I was fishing for chums on a peninsula river and I tossed my corky and yarn behind a tree. I was rowing the boat so I was side drifting and I felt the fish and set the hook. I was kinda horsing the fish in cuz I thought it was a chum(which we already caught a few of). The fish broke the surface and when I saw it was a steelie I almost $hit. I dropped anchor and fought the fish and landed the 14 lbs summer run. That was a great surprise, we finish the day catching a lot of chums and there were only 2 other boats on the river.

Hey Plug(Chris), I was fishing for cutthroat, in the creek, with a bobber and worm, and caught a 20 1/2 in steelhead. I remember it was in March 1974 and went over to my friends house after class in 6th grade. He sure was mad at me for showing him up.

20lb striped bass while fishing for searun cutthroat.
Or the 8 lb brown that took a floating jerk bait I was using for bass.

Let me see. The best fish that I accidentally snagged. Just kidding, relax. Where is the dead horse?

Seriously, I was fishing trout with my 4wt and a nice king liked my stonefly. You know who lost that battle. Next day I went back with my steelhead gear to get my fly back and the king did not grant me a visit

The best one I can think of right now is about a 2 pound cutthroat I caught out of the Kalama while steelie fishing last year.

I had a similiar experience to UFK. I was using a 5wt for sea-run cutts and hooked a king. I only had it on for about 15 seconds since I had 4lb test line. I wasn't using a stonefly though; I was using a spruce fly.

~ Dr Pepper

Hmm...hooking a 20+ lb king while fishing for summer runs on the fly can be a humbling experience...either commit to a 20 minute tug of war or break it off...

Landed a 35" by 22" coho in December while swinging a spoon over a likely steelie lay...the girth of that TAIL amazed me...

But so far this year I'd have to say my best incidental catch was a 37 lb white king which a grabbed a 2.5" pink buzz bomb right on top while fishing through a school of pinks this summer.

...not, of course, that's it's necessarily fish I'm after when I go out fishing...

Trolling the ocean bottom just off the Tillamook Bay south jetty for fall 'nooks I caught a 30+ lb. lingcod on a whole herring.

Got one of my guide clients into a chrome mid twenties springer 'nook around early to mid March well up the Clackamas River while fishing for winter steelhead pulling plugs on 10 lb. line.

My son caught about a 6 lb. walleye one July as we were backtrolling Wiggle Warts down from the green can along the Col. R.'s Ives Island near Beacon Rock for summer steelhead. Tasted great, and was less filling.

RT

when i was about 18 I was jigging some herring while we were salmon fishing and I hooked and landed an 8lb silver on a trout rod but my favorite surprise came while fishing for sailfish in cabo I hooked a 130lb yellowfin tuna we were using 30lb test outfits it took just over 3hrs to land and we never did catch a sailfish

wolf eel in sekiu

Shad fishing at Bonneville. I was casting a bare jighead that I had made shiny by scraping off the oxidation on the lead, and I had caught about 20 shad so far.

I casted out and hooked something that fought back a bit harder, it was a 20+ lb King. I got it to shore, touched the hook, and the fish was off. I landed it on my 6' Fenwick lightweight rod with 6lb test. The hook on the jighead had almost completely straightened out.

my dad caught an octopus fishing for halibut in neah bay the picture shows it in the bottom of the boat with the arms going up the sides and over about a foot we had a 21 ft bell bouy I couldn't touch both sides of the boat so those arms must have been 7-8ft long we took it back to the dock and a japenese guy paid my dad $50 bucks for it

There have been many excellent "incidental" catches. The most recent was C&Ring a 20lb+ Chinook while bass fishing on Lake Union. I was throwing a rootbeer-colored grub with 8lb line and it hit on the drop. I thought I had tied into a state record smallmouth until it started thrashing on the surface. Needless to say it was a sweet battle.

While mooching off the kelp, on the west coast of vancouver island. My brother hooked what we initially thought was a large chinook. We landed a 82lb halibut instead. The large fish had come in on the shoal to feed on the herring balls, with the salmon. Quite a sight to see the method we used to boat the fish, two gaffs guys, one guy in the center with a knife and rope.

[ 01-09-2002: Message edited by: KORE ]

When I lived back east, I did quite a bit of bass fishing. One time, the giant "bass" I hooked at 11 am on a sunny day, by a log in 3 foot of water, turned out to be a 12 pound flathead catfish. The things are supposed to be nocturnal, but it hammered my spinnerbait and put up a great fight. Another time, a "bass" turned out to be a 10 pound snapping turtle (with attitude). Caught a watersnake too...all out of the same lake. Yes, there were a few bass around too. Been in Oregon 6 years now. My biggest suprise here was a chinook about 30 pounds I hooked in the Deschutes fishin one September for steelhead with a med-light spinning rod and 8 lb Trilene. Fought it 1 and 1/2 hours before it broke me off. Suppose I should've broke it off when I realized what it was. I'll know better next time.

I was retreiving a spoon once in some frog water and spotted something floating about 20' away. Asked my buddy on the oars of his drift boat to row over and see what it was, and I left about 5 feet of line in the water to keep my spoon from swinging around and lacerating my ear. Hooked an 8lb. silver.

Hooked a dinky 2 lb. (approx.) pink on a buzz bomb off of Prince of Wales Island in SE Alaska, on one of those sunny days you can see bottom in 20 feet of water with polarized lenses. A 20lb. ling shot out from behind a boulder and sucked that poor pink down whole, spewing scales out of his gills like flames from a top fuel dragster's pipes. Sawed off my 8 lb. test in a heartbeat.

Hiking through the olympics as a kid in boy scouts and fishing for trout.I would always run to the next camping spot to go fish wharever water was there.Pautxkie's eggs were the bait if choice at that point in my learning curve.I had caught I don't know how many trout when"BAM" a big spotted fish grabbed my egg and I mean big!This was even before I used any proven knots just over hand after overhand!I will always have the picture of that fish at my feet, single egg hook stuck in its nose,connected to my line by overhand knot after overhand knot,imbeded in my head.That was when I learned there were big dolly's back in them thar hills.

Fishing a north Puget sound river last July. Wasn't really a fishing trip, just camping with my wife and some friends. Thought there might be some dollies around so I grabbed my ultralight trout rod and tied on a small black roostertail. I made a cast into a pocket where a small creek joined the river. A few cranks on the reel, and my rod doubles over. Up to the surface, shaking it's head was a 20# or so summer chinook. That fish took off like no tommorrow, and fought like crazy on such light gear. About 45 minutes later, I landed and released it. I couldn't believe that the 6lb. test I spooled on for shad fishing held.

Fishing in northern Canada we where motor mooching for kings with a single action knuckle buster in about 250' of water. I had 30 pulls of 17# line out with 14# leader, when a big hali decided to take my herring. An hour and fourty five minutes later I landed a 178 pound hali. To this day I dont know how the leader didnt snap. I'm not sure of it was the luck or punishment, it was almost not fun after an hour.

steelheadman,
That is cool. I doubt that there is any steelies in there now. I fished for kings down there 2 times this year and got 3 but they were all nasty , you know what I mean. oh, well they are good fighters.

Heres two of my favorites first while fishing off of eagle rock at sekiu in 30ft of water we were running herring off the down rigger and all of a sudden the rod doubles over the line starts peeling off I pick up the rod and thought we had a hog on until it wouldnt come off the bottom.After a 20 minute battle landed a 60lb halibut.The second was on the HOH we had just put the boat in at the old 1000 line(rainer) droped the hook to check the tuneage of our plugsI let out about 6 to
8ft and started to pull and it was all I could due to hold on to the rod as a 30lb springer grabbed it and took off in the dark after about 30 minute fire drill with a rookie on the sticks we landed it what a rush I will never forget!!

I was casting small rooster tails for trout in a small lake one day and was suprised when it got hammered by a 5 lb largemouth. That was a lot of fun on my light trout rod.

Boy, that's some precision eating. How they can get just the balls on those little things amazes me.

In April 1984 I was a teen fishing off of a Skagit Bay saltwater beach using a small brass "Motto" spinner (I don't think these lures are made anymore) for cutthroat and dollies. I had just casted out and was letting the spinner sink to the bottom when something big grabbed it at made my cardinal spinning reel sing a tune. I fought the fish for 25 minutes before I finally got it in on 6lb test. The fish was a 14lb Skagit springer, fish was bonked because it was legal to do so and to this day it was one of the best fish I've ever eaten.

BD

My son (he was 8 at the time) was fishing off the dock at the State Park on Nehalem Bay using a Micky Mouse rod and reel with a hook and a boiled cocktail shrimp. To make a long story short, he hooked and landed a 7-8lb silver on that little rod. No tag and the day before silvers opened so he let it go. His first salmon and he practiced C&R!

I didn't catch this fish, but was there for it. 3 years ago on 4th of July weekend, several families were camping down at the Barrier Dam on the Cowlitz. I had taken an afternoon nap and when I got up all the other guys had gone down to Blue Creek. There were 3 kids in camp and they started bugging me to take them fishing. I took 3 rods hooked up with a bobber and jig and went down to the dam, near the limit line. There was a nice soft seem about 10 feet from the bank. The 3 kids, ages 10, 10 and 8 started casting. I told them to try and hit the seem. Well, the 2 ten y/o's started trying to see who could cast the farthest and the little 8 y/o had just enough coordination to cast the bobber just perfect. I had just laid down on a rock to continue my nap when the 8 y/o started saying he had a fish. I figured he was snagged and went to pull it free, when "it" pulled back. I handed him the rod, thinking he had actually hooked into a steelhead, but when he got it in and we landed it, it was a 8 lb rainbow. Looked like it had swallowed a beer can...one of the most beautiful fish I have ever seen.

Dave Jackson LMAO

Though that would be precision feeding, I was referring to the Ball like structure of the schools of herring.

As I grew up on Lk. Sammamish, I fished for smallmouth quite a bit in the spring/summer. Still do. Lots of interesting incdental catches by me or partners while doing that. A forty pound carp on a jig, an eight pound rainbow on a spinnerbait, a sockeye on a nightcrawler, silvers and kings on jigging spoons, and big cutthroat on damn near anything.

Wolf Eel off Whidbey Island mooching for blackmouth. Octopus jigging for cabezon in Anacortes.

The stupid pelicans in Santa Barbara were daily incidental catches. Fishing for Calico Bass in a Santa Barbara kelp bed with live sardines resulted in a seven or eight pound silver salmon.

Flyfishing at Squalicum Lk. in Bellingham during the yearly toad mating season. Bad idea. We caught many toads that thought our tiny dry flies were tasty treats.

Lastly, I hooked a big bull bison flyfishing on the Firehole River in Yellowstone Park.

Can you say "long distance release"?

Fish on...

Todd.

When I was 7, my stepdad took me down to Mill creek in Shelton to do some fishing after I had bugged him incessantly. We went down on the old Moose property and he set me up with my trout pole and a small Dardevle spoon. I got set up on a nice little hole while Bill worked his way downstream.

After a half-dozen casts, something hammered the spoon and I still remeber my amazement at the size of the tail that broke the water. I started screaming "Fish...fish!!" and Bill came around the corner to see me standing there with the trout pole folded in half and a steelhead on my line. After a long battle and a terrific gaff job by ol' Bill, my addiction set in. It was a 10-12 lb. hen steelhead and I still have the photos of me holding the fish with its tail on the ground. Talk about a $hit-eating grin..........

Hey todd,
Give up the story on the Bison,I am dying!!!!!!

Good Job Danny ............Is that "Grin" simular to the "Ball eatin grin" .....Os

I've never seen a halibut grin, but if they could...

Second entry.

One after trolling on Green Lake in Seattle, I pulled up to the dock by the amphitheatre. I had just the tiniest piece of worm left on my wedding ring spinner. I was just about to clean it off when I notice this pig of a fish cruising right at the dock. I put the little piece of worm about 1 foot in front of the fish, and to my astonishment, it bit. Five minutes later I had a 6 lb 8 oz Atlantic Salmon on the dock, complete with spaghetti tag from the UW fisheries, 2 oz shy of the state record. I got more than a few stares on my walk up to the truck. Earlier that day I had caught a yellow bullhead catfish with the same setup. Got to love those wedding rings.

LtlCLEO,

Believe it or not, it's not that uncommon.

Without starting the "snagging vs. not snagging" thread again, I'll admit up right front that the bison didn't "voluntarily take the lure or bait" in it's mouth!

In the evening the buffalo head to the nearest creek or river to get a drink, and a few headed to the Firehole. In fact, they headed to the same hole I was fishing in!

I was twenty feet from shore casting to the opposite cut bank when my back cast got snagged on something. When I turned around I noticed that the "something" was the big tuft of fur between the horns of a big male bison. He and the others there didn't seem too worried about me being there, and he didn't seem to notice that he was hooked, either.

I contemplated trying to finesse it out of his hair, but wondered what he would do if he discovered I was attached to the other end of the line that was bugging him. Instead, I just gave the 7x a good yank and left a #18 Parachute Adams hanging there.

Since they were between me and my truck, I decided to fish the hole a bit longer than I usually would have, but they left after half an hour and off I went.

I've heard of it happening to others there on the Firehole and also on the Madison in the Park. It was pretty funny, but I still lost a fly!

Fish on...

Todd.

good one Dave Herring Balls broke out laughing and had to explain it to the family.....

Snakes not just once but twice! The first one was on the Yakima down in the canyon. I let my fly swing into the shore, while I was digging around in my vest I felt a tug, I stripped it in to find a P.O'd 8" Gardner snake which had apparently grabbed my fly since it was so close to shore. The second time was on the Little Blackfoot river. On my back cast, I hooked/snagged a two foot Gardner. That one got to keep my fly!

I reeled in a fishing pole and reel out of Diamond Lake, and a purse another time. It's my favorite purse! Fish - On!

Snakes not just once but twice! The first one was on the Yakima down in the canyon. I let my fly swing into the shore, while I was digging around in my vest I felt a tug, I stripped it in to find a P.O'd 8" Gardner snake which had apparently grabbed my fly since it was so close to shore. The second time was on the Little Blackfoot river. On my back cast, I hooked/snagged a two foot Gardner. That one got to keep my fly!

I reeled in a fishing pole and reel out of Diamond Lake, and a purse another time. It's my favorite purse! Fish - On!

Last year my brother visited from out of state and wanted to go fishing with my boys. We went plunking down on the Green and were there for about 2 hours. No bites. Pretty soon my brother started gently kicking my 9 year old sons' rod so it would wiggle like he was getting a nibble. Every time he did this my son would get excited and get in position to set the hook, but of course the fish never came back. My brother did this about 10 times. Finally we dicided it was time to go and enough was enough. My brother was going to keep at it til my son set the hook. My brother started tapping the pole and my son got ready. This time, the "bite" kept going and my son set the hook.... The pole ripped back down and the fight was on. My boy landed a 15 lb. Chinook buck.

Yep, it was snagged right in the side so we let him swim. But we got a heck of a laugh.

I was jigging for halibut in S.E. Alaska last summer using big 24 oz. steel jigs in fairly deep water. After half an hour of nothing i got a pretty good hit. After It swam around a bit i realized it wasn't a butt so I tightened the drag and cranked it in. 200 feet later I had me a 14 pound silver with a giant jig in its mouth.

1. wile fishing from edmonds peir in 98 for salmon with my friends i hooked into somethin BIG with my buzzbomb. i was using a med light trout rod with 8lb line. What was i thinking . anyway it turned out to be a 30 lb king snagged in the tail. it took 45mins to get it in. it was relased.
2.my friend tom and i were fishing off a charter in the coronado island this last summer a 10lb yellow tail took both of our baits at the same time.
3. this wasn't my fish but this last september while fishing for humpies a guy caught and relased a 50+lb king in the snohimish and relased it.
tyler

I like that one too Dave - LOL.

Hey Pitch, by any chance did that boiled shrimp resemble a pink and white palmered marabou jig? >

While casting a 1/32 oz jig for crappies, I caught a 5# cutthroat(Lake Sawyer). Landed a 4# rainbow on a 6" black plastic worm flipped in the weed beds(Lake Mary Ronan). The next fish may not be a "best fish", but it was one of the best fighters, and I did accidentally hook it. I was casting a spoon at the shoreline, when I hooked a heavy fish. I was hoping it was a record largemouth. It took quite awhile to get a good look at it, because I was using 4lb line. Eventually, I landed a tail-hooked 17# carp.
(Lake Washington)

The first steelhead I ever caught here in Washington was a total suprise.
My wife and I were camping over in the Sequim area, at the Dungeness Spit campground and one afternoon we decided to spend some time on the Dungeness river. I had a medium weight spinning outfit, tossing a 1/4 oz black/gold Panther Martin, expecting to catch trout.
Well, I had made several casts alongside a big tree lying about half way across the river, with out any result, so was watching the lure spinning along...when WHAM! a big summer steelie came up from under that log, mouth wide open, grabbed the spinner, tuned and headed for home!
Well sir, I just about came out'a my skin! but it was almost like slow-motion, the action was so clear, even though it happened in a blink of the eye.
The fact is, I lost him though, I guess I was so shocked, I didn't set the hook well.
The rest of the day and most of that night, all I could think about was that fish!
Early the next morning, I was back on the Dungeness tossin' that spinner like mad trying to raise that steelie one more time. After about a 1/2 hour working over that log, I moved up stream hit'n every bit of water I could, but no luck! Just when I was about convinced I was SOL, I made one last cast to the right side of a bridge support and, WHAM! fish on....fish on! he didn't get away this time, a 7lb buck!.
I don't really know if it was the same exact fish from the day before or not, I like to believe it was though.

Hey Cooter, the Little Blackfoot has been closed to all fishermen. It is now prime wolf habitat and a few Griz have recently started to wander this drainage. Very dangerous, I would recomend other bodies of water for recreation.