Funny story about another catch of a lifetime

[RUGER]

Chimneyman's post reminded me of this one.

Buddy I used to work with was catfishing with his dad at night years ago.
They were under the bridge at Paris.
His dad got a bite and he knew it was a big one.
He pulled and pulled and finally was getting it close to the surface.
Then it took off going left and right and straight down to the bottom, peeling drag all the way down.

Started the process again, same result.
Best I remember he said he brought it up a total of 4 times.
Finally my buddy said it got close enough that he could see it with the spotlight.

He had snagged the end of a barge line (not supposed to call them ropes) and the left and right motion was the end of it swaying in the current as it went back down. LOL

He said it broke his dad's heart.

 

[Pilchard]

I'll share one as well...

In the winter in Florida, the snook and juvenile tarpon seek thermal refuge in the Orange River due to it being the outflow of the power plant which keeps the water warm when the main river is too cold for sub-tropical fish. I would troll lipped plugs at night up and down the river. One evening with my wife, it was in the low 40s so I knew the fish would be stacked in the warm water. It wasn't very long after we started trolling that one of the rods went off and was peeling drag like crazy. My wife cleared the other lines, spun the boat around and gave chase with the outboard.

It took us a good ways up river before I realized something wasn't right. We broke out the spotlight only to realize that I had hooked a small manatee. Normally when this happens it is quite obvious but this one was different. I must have hooked him in a sensitive spot because he would respond to the pressure like a fish would. I pulled left, he would turn left. Pull to the right and he would turn to the right....

Once I realized what it was, I palmed the spool and the hook straightened but the best was yet to come. As I was reeling the plug in it hung up on the bottom for a second and then came free bringing a wad of river slime back on the nose of the bait. I showed it to my wife and told her it was part of the manatee. For a second, she was heartbroken until she caught me laughing

We did catch a few nice fish that evening. Here is a picture of the one that ended the night. It got wrapped in a dock and I had to go for a swim to get it out. I stripped down and jumped in to get the fish before bundling back up for a cold ride to the ramp.

 

[mike52]

An old fishing buddy of mine was fishing one of the BIG BOY tournament like BASS . He was fishing no boat, so he got paired with one of the pros. Had what he thought was a strike and set hook. Pulling drag he got the pro to get the net. This (fish) was going left to right while he rassled it to the boat. Pro netted the gallon bucket and just gave him a grin

 

[Mag]

My Dad was in the Navy and we were stationed in Maine in the mid 70's. I remember trips to Campobello Island to fish from the piers. My Mom snagged what they thought was large Flounder because of the sheer weight and drag but after it came into view turned out to be one of those yellow rain coats! I think they were afraid it may have had a fisherman in it