Another one just for fun.....

Have you ever caught a fish in an area you never expected to? What kind of fish and where was it.

How about in the air? I pulled my cut plug herring about a foot out of the water when a silver jumped up and grabbed it. I landed and bonked him. Stupid silver.

There should be some good answers coming from all the folks on the board for this one...

-largemouth bass in Bellingham Bay
-humpy in Lk. Sammamish
-sockeye in Sauk River
-a few summer-run chums, in August, in a Puget Sound stream
-mackerel off Pier 57 (there are a few around each El Nino year, I've just never caught them here)

There're a few to start.

Fish on...

Todd.

Some lady caught a 12" pirahna in a Seattle area lake recently.

About 8 years ago, I caught a shad at the mouth of the Toutle and the Cowlitz. Has anyone else ever seen or caught a shad in, or on the Cowlitz?

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

I caught a rainbow trout about 16 inches long in Lake Washington two years ago, and the poor guy had a plastic ring from a six pac jammed up against his dorsal fin. I quickly removed it with my side-cutters and released him. As he swam away,
I'am sure I could hear him say "aaaah that feels good"

Cigar

My buddy caught a huge star fish while we were trolling for salmon off of Redondo.

how about a Sturgeon while trolling in Drano lake. What the heck is he doing at 25 feet.

1) 25lb. striper at the mouth of the klamath /requa, while fishin for Kings

2)"Chromed out" winterrun on the sky Oct 15th, still chasin silvers.

3)Steelhead in lake Sammy, pop gear and worm.

4)I saw a toad summerrun steelie (40")caught in the wind R.

5)Sharks that kept eating our bonita in Grand Cayman.

I was surprised, to take a total of 6 Sockeye, in 9 days of fishing on the coast, during early and late july of this year. ON THE HOH RVER... 2 in the upper special regs area, and 4 in the lower river. I was happy to BONK my knee while I put them back in the river unharmend. Maybe some Sol Duc fish had a few to many fish cocktails and took a wrong turn on the way Home.. I am a 100% CNR guy so i dont know if i could of kept them if i wanted? Anyone know the answer???

Flounder 11 miles from the salt in the Chehalis near Montesano. Following week, friend caught one also. Whale in same area of river, although I didn't hook it. Five inch hatchery steelies in Spanaway Lake. Don't know how they got in there. State record catfish in 28 feet of water bobber fishing with four foot leader. I will have to think for others.

There is a run of sockeye that returns to a little spring fed swamp backed up by the road near it's end in the park - can't remember the name of the creek but it has a little rock fishway on it and I've seen several adult sockeye in it in the fall.

Sometimes you expect to catch a fish so much that you catch one anyway, even though there is no way you should. Like the time I was in high school, had just built my first steelhead flyrod and took it out the first of June to the upper Kalama, which had just that year been designated fly fishing only water (yep, I'm that old ). In the first pool early in the morning I promptly hooked and landed a summer steelhead - the first one I actually landed on purpose. Fished the rest of the morning then went down to the #2 hatchery for some info. The told me not to bother to fish above the hatchery, where I had just come from, as they only had passed one summer run steelhead over the wier so far that year!

Another time ages ago, 1974 actually, when the Quinault was open year round and bull trout were known as dolly varden and were pests to be eliminated, I was fishing in early April for them with another new rod I had built, this one a 3 weight flyrod made of graphite, the first rod I had made from this at the time new, space age, and expensive material. I was loading up on dollies at the mouth of Alder Creek - they hit a skunk fly with gusto as it looked just like the dark little sockeye fry that were migrating from the clear stream into the glacially turbid Quinault, when a monster steelhead floated up and inhaled my fly. With this new, light, and expensive rod that I was afraid to put any pressure on I was sure that fish was a goner when it roared off into the river jumping all the way, but after running all my line and most of my backing off it decided to swim back up into the creek. It repeated this about 10 times and finally wore itself out and I was able to beach it. This turned out to be no old boot of a winter run but was instead a chrome bright 10 pound summer run, nearly too immature for me to tell what sex it was. That sold me on graphite - I not only didn't blow the rod up but I still have that little jewel today.

I think I remember a story of a barracuda caught in the Duwamish river.
Or the time they found a 500 lb dead sturgeon floating in Lake Washington.
This year while sockeye fishing Lk WA the 1st fish of the day was a 5 lb cutthroat.
It went for the bare hooks & when it was in the net I looked at it & said
wait a minute this this isn't a sockeye, it has spots on it. Gammie was confused
when we had 5 fish in the box.

This was a near miss and I'm glad I didn't hook it. I was fishing the Carbon for Steelhead last winter, and I just happened to catch sight of a deer swimming through the slot I was in. I was able to get my gear reeled in before I snagged it. Probably woulda been a heck of a fight, but I'd rather not experience that.

I was fishing this small pond, it is actually a air shaft for a old coal mine that has filled up with water. It is probably about 200 feet by 150 feet. Depth I dont know, but one time I put on a lot of weight let out at least 100 feet and still didnt hit bottom standing on the shore. It has a creek running into it and the outlet is only 10 feet away. Well back to the story, it is loaded with wild cutthroat trout. I had just hooked a little 8 inch cutt and was reeling him in when all of a sudden splash, Here comes a mink he jumped off the bank and swam directly torwards my fish and grabbed it and then swam back on the bank about 4 feet from me. I decided to get the fish back and was in a tug of war I didnt want him eating my hook and being really stuck on their so I would give a couple of tugs no luck. At this point I decided to poke him with the end of the fishin pole. Well not a good idea either they make one hell of a scary noise when they get pissed thinking I was going to steal his meal. I am lookin at him and he is eating as fast as he can he was about 2 feet long and wasnt going to move until he was done eating. I ended backing up a couple more feet and reeling down on the line and give it one more jerk as hard as I could. Out came the hook I was happy, luckily he hadnt ate the head yet. He still had his fish he was happy, I watched for about 2 minutes until he finished. He jumped back in swam across and then disappeared in the brush on the other side.

When I was a kid fishing some local sloughs for panfish I snagged up on weeds and tried to pull it loose. It came loose and shot up the bank snagging a cow in the @ss. I tried to pull it loose and that cow took off like a bullet. That reel was screaming.....of course I had to break off.

It would have been tough filleting out a cow with my little pocket knife....would have been tasty though.

Wow! some great posts! Anyone else have some? Let's hear some more.

We landed and released an 8' sturgeon on the lower Rogue fishing for springers about three years ago.
We were only fishing in about 6 feet of water.. he slammed a gold cv7 blade with a couple red beads if anyone wants to target them there..

It was a shock/disapointment to see this thing break the surface for the first time.. we were thinking/hoping for a 50#+ springer.. oh well it was a fun 30 minutes.

About 15 years ago I was fishing right before light on the Nestucca tidewater near Woods bridge.

It was my first time fishing the area so my partner instructed me to cast near the boat dock as the Fall Chinook like to hide under them.

The dock was a mere silhouette, so my depth perception must have been off because my first cast landed on the dock with a clunk.

Well, a dark shape came out from under an over turned little boat that was sitting on the dock and the next thing I know line is just flat peeling off of my reel.

My partner says, "Ya got one?!!" and I say, "I DON'T KNOW, BUT MY LINE IS GOING UP THAT WALKWAY TOWARDS THAT HOUSE!"

We rowed to shore and followed the line up the walkway.

The line then went under the neighbors fence, then over the next neighbors fence, then under that neigbors stilted house then to the front door of that home.

It was an odd situation to knock on the door and have to wake up the owner to ask then to hold their cat while we plucked a treble hook from it's leg.

Yes, a catfish in the Nestucca tidewater.

Here's another, though it's not a fish...and not necessarily out of place, just shouldn't have been on my line.

While flyfishing the Firehole River in Yellowstone, my backcast got snagged.

Unbeknownst to me, a few bison had come down to the river behind me, and I had snagged a big bull right between the horns in that "Sideshow Bob" tuft of hair they have there.

I was concentrating so much on the fish rising that I missed them coming.

The bull didn't seem to notice or mind, and a couple of yanks and my 7x tippet popped.

Other odd ones...

Lots of bats, since I like to flyfish at night in E. Wa. every once in a while.

Squalicum Lake in Bellingham put out about twenty little toads in one evening. They were all in the lake spawning, and if they caught sight of your dry fly, they'd paddle right over and grab it. If I saw them coming, I'd pull it out, but I didn't see them all as some were a little slyer than others and swam up to the fly from underneath.

They'd come in with the fly in their lip and both hands holding on to the tippet.

Foul hooked a seal in Whatcom Creek back in my college days. Wasn't able to land him .

Fishing a beaver pond near Fall City resulted in a six inch rubber worm stuck in the front leg of a beaver. Good fight, but quite short. He broke me off in the trees...

Keep 'em comin'!!

Fish on...

Todd.

We were trolling between the Caves and Eagle Point at CQ in 30ft of water just before day light
and all of a sudden my line popped free from the down rigger and my rod bent into the water.We thought we had a hog king on until we realized it was not moving much so I set the hook hard then the line started screaming off the real about 30 minutes later we saw what it was.It was a 60lb halibut.

Saltwater caught one of those little black diving birds.

Freshwater when I was a kid I was fishing off a bridge over the Okanogan River and had a hit and yanked sending my line sailing up over my shoulder (bridge is about 50ft above the water) and my line wrapped around a antenna of a passing car. The next week was fishing with my dad and a friend of his and his friend caught and old transitor radio(also on the Okanogan River). He took it home dried it out and plugged it in and it still works today.

Used to catch Seagull kites at the mouth of the Hoh River when I was young. They would snag the bait and all right out of the air and fly around. I hear the fishers in Alaska do it on purpose for entertainment......

Not out of place per se, but caught an 8ft ray at Pt. Defiance about 5yrs ago. Felt like we were snagged but in was coming up slowly. Got it to the back of the boat and was shocked. It was wider than our beam and really not happy!

I was trolling at battle Ground lake with a friend when all of a sudden my reel went screaming
line was running from it really fast. But I did not realize that my line was out far when I realized I hooked another boat

I took a buddy fishing out at Redondo. We were just setting up the downriggers and poles to start the day when he drops my brand new downrigger ball in the water. We laughed but it sucked and i said he owed me $20.

Next day he goes out to Point Defiance and his pole pops off the downrigger and line starts zipping out. After 10 seconds of confusion he figured he snagged a big starfish or something. When he got his line up a thin rusty cable was snagged on his hook. So he pulled up the cable and attached to the end was the identical ball he had dropped the day before. Pure luck. I was hoping to make him pay for his dumb mistake. Atleast i got my ball back.

About 7 years ago, I was fishing Bobby Lake at the east end of Nunnally. I was fishing a two chironomid rig and broke off a nice fish at about 10am. Late that afternoon, I had moved over to the other side of the pond and was fishing near the where the creek flows in. I hooked a little fish that promptly dove into an enormous pile of weeds and snagged me. I kicked over in my tube and hand lined up the whole mess into my lap. Giant pile of weeds, with my little fish in the middle all tangled up in the same broken tippet with my two flys from that morning!

Ah yes, talk of the seal made me remember another one......

I used to fish out of a rowboat at Steliacoom. Went down there early one July day well before daylight, put my cut plug in the water, pulled a couple times on the oars and down went the bait. Tightened up and felt a huge throbbing on the line and thought big king! Tightened a little more and off he screams and I'm thinking really big king! About 100 yards out he finally surfaces, and there is a seal, which I at first thought must have my really big king in his mouth, until he went down, I got closer, it got a little lighter, and I could see my line going down it's gullet. Yes, it had eaten my herring! Well, I'm in this motorless jon boat, so I cranked down my drag all the way, reared back on the rod, and let him tow me. Even with a 20 lb. leader, he couldn't seem to break me off between the limber rod, the light boat, and the inability of the seal to put on that burst of initial speed that a fish can. He did tow me around a while, but eventually he started making shorter runs, came up panting like a racehorse, and finally was so worn out after 20 minutes that I was able to reel him right up to the boat. Man did he bark and snap, and kept trying to swim away but eventually couldn't. Could have netted and bonked the sucker easily but all I settled for was grabbing my lead and snapping off my hooks. Don't know how much those things weigh, but short of a sturgeon I haven't c&r'd anything bigger.

Not too many come to mind. Just a couple:

-A shad in the Snohomish River.
-A true cod (big one) in Shilshole (Salmon) Bay off of my friends dock.
-The occasional crab, starfish, or octopus while mooching for king salmon.
-Bats while fly fishing
-Seagulls that were dumb enough to grab my herring under a float.
-Bullfrogs that liked poppers.

Two Atlantics in the Sky and one in the salt.
A fairly large octopus while mooching for kings at Sekiu.
An 80 Lb halibut on 20 pound test mooching for kings at Sekiu....by myself. Not really a pleasent experience.

I don't know if this is totally out of place or not.....
I was on the Cowlitz a couple years ago with 3 kids bobber fishing for steelhead, and the bobber goes down for the 8 y/o.....I was sitting on a rock...he yells fish on...I thought he was snagged....I take the rod to pull it free and the rod pulls back....I hand it back to him and he lands this HUGE rainbow trout....had to be 8 pounds, covered in spots, with a belly that looked like he swallowed a beer can...

My buddy caught a clam of some kind at clay banks while mooching. His line must have passed over it while it was open and it clamped down when if felt it. We had a heck of a time getting it off his 25lb line. Thought it was a freak thing, but he got a few more later that day - a few had good sized rocks attached. Next time you think you've snagged bottom, you may just have one of these guys latched onto your line...

On another trip, I snagged a sea cucumber.

While night fishing for catfish in lake Texana in Texas, a 12 ft alligator ate my bobber (not my bait...). I tried to break it off, and eventually had some slack. I said to my brother, better stand back, he may have just headed towards us. Sure enough, he pops up right where we were standing!! This happened several more times, each time, he\she was just trying to get our bobbers.

The next day, I followed the bank through the water moccasin and copperhead infested brush back along a channel to where the gators go during the day. I found a small little bay (about 10ft wide) where the bank was covered with gator tracks. In the little bay were dozens upon dozens of bobbers. Many cracked and stuck in the mud or barely floating, but most were in pretty good shape. I snatched a hand full and took off before momma realized I took some of her babies (or whatever - I don't really know why this gator was obsessed with collecting bobbers...).

- my wife caught a seagull with a buzz bomb off powder wharf before they demolished it, the gull drew blood from the back of my hand when I was getting the hook out

- my oldest son when he was 8 or so was fishin off our boat at night (black & moonless) back in a cove on east fork lake in batavia oh with a plastic bobber the size of a baseball with a watch battery & light in it with red lens, he said something was messing with his bobber, i said yea right, looked at it & swoooosh it dis-appeared in a big roll/gulp, his drag started burning off & 2-3 seconds later the fish was under a log on the bottom in 30+ feet of water, had to be a big channel cat... p.s. they would only hit red, my 4 year son had a green lens & they wouldn't touch it...

2 years ago I was fishing with some friends at Silver Lake. I was on a dock and they were on shore about 40 feet away and they caught a fish. I ran over there to check it out.

I then looked over at dock, my pole was bent all the way over and about to snap. I was like HOLY ****! Ran over there and starting realing in and it just kept tugging under the dock.

I finally saw a dark figure come up...it was a freaking huge turtle. I was so frightened as I never saw a turtle in there and it was siting there snaping at me when I was trying to unhook it. It bite once and I had to cut the line and throw it back as one guy said it was endangered species or something.

I have a history of catching turtles. I caught quite a few down in Arkansas last summer when at grandparents ranch. They live on a river and I went fishing like every day and caught a lot of snapping turtles. Those things are mean!

A few years ago, while taking pictures of a 64 lbs. king that a resort guest had brought in, a buddy of mine saw what looked like the tail of a snake sticking out of the throat of the fish, he began to pull on the tail and a 14 inch baby wolf eel popped out.
Anyone know where I can get some fresh eel?

I forgot. The Kid caught a humpy on the Hoh fishing for eary Kings last year.

Yeah, that sounds about right for The Kid!

About 10 or 12 years ago I caught a condom on the lower Snohomish when trolling for silvers. We practiced good CnR and released it without handling it.

4 weeks ago I caught a chum in the Fraser with purple stripes on her.

I caught an Alantic in the Nutsack.