued with a new waxworm without saying a word!!! Everyone caught enough glimpses that the laughter could no longer be contained…………..he was a good sport! :C)

I took my boys fishing for carp one day on the rum river near where it flows into the Miss in Anoka.. there are some real bruisers there at times….. so we walked down to the shore and there were a couple of other anglers there fishing for carp…. one of them I noticed was using a really nice baitcasting outfit… probably $150 for the combo….. kind of unusual for carp…. but hey, what the heck? anyway I was making a big thing to my boys about always hanging onto their fishing rods because carp take off like a frieight train, when suddenly my youngest let out a squeal and pointed and yep…. sure enough there went that $150 rod into the water like it was shot out of a cannon… must have landed at least 20 feet out… and it just SHOT off into the distance to the chagrin of the owner.. who quickly gave up the idea of trying to wade after it…….!!!! well.. let me tell you.. my kids hung tightly onto their $20 outfits…….. and they caught plenty of carp……

then perhaps one of the funniest incidents I ever witnessed did not directly involve fishing… but instead, how NOT to land a boat….. this took place on the public launch on the west side of MileLacs…… these two guys came in with a really nice boat…. the owner stayed with his boat so he could power load, not all that unusual.. and the “guest” went and got the truck….. it was a bit windy, like usual… but not bad…. so the boat owner was having some positioning problems….. and he was trying to yell at his guess just how far down to bring the boat…. after a bit of jockeying the owner felt he had the position just perfect.. so he gave a holler to the guy in the truck and “gunned” his boat to drive it up on the trailer… well the guy on the trailer took it to mean he should pull out and start over… so out he went!!! and wham… up the cement ramp came the boat… with no trailer there to get it!!!… then after we helped them get the boat back into the water and they managed to get it right the next time, but while the owner was “proudly” sitting there patting himself on the back for managing a direct hit on the trailer the driver floored it, and flipped him right out of the seat into the water….. what a finally!!!! we had tears in our eyes….. come to think of it I think the boat owner did too……..

I was Ice fishing at miller dam one time and a muskrat jumped out of the hole that a guy sitting next to me on his pail was fishing out of. The guy freaked out and fell backwards off of his pail. The muskrat freaked out and started running around in circles scaring the heck out of 5 or 6 people before finding a hole to get back down in the water. I still laugh when I think about it. I laughed so hard that day that I nearly busted a gut.

Great “tails” guys……………….here’s another:

Two guys from the church were fishing Gull for walleye when 1 guy announces he just had a good hit on his Lindy and another says, “Yeah?…………Me too! Hope it’s a double!” Both men set their hooks and shouted with excitement from opposite sides of the boat! “Feels like a dandy!” and “This is a GOOD FISH!” comments began to fill the air but as their fish neared the boat, you could see the confusion setting in. The fish was netted and the other guy is still fighting. Within milleseconds you heard, “WHOOA WHOA WHOOOOAA!!!! Hang on man…………STOP PULLING!” It was a 27-28 inch walleye with 2 Lindy rigs in his mouth! HOOKED SEPERATELY! Now, I’ve heard of teaming up but that’s ridiculous! 2 on 1 isn’t sporting is it? LOL! Best part is, as the story was told back at the camp, 2 other guys recalled that 2 years prior, on the same lake, in the same area, same time of year, the same thing had happened to them!!!

Now, to rectify that, I was night casting off the dock. In total darkness I hooked another fish and it seemed “ok” size (over 15″). A friend came to see how I was doing and offered to work the net. I hoisted the fish, he scooped the net, done. I pulled the fish out of the net but the net started flopping by itself when we laid it down!! I hooked the walleye but we scooped a rock bass! I told him he should net all my fish!! I figure one on the line, 2 in the net is a real efficient technique!

:O)

Okay, this is one of those stories that your average person locks away in the pride closet. But here now, for the sole purpose of humility as a sacrifice for your entertainment, heeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrres Stillakid2.

I bought an aluminim boat that needed some work and my father and I made a project out of it. When the boat was ready, we successfully tested in a nearby pond. So upon the trailer it went and my first available outing was a muskie trip to Potato Lake (WI). Now, not to bore you with detail, let’s just KNOW that the boat wouldn’t slide on this trailer. So I get to the lake and undo everything and start backing to the water and off went the boat! All the way off! Pops forgot to tell me that he had reworked the runners on the trailer and spray/soaked them with silicone lubricant! Get in the lake and set up a trolling rod and a casting unit. Just me, my wife, my new boat, my new troller (no gas motor yet), workin’ on my trophy muskie! Life was good again! 5 hours – zip! Nahda. Pull in to a resort for a beverage, talked to the owner, and he asks, “Are you using Muskie lures?” Well of course! I’m there for muskie!!! He says, “Switch to Shad Raps, #7. Potato muskies don’t like that big sh…………..”stuff”.” Of course, all those lures are at home cuz I’m “muskie fishing”! So I bought a couple other lures and continued trolling and casting. Got a snag and was working on it when a gust from God-knows-where came up and gave the boat a spin. Cleared the snag but got my troller in the prop. A little power and HEY! Lost the lure, cleared the line from the prop, found myself in thick weeds because of the wind. Tried getting fancy with the trolling motor but still got weeds wrapped around the prop and getting in the gap………………….stop to clear them out. Realized that weeds were around the shaft inside so I disassembled the prop and “PLOP”…………………into the water went the shear pin! My wife was loving this day cuz this isn’t a normal occurance………………no matter what Rivereyes says! My muskie weekend was cancelled by 3pm Sat. due to extenuating circumstances that required a momentary calm, and then a horrendous gut busting laugh! It was just one of those days! :O)

Sometimes the adventure is just getting to the river! One day my fishing buddy and I were heading for the river with my 85 LTD (no muffler) pulling my old reliable Glasstron Tri Hull. The noise of the cars exhaust was so loud we did the obvious, turn the radio louder. Between the radio blaring, the exhaust rumbling, and yelling to talk to each other we thought we were doing fine. Halfway to the river we approached a group of men standing by the road. As we sailed by them we noticed that they stared us down. We pulled over and realized why they were staring, one of our trailer tires had blown and all that was left was the rim. I can just imagine the sparks we must have been given off.

I lost a rod on Leech two weeks ago trolling cranks for pikers. It was, of course, lodged under the gunnel where it “couldn’t come out,” Apparently the fish had different ideas. When I saw the rod double over, I grabbed for it and there it went, over my hand and into the water.

There have been so many wierd things that have happened to me over the years I wouldn’t know where to start… perhaps where we hooked into a gull?

Now that’s a funny story you had me going for a little bit!

Dustin

dtro,

Great leg puller! Definitely a good laugh! :O)

Great story. Was very interesting and attention getting. Right to the punch line.

heck… it was actually quite belieavable…. in fact… its most likely totally true!! lol…..

Ive certainly seen muskies/fish nail a few interesting things….. the best was I saw a muskie nail a red wing black bird… it landed on a rush that bent right down to the water… and *WHOOSH*…… he was gone….

but I think one of the funniest was when I was working with the Iowa DNR in Muscatine… they have bass ponds down there (to raise fingerlings for the farm pond stocking program and any other stocking needs).. and I was mowing by the brood stock pond, chock full of 2#+ bass…. when a snake paniced by the mower tried to swim accross the pond…. he did not make it 10 feet… when one of the funniest tugs of war Ive ever seen was initiated… I had to stop the mower and watch…. those bass tugged at that snake for 10 minutes before one of them “won” and was able to swallow it….. sometimes there were 4 bass that had it at the same time….. !

anyway… Im sure the acorn part was just learned behaviour… we all know how smart these fish are!! after all they outsmart us often enough…. lol

Old Joke. But then again I’m old. Actually was a bass and a walnut and a log. As a matter of fact, I’m the one who made up that joke! Was 15, 17 no 20 years ago when I fishing er…guiding Homer Circle and teaching him everything I know and telling him how to write his articles. He was never good before I taught hime how write! Heck as long as we’re on the subject, you know the brothers out of Chicago? The Lindners? I taught them, too! They were nothing before they met me. I even gave them the idea of the Lindy rig. I called it the Knutson rig back then but gave it to them because I had already invented the depth finder and was making millions——no billions! That’s the ticket!…………Oops sorry. Gotts go guys. My boss is calling.

While you’re busy hoarding credit, you want to add plagerism to that list? (dig, dig…………..lol )

yeah… well you couldnt have invented the depth finder until I invented electricty!!

Well I forgot to mention I invented the Kite, too! Had a Pileated Woodpecker print on it!

Hmmmm……………I think the ship is going down Cap’n…………..C YA!

Mnfish,

You must be a prettydarn good fisherman, because you sure know how to bait me with that Pileated scene!!

I just saw one fly by my office window(basement office no windows) it was glowing with every vibrant color of the spectrum!!! “I wish I was a headlight, on a North Bound train”!!!

Edited by Jim W on 07/03/01 11:54 AM.

I wrote that song, too!

So your saying then that your more of a “Hunter” …Robert?

More than a gatherer? (hunter, gatherer,.. men, women…..?) Who’s Robert? He stole the song from me!!! They do this stuff all the time!

Robert Hunter, Poet and lyricist(sp?)

You spelled it correctly Jim. So you’re safe………..RiverRunt won’t be able to pick on you! LOL!

Yup! I know. I taught him, too. Just testing you. Thanx

I got two, sad ones. Years ago I used to fish for salmon in Lake Michigan. One year during the Racine Coho Tournement, I hooked a beauty of a Chinook. As I got it along the side of the boat, It made one final run and wraped the line around the transducer. Now, there was a $50 prize for big fish of the day and I wasn’t about to lose this fish. Gave the rod to my son, stripped down to my shorts, went in the water and untangled the line and we got the fish,but wouldn’t you know it; after all that effort it was 4 oz. short of winning the big fish payout.

My other sad tale occured on the river about 5 years ago. Hooked a smallmouth trolling. It broke water a couple of times and I could tell it was huge. After about 10 minutes, got it along side the boat, lipped it aboard, quickly measured it(21+ inches), and lifted it to show my friend who was in his own boat. I had a smirk on my face and was trash talking him about what a great bassin man I was, when the fish wiggled, slipped out of my grasp, hit the gunnel and ploped back into the river. No picture. no accurate measurement and egg on my face instead of the smirk.

I think I’ve had that same egg on my face!! Certainly, we’ve all had grand memories fall just shy of the boat and/or camera lens. That just means you go back and get ’em when they’re bigger!

eye sea!!!! so River Rat is the next RANK!! … hmmmmmm I bet River Eyes is the highest rank!! dont you think Stillapup??

and whats this about me correcting peoples spelling?? lol… heck, if my english teachers could hear you they would be ROFL……..

The comment was made in reference to a recent posting about a Rapala clearance………………hmmmm……………… if you might remember who that was……………..Speaking of, did you ever get around to looking at the availabilities?

Dear Mr Rat…. (LOL)….

hmmmm oh yeah.. the Rapala incident.. guess Im living the OLD part of OLD hand and had “forgotten” that….. and as for availabilities…. hmmmmm think I forgot bout that too!! *sigh*….

So when you made your post replying to Leo with the picture you had that wasn’t rubbing it in? You meant to do that!!! You are so mean!! The poor guy is probably contemplating……something bad to do to him self because he can’t hang on to a fish that anyone should be able to hang on to. He can’t help it if he’s weak! Some guys are like that. Shame on you Stillapup!