Most Memorable Fish

[A9]

Keep em coming guys. These are cool stories that are so much fun to dream about. As for my story?
I think I got it. Finally
Our family was going up to our summer cabin on Whidbey Island on a nice late August weekend. This is about 2 or 3 years ago. We head up I think on like a saturday morning, and of course the first thing I want to do is back the boat in and go fishing. And it's pretty late by now, probably noon, not great timing for salmon fishing, but whatever I wanted to go out fishing, but I couldn't back the boat up by myself and needed my dad to back me in. I could drive the boat fine though. But my dad didn't want to fish since it was noon. I had only been driving for about 6 months and had no experience backing up trailers, so there was no way I was going to back in the 19' Campion by myself. My dad didn't want to go out fishing, he just wanted to relax for a few hours. I finally convince him to go fishing, so he says get everything ready and I'll back the boat in...

So I get the boat all loaded up and I get the trailer hitched up to the rig and I have my dad drive the boat down the road the the launch and back me in....He backs me in, and I see him drive the truck and trailer back to our cabin along the road and park it in the yard (launch is only 5-6 houses down the beach from our place) and I'm just sitting in the boat right out front of the house and I see him go into the house after parking the trailer. I idle around another 5 minutes waiting for him to come out and for me to pull up on the beach to get him. But he doesn't come out. I say forget waiting, I'm going fishing....

I head out a couple hundred feet right in front of the place, slow down to trolling speed, get my line down, and of course I start organizing the boat and putting things away to clean up and get ready to do some fishing. I had my line down for maybe 30 seconds and I'm putting stuff away, not paying attention, and then when I hear my drag screaming, I turn around thinking "Yeaaaa fish on!'' and I see my line going completely horizontal up to the surface...It's a nice silver! I run to the back of the boat, rip the rod out of the holder, and on the line is a nice silver jumping 75 yards off the back of the boat...I fight it for 10 minutes, get it to the boat, net it by myself, and boy was I happy. I get the fish in the cooler and then head back the the shore to pick up dad. He finally comes out of the house and he boards the boat..We start heading back out to the fishing grounds, and I tell him to look in the cooler. Boy was he suprised to see that 10lb silver in there...It was one of the first few salmon I had caught by myself, and from there salmon fishing took off for me and is one of my favorite types of fishing...


I'll have to dig around for those pictures, I know I have some, I just don't think they are digital so I might have to scan them in and upload them up.

[A9]

Any other regulars got a couple more stories to put together?

[gpc]

Good thread Sam. Its very hard to think up my most memeroble fish but I will throw a couple out there.

My Dads favorite fishing was salmon fishing, but being as he would only go a few times a year, most of which were a few hours away he didn't get to take me until I was in the 2nd grade. So he just had to get me out there, so he decides to take me to Seattle to salmon fish. On the way out to west Seattle we stopped by my grand fathers house to get a pole (my dad only had 1 salmon pole so we needed to get a pole for me). My grandfather then presented me with the deal that if I caught a keeper the pole was mine. So we get our little aluminum down to Seattle and its pissing down rain and no salmon have been caught yet. About 4 hours into it we decide its a little too much so decide to go in. Not but 10 minutes after we decide to troll in I get a fish on. I fought the king for about 5 minutes until I tried to give the pole off to my dad, but he wouldn't take the pole. Then what seemed like forever I finally had the fish to the boat. It was the only fish caught that day according to the creel survey. My mom was at her high school reunion and my dad called and said it was an emergency to tell her I caught a salmon. He was happier than I was. I still use the pole as my main salmon pole to this day. Even though I have some that are way nicer and its missing an eye.

This year while pink fishing I really wanted to catch a pink on my ultra light. 4lb test, micro lite 5 feet 6 inch pole and micro reel. All my friends said I was stupid and it was impossible. Well the first couple times I got broke off, and was really feeling stupid. Then about 3 weeks ago I finally had a good contender. Then he took me over some rapids and got me hung up. Then one way or another he came free. I had to hold the pole over my head the entire time to keep the line free from the rocks. It took me 20 minutes to finally get the fish in, I was sore and winded. I didn't get a picture or even keep the fish, so most of my friends don't believe me and my witness. But I don't care.

[A9]

gpc where you been lately man? Haven't seen you posting much on the forum lately, but seen some of your posted reports...

[gpc]

gpc where you been lately man? Haven't seen you posting much on the forum lately, but seen some of your posted reports...

Whats up Sam. I have just been really busy lately. I still read all the posts and come to the site daily. But Iv been lucky enough to go to Westport and potholes twice in the 2 weeks plus a bunch of green river trips. Its been a lot of preparing, backing and un packing. Im still here though.

[cavdad45]

gpc,
I second that, it's good to hear from you again. Your a mainstay around here. Glad to hear that you are getting some fishing in.

CAV

[Lou]

This year while pink fishing I really wanted to catch a pink on my ultra light. 4lb test, micro lite 5 feet 6 inch pole and micro reel. All my friends said I was stupid and it was impossible. Well the first couple times I got broke off, and was really feeling stupid. Then about 3 weeks ago I finally had a good contender. Then he took me over some rapids and got me hung up. Then one way or another he came free. I had to hold the pole over my head the entire time to keep the line free from the rocks. It took me 20 minutes to finally get the fish in, I was sore and winded. I didn't get a picture or even keep the fish, so most of my friends don't believe me and my witness. But I don't care.

Hey, I just did this today, I was using a ultra-lite uglystick, 5'6" with an $8 shimano single bearing reel rigged with 4lb maxima line. Hooked into a 23" coho hen and boy was that a long fight, many hang ups, got my pant legs soaked, but finally landed it. Just put the report up.

-Lou

[gpc]

This year while pink fishing I really wanted to catch a pink on my ultra light. 4lb test, micro lite 5 feet 6 inch pole and micro reel. All my friends said I was stupid and it was impossible. Well the first couple times I got broke off, and was really feeling stupid. Then about 3 weeks ago I finally had a good contender. Then he took me over some rapids and got me hung up. Then one way or another he came free. I had to hold the pole over my head the entire time to keep the line free from the rocks. It took me 20 minutes to finally get the fish in, I was sore and winded. I didn't get a picture or even keep the fish, so most of my friends don't believe me and my witness. But I don't care.

Hey, I just did this today, I was using a ultra-lite uglystick, 5'6" with an $8 shimano single bearing reel rigged with 4lb maxima line. Hooked into a 23" coho hen and boy was that a long fight, many hang ups, got my pant legs soaked, but finally landed it. Just put the report up.

-Lou

Wasnt it a blast? I want to try it again, but Im going threw a little slump right now and cant even catch them on my regular pole, let a lon my UL. lol

[Mike Carey]

This story dates back to my young adult years, early twenties. I was fishing on the Wisconsin river below the dam at the town of Sauk with my brother Kevin. We would take out my 17 ft canoe and anchor below the spillway and use live minnows for early spring walleye. Anyway, along with the walleye that would spawn below the dam would be paddlefish. A paddlefish is sorta a cross between a catfish and a sturgeon. I don't know what family you put them in. Paddlefish can get pretty big but they don't really eat anything you drop down. In any case, they are protected so you can't target them. That said, there would be so many paddlefish on the bottom (40-50 ft deep) that you'd snag one once in awhile.

Sure enough, that morning I snagged into the biggest paddlefish I'd ever caught. This fish dragged our canoe around for at least an hour (no exageration, honest!) around all the other anglers. My gear was a crappy 6 ft medium action trout rod with 10 lb test. Paddlefish don't do much, just lumber along. So the fish is finally tiring out and I'm workign him up to the surface. As the first sight came into view, it scarred the heck out of me. Because I realized that this fish was almost half the length of our canoe! Having something that big next to a canoe was pretty scarey. My brother was equally impressed by this fish. I unhooked him and we watched him slowly decend back to the bottom.

I have never been that close to such a huge fish. I hope to again someday with sturgeon, because that's what it was like. If you watch the sturgeon video you'll see a big one on it, and our paddlefish was in that class size.

My brother passed a few years ago, but that is a memory I have of him and a fish I will never forget. Unfortunately, no pictures. This was in the late seventies.

[Joe Heater]

Mike,

Did you like Paddlefish? My dad and his buddies used to go below the dams on the missouri to fish for those things and they would bring back these monsters and cook them. I thought it was the worst fish I have ever eaten next to smoked carp. I am from the midwest as well and I know Paddlefish really took a backseat after the 80's. Im not sure that many people fish for them anymore.

Do you ever get over to the other side much and fish for Walleyes. Banks Lake has absolutely been on fire this year for walleye fishing. Now that is a good eating fish.

Joe

[Bigbass Dez]

I will never forget that fall morning down on percy priest lake in nashville,TN .. It was about 5:30AM and i was at my favorite Crappie Hole out on the marina boat slips .. I was good friends with the Owner and she would allow me a my friends access on the docks to fish the slips for crappie . I was there that morning for only five minutes and i my first fish was a Bluegill .. Not just a Bluegill but this puppy was perfect size (4" long) .. first thing that came to mind was my catfishpole in the truck ..After returning back a few minutes later from the truck , i rigged up a one ounce carolina rig with the biggest hook i had in my box .. I hooked the blugill right in the tail and made a short cast out just past the docks .. After strapping my pole too the dock i continued too fish for crappie . Thirty minutes later i look down the docks and I NOTICE MY POLE WAS GONE . After i ran back down the spot where i placed it , the pole was completly submerged and the only thing that held it was my stringer rope i had it tied too.. I lifted the pole out the water and untied my rope and the fight was on !!! what seemed like ten minutes later i got this MONSTER to the top and saw that i hooked a Hugh Flathead Cat .. Funny thing is that i only had my crappie net with me ,it was one of those short arm trout like nets (MADE FOR PANFISH).. Had no choice because i couldnt lift the fish , so the only part of this beast that was able to fit in the net was the head of the fish , slowy dragged her toward me and i grabed her tail and lifted her head and LANDED THAT BEAST !!YEAH BABY!! .. Took her straight to the scale and she weighed in at a Whopping 27 Pounds ... I was so happy with my catch that i tied her up to the dock with that stringer and showed her off too all tthe folks that came down to the docks that morning .. One guy was nice enough to snap a pic for me (sorry dont have it saved to my computer)...That fish is the biggest fish i have landed to date ..I 'll Never forget that fish .. Im 6'4" ..I held her up to my chest by her mouth with both hands and her tail was still touching the dock !!!! STAY TUNED FOR THE BIG BASS STORY ..BBD :batman:

[EastsideRedneck]

While shore fishing with my childhood buddy on the False River in Louisiana one summer I managed to have the scariest fishing experience I hope is never repeated. We were catfishing using huge chunks of chicken and beef livers around dusk when all of the sudden I feel this strong pull- stronger than I had ever felt before so I jerked the rod hard only to have the line go absolutely nuts. The thrashing continued for a few minutes before it subsided and it just felt heavy with a slight lerk every moment or two on my retrieve. As the "fish" became visible I realized I had mananged to set my hook on the jaw of a nutrea- and it was pissed! I couldn't cut my line fast enough. This guy (~3' long) was not about to let his assailant get away and gave chase as my buddy and I hauled a__ back to the house. That was the last time we catfished there...

If you guys aren't familiar with nutrea; they are like a freaky rat/wolverine/beaver hybrid. I still shudder when I see a beaver out on the lake.

[cavdad45]

Here's a Bass Story, sort of.

I belonged to Millington Bassmasters near Memphis and every month we would have our club tournaments which were draw tournaments. I was a non-boater (co-angler by today's jargin) and a younger guy named Mike drew my name so we were paired. The tournament was at Coal Creek in Tennessee, which is an oxbow of the Mississippi River.

Mike was new to bass fishing, though he had a bass boat, but was heavily influenced by whatever was talked about on the fishing shows. He wanted to flip the overhanging trees with a jig-n-pig and thought that would be the winning strategy. I disagreed because I had a drop off where I had been working Texas-rigged worms off an 8-foot ledge and smoking it during the practice days. But it was Mike's boat, giving him the final say.

So Mike was working down the bank with the nose right in the overhangs flipping. Seriously front-ending and leaving me the open water in the back. I was going to make the best of the situation when I heard Mike hollering. I turned around to see Mike trying to get as far forward in the boat as he could, just about standing on his trolling motor.

In front of him was a cottonmouth that was a couple feet long that had dropped down onto Mike's lap while he was working under the overhangs. We needed to get that thing out of the boat before someone got hurt and Mike was pretty well useless standing on the troller and crying. I grabbed the boat paddle and figured to scoop it up and shovel the snake over the side. When I scooped up the snake, he proceeded to wrap himself around. Now I was the one in panic mode holding a boat oar with a venomous snake wrapped around it. So I tossed the paddle over the side snake and all.

We didn't try to get the paddle back. After that, Mike was more open to my open water location, too. I took second, and Mike finished somewhere in the top ten. He was pretty jittery the rest of the day so finishing that high was pretty good.

[Mike Carey]

Mike,

Did you like Paddlefish? My dad and his buddies used to go below the dams on the missouri to fish for those things and they would bring back these monsters and cook them. I thought it was the worst fish I have ever eaten next to smoked carp. I am from the midwest as well and I know Paddlefish really took a backseat after the 80's. Im not sure that many people fish for them anymore.

Do you ever get over to the other side much and fish for Walleyes. Banks Lake has absolutely been on fire this year for walleye fishing. Now that is a good eating fish.

Joe

Never ate one, they were closed to fishing. The walleye were a different matter. No Banks trip for me this year, sad to say.

[Lyndon]

I want to post a Pic and tell a story but I dont know how to get the pic on this thing I havn't did it before hahaha... help

[iPodrodder]

Read the Technical Support page. There's a post on how to attach pictures.

[islandbass]

I think this can be consntrued as a fishing report but it is also a story.

Bradley Pond Outing 04-09-2007


I took my daughter and godson to Bradley Pond (Puyallup) for some trout fishing yesterday afternoon, despite the overcast conditions.

We started the morning assembling a small trout class spinners where they got to choose the blade size, color, body shape, treble and color tubing. Both of them were very excited about making their own spinners and even more excited to go fishing. I told them that we would try some power bait first, then salmon eggs, and use the spinners last.

The sun greeted us and pierced through the gray clouds as we approached the shore. The wind was blowing pretty strongly toward the shore and my gut said that the shoreline before us was going to be a good spot.

We placed our stuff on a picnic table and I set them up as quickly as I could. I propped up a chair for each of them, stuck a rod holder into the ground, and proceeded to prep their rods. The kids were good to go and ready for action in a few minutes.

Now, I hardly ever fish for myself on these outings because line tangles and reapplying lost bait keep me too busy to fish. I don’t really mind however, and my thoughts about not fishing were confirmed when my godson made a hard cast that hit the water hard enough to throw off the power bait dough.

Bless my little girl! She is such a great little fisher-girl. I am so glad that she has the knack for fishing. She is a natural at fishing, unlike me. She sat on her chair and made a cast. No sooner does the bait land in the water when she stands up from the chair and says with calmly and collectively, “Papi, I’ve got one,” as she sets the hook. Not even 3 minutes from her first cast.

My fingers were full of rainbow colored power bait and I pricked myself on my godson’s bait hook trying to quickly get him started again and help her land the fish. I happened to slip right at the shore but luckily caught myself on her chair and avoided the muddy ground. Whew!

It was your typical stocked trout, nothing to brag about, but nonetheless I was ecstatic, probably more than she! Just a proud dad I guess. I took this first fish as a good sign that it was going to be a great day. Little did I know I was going to be wrong.

Shortly afterward, the clouds blotted out the sun and a light precipitation began. My godson said to me, “Uncle, I think it’s hailing.” I told him, “Nah, it can’t be. We’re well into spring so it shouldn’t hail today.”

The drizzle changed to teeny tiny bits of sleet-sized hail, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere, a deluge of larger hail hit us. Luckily, lil’ ol’ islandbass usually plans for the worst. Fortunately, we had two big umbrellas to keep the hail at bay. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up and was blowing violently and despite the cover of the umbrellas, an occasional piece of made it through and pelted us good.

Then, the wind ripped the golf-sized umbrella from my daughter’s hands as I moved to put the chairs right next to each other. It picked it up as if it were a sail and before I could react, my daughter rushed into the lake to grab the umbrella. While she did save the umbrella she did so at a depth that exceeded the height of her waterproof rubber boots. She was soaked from the knees down and her boots were filled ice-cold water. She started crying, saying she was freezing, and she wanted to go home immediately, but I told her it would be better to wait until the hail stopped. Although the hailstorm passed after what was probably 10 minutes, it must have felt like an eternity for my daughter. She felt miserably cold all the way back to the van.

My godson was feeling pretty cold too, but he didn’t want to leave until he caught a fish. He had three chances during the storm but he didn’t connect. He was bummed out, but he understood that we had to go.

We finally made it back to the van and I got them some hot cocoa to warm them up at a nearby Starbucks and treated them to McDonalds too.

I’m still proud of them for being troopers out there. We’re going to have to go back there when the weather improves. They want a second shot.

Sorry that this is a bit long, but I thought this is a story worth telling about two little kids who braved the weather to do a little spring fishing.


Don’t let my little girl’s rig fool you. She knows how to use a spinning reel and a casting reel at the age of 7. She used the Barbie pole, because she didn’t want my godson to feel bad if we used “real” gear. Many a trout has fallen victim to her Barbie pole.

-ib

[iPodrodder]

Wow! She's good! I have never even tried a casting reel but I'll bet $50 I'd birdsnest it every time for my first 20 casts.

[Mike Carey]

what a neat story. You're a good papa. :-)

[Lyndon]

I would have to say that my catfish that I caught in 2005 was my most memorable fish. I caught it at Lacamas lake and It was a 14 pounder! It was the biggest lake fish I have ever caught and It put up a fight that was better then a 30 pound salmon I have caught.

I started out fishing in the morning and I was fishing for bass the whole time. I was using an orange kranbait and I had already hooked 4 bass already and I almost hooked a 4 pound bass. When I continued fishing for that 4 pounder I ended up getting the hook up I would never forget. At first I thought it was the 4 pounder I was trying for but as soon as my pole almost flew out of my hand I knew it was well bigger then 4 pounds. When it hit my lure I saw it strike, it was the most aggresive strike I have seen and my adrenaline was pumping so much that I dont ever remember being so excited. I still cant beleive that the big momma didnt snap my 8 pound test. As it fought my legs shook and my heart was pounding. My pole was bent as far as it could go and my line was moving almost faster then I could watch. It was definately the best fight I have ever had by any fish. It took me 10 hart pounding minutes to see that it was a catffish and the whole 10 minutes I thought I had a lake record bass. I even remember telling my buddies that this bass must be 14 p0unds.lol! When I saw the ugly cat I didnt know what to think I just looked at it and then I thought how am I going to retrieve it? I realized I was on top of a 15 to 20 foot rock cliff. At this point I was dumb enough to jump off to get a hold of it because I really didnt care what happend to me as long as I could get ahold of it. So I did the manly thing and grabbed it and it tried to swim off so I had a real live Fight! hahah it was awesome I got in to the action and I was warn out. After about a minute of struggle I got a good hold of it and then I realized I didnt know the proper way to hold it. Back then I knew how to hold a bass so I figured a catfish should be like a bass right? so I stick my hand in this Ugly things mouth and it Bit my *$#&@% HAND! It hurt so bad you dont even know that is no joke. my thumb was bright red and shaking. As soon as I got a good hold on it I held it like I would a salmon and I took it up the cliff with the help of my two friends Keith and Kevin it was the most physical work I have ever did for one fish. When I got to the top of the cliff we gave some hive fives and some WOOOOO HOOO's and we were off to the local mini mart to get a pic. The day I caught it I was grounded and I argued with my mom for about an hour to go fishing and she finally gave in so when I came home with the fish I thanked her and she was in shock. haha that will teach her to let me go fishin more right? hahah. This is my favorite memory because This fish Gave me the fight of my life literally just not with a pole in my hand, tell this day I can remember this event like it happend yesterday.


The cat was measured on a certified scale at 14 pounds....