Ever catch something you never expected to catch? - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

striprman · 03-31-2004, 12:15 AM

While netting some herring several years ago, I netted an opossum. It was dark and I thought I had caught a bass in my net.
Scared the xxxx out of me.

Also snagged a 40 pound goosefish while trolling off of sandy neck.

Cormorant flying low, runs into line and gets all fowled up. Lost my polaris mackerel popper

, thing tried to bite me while I tried to untangle it. I just cut my line.

nor-easter · 03-31-2004, 12:20 AM

Yes, a long time ago and I had to go through a long series of injections to get rid of it!

Once was enough!

Nebe · 03-31-2004, 12:31 AM

I caught a nice sized fluke once on a storm shad while I was untangling a wind knot... I got a good laugh out of it

BasicPatrick · 03-31-2004, 12:36 AM

About five years ago I was chunking off a particular dock at a popular spot in hull MA. I got a small hit and started reeling in...what I saw is still a bit unbeleivable...

picture this...runing line goes in the mouth of a full grown two pound live Bunker....and out the gill....then through the fishfinder...and to the barell swilvel...that was connected to the leader and hook with the chunk of Bunker still on the 5/0 hook

weird

RickBomba · 03-31-2004, 01:26 AM

When I was at culinary school on the Hudson, we heard lots of talk of people getting big stipers on the river. Not knowing that most of them came during the spring, and as we were very poor students, we hit the river with gusto.
We caught lots and lots of white perch...in 1994 the popular theories said stripers in the Hudson were caught on nighcrawlers, so we fished with worms.
Anyhow, we decided to all head home and pick up our surf rods to hit the big boys once and for all...We bought four cases of Mickey's Big mouth Malt Liquor and headed down to the river with hi-low rigs, baited with live small white perch.
Two fruitless hours into the ordeal, one of my buddies' rods doubles over...a cheer erupts from the very drunken crowd. The way the drag screamed, we figured it was at least a thirty pounder!!!
As we were very tipsy, and very high up on a concrete promontory left over from the days of the big docks on the river, it took a while to get the fish in...In the setting sun of October we saw the fish...The absolute biggest catfish, fat and mutated from PCB's (I'm guessing) that any of us had ever seen.
Anyhow, all of us tough guys were too chicken to unhook the thing (it was really, really ugly).
Anyhow, I stepped up to bat, got it loose, and let it go...It was the last time we went fishing!
Later,
Rick

Notaro · 03-31-2004, 01:37 AM

I once caught a 3 lbs oysterfish or a goosefish in Rockport on a 1 lbs live pollack. Boy. It went under a big yacht boat and the sailer wouldn't help me to move my line from his bow and he was cleaning up. I hollered. That ignorgant jerk ignored me like I was a mute. I landed the fish and released it. Funny thing is that it turned itself into a parylzed blue color victim from the oysterfish's mouth.

Striperhound · 03-31-2004, 07:49 AM

last spring fishing sluggos for schoolies along a rocky shoreline I was catching pretty good. Get a good hit and land a 10lb tautog. Next half hour every several casts I landed 4 more tautog between 3 and 8 lbs all on my 6" sluggo. Some of the other people actually fishing for tautog were not catching and started offering to buy my fish it really upset them when I let all of the go.

beachwalker · 03-31-2004, 07:52 AM

I caught the crabs once. Certainly never expected those sob's

MakoMike · 03-31-2004, 09:07 AM

One time, while fluke fishing off Montauk, I caught an Atlantic sturgeon. Another time while tuna trolling in the canyons some kind of big seabird (looked like a giant herring gull) decided to eat one of the lures.

RI Popper · 03-31-2004, 09:51 AM

Last year while trolling in Narraganset bay for stripers. I caught fluke on 3 occasions. And years ago while fishing on the super squirrel out of Galilee on a night trip for blues. I hooked into a 39 lb. pollack. Woahh the pool winner.

Van · 03-31-2004, 09:56 AM

Few years back we were jigging for cod....

My buddy's yelling hes got a huge one. He finally gets it to the surface and yes...... its a big old rubber BOOT.....Just like you see on comedy TV shows.

vineyardblues · 03-31-2004, 10:03 AM

Not me,but my b-inlaw got a Gar while striper fishing.This fish flew across the top of the water like I have never seen.

Again, not me but my B-inlaw, Got a turtle with a becon on the top of it. Thought we had a whale

VB

Karl F · 03-31-2004, 10:13 AM

in snotty weather late afternoon one September, guy to my left hooks up, has a nice one, for a while snaps off. my rod tip dances, stops, dances. I check it, seems OK, but, I make the old , set the hook snap, just to be sure, something on, but feels wierd, definately a fish though.
Reel in, not much fight but I keep the pressure on tight. My leader comes in... hook, worms

, then I see that my hook is thru a swivel!, keep reeling 3-4 more feet of line, then a big old ball of line, with a hook with another swivel on it!, have to start hand lining now, and I have a crowd standing around me, my buddys rig comes up with a tired 40 inch striper on it!
"Hey! That's my fish!"

yeah right, (burp)

thewaterfordstriper · 03-31-2004, 10:33 AM

if its weird it finds me. ask the guys i fish with. they just shake their heads now. it doesn't even surprise them anymore.

STEVE IN MASS · 03-31-2004, 10:42 AM

A houndfish while fishing for Spanish in Hatteras.....

Also a ribbonfish while fishing for Spanish at the same place.

The "beak" of the houndfish was saved, dried, bleached and hung on my wall at work, until I was once away on a business trip and our secretary decided to throw it out....

The ribbonfish was quite pretty.....

Oh, and both of them were yummy......

bart · 03-31-2004, 11:11 AM

i have also caught fluke by accident. i was fishing in jamestown and landed 4 fluke one day fishing slug-gos for stripers. i caught a triggerfish last year in jamestown as well, never seen one til that point.

rwilhelm · 03-31-2004, 11:54 AM

I was fishing in Barrington and I thought I had a nice striper on, it turned out to be a huge eel.

Fish On · 03-31-2004, 12:20 PM

I have a couple. First the fluke thing is pretty common I think while trolling for stripers. I've caught 4 or 5 of them over the past 3 years with swimming plugs. Even caught one on an umbrella rig. I use downriggers a lot which increase the fluke hits.

Also was trolling off East Beach (MV) and caught the biggest Sea Robin you ever saw. It was so big I did not know what it was at first. Total length was over 20 inches, probably a 3 lb fish.

The creme de la creme: Me and 2 of my buddies are trolling for tuna down by Butterfish Hole (off Mauntock). Near days end we decide to head back to Block Island where we were staying. One of my buddies doesn't get out much and he wanted me to pick a spot on the way back to do some bottom fishing with clams. He was hoping to catch a cod. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I thought the water was too warm (August). Anyway I find a little structure on the chart and we head over and all 3 of us rig up tandem hooks with clams and give it a shot. Well he's reeling his up to check his bait and about 30 to 40 feet below the boat he says, "I think I got a bite". I look at him and not much is happening when suddenly line starts stripping of the reel and ripping through the water sideways. The line ripping through the water made a sound that I definately want to hear again. So this is 50 lb test line on a cod rod with a significant drag setting. Anyway he says "I think it's a bluefish". My other buddy and I say at the exact same time, "It's no bluefish!". Are there any guesses yet? So the fish takes line 2 or 3 times before we finally get our first peak at it about 20 to 30 feet below the boat (very clear 78 F water). I see bright yellow mostly and gorgeous green. So I'm not a complete expert so I'm thinking maybe a small yellowfin tuna, which would have been great by the way. Anyway the fish sees the boat and says "no thanks" and goes on another tear towards the stern. The line starts creeping towards horizontal so we know this thing is coming up and bam! this thing clears 5 feet out of the water and is ........?????......... are you ready.......you experts probably already figured it out with the coloring and the behavior........well.......it was...........a.....................22 lb 46" Bull Mahi Mahi! What a blast and what a meal........well several meals.

Funny but the thing barfs up a small fish and my buddy throws it overboard. It sinks about 5 feet and woosh it's gone. So the same guy that caught the first fish is the first one to get his rod back in the water. This time he uses the tail end of one of the mackerel I had for bait. 3 seconds later bamm, he hooks another and a several minutes later he lands the 12 lb cow that was his mate. That was it. No more to be found, just a single pair cruising out in the middle of nowhere.

Hope you enjoyed.

spcantwell · 03-31-2004, 12:36 PM

While fishing off of East Chop on MV, I noticed i had
something hitting my rod baited with herring, I set the hook
and could feel something on the other end, but it did
not seem to large. once we got it up onto the rocks
and shined the light on it, we noticed it was an approx
5lb lobster. it made for a nice dinner

striprman · 03-31-2004, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fish On
I have a couple. First the fluke thing is pretty common I think while trolling for stripers. I've caught 4 or 5 of them over the past 3 years with swimming plugs. Even caught one on an umbrella rig. I use downriggers a lot which increase the fluke hits.

Also was trolling off East Beach (MV) and caught the biggest Sea Robin you ever saw. It was so big I did not know what it was at first. Total length was over 20 inches, probably a 3 lb fish.

The creme de la creme: Me and 2 of my buddies are trolling for tuna down by Butterfish Hole (off Mauntock). Near days end we decide to head back to Block Island where we were staying. One of my buddies doesn't get out much and he wanted me to pick a spot on the way back to do some bottom fishing with clams. He was hoping to catch a cod. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I thought the water was too warm (August). Anyway I find a little structure on the chart and we head over and all 3 of us rig up tandem hooks with clams and give it a shot. Well he's reeling his up to check his bait and about 30 to 40 feet below the boat he says, "I think I got a bite". I look at him and not much is happening when suddenly line starts stripping of the reel and ripping through the water sideways. The line ripping through the water made a sound that I definately want to hear again. So this is 50 lb test line on a cod rod with a significant drag setting. Anyway he says "I think it's a bluefish". My other buddy and I say at the exact same time, "It's no bluefish!". Are there any guesses yet? So the fish takes line 2 or 3 times before we finally get our first peak at it about 20 to 30 feet below the boat (very clear 78 F water). I see bright yellow mostly and gorgeous green. So I'm not a complete expert so I'm thinking maybe a small yellowfin tuna, which would have been great by the way. Anyway the fish sees the boat and says "no thanks" and goes on another tear towards the stern. The line starts creeping towards horizontal so we know this thing is coming up and bam! this thing clears 5 feet out of the water and is ........?????......... are you ready.......you experts probably already figured it out with the coloring and the behavior........well.......it was...........a.....................22 lb 46" Bull Mahi Mahi! What a blast and what a meal........well several meals.

Funny but the thing barfs up a small fish and my buddy throws it overboard. It sinks about 5 feet and woosh it's gone. So the same guy that caught the first fish is the first one to get his rod back in the water. This time he uses the tail end of one of the mackerel I had for bait. 3 seconds later bamm, he hooks another and a several minutes later he lands the 12 lb cow that was his mate. That was it. No more to be found, just a single pair cruising out in the middle of nowhere.

Hope you enjoyed.

StorFisk · 03-31-2004, 01:51 PM

Off Old Saybrook, my son and I were chunking for stripers one night when he pulls up his favorite meal from the sea, a 2lb lobster! Now I think he's planning to target them somehow...

Does this mean I need a lobster permit?

Or is it considered "bycatch".

Just kidding (of course we tossed it back in...LOL's)

theSURF121 · 03-31-2004, 01:51 PM

A few years ago while bucktailing one of LI's inlets a friend of mine had quite a catch(snag actually). He was bucktailing on a night tide when he hooked into the bass of all bass. It was taking line out at an incredible rate and wasn't letting up. There was also alot of commotion in the water when it was decided to shine a light in that direction to see what was up.It turned out that he snagged a buck! Bucktails and Bucks!

beamie · 03-31-2004, 02:17 PM

One day last July while jigging Billingsgate shoal I hooked into something, knew it wasn't a fish but it was moving a bit. Not wanting to loose my gear finally boated what looked to be a 3 x piece of an old aluminum boat, hope the guys made it ashore that day....

Windcheater John · 03-31-2004, 03:08 PM

Off of Sandy Hook, Bucktailing some structure, Hoping for a striper or weaky in Sept., noticed this dark figure following. Just about to the boat this object decides to leave, so I let some line out and start jigging. Well that object turns around and smacks my jig and all hell breaks loose, taking line, this way and that, around the boat, Having a great time! I get into the boat, never seen anything like it around those parts before, so I take it to the tackle shop, turns out to be a Cobia approx. 12lbs.

Kick A** fish, love to do that again, someday!!!

Young Salt · 03-31-2004, 04:22 PM

One day me and my brother were anchored under conimicut pt. the anchor dragged a little, but we don't think much of it. A short while later we try to leave, but the anchor is snagged on something. Tried to unsnag using the motor, but no luck. Together we had to pull like hell, getting only a couple feet per heave...i mean we were actually pulling the stern into the water it's so heavy. On top of that there's a ton of boat traffic going by in the channel.
After a good 15-20 minutes of this we find out the anchor was tangled in a chain of lobster pots. We got one pot over the gunwale, cut the line & sent the rest back to the bottom. Kept the one pot, just because of all the effort we put into it.

Moral of the story is, beware when anchored at conimicut pt!

BTW - the trap must've had 50+ starfish inside it.

Backbeach Jake · 03-31-2004, 07:19 PM

Yeah , I caught the top half of my own rod. I'd cast a mighty cast and the line got wrapped around the tip of my favorite 2-piece. Off it went and the line snapped. The water was cold and I couldn't talk the wife into going in after it. She made it perfectly clear she wouldn't.

Not again that week. (She's a keepa!)Well I went and got my backup , baited cast and waited. The mood had passed so I reeled in to go home and I felt weight.

A fish? No , it was dead weight. I reeled in my long lost ( I thought) Rod tip , hooked through the top guide. It's still my lucky go to bait flinger

fishweewee · 03-31-2004, 07:26 PM

Was fishing with tlapinski, swede, Christian and his dad on Capt. Mike's boat late last November.

We were jigging off of Deer Island for some cod.

After a slow pick, I had something on that put a bend in the rod.

I thought it was a fish (and so did everybody else)...

Turned out to be a piece of wire cage.

Sure put up a good fight, tho!

Codfather · 03-31-2004, 07:38 PM

I was fishing for largemouth once with shiners, and I caught a three foot eel. I was almost tempted to keep it and live line it that night

Slipknot · 03-31-2004, 07:40 PM

A WallMart bag while jigging the canal.

RickBomba · 03-31-2004, 07:58 PM

Hate to double post, but I caught a bag in the Mystic River two weeks ago...felt alot like a cold weather fish on the way in.
Rick