What Is Your Luckiest Fish Story?

Lobstercatcher229

In another thread I talk about putting a dead ballyhoo in the water at Stiltsville and catching a 13.5 pound mutton. Someone else talked about catching a huge hog on Squid.


What is your luckiest, most unlikely fish story?

Element

Here's one that happened recently: I was fishing in a 4' deep tidal lake out of my Gheenoe and I forgot my bait bubbler that day. I expected to catch a few smallish reds and maybe a trout or two if I was lucky, so I was using two light action inshore rods with 10# test. I was able to castnet plenty of mullet but couldn't kep them alive for more than 5-10 minutes. I reached into my bucket and had one live finger mullet and a few 7" dead floaters. I figured the 7"er's were a waste of time, but being all I had I put one out anyway. My line takes off like it's hooked to the back of a car. The only thing I could compare it to was the one time I hooked a gator. I mean the line just slowly and steadily peeled off, off, off into the distance. No way I could even dream about turning it, so I pull anchor and start to chase with the trolling motor. It was a windy day, so I was fighting the fish and the wind with the trolling motor. 20 minutes into it I am absolutely certain I hooked a gator becasue even in only 4' of water I can't even get this thing near the surface to see what it is. After another 10 minutes or so it comes up and I see it's a massive bull red. Another 10 minutes of chasoing and my trolling battery dies, so I spent the rest of the fight chasing it with my 9.8. I had to chase it as there was no way I could horse this thing in on 10# test. I finally get the thing in th enet and it's 46" and I have no idea what it weighed, I'm guessing close to 40#. After a quick pic it swam off like it was never hooked. I just sat there for the next 10 minutes like "**** just happened?"

Bite 1

Years ago at the old lake worth spillway. Had one giant shad left in the the cooler. ( we used to net shad in lake clark and put in coolers w/ bubblers and run to the spillway) Were fishing up top off the lock when I hooked up my biggest snook EVER.. Finally get him to the wall and a guy says he has a bridge gaff(big treble on a rope) so O.K saves me trip down into the lower wall and water as well as a good fence climb. He hooks the beast and starts bringing him up. It is huge and we are both pulling on the rope when the the fish starts flopping and comes off the hook and drops the 20-30 ft, to the water with a splat. Heartbroken all I can do is just stare at the water and current as he disappears into the depths downstream. Just as the realization that my fish is really gone and I should go home sets in I see a white belly floating and drifting about a hundred yds. out . It is my fish. After really weighing my options and knowing the waters as well as I did I took a leap of faith and jumped off the wall. The current allowed me to catch up quickly. He was so massive I couldn't get a grip on him so I put my whole arm up through his gill area and came out the mouth and proceeded to do a rescue swim angled at the sand banks on the north side. After beaching both of us and resting awhile took him to the house. Wt. 42lbs. Parents were not home and no cooler big enough to save my trophy to show off so I put it and ice in the bathtub. Surprisingly Dad was more upset than Mom over the fish in the tub.It turned out O.K. as I lived through it to fish another day and Dad really liked the fillets I put in the freezer. I have since heard of several "fish rescues" of this nature at the spillway. It was a great time in our lives and a great memory in mine. Bite 1

SUPER D

For me, it was the first red fish caught on fly. Started out in ML, heading to the east shore. My wife and I were bebopping along, and in the middle of the lagoon I could see the tipps of grass sticking up. We stopped, and I started fishing the shoal, not a bite, so thought go to the shore line, and one pull of the rope, and it came out of motor. my wife starts freaking out, HOW ARE WE GETTING BACK !!!!!!!!! I say no problem to fix, but it was prime time to fish, not fix the motor. I started fishing the shoal again, and then i see them!!! Fifty or more huge tails, moving at us fast. I had never seen this, and thought tarpon. I grabbed fly rod, and started casting and the fish got to my fly, and dove down, and came back up on other side of fly. I chased them with the TM, got in front again and made another cast, same thing again. I change flys, get in front again, and make a cast, the line shoots like came out of a cannon, the tippet broke at the shock. Now I have 8 pound tippet, with no shock, and grab the first fly I see, a #4 Couser minno, get in front again, and the school turns around, and goes the other way. I chase them again, got the sun to my back, and first cast fish on. My wife looks at her watch, and 30 minnets later, I pull a 43" Red fish in the boat. The 8 pound tippet was freighed for 18", and the #4 hook was caught in the corner of her mouth. That was the last time I went fishing without a camera. I the rope did not brake, or the fish ate one of the casts, before the shock broke off, I would not have caught that fish. Thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
https://sites.google.com/site/thejonboatadvantage/

Lobstercatcher229

SUPER D wrote: »

For me, it was the first red fish caught on fly. Started out in ML, heading to the east shore. My wife and I were bebopping along, and in the middle of the lagoon I could see the tipps of grass sticking up. We stopped, and I started fishing the shoal, not a bite, so thought go to the shore line, and one pull of the rope, and it came out of motor. my wife starts freaking out, HOW ARE WE GETTING BACK !!!!!!!!! I say no problem to fix, but it was prime time to fish, not fix the motor. I started fishing the shoal again, and then i see them!!! Fifty or more huge tails, moving at us fast. I had never seen this, and thought tarpon. I grabbed fly rod, and started casting and the fish got to my fly, and dove down, and came back up on other side of fly. I chased them with the TM, got in front again and made another cast, same thing again. I change flys, get in front again, and make a cast, the line shoots like came out of a cannon, the tippet broke at the shock. Now I have 8 pound tippet, with no shock, and grab the first fly I see, a #4 Couser minno, get in front again, and the school turns around, and goes the other way. I chase them again, got the sun to my back, and first cast fish on. My wife looks at her watch, and 30 minnets later, I pull a 43" Red fish in the boat. The 8 pound tippet was freighed for 18", and the #4 hook was caught in the corner of her mouth. That was the last time I went fishing without a camera. I the rope did not brake, or the fish ate one of the casts, before the shock broke off, I would not have caught that fish. Thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
https://sites.google.com/site/thejonboatadvantage/

I have done things like that with my wife and she won't go out fishing with me anymore! ( I got a chuckle about fishing verses fixing! ) Does your wife go with you anymore?

SUPER D

My wife does'nt fish, but she will go with me from time to time. She brings me good luck, she was with me when i caught that Red, and my first keeper snook, and my first east coast grand slam, Snook red tarpon and a trout. After I caught my first keeper snook, she wanted me to let it go, I was a fish killer, for a month. Then she ate it.
https://sites.google.com/site/thejonboatadvantage/

troutman561

I have had a few things happen in fishing during my life that seem lucky but nothing crazy. I guess the one that comes to mind happened on my fishing trip the other day. 15 minutes into the trip I catch a keeper flounder, a keeper red, and a jump a nice snook. A few minutes later both of the guys I was with cast into a spot, got hit, but neither connected. I casted in the exact same spot and hook up with a nice fish. Ended up being a 31in red, not my biggest, but in my limited inshore fishing experience it was a good 30 minutes or so of summer time back country action..

The Cat's Eye

Once (And only once) I wanted to see if I could pull out a grouper from a shallow wreck with a hand line. I loaded a yo/yo with 80 lb mono line and then cut rubber tubes from a bike intertube to protect my fingers, just like the commercial guys wear. Then I then dropped down a pinfish, and then in few seconds the pin was taken and the battle was on, it was basically "No Contest" after the line dug into my flesh after it slipped off the protective material; and the grouper got back into the structure. I resumed fishing with a rod/reel, but an hour later I was still waiting for a second strike, so I finally decided to pull anchor and use the engine to break off the 80 lb hand line and go home. When I was pulling the anchor I could feel some extra weight and even before the anchor came up into view, I could see a decent frisky Red grouper firmly tethered to the anchor rope. The grouper wasn't a giant but it was legal at 11 lbs. Evidently the fish had wrapped itself around the anchor rode like a dog tied to a pole, after it came out of the wreck.

Lobstercatcher229

My buddy invited me to go trolling. We trolled from Fowey to Triumph in the blue water. At Triumph 2 lines got hit. My buddy and his dad had first dibs so they grabbed the poles and proceeded to reel in two Barracuda! The third pole got hit, it was my turn and I caught my only billfish in my life, a nice White Marlin!

blu catz

I was Catfihing in the tidal James River in Virginia with 2 friends.We were using fresh cut Gizzard Shad for bait, targetting big Blue Cats.We had caught a 50lber and 3 others in the 30lb-40lb range.We anchored in a cut that was made years ago for barge traffic in the Hopewell Va area.My rod slammed down in the rod holder,the circle hook engaged and drag was being stripped from my Penn 320, with 40lb Big Game.The fish took me up rver and down river.It was a 40 minute give and take fight.Me and my friends thioght I must have a record Blue Cat on.We have had 70lbers on that didnt but a third the time this fish had fought.Finally the fish bubled up to the surface near our boat and was leadered, it was a 8-7ft long Atlantic Sturgeon !! We new there were a few Sturgeon on the James River ,they surface every once in a while, but that far up river,being near Richmond Va ?We have fished the James River many years and are members of a couple of clubs, with tournaments whose members have fished decades on the James River and no one has ever caught or heard of a Atlantic Sturgeon being caught on ror and reel in the river.They are caught occasionally in nets in the bay, but rarely.They are mostly plankton eaters from wat I have been told.Very pre-historic looking.If you go way back in history the settlers in historic Jamestown Va used to capture them for food source in the wintr on the James River.We estimate the fish in the 150lb range.Sturgeon are on the endangered species list and I am a catch and release fisherman, we let the Sturgeon go (released) into the James River.I was very lucky to hook a sturgeon, it was not planned for sure.I felt like a lottery winner

landlubber

One afternoon at Lake Worth pier I decided to check my bait on my Speedmaster/Star Rod combo. I flipped the lever, disengaged the clicker and reeled in a few feet before deciding to check my spinner which had been out longer. Then I put the Speedmaster down. As I'm reeling in the spinner I hear "tap tap" and look over in time to see my rod and reel fall over the side! Just about the same time someone elsea clicker screams. After a few seconds of trying to snag my overboard combo with my spinner, the combo starts moving away fr the pier. The other guy has to follow his fish down the pier, right by my disastrous situation. Once he moves 30 feet or so away I SE my combo make a wide looping turn in his direction. He somehow is attached to my overboard rod and reel! When he pulls the fish up his hook is in a ~8lb jack crevalle's mouth and my hook is in his tail! I washed the reel off for a while and it seemed good to go. Later on I caught an even bigger jack and traded the other guy for the jack that took my combo over. He was eaten with lots of Old Bay lol.

surfnsnook

Bite 1 wrote: »

Years ago at the old lake worth spillway. Had one giant shad left in the the cooler. ( we used to net shad in lake clark and put in coolers w/ bubblers and run to the spillway) Were fishing up top off the lock when I hooked up my biggest snook EVER.. Finally get him to the wall and a guy says he has a bridge gaff(big treble on a rope) so O.K saves me trip down into the lower wall and water as well as a good fence climb. He hooks the beast and starts bringing him up. It is huge and we are both pulling on the rope when the the fish starts flopping and comes off the hook and drops the 20-30 ft, to the water with a splat. Heartbroken all I can do is just stare at the water and current as he disappears into the depths downstream. Just as the realization that my fish is really gone and I should go home sets in I see a white belly floating and drifting about a hundred yds. out . It is my fish. After really weighing my options and knowing the waters as well as I did I took a leap of faith and jumped off the wall. The current allowed me to catch up quickly. He was so massive I couldn't get a grip on him so I put my whole arm up through his gill area and came out the mouth and proceeded to do a rescue swim angled at the sand banks on the north side. After beaching both of us and resting awhile took him to the house. Wt. 42lbs. Parents were not home and no cooler big enough to save my trophy to show off so I put it and ice in the bathtub. Surprisingly Dad was more upset than Mom over the fish in the tub.It turned out O.K. as I lived through it to fish another day and Dad really liked the fillets I put in the freezer. I have since heard of several "fish rescues" of this nature at the spillway. It was a great time in our lives and a great memory in mine. Bite 1

How long ago was this?

GrillaG

SUPER D wrote: »

My wife does'nt fish, but she will go with me from time to time. She brings me good luck, she was with me when i caught that Red, and my first keeper snook, and my first east coast grand slam, Snook red tarpon and a trout. After I caught my first keeper snook, she wanted me to let it go, I was a fish killer, for a month. Then she ate it.
https://sites.google.com/site/thejonboatadvantage/

Sweet ! I thought i was the only one who had a good luck charm that way......nice. :dance

charlie tuna

About 15 years ago i decided to take my snook fishing boat (14' aluminum-20hp w/trolling motor) down in the middle keys and fish for tarpon or redfish on the golf side. All artificials - spinning reel - 8# test w/20# leader. I launched around 6:30 AM and it was just light enough to see the markers leading me out to the golf side. The channel carried me close to an island and i could see a bunch of pelicans working a school of bait on the other side of this island. So i slowed down and approched using the trolling motor in water that was two feet deep. There i see some mullet being chased by some nice size reds,but very close to the island's shore line. As i reach for my pole, one was rigged with a weedless spoon, which seemed perfect since the water was so shallow. My first cast placed the spoon directly in front of the chasing redfish which spooked them and they went in all directions!!! Crap!!! I started to reel the spoon back in --didn't move it three feet and a giant explosion occurs as this monster tarpon is after the spoon in water that is too shallow for him to swim in??? Line comes tight and he heads for the golf and then turns south. Right away i tell myself - "this won't take long" as the trolling motor isn't keeping up with the fish --- and now the fish is headed for two markers and i can't tell which side the fish is on?? I take a guess and was lucky - i gueesed right!! Now the boat has a GPS and it's functioning as far as milage. The trolling motor is slowing down now due to the drain on the battery, and i'm almost out of line. My only chance is to get the trolling motor up --- make my way to the back of the boat -- lower the 20 HP outboard down -- and hand crank it, ALL the time holding the rod. Motor cranks up on the first pull !!! I start chasing the fish and gaining my line back ---small Orvis Reel .. The fish continues to head south along a string of islands at a steady pace, and jumps every once in a while --- 250#+ ! Now it's been over an hour and i am thirsty, so i make my way to the cooler and gulp down a coke!! There is another boat with four guys fishing near this one island and they see this fish jump and they start yelling to me if i need a hand -- which i said no... And after three or four cokes, you need to pee!! Everything you do is planned out. The fish turned around this island and headed east into a deep channel and stayed in this channel going back and fourth for two hours -- now i'm only 50 to 60 feet from the fish and i'm wondering what that 20# - 3 foot leader must look like??? The four guys were leaving and came by and asked me again if i need help -- and i said no!! Two more hours and i'm still following the fish -- when this boat pulls back up in the same island and it's the same guys ---and the fish jumps close to their boat and i hear the guy say "hey, that guy has another monster on" !! Well six and a half hours (7:30AM to 2:00PM) into the fight -- the hook pulls!! The fish carried me 18.5 miles south of where i hooked it. Now i had pictures of the fish jumping --not good pictures -- but pictures -- but there was nothing to relate the size of the fish. I reeled the line up -- looked at that leader -- not a scratch on it ---- hooked that spoon in the eye of the rod. And headed in!! I was raised on charter boats and have caught world record fish -- and many unreal fishing days offshore--- but that was my best day --and never caught a fish !!!

Bite 1

1969/!970Back when the water was semi clear and scarback roamed the spillway. Bite 1

Pipefitter

I was in lemon bay years ago and I was fishing light tackle for trout. I hook a large snook and it takes off towards the mangroves like a rocket. I am in a 12' gamefisher boat with a 9.9 on it. I only have 8lb test on the reel and it peels drag so fast I have no choice but to let it run. . .right into the mangroves. It gets under a root and comes out and I can still feel it so I paddle with one hand while trying to take up slack in the reel . As the boat starts drifting towards where the fish is. the fish just stands on it's tail on the bottom and just hangs there half out of the water wavering back and forth with the taught line (Orange Stren mono) and I can see that the line is on the only bare spot on the mangrove root between two barnacles. I took a chop with the paddle while holding the rod with the other and cold cocked the fish asleep. As soon as I grabbed his mouth, the line snapped like a piece of thread all frayed up.

Was not only the luckiest, but possibly the most savage thing I have ever done while fishing. LOL

Lobstercatcher229

charlie tuna wrote: »

About 15 years ago i decided to take my snook fishing boat (14' aluminum-20hp w/trolling motor) down in the middle keys and fish for tarpon or redfish on the golf side. All artificials - spinning reel - 8# test w/20# leader. I launched around 6:30 AM and it was just light enough to see the markers leading me out to the golf side. The channel carried me close to an island and i could see a bunch of pelicans working a school of bait on the other side of this island. So i slowed down and approched using the trolling motor in water that was two feet deep. There i see some mullet being chased by some nice size reds,but very close to the island's shore line. As i reach for my pole, one was rigged with a weedless spoon, which seemed perfect since the water was so shallow. My first cast placed the spoon directly in front of the chasing redfish which spooked them and they went in all directions!!! Crap!!! I started to reel the spoon back in --didn't move it three feet and a giant explosion occurs as this monster tarpon is after the spoon in water that is too shallow for him to swim in??? Line comes tight and he heads for the golf and then turns south. Right away i tell myself - "this won't take long" as the trolling motor isn't keeping up with the fish --- and now the fish is headed for two markers and i can't tell which side the fish is on?? I take a guess and was lucky - i gueesed right!! Now the boat has a GPS and it's functioning as far as milage. The trolling motor is slowing down now due to the drain on the battery, and i'm almost out of line. My only chance is to get the trolling motor up --- make my way to the back of the boat -- lower the 20 HP outboard down -- and hand crank it, ALL the time holding the rod. Motor cranks up on the first pull !!! I start chasing the fish and gaining my line back ---small Orvis Reel .. The fish continues to head south along a string of islands at a steady pace, and jumps every once in a while --- 250#+ ! Now it's been over an hour and i am thirsty, so i make my way to the cooler and gulp down a coke!! There is another boat with four guys fishing near this one island and they see this fish jump and they start yelling to me if i need a hand -- which i said no... And after three or four cokes, you need to pee!! Everything you do is planned out. The fish turned around this island and headed east into a deep channel and stayed in this channel going back and fourth for two hours -- now i'm only 50 to 60 feet from the fish and i'm wondering what that 20# - 3 foot leader must look like??? The four guys were leaving and came by and asked me again if i need help -- and i said no!! Two more hours and i'm still following the fish -- when this boat pulls back up in the same island and it's the same guys ---and the fish jumps close to their boat and i hear the guy say "hey, that guy has another monster on" !! Well six and a half hours (7:30AM to 2:00PM) into the fight -- the hook pulls!! The fish carried me 18.5 miles south of where i hooked it. Now i had pictures of the fish jumping --not good pictures -- but pictures -- but there was nothing to relate the size of the fish. I reeled the line up -- looked at that leader -- not a scratch on it ---- hooked that spoon in the eye of the rod. And headed in!! I was raised on charter boats and have caught world record fish -- and many unreal fishing days offshore--- but that was my best day --and never caught a fish !!!

Did you pee all over yourself?

charlie tuna

Your aim is affected while standing in a moving boat with a fish "on" and tiller steering --half the pee ends up "in the boat"!! Wasn't upset about losing the fish, what was i going to do with it -- had it many times withing six feet of the boat --i got the feeling he was playing with me???

Fly Hooker

We were tuna fishing in Venice, La and had been catching some quality yellowfin in the 70 to 90 lbs range slow trolling live bait. The main line was 80 lb (mono) and a 65 lb fluoro leader tied to a circle hook fly lining live bait.

Get another hook up and the fish makes a couple of good runs after a 20 min battle one of the guys on board said “you have got a big wahoo on with no wire”. At this point I look into the cobalt water and see this very big fish. Knowing that I only had a fluorocarbon leader was a little weary to crank the reel too hard, kept good pressure on the hoo and a few min later we gaffed a 97 lb slob. The circle hook got him right behind the last set of teeth in the back right corner of his mouth and only the hook was in his mouth. We could not believe our luck! What a great dinner that night, fresh yellowfin, wahoo, and escolar sushi!!! Gotta get back down there soon………

gasparilla

Luckiest fish story?

Every dang fish I've ever caught.

Frisbee

Went walleye fishin oncet on the Tallapoosa, when we hiked in the turbines were runnin somethin fierse so no walleyes, then we went up near the **** cuz I heard about people fishin up there catching fish. Din't ever see anyone do it, just heard about it. I threw out my heaviest and baddest lure. A lil george in gold n green, Named after George Wallace. I probably owned 10 lures back then. A lead-headed tail-spinner. Weighed about 3/4th of an ounce. I was just trying to real it fast enough to keep it off the bottom while casting it upstream, which meant i was reeling it as fast as i could. When the Hybrid-striper hit it it felt like someone hit the lure with a baseball bat. I had a rig for walleye, not stripers in the tailraces with the current screamin. all I could do was watch the line from up on a 20 ft cliff of solid rock go round and 'round for 10 minutes. When I finally got the fish up near the surface it looked like an arial veiw of a U-boat pack in WWII. The water was clear for Alabama boys, and you could see several other Hybrids swimming with mine.
I asked my Dad to go down the cliff and lay down and get it. He said he couldn't because if it came off he'd never feel good about it. Some guy i never knew and was familiar with the stunt volunteered. He got it out no problem.
That ain't all that lucky, but I was going to Auburn at the time and I saw a small twig sticking into the fish near its dorsal...a tag. I took it back to Auburn and hand delivered it to Swindle hall (famous fishery department at Auburn) and the tag was good for $20 (some were good for $5). weighed and measured the fish, 10.5 lbs, and at the time it was the third largest Hybrid caught in Alabama.
But the luck continues...I got to know some of the Grad students and was brought into theinner circle...I helped measure and tag other stripers in the river and even got to fish some special ponds
And I got lucky and got striper fever and became well-known for being able to go catching instead of fishing when it came to stripers.

then again just to show the otherside of the coin. In the exact same tailrace i Hooked "The Fish". It went down stream so fast an easy I wondered if I was gonna be spooled. I was a young stud back then so I thought about jumping in the river and going with it, But it turned at about 250 yds and came up and shook its head going back and forth across the river. Then it decided to come back up but on the otherside of the river. The Good ol boy that had the state record was on the other bank On the cliff where I caught the Hybrid I already posted about.I can't remember but his record was over 50lbs. Well when the fish came by him he signalled to me by stretching his arms as wide as he could, and pointing down. the fish came up near the **** and then went back down stream. It only went downstream a hundred yards when the spool stopped, and the rod got heavier and heavier and down and down. I figured out what had happened but I couldn't figure out how to fix it....when the fish came back up it had gotten some slack in the spool and the line had crossed over...and I couldn't get it loose...While I tried the od got heavier and heavier and thenthe knot finally broke.
I saw the Ol= time a few days later on "his side" of the river and he told me there was a silver-lining. He got to keep the state record title. he told me the fish looked like a "fridgerator." and he'd never even thought a striper could be that long and that thick. He had no real idea how much it weighed, just that it was real big compared to his.

BTW you make your own luck...good or bad

Ol'DirtyCaster

My first steelhead. It was 20 degrees out, and I'm hanging out with Dad drifting waxworms under a bobber on the little Manistee. I was 5 years old, and I landed it myself on an old silaflex - mitchell 300 combo. I don't remember much beyond what was on the back of the photo - November of 79', 6lb test. I'm not sure how accurate that scale was, but I'm told it was a 13lb hen, which is pretty impressive for a great lakes steelie.

westy

One night while swordfishing, We see a sword swim under the boat with one of our lights following it. We weren`t sure which rod had the fish on. So we started clearing the lines which we`re all tangled up. I started taking off the rigs, when my buddy goes hey I have a fish on, I say how can that be I have your bait in my hands. Then his rod doubles over, it turned out that the swordfish had swam through the double line,and it was stuck in its mouth and around its dorsal fin. It weighed about 100lbs. Definately a night to remember.

BottomScratcher

I used to camp at Bahia Honda State Park and my favorite fishing spot was right next to the US-1 bridge. On one occassion I had a snag on the line and proceeded to work on it as I had a very stout rod/reel/line arrangement. Whelp, I just kept at it for about 15 minutes and finally pulled in a rig with a big 3oz pyramid sinker on it. To myself I'm thinking that some poor slob lost about $4 worth of a rig, complete with a Sampo ball bearing swivel. Took off the sinker and looked the rig over then I ran my fingernail over the beads ...at that point the rig was looking mighty familiar as I used a bead pattern and throw in some dollar store parts. Dang! That was a rig that had been down there for TWO YEARS!!!!!!! I was that poor slob! What are the odds on that one? I laugh at the situation now as the last time I fished that area I had more fishing smarts (...and successes) by using a 1/4 oz barrell weight.

chico

Last year took my first yellowfin tuna trip off the NJ coast out to the Canyons on a partyboat. Fishing was slow all night, by midnite we hadn't seen any bait fish in the water, much less any Tuna. About 4 AM a guy on the stern corner yells, fish on. As he moves up the side of the port side of the boat following his fish. Me being a newbie, was not quick enough to reel up and get out of his way. Soon it seemed like we may be tangled, the mate instructed me to freespool my bait while the other guy fought his tuna. Soon the other guy if following his tuna back to the stern, I am instructed to reel in, and suddenly I feel my line go tight!! With one of only a few live squid we had been able to catch as bait on my hook, I now had my first yellowfin tuna on!! The mate was smart enough to realize that I would need help and stood by me and I followed his every word. Within 10 minutes or so, I had my first yellowfin on the deck, a nice 65# fish. Begginer's luck!!! The Voyager is a first class partyboat operation running out of Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

optimistic Angler

I was drifting a flat in ML fan casting the area and I look down and see a yellow line moving across the water in front of the boat. I'm thinking **** then I realize its a thin rope and still moving so I reach down to pick it up as its moving away I was just barely able to grab the end of it and when I went to pick it up I felt a hard pull and it started pulling harder and thrashing around I'm thinking **** and I pull it closer and see The thin rope was a stringer with an upper slot red on the other end. That was the only fish I caught that day. I'd rather be lucky then good.

FS Jeff

Love this thread! Keep the stories coming, guys.

If you have the Sept 2011 issue of FS, on page 24 there's some dude (me) with a big ol kingfish... I never did tell the story in the article, but since you asked: I hooked it in Bimini last summer, on a fast-sinking flyline with straight 20-pound fluorocarbon leader and a size 4 Clouser Minnow. Original objective was yellowtail snapper. Thought the fish may have been in the low 50s (potential record), so we gaffed it and later hauled it to the scale... 43 pounds and a bunch of fillets for the locals. Leader didn't even have a scratch on it, and the fly was perfectly intact. Went right back to fishing with the same rig. Fish had been hooked in the corner of the mouth so we knew it was a strike and not a fluke (sometimes they gobble up YTs on the end of your line, but this one apparently wanted the fly).

PS: Any you guys have a real gem of a story that happened recently, and you have a photo, and you'd like to see it in print... send to [email protected].

hoghunter84

For me it was when I was fishing the finale day of the suncoast tarpon round up. Dad and I were fishing up by the gandy bridge and it was getting close to quitting time and a tarpon hit. Jumped out of the water in usual fashion close to the boat and we both watched the hook fly out of its mouth. The fish landed back in the water onto the hook and re hooked itself in the anal fin. She swam with the incoming tide towards the gandy bridge and since I was pulling the opposite direction she drowned from the water going backwards thru the gills. 10 minutes later she was in the boat. Ended up with a winning fish!!

NauticalWheeler

A buddy and I were fishing out of Oregon Inlet, NC. We had already had a 156 lb bluefin in the box, but as we were motoring around looking for more (to catch and release), one of his motors cut out. We were 40 miles out at sea and starting limping in towards port at about 8 knots. He had just bought a new boat (32' YF) and wasn't familiar with it yet. After a while he had an idea of what might be wrong and stopped the boat and started checking the fuel lines etc.. I couldn't really help with that, but we were stopped a good 10-15 minutes and I had noticed a mark or two on the sonar while we were drifting, so I decided to throw my lure in (a 10-inch sluggo-type lure). After a few minutes of jigging that and not getting a bite, I got discouraged and set the rod in the holder and just started pulling the line near the reel a couple of feet and letting it go to give it a little action. I wasn't expecting anything to bite at that point - I was just keeping my hands busy. Well, something DID bite...something big! For the next 1.5 hours or so I was in an epic battle. Drag set around 20 lbs, I was having to palm the spool to create more drag. I would get it up to about 70 ft below the boat (depth-marked line) and then it would just take off and slowly pull about 100 ft straight down like a diesel truck. This happened several times, and at that point I was putting about 25 lb of drag on him. The fighting belt wasn't working very well, and by the end of the fight I was sitting down with the rod on my knee for more leverage. It was a total stalemate. I wanted to give up and cut the line. Anyway I finally got ticked off and started pulling it up foot by foot. Turned out to be a 208 lb bigeye tuna. It was a beast and fought probably 3 times harder/longer than the 156 lb bluefin. As it turned out, the mechanical issue was just that the fuel valve was switched to the wrong gas tank, so if my buddy had been more familiar with the boat (or hadn't stopped to check his fuel lines at that time) I wouldn't have caught that fish.

amigho

I was fishing the dry Torugas using 30/30 for mutton snapper. I ran out of goggle eyes and jigged up some more, on the sabiki was a 12 inch mackeral as well. I switched to my 50/50 rig and dropped the mack down 220 feet, it got slammed and the hook pulled, bait came back whole but dead as hell. I took the mack off and carved " bite me" in the side, I then redeployed it and soon as it hit the bottom all hell broke loose. After a good 15 minute tussle, I pulled in and gaffed an 85 pound warsaw, my first ever!

fichinthesouth

I once caught a 50 inch bull red 3 times in a row he was hungry