Incedentle Catch

[mikebraun]

Everyone has incedentle catch at times and my most frequent is when trout fishing. You never know what you might catch no matter where you are. I've caught everything from salamanders to flounder (thats a pretty big range), from mountain lakes to tidewater on creeks.
I would like to hear about some of your experiences with incedentle catch, those are some of the most memorable fish of your life.

[Mr. R & B]

Kinda funny, I was fishing the lower Sandy today with TTJLN and I foul hooked a sturgeon and fair hooked a sucker on jigs today! Found a nice slot to work for the next couple of weeks in my spair time.


RB

[RollinontheRvr]

I saw a sturgeon in Eagle Creek up near the highway bridge that goes out past the exit for Eagle Fern Park and Estacada.....Does that count????? :confused:

[Chuckster]

Good thread Mike! :D


I guess the best incidental catch was a 24lb Springer hooked backing a hot shot on 10lb test down the guage hole on the Sandy.

The oddest is a small flounder on plug cut herring in T Bay. Bait was almost as big as the flounder.

Most :o........ when I was a kid I hooked a seagull; swallowed a night crawler I was flinging for trout . Man those things squawk when your trying to get a hook out of their gullet :rolleyes:

Chuck

[klamathsteel]

A sea gull :eek: Trolling the Rogue bay for fall Nooks.

[Twise95]

Awesome thread idea!

Hahaha... this one was too easy to choose. Probably one of the most memorable moments in my fishing career.

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r312/Twise95/NOOKWILLY4.jpg

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r312/Twise95/NOOKWILLLY3.jpg

12lb Hatchery Chinook... caught on July 29th, 2007, in the lower Willamette (St. Johns Area).

Caught fishing for bass with a 7'0 ultra light lamiglas guides choice rod, on 6 pound test, and this amazing little lure...

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r312/Twise95/NOOKWILLYlure.jpg

Made two or three spectactular leaps, spooled me about 6 times, and then beached itself. One of the best tasting fish I have ever caught. :D

[RollinontheRvr]

That's really cool Twise...nice fish.

[p8ntballrman]

this summer I was fishing shad above the 205 bridge on the willy. The first bite of the day came about 30 minutes after throwing the anchor. It looked like a shad bite at first but became clear shortly after that it was something bigger.

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp289/p8ntballrman/dikenitenook-1-1.jpg

This nook came to a chartreuse/white dicknite on 6lb test. To bad it was several days after the springer closer on the willy....... and I had to turn this clipped chromer back.

[mikebraun]

There's some pretty cool ones so far, so here's the story on the flounder.
A few years back while fishing for fresh sea run dollies in Deep creek on the Kenai penninsula, I worked my way downstream to the head of tidewater. I was using a bead and a strike indicator at the time and catching a few nice chromers. Then my indicator went under in slow motion not like a dolly hit. I set the hook and it moved a little and settled on the bottom. I figured that I hooked a piece of coal and it just flipped over. So I was trying to shake the hook loose when it started moving again and I put the pressure to it with my 4wt. The fish rolled on the surface and I still had no idea what it was, all I saw were some yellow and black stripes :confused:. It wasn't until I slid him into the shallows that I could tell what it was, a 22 inch flounder :eek:. Another cool cool thing that happened that day was that the one dolly I kept for the day was stolen from me by an eagle. Don't turn your back on them cuz they're almost as bad as seagulls.

[Twise95]

Wow thats a pretty awesome story! I've actually caught a few flounder in the willamette river and in the multnomah channel when i was younger, fishing with worms off the bottom... but none of them were anything close to 22 inches, most were about 8 to 14.

I actually more or less fed an eagle once... there was one that was sitting in a tree out on sauvies island when i was out there fishing for warmwater fish... i would catch a chub or a squawfish, knock it out by hitting it on the head with something, throw it out in the water, and it would fly out from the tree and go pick it up and then take it back to the tree and eat it. It was a pretty awesome sight! Ospreys do it too :D

[Chinook SSSF]

I caught a clam :eek:


And I caught a sturgeon outfit in the Columbia through the tip guide, while sturgeon fishing...
.......

[Ed Fast]

Once upon a time (1990).....

When I lived in Seattle, the ultimate fishing and surfing excursion seemed to be a trip to Neah Bay at the tip of the Olympic peninsula.

One time my buddy and I were fishing for sea bass, cabezons and Lings in a rental boat on the edges of all the kelp beds. Towards the end of the day, we had caught lots of a variety of fish but the big Lings were no where to be found, so the next little greenling that hits the deck is gettin' a hook in his back! (yes, it was legal there)

Well, we found a deep channel next to a cliff that made a clearing in the kelp and had a little 'greenie' in a few minutes of jigging a little piece of squid at the edge of it. I rigged him on the big rod and dropped him to the bottom. My friend ran the kicker while I bounced him along the bottom. After a few minutes, I could still feel him trying to dive into the rocks but he was getting pretty tired, so I was thinking I should pull him up and let him go. ( I was feeling kind of guilty)

Okay, I'll get to the good part:rolleyes:

All of a sudden the little tired guy started swimming around real fast:D!

I knew what was about to happen. The rod doubled over and line started pulling out steady and strong, right into the adjacent kelp bed! LING ON!!!!

BIG LING!!!! My friend and I traded high fives and after some whoops and hollers we got down to business getting the fish out of the kelp.

He motored into the forest while I leaned over the bow and steered the line around kelp 'til we got over him, just in time to reallize the line was going back the other way! This is all taking place over about 15 seconds or so, so roll the 'dee dee diddle diddle dee dee dee dee' circus music in your head while your picture the action.

Back to the fight! I really put the thumb down and started trying to slow the beast while Chris tried to avoid kelp. Suddenly some kelp got in the prop, so couldn't follow, but the line started heading toward the surface. 'He's coming up!' I yelled. I couldn't believe our good luck! The line was back in the channel area and Chris got the prop free and we were only about ten feet from the edge of the kelp. The line was tight and coming up fast about 50 feet away from us. 'I think he's gonna jump?!' I said in a confused voice. Huh? Lings don't jump, do they?

And then..... it happened......

"ppppsssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhttttt!!!!!!"

cut music and end it with the needle dragging across the record

A visibly ticked off seal stuck his head out of the water and let out a breath that sounded like a whale spouting! (that's what the 'pppppsssssshhhhhhttttttt!' thing was a few lines back) Then he gave us a look that said; 'You're not gettin' your greenie back!'

Oh, well, he sounded again and I tightened the drag all the way until the hook tore out of the greenie.

The end

Ed

[RollinontheRvr]

That was great Ed, I could see that Ling getting ready to jump.......never in the world did I think it was going to be a seal. :eek:

[Ed Fast]

In Alabama, where my mother is from, we used to fish farm ponds all the time for the usual suspects: Bass, bream(bluegills), catfish, etc, but one timewhen I was about ten years old, the cricket under the float got eaten by a scary lookin' critter that looked like a well, um a well, gar and a catfish? a carp and a bass and a catfish crossed with a dinosaur?! Heck, all I could figure was it had to be the fish my grandad sometimes told me about: the 'Grennel'!

The 'Grennel' was described to me as being the meanest, toughest, nastiest fish in the area. This one was was about 2 pounds and had coloring similar to a small mouth bass (with out the stripey, spot things) and a pair of boney plate crusher things for jaws with some big teeth spread across them and an armored head. I tried to get the hook out and the thing was locking on to my pliers so hard I couldn't get them out of his mouth! Eventually I got him loose and kicked him back in the water.

Upon describing the catch to my grandad, he concurred: had to be a grennel!

Turns out the real name is 'bowfin'. They have other nicknames, depending on what part of the country your in. Here's a quote from a fishing board I found while searching for some images:

'Oh! We call them "grennel" where I come from.

It's a great fish to learn the "don't put your finger in his mouth" lesson.'

Here'a a couple images I found: (ain't the internet fun?)

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr128/bluelureed/bowfin.jpg

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr128/bluelureed/joshs_bowfin_100307a.jpg

[Twise95]

WOW! I can definitely see the Smallmouth Bass-head in that fish... but it has such a weird dorsal fin.... Thats a crazy lookin' fish!

[GW]

A couple years back we were trolling whole herring for Bull trout on LBC. My buddy gets a little bored so he picks up his ultralight rod and tosses a green rooster tail out for some kok action. I see this fish swirl on the lure and I know right a way that wasnt a kokanee. I say we need to get the downriggers and gear up and the guys start arguing with me. About that time this fish changes direction and starts peeling 4lb test off his little micro reel. We get the gear up and give chase. About 5 minutes later I slip the net under this 12.7# bull trout...

<a href="http://s731.photobucket.com/albums/ww318/weekender-gw/?action=view&current=2006LBC1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww318/weekender-gw/2006LBC1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Twise95]

Very nice!!! Thats a huge bull!

I have been able to fish LBC with a good friend of mine and his grandpa a few times (his grandparents own property and now currently live in their retirement home on the Three Rivers Property) over the years and we fished a lot for bulls and kokes. We would fish for bulls at the mouth of the Metolius ( I think it was) and we would just use split shot and a hook with an egg loop, and a small dab of eggs right on the bottom. We had some 50 fish days, although we could never get one into the boat that was over 24''... we hooked quite a few that I'm sure were over that mark. We used light gear, and everytime we got a big fish on, it was easy to tell just because of how it fought, haha.

Anyways, sorry to ramble, nice story :D

[mikebraun]

Looks like we got some pretty good stories so far, lets keep'em comin.

So here's my next one.
This was probably about 10 years ago, Matt and I were trout fishing a small coastal river in sept-oct'ish. We were having a great time on some nice sea run cutts. I remember the water was low-low and we were concentrating on structure, where the fish had cover. Did I mention we were flyfishing with our 4wt rods. Well I was using an egg pattern with 6lb leader, and I drifted it under a log on the edge of the jam. My indicator went under and I set the hook. Up out of the water a large buck coho breaks the surface. It was an epic battle in tight quarters, light line, big fish, lots of addrenlin (sp). I landed the fish, it was a colored up buck about 15lbs.
We never know whats gonna be on the other end of our lines:eek:

[Chinook SSSF]

Caught this one on a 14 inch whitefish......1994, 6 weight fly rod..taped 30 inch..The Met

How that happened was a sight to behold, even for a Pike angler...:eek:

http://www.smallstreamsalmonfishing.com/sssfimages/hostedimages08/bulltrout.jpg

Notice the whitefish is no longer present, its not in the fish either but this was a new meaning to 'bait & switch' a total incidental catch.

[Ed Fast]

wow!

Good stories! That LBC Bull is amazing!

Matt, that's a mean lookin' fish! How did you land it? One of my dad's favorite stories is about a big brown that t boned a small rainbow he was fighting on Michigan's U.P. The fish would not let go until my dad would try to reach for him, then jump right back on the trout as soon as he would step back! Finally, he unhooked the trout and tossed it to the big boy. I wonder if he's done that before?

So, Matt, your fish tried to take the whitie head first I assume? That's the only way I can imagine him getting hooked.

That's an awesome fish.

Ed

p.s. Mike, other than the spelling, this is a great thread you started!

Ed

[Chinook SSSF]

At first he took it sideway like a pike, then the fish cme free and other bulls started to circle and attack fast. About 3 large fish swarmed right to my feet and the largest one snapped in and grabed the whitefish and circled around.......Got the head that time....he must have felt pressured from the other 2 fish that were only slightly smaller. It also may have helped the the whitefish was fouled. I had been drifting right through a pack laying in the tailout. At first I thought they were trout. I do understand now why the white fish stayed in the tailout........:eek: