WEIRDEST THING YOU'VE CAUGHT OR SEEN CAUGHT

Buddy reeled in a bra on the river last week thought that was pretty random. Myself weirdest has just been fishing poles or rocks.

I caught a tullibee and a large crawfish on a 1/4 oz jig and big rainbow chub this weekend, thought that was pretty weird but it’s all relative I guess…

About 11 years ago my brother had his rod bent over real good and it turned out to be a belt-still buckled and in a circle, like it just slid off someone. This was also on the river.

I caught a blackbird in mid cast. He flew right into my line as I was casting it out.

A live seagull fishing down on pool 4..

Muskrat. He wasn’t very happy with me.

SR

Had a friend in the boat with me snag up and have it pop free only to reel in a partial sleeve from a flannel shirt.

I caught a big owl Muskie fishing.

I was in the boat and we were trolling for walleye on Pepin once in about 1977 and my dad says, “I’ve got one.” He sets the hook, and back behind the boat this fish does the terrific aerobatics act. You know, going airborne and jumping in that nice arc, just like a rainbow trout would. Dad said this isn’t probably going to be a walleye.

Well, it wasn’t a walleye, but it WAS a rainbow trout. And a nice one at that, as I recall it was 3 pounds something. It must have found its way into the Mississippi back when they were stocking a lot of rainbows in the trout rivers like the Whitewater and Root or it got out of a hatchery or trout farm somewhere and was totally lost.

Grouse

Steve Root wrote:

Muskrat. He wasn’t very happy with me.

If you pick ’em up by the bottom lip, you can unhook ’em and it don’t hurt ’em much.

Grouse

I’ve once caught a basketball hoop and hooked it right through the hoop, a live pelican, live gulls, a buffalo skull and once got snagged in fishing line that I’d broken off the day before while walleye fishing. The odd part of it was that the walleye that had broken my line the day prior was still hooked to my lure at the end of the broken line and very much alive. I also once caught the very stinky, rotting corpse of a fish.

A buddy of mine was fishing with a lindy rig and caught a dead fish that was on another lindy rig. During the “fight” he at least claimed it wasn’t fighting or something big. He just said it felt weird and was not sure what it was.

I also caught and landed a rock while fishing on the river. Hooked it in a small hole and it just stayed on the hook. The rock was about the size of a ping pong ball.

I’ve gotten a couple rods over the years and back in the mid-60’s, before the modern launch was put in at Roeschen Park in Lake City and the old pump house still stood in the park, we’d ice fish straight out from the ramp. I thought I feel a thump on the jig but it was pretty soft, but had some weight. I brought it up to check it and it had a tampon hung on the hooks. We think it got flushed out into the lake from the treatment plant in town. It wasn’t too many years back that a prosthetic leg was caught in the La Crosse area.

In the mighty Mississippi one never knows what will come along.

Steve Root wrote:

Muskrat. He wasn’t very happy with me.

SR

I got one on a plastic worm. What kind of bait do you like to use?

Dan

Champagne bottle tied to a rock with a silly time capsule riddle. Was some clanging around inside and was hoping for some cheating husband wife throwing in her 15karat ring allowing my retirement, turned out to be various metal pieces

It’s not exactly a rare event, but I have hooked my fair share of damn softshell turtles.

Years ago I was fishing after sundown at a Cedar river bridge that has produced some big flatheads in the past. Wanted to check my bait and thought I had a snag but there was some movement on the line also. After a short struggle I started to get line coming in with something on. Just at the shoreline when I thought I’d see my big flathead a 16 or 18 inch snake-eel looking creature slithered out of the water and immediately wrapped around a big stick sticking out of the sand. As hard as I could pull the line he would not unwrap from that stick and that’s maybe what happened when I first hooked it out in the river. It was mad and nasty looking so I decapitated it and went home discussed and a little spooked.

I hooked St Croixer once!

I hooked our Great Dane once. He was much more careful about where he stood when I was casting after that.

Bicycle, American eel on shadrap in pool 4, several poles, filleted walleye carcass, seagull in mid air and another that picked up my surface bait and flew off, piece of large saltwater fish that looked like a giant pork frog chunk easily weighed 10 lbs, stingrays, sea turtle and several types of freshwater turtle.

Also a ice tip up with a live carp still attached. It was open water so the fish had been hooked for awhile.

Best thing I ever witnessed was my dad was dragging a live bait rig and caught a net. Very nice Alumatec one, still my favorite net to date. Could not have been down there for very long. He joked was when he got it to the surface was
“GET A FISH!!”

Couple things – a pelican while shorefishing in Florida a few years ago. He was angry but we got him unhooked without any damage. Caught him mid-cast. If anyone goes pelican fishing, I suggest 20# braid with a 30# flourocarbon leader.

My dad hooked a gallon milk jug half full of rocks when we were trolling for trout on Cherry Creek reservoir in Denver. We thought he had a monster hooked up because it moved back and forth as he reeled it in. Disappointing but a pretty good laugh.

Lawn tractor battery.

fish basket full of skeletal remains of sunnies and a pike

Spending a lot of time on river systems I’ve caught some weird stuff such as:

-Condom (This was at Spring Valley on the Illinois River 5-6 years ago and what’s funny is that Capt. Lee Fluekiger actually predicted I’d catch one of these down there when I stopped in at 4 seasons before my trip)
-Tampon
-Jacket
-Lawn Chair
-Paint Roller
-Shorts
-Beach Towels
-Dead Rotting Gar

Makes a guy wonder what’s next lol!

Bassn Dan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Steve Root wrote:</div>
Muskrat. He wasn’t very happy with me.

SR

I got one on a plastic worm. What kind of bait do you like to use?

Dan

I was fishing in the early morning well before first light, and snagged the poor thing with a top water Bass Bug and an 8 weight fly rod. After getting the hook out (barbless!) he sat in the water and yelled at me for at least 10 minutes. Then he popped up on the other side of the boat and started in on me again. He was pissed! I ended up moving down the lake just to get away from him.

SR

I once caught a catfish, maybe 5 or 6 pounds, while throwing deep diving crankbaits. The odd part is both hooks were in its mouth, and the fish was dead and rotting. It felt like a live fish, darting back and forth as I fought it to the boat. That thing smelled absolutely putrid!

I reeled in a lady’s thong one day and spent the rest of the day casting for the mermaid that lost it. The thong though is no lie.

Once had a blue heron fly into my line while casting a Muskie bait. The bait wrapped around its wing and it crash landed into the water. I trolled over to it , expecting the worst, but he calmly perched on the side of my boat while my partner unwrapped the lure from his wing , and he flew away unharmed. My partner snagged a pair of men’s underwear while we were trolling cranks for Muskie .

Hooked a loon that took my suick,damm things are mean.caught a 6 pound walleye that a quarter oz jig stuck in its pooper ,hook was rusted off.
I squeezed it out ,and let it go.It suffered enough. DK.