Fly Fishing

bonefisher · Location: chicago, illinois

Here's a question, what is the most obscure fish that any of you have caught on a fly...? i.e.= deep water fish, fish that have been said to only eat bait, vegetarian fish, rare odd-looking fish... mine is probably a hog-fish, or a blacktip shark, but there are definately way harder fish to find and catch....

Steelie · Location: Erie, PA

I've caught quillbacks, a form of sucker. Also freshwater drum/sheephead. They are fun and put up a great fight. I actually target them in the summer and they are relatively easy to catch on a fly, probably because of the numbers of fish available, and they reach double digit weights. So they are fun. Nothing crazy, but thats my list.

jinxed247 · Location: Henderson, Ny

Believe it or not I actually accidently caught a young beaver once! I know that it's not a fish but it was wierd on how it happened. I saw out of the corner of my eye, what appeared to be a fish hitting a fly on the surface of the pool I was fishing so I sent my waterlogged fly in the general direction. As I was slowly stripping in the fly to give it some life (it was so water logged that it sank like a rock this was before I knew there was such a thing as ginks) I felt a slight tug and the race was on. Something didn't feel right about this "fish" and as it got closer I saw that the fish was actually a beaver just barely the size of a football. I couldn't believe it, it saw me and pulled even harder until it was free. It bent my hook straight out. I must have accidently snagged it when I was retrieving it. I felt like a real jackass.

bonefisher · Location: chicago, illinois

Jinxed, you have the craziest stories... keep them coming lol... a post from you is sure to be filled with misshaps, slip-ups, and twists and turns, however, you do figure out a way to find some great fish (or beavers) through the comotion.... great stuff... I think you might win this one even though a beaver is not exactly in the fish category... I have caught a few birds in my day but the beaver takes the cake so far.

jinxed247 · Location: Henderson, Ny

Maybe I was subconsciously looking to get some fresh beaver hair body dubbing for tying flies? Who knows but it was definately crazy. I too have caught a few birds and even one bat while fly fishing but I think that the hook-up with a beaver is the most memoriable. I had a flash back the other night when I was fishing and a giant (40lb+) beaver came popping into the pool that I was fishing. I wisely kept my line in as it swam by! I don't think that with my six pound tippet that I could have landed it!

ColoradoKid · Posted: Wed 04/18/07 10:21 am Post subject:

A Coho Salmon. You maybe saying to yourself "that is a typical game fish", but this time it was not. We were fishing off the coast of BC when I felt a tug on my line. I set the hook and realized I was into a nice fish. The fight had gone for about 10 sec when my rod tip slammed down and my reel began to smoke the line was being peeled off so fast. We began chase. I assumed that I must have hooked into a king, I was wrong. I fought the fish for 15 min when my line went slack. Frustration set in as I realized I had lost it. I reeled most of the slack line in when I felt it tighten again. This is when my friend hit me and told me to look up. There 40 feet off the side of the boat was a harbor seal, in the harbor seals mouth was a nice coho, in the coho's mouth was my fly. I fought the seal for another 20 minutes before he snapped my line.

Marcel_Karssies · Location: Enschede - The Netherlands

Below my most obscure catch from the salt.
I caught that porcupinefish from the main channel of Port Everglades / Fort Lauderdale on a clouser minnow.
Tricky fish to handle Smile

Steelie · Location: Erie, PA

Thats interesting Marcell.

SageDS2 · Posted: Thu 04/26/07 2:48 pm Post subject:

I was out on canoe one evening in mid summer throwing a popper for smallies when on my forward cast i felt something heavy and it sounded like i hooked a leaf. Well it turns out a bat nailed my fly out of mid air! Anyway i tried trolling him up and down the shore line a few times before i cut my leader. Its not a fish but if a bever or a seal counts why shouldnt a bat.

JPB · Posted: Mon 04/30/07 12:15 pm Post subject:

Gulls off the jetties several times. Royal pain.