# Strangest thing you've caught



## Redtail (May 25, 2021)

Plugging an oyster bar today and feel a light tug, set the hook but then it feels like weeds until I got it to the boat. In all my years of fishing this is a first for me.


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

It's not a Humboldt, but that's a cool catch. 

Had something heavy on the line one time when we were fishing off the training aircraft carrier, USS Lexington, in Pensacola. The water is deep around the docks and I thought it might be a snapper or grouper. Pulled it up and it was a short piece of fire hose and a brass hose fitting. Took it to a metal salvage yard and got enough money for gas for that trip.


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## JC Designs (Apr 5, 2020)

When I was a kid and before I knew what they were I caught an amphiuma while fishing for crappie in a lilly patch!


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## rovster (Aug 21, 2018)

2 weird things we’ve brought up….

1. An octopus. We were fishing a bridge in Biscayne bay and we got a small little octo that walked himself back in the water.

2. This one I would not have believed had I not seen it myself. We were fishing a flat at sundown for trout. My dad got a nice hit but no fish. When he brought in his line we noticed something at the end of the line. It was an EYEBALL. A friggin huge eyeball. Must have snagged the fish in the eye. It had to be a tarpon or a giant cuda because this eyeball was the size of a huge grape or small plum. This was before the cell phone days so no pics. Happened maybe 25 years ago. We still wonder what the hell that was lol.


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## Silent Drifter (Apr 29, 2021)

Calamari 😋 delicious just dont over cook it or they get chewy....


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## MikeChamp12 (May 17, 2021)

Not a strange species but I have only done it once and I’ve been fishing since I can remember. Snapper fishing from shore as a kid in the Key Largo cut. Had a knocker rig on with a live majora on the hook. Didn’t feel a bite for a few minutes so I reel up and on the sharp end is a jumbo lobster.
Another day many years later I was building a house in lower matecumbe on the canal. I brought my cast net to net the mullet swimming through there because I used to rig them for trolling baits for big mahi. My first throw was about 30 mullet and about a 4lb bonefish. Which was also my very first bonefish.


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## Rooster (Mar 13, 2011)

Winched up a beach umbrella; they can put up a heck of a fight when fully arrayed...


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Lizzard fish but hands down Toad fish


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## The Fin (Sep 28, 2021)

Redtail said:


> Plugging an oyster bar today and feel a light tug, set the hook but then it feels like weeds until I got it to the boat. In all my years of fishing this is a first for me.
> 
> View attachment 197216


Another fly rod that my coworkers’ client dropped over the gunnel the day before!


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## Silent Drifter (Apr 29, 2021)

Id probably have to join you on the squid ,🐙 i was usen a sabiki rig around cans at end of channel to get a mess of trolling baits ,thread fins mostly but then i hooks several Big i mean 10 to 12 inch red squid crazy they can really shoot that black ink on you 😆 and make a mess in boat. was cool to watch them do that color change thing almost looked electrical 👍😎


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## rusty777 (Jan 8, 2019)

rovster said:


> 2 weird things we’ve brought up….
> 
> 1. An octopus. We were fishing a bridge in Biscayne bay and we got a small little octo that walked himself back in the water.
> 
> 2. This one I would not have believed had I not seen it myself. We were fishing a flat at sundown for trout. My dad got a nice hit but no fish. When he brought in his line we noticed something at the end of the line. It was an EYEBALL. A friggin huge eyeball. Must have snagged the fish in the eye. It had to be a tarpon or a giant cuda because this eyeball was the size of a huge grape or small plum. This was before the cell phone days so no pics. Happened maybe 25 years ago. We still wonder what the hell that was lol.


I had the same thing happen last year. Was fishing the St. John’s river in Jax throwing a top water plug around shore lights reflecting off the water in the late evening timeframe. Felt a hit and brought in a good sized eyeball. That was it, just the eyeball….


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## loganlogan (May 8, 2020)

A 5 foot alligator appeared next to my topwater, and chomped it sideways. A mantis shrimp on a deep sea charter.


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

crabs....


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## fatman (Nov 23, 2012)

Sea Cucumber, Long Beach Federal Wall
8wt, full sinking line


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## ReelBoi (Dec 17, 2020)

Took my dad fishing on the south platte in Denver. Trout had been slaying a hopper fly that I only had one of. Give it to him and within 5 minutes he breaks it off in a bush on a backcast. We look and can’t find it. I tie him up again with a new fly, 5 minutes later he snags what he thinks is the bush again. Turns out he hooked the fly he broke off the first time. We couldn’t believe it.


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## redchaser (Aug 24, 2015)

Stingray on fly , oyster toad fish, and crabs but that wasn’t fishing.​


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## Loogie (Jul 24, 2019)

Covid


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## skinny_fishing (Aug 30, 2021)

Not really strange but kind of shocking for me.....My first time fishing in the keys, Bahia Honda. Behind the cottages in the giant sinkhole (guess it was a quarry at some time? Anyone know how deep it is?) and I was using a typical Rapala lure when the line got tangled. While I was untangling the line the lure sank straight down. I was standing on a cliff basically, and I started reeling the lure straight up. As I start to see the lure, I see a giant gaping mouth underneath it, and it's getting bigger and bigger, and before I could say oh shit a giant eagle ray swallowed the lure and jumped straight out of the water soaking me and my wife. The hook was in him, and he hauled ass out of the sink hole with my woefully inadequate reel screaming for mercy.

I was in shock. Some kids ran up that saw what happened and asked what was I gonna do.... I thought about just cutting the line, but by that point he had taken so much line already I felt bad about leaving all of that line still attached to him. The whole time I was contemplating what to do the reel is still screaming and had not slowed down at all, I was just amazed at the power of this thing and have never experienced anything like it before or since. Right as the line was getting thin on the reel and about to spool, I felt a pop and he was off. I was relieved but kind of worried that he may have lots of line still attached, so I reeled way more line that I expected, and to my surprise and relief the knot on the lure had failed. So because of my shitty knot tying skills the eagle ray made off alright 

[edit] Also want to add that if my wife wasn't there getting soaked with me no one would ever believe this story, I've had to have her corroborate it many times lol


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## Nick728 (Jul 27, 2020)

Had some interesting ones over the last few years:

Gator on a live shiner fishing for peacocks out at the park line canal by flamingo was pretty cool. Thought I hooked a stud pea and was shocked when a 4’ gator popped up. Hooked him right in the button lol. 

Baby African Pompano that ate a yozuri crystal minnow right at the boat in the middle of biscayne bay was pretty surprising. When he swiped the lure my dad and I both said that looks like an African but no way. Sure enough, when I got him to the surface it was about a 1 pounder. I’ve caught quite a few AP’s in my life but never one that small and certainly never in the middle of the bay. 

And more than a few crocs have followed a top water all the to the boat while tarpon fishing on the west side of the bay. I’ll see if I can figure out how to post some pics later. Always a scare when they pop up trying to eat a bagleys finger mullet lol.


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

2 mullets on 2 different occasions with a white fly.


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## Jred (Sep 22, 2013)

Caught a rosary the first time out with my dad on his new boat. We hung it from the compass on the console, the same day we caught a limit of pompano and probably brought 100 to the boat between us. One day i moved it and forgot to put it back when I was cleaning the boat, the next trip the motor died offshore and wouldn’t start back up and we had to get towed in. needless to say I put it back when I got home


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## rovster (Aug 21, 2018)

Oh forgot about this one, but fishing off Bokeelia on a sand bar my BIL caught a huge sea turtle. His fin got tangled in the line as he was swimming by. At first we thought it was a stingray the way it was fighting but when he popped his head out of the water we all freaked out. The turtle was brought in and released safely, but not after a few pictures. I would post them but don't want to get in trouble for "harassing" a protected species, LOL!

My uncle in the same area years ago hooked a Manatee. Same thing got tangled in the line. Got him close enough to break him off with minimal line attached. You can imagine that was an epic fight. Those things are faster than you might think!


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## skinny_fishing (Aug 30, 2021)

Yeah Manatees are definitely fast, I've tried and failed many times to keep up with them on an SUP.

Also have been snorkeling with them in Crystal River and saw them get spooked and take off, I was completely surprised at how quick and powerful they can be when they need to be.


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## HeaveToo (11 mo ago)

I have caught myself a few times fly fishing in heavy wind. Throwing heavy flies in the wind will do that to you.

I once snagged something. I started pulling it up. I could see the white object and immediately recognized it as a boot (they kind usually worn by watermen in this area). As it got closer to the surface I could see something in the boot. It looked like a rigid object with some cloth on it. Of course, I was immediately concerned that I was about to have a very grizzly discovery. 

Turns out it was a stick with some sort of cloth wrapped around it and not the leg bone of a disceased waterman. I let out a pretty big sigh of relief once I figured out what it was.


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## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

Friend had a pelican snag his bait in mid-air one time. He reeled it in and we put a towel over him to calm him down while we got the hook out. Flew away none the worse!


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## The Fin (Sep 28, 2021)

DBStoots said:


> Friend had a pelican snag his bait in mid-air one time. He reeled it in and we put a towel over him to calm him down while we got the hook out. Flew away none the worse!


Reminded me of the time when an Osprey grabbed a trout that we were landing. The line and trout immediately went skyward until it tightened and then the bird released the trout. Lucky trout, it came unhooked and fell back to the water and swam off. I swear that I heard that fish say “WTF”!😎


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## hollandbriscoe (Jul 28, 2015)

I managed to catch a lookdown fish on a clouser minnow, fishing the beach in PCB.


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## csnaspuck (Apr 2, 2013)

We caught a freshwater stingray in Lake Jesup while crappie fishing last month. I guess its common to catch them further up the St Johns but not that far south.


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## BrandonFox (May 14, 2013)

Anchored up off the beach in the FL panhandle one summer afternoon in high school waiting for tarpon to swim on by. One school comes down the bar, we throw, one fish (good size, around 100#) eats. In my excitement and haste to pull anchor/start motor to give chase, I forget that we have one free lined live bait still drifting out back, rod sitting in the t-top rodholder. Fish takes us out to about 60' FOW, and after about 10 minutes, does a 180 on us and hauls azz to the rear of the boat, staying deep, and the angler follows. At that moment, the second rod goes off and I realize that I hadn't pulled it in yet.. I grab it, start fighting fish, thinking we had a double on our hands, though assuming mine was something other than a tarpon due to the depth we were now at. His fish runs, my fish runs. His fish head shakes, my fish head shakes. After another 10 minutes and as the fish gets closer, we realize we are fighting the same tarpon. Both circle hooks, hooked in each corner of the tarpon's jaw. 

That tarpon, during his 180 to the back of the boat, came across my drifting cigar minnow and decided he was still wanted to eat, mid-fight.


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## Jason M (Aug 13, 2017)

Squid, stargazer and triggerfish on fly before anyone was doing it.


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## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

Also have caught several sawfish--they're pretty strange (and can mess you up in a heartbeat!).


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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)

DBStoots said:


> Also have caught several sawfish--they're pretty strange (and can mess you up in a heartbeat!).


Got a few of them on unspecified cut bait.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Kingfisher bird picked up my worm bass fishing in shallow water, flew away from the bank and dropped the worm. Worm hits the water and a 2# largemouth eats. Landed the largemouth with the help of a kingfisher.
Trout fishing above Helen, Ga and landed the top to a bikini in area known for "show me your t!ts" I suppose some young hardbody lost it competing for attention.


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## Drifter (Dec 13, 2018)

4 college kids robbing my job site at 2am.


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## Drifter (Dec 13, 2018)

Not a strange thing but the the strangest way I ever caught a fish was the hook went around a fish and the line went through the bend and made a lasso loop. Felt a fish, set it and kept it tight and got it in and it wasn't hooked at all just lassoed around the midsection.


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## Jason M (Aug 13, 2017)

DBStoots said:


> Also have caught several sawfish--they're pretty strange (and can mess you up in a heartbeat!).


That's so cool to see those. I've seen one and it was a giant.


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## Jason M (Aug 13, 2017)

Drifter said:


> Not a strange thing but the the strangest way I ever caught a fish was the hook went around a fish and the line went through the bend and made a lasso loop. Felt a fish, set it and kept it tight and got it in and it wasn't hooked at all just lassoed around the midsection.


I caught a jack on a top water plug that had it lodged sideways in it's mouth and didn't have a hook in it. It's mouth was wide open


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

Jigging for amberjack offshore with a buddy and his son. My buddy hooks up and hand the rod to his son. During the rod sway, the kid drops the rod with the fish hooked up. They both look at each other in stunned silence as the rod disappears 275' down. A few moments later I hook up. As I get my jig up close to the surface, I see my buddy's jig in the corner of an AJ's mouth and my jig has caught the line. I reached down and lipped the AJ (small guy about 10lbs) removed his jig and handed it to him. "hey, about 275' down there is your rod on the other end of the line..." As I toss the fish back, my buddy pulls up his rod. Winds up the line, gives it a quick rinse and gets back to fishing.


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## Copahee Hound (Dec 21, 2017)

Thought I was going to get skunked one day, then turned the day around by catching someone’s rod/reel combo. Too bad a fish wasn’t on the end of their line, otherwise I wouldn’t have skunked that day


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

The women in my family have managed to catch all the weird or rare stuff.
Started with my mom, in the 60's we were fishing with live anchovies casting distance from one of the manmade oil well islands about a mile off the beach (Long Beach CA). at night. My dad had rigged a propane camping lantern on a piece wood and suck it in one of the rod holders. lit up the back of the boat (18' I/O cruiser) but close to the stern the water was in shadows.

My Mom gets a bite and she's hooping it up a she thinks she's got the biggest fish of the night ... 
then it broke the surface next to the boat and *she started screaming. *My dad is at her side immediately and then he starts laughing as at first all you could see or notice was these giant spider legs thrashing the water. Turned out to be a very tasty 16 pound California spiny lobster.
I cleaned and salted the head and my dad was real careful keeping the tail close to being in one piece. Took months before the smell went away and my dad reassembled the creature and it was mounted on the wall in the "play room".


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## bcblues (Apr 10, 2018)

My brother caught a pelican. My daughter caught an alligator . I was standing next to both, does that count?


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

Catching a Brown Pelican on a big plug is not a pleasant experience. Trying to dig a big skitterwalk out of the ginormous beak and pouch of a lively and less than compliant Pelican is even less pleasant, I wish I never had the experience. Kingfishers are also undesirable targets on the terminal tackle, this I have first hand experience with, sharp beaks, unhappy birds, tender flesh, never a good thing to mix. I try very hard not to catch birds, most of the time I succeed, but while I’m intently watching my lures, the dangers hover overhead. Mississippi kites have repeatedly attacked my skitterwalk lures, talk about an awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping attack, those raptors go from zero to 80 in about three seconds. The Caspian Tern, that crow sized tern has dive bombed my skull more than once and also those same skitterwalks. I’m telling you it’s freaking dangerous out there. One big reason I stopped fishing topwaters for years were the freaking birds constantly made me paranoid while fishing walk the dog tops . But even flies aren’t completely safe from aerial attack. Great Crested Flycatchers, while not big and bad, for some reason can’t seem to leave Gartside Soft Hackle Streamers alone. If the flycatchers are around, I switch patterns or pick up and fish someplace else.

I don’t know what’s considered unusual in the water. Is a Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle an unusual catch? I brought one to hand, not exactly willingly and definitely not by design, while wade fishing West Matagorda Bay. Who knew those 10 or 15 pound sea turtles eat crustaceans? Or faux crustacean fly patterns? Well, they do and they aren’t too thrilled to be stuck with a size 4 Mustad Big Game Light hook. I hope I never get another sea turtle on the line. My buddy fishing a paddle tail got a sea turtle in a different bay on a different day. 

Fly fishing, I get oddball fish at times. 2 and 3 foot long Atlantic Cutlassfish, a.k.a. Ribbonfish. One place I used to fish was infested with the big ribbonfish. I couldn’t fish a clouser there without catching a ribbonfish. There are fish I have to look up to know what they are. Silver perch, a small saltwater fish in the croaker family, this I caught about a month ago and had also caught them in the past, I just finally looked them up.


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## Outearly (Oct 20, 2015)

I had a reddish egret go for a Super Spook in West Galveston Bay. When it did, I yanked the lure away from it, but before I could reel up the slack and yank away again, it struck at the lure and one of the hooks snagged the leathery skin on his neck.

To have a big reddish egret at the end of your line is, to quote Herman Wouk, an “unhandy thing”.

I gently reeled it in, it was leaning back on its heels the whole way. Before anyone says anything, I do happen to know birds don’t have heels. It’s just the only description that made sense.

I got him close, remembered that it striking for my eyes was likely ( now I was back on my heels). 

I slowly reached out and grabbed its bill, and held it as I unhooked it. The skin on the front of his neck it really tough, and the hook was not in to the barb.

I unhooked it, dropped the lure, turned my face away and let go. It flew away just fine. Very cool bird.


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## Nick728 (Jul 27, 2020)

Outearly said:


> I had a reddish egret go for a Super Spook in West Galveston Bay. When it did, I yanked the lure away from it, but before I could reel up the slack and yank away again, it struck at the lure and one of the hooks snagged the leathery skin on his neck.
> 
> To have a big reddish egret at the end of your line is, to quote Herman Wouk, an “unhandy thing”.
> 
> ...


Never a fun time when birds go for the topwater. I’ve de-hooked many a seagulls who ate my yozuri thinking it was a pilchard. At this point, I think I’ve got it down to a nice system: always keep a towel at the ready and never remove you sunglasses lol. 

And honestly, like dogs it seems like birds do respond well to a soothing tone. If you’re nervous/angry, they’re gonna be the same.


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## bryan.w (Dec 15, 2020)

puffer fish


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

snook like to follow manatees around. I guess the manatees disturb snook prey while they are feeding. I've caught several right next to manatees. of course I've hooked the big guys twice and they are like charging elephants when they take off. wouldn't want to be in their way. I think they get startled when hooked as I doubt they feel anything pain thru all that blubber from a #4 treble hook.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Trolling the Skyway ships channel for grouper and caught a 6" rope that was hooked to a 6' chain which was hooked to a 25# anchor.


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## Half Shell (Jul 19, 2016)

If you don't count that time in Thailand, I'd have to say around Ocracoke in the late 70s....

I caught a fishing rod with a brand new red Ambassador reel... which was being pulled by the largest flounder I've ever seen to this day. That fish fed two families for dinner. I had that reel for a long time which had zero corrosion. I wish I still had it for memories sake.


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## ShallowMinded84 (Nov 18, 2020)

Huge catfish on a top water plug in mosquito lagoon. Not sure if that is strange but a first for me every getting a cat on a lure!


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## Mike.Lelio (11 mo ago)

Was fishing the beach in Montauk, casting to huge schools of striped bass, and then this winged devil grabbed my fly...
















Laugh if you want, but these damn things bite hard.


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## Maddox Bay Guy (May 8, 2020)

rovster said:


> 2 weird things we’ve brought up….
> 
> 1. An octopus. We were fishing a bridge in Biscayne bay and we got a small little octo that walked himself back in the water.
> 
> 2. This one I would not have believed had I not seen it myself. We were fishing a flat at sundown for trout. My dad got a nice hit but no fish. When he brought in his line we noticed something at the end of the line. It was an EYEBALL. A friggin huge eyeball. Must have snagged the fish in the eye. It had to be a tarpon or a giant cuda because this eyeball was the size of a huge grape or small plum. This was before the cell phone days so no pics. Happened maybe 25 years ago. We still wonder what the hell that was lol.


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## Maddox Bay Guy (May 8, 2020)

Caught a huge Conger Eel off a deep water rig in Louisiana. Got it to the surface and cut the line. Talk about ugly, and never saw so many teeth.


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## Maddox Bay Guy (May 8, 2020)

Almost forgot this one. While fishing near the bridge at Islamorada, I got a huge strike from something that really pulled hard. When I tried to retrieve some line, it skittered across the surface of the water, climbed a bridge piling, and when I got closer to see what it was, it flew away before I could see what it was. It took all my line and my favorite popping cork, so I didn't really catch it. Come to think of it, I did used to smoke a little in those days


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## KWGator (Apr 22, 2019)

We caught a Gafftopsail catfish in the Banana River one time years ago and when we pulled it up on the dock to get hook out of lip, it spit out a bunch of baby catfish from it's mouth. I don't remember how many in total but we were all teenagers and were shocked. Now with the help of the old internet, I realize that it was the male catfish and not a female catfish that we caught all those years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gafftopsail_catfish


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## redchaser (Aug 24, 2015)

I've had Black Skimmers run into my line as they were skimming, big tangled mess, unhappy bird with a big beak. I've had an owl pick a topwater plug up off of the water, fly up then drop it when it felt resistance then swoop down and grab it again, luckily it didn't get hooked. Catching alligators of fly is kind of passe, too easy.


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## kjnengr (Jan 16, 2018)

fatman said:


> View attachment 197250
> 
> 
> Sea Cucumber, Long Beach Federal Wall
> 8wt, full sinking line


Hotspotter


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Maddox Bay Guy said:


> Almost forgot this one. While fishing near the bridge at Islamorada, I got a huge strike from something that really pulled hard. When I tried to retrieve some line, it skittered across the surface of the water, climbed a bridge piling, and when I got closer to see what it was, it flew away before I could see what it was. It took all my line and my favorite popping cork, so I didn't really catch it. Come to think of it, I did used to smoke a little in those days


What is a popping cork?


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## Maddox Bay Guy (May 8, 2020)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> What is a popping cork?





Smackdaddy53 said:


> What is a popping cork?





Smackdaddy53 said:


> What is a popping cork?


A popping cork is a usually a 3 to 6 inch tapered, weighted cork with a cupped upper end.. Hugely famous in Louisiana, it is popped to make a splash and water movement to simulate a feeding Redfish or Speckled Trout, and to stimulate your quarry to attack your lure or bait underneath it. Very,very effective.


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## bamaflyfish1 (Mar 25, 2018)

Caught a tiny bluegill on fly. 8 lb catfish came to the surface to eat the bluegill.


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## Ashep.tn (Jun 15, 2021)

I’m in a small freshwater creek slow dragging a jig across the bottom for bass. I feel a little resistance as if it’s been picked up and the “fish” doesn’t know he’s hooked. so I set the hook on… a mud covered dead duck that had to have been half buried in the bottom.


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## nicholashoule (10 mo ago)

caught a big cutlassfish when i was in guantanamo bay. scary af considering me and my friend were fishing at night and were only 13 lol


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## 7WT (Feb 12, 2016)

Salmon fly fishing in spring near an inflow where I often find them I hooked what I was sure was my largest salmon on a prince nymph. Took off like a bat out... and was incredibly strong on my 5 weight. Could not wait to tell my Dad about it. Finally wrangle it in and I found that I had snagged a 24" sucker by the tail.


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Smack is acting dumb. He uses popping corks when he's using croakers for bait.


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

I've caught alligators, pelicans,sea turtles and an octopus . But the oddest thing i caught was clap from a toilet seat in Vietnam.


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## bcblues (Apr 10, 2018)

A toilet seat? Sure....


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

I'm sticking to my story


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## N816kc (Jan 31, 2021)

Zebco 33, no rod


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## Flardaboy (Sep 6, 2021)

Not a weird catch per say but how I caught it was weird. Was wading a lagoon sight casting for reds and snook, see a big wad of small snook and make a cast because even a all snook is a snook and a damn sheepshead magically appears and absolutely slurps my swimbait. To this day the only sheepshead I've caught on artificial


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## Mike.Lelio (11 mo ago)

I've got another one - Fly fishing off the beach in Deal, New Jersey in July. Casting my 8wt TFO/Nautilus CCF x2, nothing happening. Then I watch a huge cow-nose ray grab my fly off the surface, and immediately head to Africa. for 2 hours I fight to keep from getting spooled, only hoping to get my fly line back and then break it off, until I noticed the crowd of spectators behind me, all expecting a fish to be landed after all this effort. 2 hours turned to 4, and I eventually landed the miserable pain in the @$$ ray, which is still the craziest fight I ever won on an 8wt.


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## Jason M (Aug 13, 2017)

Mike.Lelio said:


> I've got another one - Fly fishing off the beach in Deal, New Jersey in July. Casting my 8wt TFO/Nautilus CCF x2, nothing happening. Then I watch a huge cow-nose ray grab my fly off the surface, and immediately head to Africa. for 2 hours I fight to keep from getting spooled, only hoping to get my fly line back and then break it off, until I noticed the crowd of spectators behind me, all expecting a fish to be landed after all this effort. 2 hours turned to 4, and I eventually landed the miserable pain in the @$$ ray, which is still the craziest fight I ever won on an 8wt.


I've seen videos of people catching rays on fly and have had them pickup a jig like it was intentional. Wild stuff


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## rovster (Aug 21, 2018)

Was looking through old pics and found this😂


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## Half Shell (Jul 19, 2016)

Coronet fish on a reef off Miami Beach.


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## CayoTom (Jul 29, 2021)

Whatever it was, I did not catch it. Fishing Matanilla Shoal, dropped a sash weighted bottom rig; 300 lb mono christmas tree on an electric reel with monel line. Something picks it up and swims steadily away. Tightened the drag down, hit the electric motor- never turned it or slowed it down. The line gave up and when I got the line in, the mono rig was gone. I had attached it to the monel line with a Tuna snap swivel. Nothing broken or snapped, the swivel was pulled down and opened up, that takes an amazing amount of force. Probably was a huge shark, maybe a Ray. I'll never know but dang that was some strongfish.


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## Willitaylor (11 mo ago)

rovster said:


> 2 weird things we’ve brought up….
> 
> 1. An octopus. We were fishing a bridge in Biscayne bay and we got a small little octo that walked himself back in the water.
> 
> 2. This one I would not have believed had I not seen it myself. We were fishing a flat at sundown for trout. My dad got a nice hit but no fish. When he brought in his line we noticed something at the end of the line. It was an EYEBALL. A friggin huge eyeball. Must have snagged the fish in the eye. It had to be a tarpon or a giant cuda because this eyeball was the size of a huge grape or small plum. This was before the cell phone days so no pics. Happened maybe 25 years ago. We still wonder what the hell that was lol.


Look something like this? I ruined this fishes day and his vision as well. 😂


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## Micro Thinfisher (Jan 27, 2018)

This while sabiking for pins.


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## FlyBy (Jul 12, 2013)

Jason M said:


> I've seen videos of people catching rays on fly and have had them pickup a jig like it was intentional. Wild stuff


I was casting a menhaden fly in a school of menhaden when I saw a cow-nosed ray roll on its side where my fly was. I thought "surely not". Rod bowed up and when I landed the ray the fly was in its mouth.


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## windblows (May 21, 2014)

Couple of interesting catches over the years I can think of:

The same tailless grouper on a wreck in Pensacola Bay many times over many trips. You could always tell when you hooked him because he felt like a wet sock on the line. I felt bad for him and figured being caught was a small price to pay for an easy meal if you're missing the last three inches of your posterior.

A nice grouper on a Devil's Horse on the grass flats. I've caught plenty on the grass flats but this one was pretty good size and slammed a topwater with no hesitation. Lane snapper in the St. John's river. Largemouth bass mixed in with sheepshead, trout and reds in Escambia Bay, pretty far from any fresh water source.

Myself more times than I would like to admit


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

Here are a couple of my more unusual catches on fly...
- caught the crab while fishing the surf for pompano
-caught the mullet sight casting to a laid up red fish. Fly hits the water and the mullet crushes the fly before the red even moves.


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## The Fin (Sep 28, 2021)

jay.bush1434 said:


> Here are a couple of my more unusual catches on fly...
> - caught the crab while fishing the surf for pompano
> -caught the mullet sight casting to a laid up red fish. Fly hits the water and the mullet crushes the fly before the red even moves.
> View attachment 212087
> ...


Maybe if you reduce the size of the mullet picture, you can just say that it was a juvenile tarpon or small bone?😉


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

The Fin said:


> Maybe if you reduce the size of the mullet picture, you can just say that it was a juvenile tarpon or small bone?😉


LOL, we call them Galveston bones. From my limited experience catching bones on fly, these are way harder to get an eat. If I could figure them out, I wouldn't fish for any other fish...


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## Gogittum (May 24, 2020)

Not really a "catch", but....living in the mountains of north Idaho around 1980, a friend and I were catching a lot of small Trout out of the high mountain lakes and saw bigger ones while we were at it, but they wouldn't touch our dangled worms.

We were told that we needed to fly fish for them, so bought some cheap gear - money was tight for loggers - and started practicing in the back yard. It was a little breezy and I was having trouble managing the line in the air, so I crimped a BB shot to the end of it to give some weight. A BB shot.

It worked pretty good, and I really had that thing zooming back and forth...then the BB caught me on the ridge of bone behind my right ear. Migawd ! ! !

It was only a BB, but that _crack _echoed right down to my toes and brought me to my knees with my eyes watering. Never, ever tried that again. The fly fishing turned out to be a bust.


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## Bccmurray (6 mo ago)

Fishing deep in the glades on an overnight camping trip. Catching trout after trout in one specific creek. I caught a puffer first on a yo zuri shrimp.


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## NCP (5 mo ago)

That time I netted an electric skate not knowing what it was & figured out real quick not to net electric skates!!!


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