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