+- Rogue-Nation Discussion Board (https://rogue-nation.com/mybb)
+-- Forum: Members Interests (https://rogue-nation.com/mybb/forumdisplay.php?fid=90)
+--- Forum: The Sports and Travel Zone (https://rogue-nation.com/mybb/forumdisplay.php?fid=94)
+--- Thread: Greatest Fishing Story??? (/showthread.php?tid=2937)
Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
Oh boy! Here's an opportunity to tell some real "whoppers" for fish tales. I have a couple of fun ones, both true. Probably two of my greatest fishing stories. I have spent many, many, years as a fisherman, and even thought of going Pro for a while when I was younger. So, some pretty solid fishing background and experiences. Ironically, both of these stories happened within a week of each other too!...(Pretty unusual, as fishing stories go). Both stories took place in southern Florida on the Gulf side (where I did a fair amount of my serious fishing). The location for both of these stories was Marco Island, which was then considerably less populated than it is now (much of the island was just old fishing villages, with a modern kind of ritzy section being built). Now it's a thriving metropolis.
The first story begins with a fishing contest me and my buddy, Todd, used to enter on an annual basis. We both consistently placed in this contest, and even won a few championships between us. We were both very competitive (with each other). This particular contest was sponsored by a big fishing tackle and commercial fishing supply place, and they generally had some pretty nice prizes (i.e. expensive tackle, cash prizes and high-end gear). They generally had multiple categories you could enter, and I generally always entered the saltwater contest in three fish categories, Snook, Redfish, and Grouper. I was a pretty good Snook fisherman at the time, so I could usually plan on catching at least one good sized Snook. The rules were (3) fish, and you could have any combination of fish in the (3) categories. Each category was judged by size and weight in that category (or class), and then you also entered a total combined weight across all (3) classes...but only (3) fish max. The contest ran for 7 days and you could bring an entry on any of the days, BUT once you entered a fish you couldn't 'un-enter' it and substitute a bigger/different fish. Again, (3) fish total.
Days 1 -3: Normally, I always caught fish, but then the question became should I enter that fish or try for a bigger one? On the first three days I got totally skunked! Aside from junk fish, or species outside the classes, I had 'zippo' at the end of day #3 (this was really rare for me).
Day 4: Changed some tactics (and tackle) and caught several fish before Noon. Most were small Snook which I had to cut loose. (18" min. legal size). Then I boated a Redfish and a Snook which were both keepers, but nothing special. I knew, at very best, neither of these fish would probably place (based on past experience...the competition was pretty intense, as you were up against local guides and everyone else). After a few minutes of deliberation I decided to toss both in the fish locker and keep them, to fillet out the Redfish and eat it, and I'd take a chance on entering the Snook.
Day 5: Nothin! Wow! A couple small ones, no keepers and a complete zippo for the day! Checked in with my buddy (and a couple others I knew); everyone was struggling. At least I didn't feel so bad.
Day 6: Nothing in the morning. Then I caught a good sized Grouper when I decided to hit a man made reef offshore for a while to break up the pace. Grouper, being quite a bit bigger, was still good sized. 12 lbs as I recall. He was going in the locker for sure and would be entered. This was really unusual for me, because normally I'd have all (3) fish as Snook and they'd be turned in already (and this had been my goal up to this point). Well, I wasn't having any results at all with Snook (or Redfish, which I didn't fish a lot anyway), so thought I should focus on Grouper. That was it for day #6. Turned in the Grouper and found out someone had turned in one bigger than my fish already (dammit!).
Day 7: Final day. Time to put up, or shut up; the heat was on. My buddy Todd had entered the freshwater category, so the whole time I was out on the boat, he was onshore fishing for Bass (and two other fish, which I forget). Fished up until about 2pm. I was fried to a crisp, as I'd been out all (7) days. I was really about ready to call it a day. 5pm was the deadline. I was done, and wasn't going to even place. Decided to try this one last spot I knew of in the Marco River Channel. There was a hole in this channel and if there were fish (at all) they were generally big, and often Grouper. All of a sudden I snagged both lines big-time. I was hung up bad. This tackle was kind of expensive, so I didn't want to lose it. I'd finish my day trying to get un-snagged. That was UNTIL...my "snag" started to move! No way could this be a fish. I figured maybe I'd hooked a manatee or something, but it was pretty deep for a manatee (about 30'). It was definitely moving. Holy crap! Long story short...it was indeed a fish.
Got the fish up to the boat, and it was a Goliath Grouper, and it was WAY too big to get in the boat myself! Now what?? Running out of time. I didn't know exactly how big this fish really was, but he was a monster! I managed to get a rope through his mouth and out his gills on one side and tied him off to the stern cleat. Time was running out. I would have to go very slow if I was going to pull this off, but I managed to get him to the Marco River Marina which was the closest place I had any hope of getting this fish out of the water.
Once out of the water and hanging from the scale, he weighed in a 397 lbs!! No lie either! Had to call the contest place and tell them I had this fish. By this time the Miami Herald had showed up along with a pretty big crowd. Some quick checks and I was 75 lbs short of a Florida State Record fish (bummer), but he was still a bomber! Unless someone had caught another one like him, the contest would be in the bag.
The contest folks sent someone to the marina to verify the catch. Won the contest, hand's down, got my picture in the Miami Herald and even sold the fish to a local restaurant who had shown up. Didn't take the State Record, but still, biggest fish I ever caught in Florida...by far! Won a bunch of cool stuff in the contest (which was nice), and best of all...blew my buddy, Todd, out of the water!!
True story too, folks!
My 2nd story isn't about a big fish, nor an even particularly notable fish; it's just the story of catching it (sort of). ...
(to be continued in Part II (next))
(Note - It will be interesting to see if my next post "merges" with this one as a single post, or if it shows up separately).
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
--------------------------------------------PART II - 2nd Fish Story------------------------------------------
Location: Also Marco Island
Date: The week following the Fishing Contest
Fishermen: Me and my fishing buddy, Todd.
The week previous, Todd had entered the contest in (3) freshwater categories. Bass was one, Catfish was another and I don't remember the 3rd. Todd was a pretty hardcore fisherman, very disciplined, very methodical and was regularly referred to by me as "A Bitch!". But he was a really good and talented fisherman. He was bound and determined to learn how to catch Bass (and being a "Bitch" he was truly "Bound" and "Determined") to the point of being an anal little bitch half of the time! He was still my buddy though, but now he was being extra-bitchy because I'd slayed him (and everyone else) in this Fishing Contest the week before. He'd been skunked, because he was bound and determined to catch a winning Bass. I wasn't a Bass fisherman, and I'd never even caught single Bass in my life, but I told him I'd go out with him and try to help / participate. I didn't catch squat! (Maybe some weeds, but that's about it). I can't believe I'm saying this, but to me (back then) Bass fishing was 'hard'! I've since learned they're one of the easiest freshwater fish to catch, but I still don't consider myself a Bass fisherman.
Todd had all these places he'd scientifically studied and mapped out in detail (yes, this was Todd for you). This one particular day, Todd wanted to go fish this lake which was adjacent to the Marco Golf Course (which wasn't really even permitted. It was legal, but the golf course residents were big-time snobs and would chase you off). So, we're out there fishing for these Bass. I was really more just getting sunburned than anything else; I wasn't catchin' nothin! But not from lack of trying. Figured I might as well "try" to learn. You know the old saying...'A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work'.
While I was standing there fishing for monkeys, sunken logs and birds, baking in the 4,000 degree sun, I noticed there were (3) alligators sunning on the far bank of the lake. Gators were a pretty common sight to see lounging around on the river and lake banks around Marco, so I didn't think much of it. From what I could see, one looked like a real monster of a gator, then there was a medium sized one and a smaller one. Don't know if it was a family of them or what (didn't know much about Gators other than to not play grab-ass in a lake with one of them). Okay, enough about gators, back to fishing.
Seemed like a few days went by (probably an hour and a half or so) when Todd hooks this Bass. He's got it on the line for about 60 seconds when it jumped and threw the hook. Back to fishing. About 5 minutes later Todd is zeroing in on this one spot where he caught the Bass when he hooks another one. Looked like he had this fish hooked pretty well. Hard to say for sure, but this fish looked a shade smaller than his first one, still a decent sized fish though from what I could see (and what did I know anyway; I've never even caught one of these things!) Where he hooked this fish was a long ways from where we were, so he's busy reeling it in. I'm 'spectating' at this point, standing ready with the net.
Todd gets this fish about 1/4 of the way to him, when I notice one of those gators casually slide into the water to take a dip and cool off. It was the smallest of the three gators. The gator was clear across the lake so I wasn't too worried about it, but I mentioned it to Todd anyway..."Hey Todd, don't know if you saw that, but one of those gators just rolled off into the water. Might want to keep your eye on him." Todd tells me he saw it (he always saw everything...bitch!). Almost told him he could go jump in the lake as far as I was concerned, but right about then the Bass leaped for the sky trying to shake the hook. He came down with a big "slap". About two seconds later he jumped again, and slapped back down in the water. The fish is also busy thrashing around just below the surface, but he's still pretty far away.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see this gator perk up, and he kind of looks in the general direction of all the commotion. Right after that he casually starts swimming in the direction of the fish. "Yo, Todd...that gator is onto you now!" Again, Todd says he saw him...bitch! Gator is just slowly swinging its tail, casually moving in the direction of the fish. Todd starts reeling faster. Gator picks up speed. I still figured this gator was too far away to actually have a shot at getting this fish. Still, Todd starts reeling even faster. Now the gator has his homing beacon set up on this fish, and he's moving much more quickly. I laughed out loud! Todd says..."Yeah, yeah...I saw it" (bitch!) Todd starts REALLY cranking on this fish. Now this gator is movin'! It's a race to the bank. Todd cranks even harder, and now the fish is half skipping across the surface! Never saw a gator do what this guy did next. ...
Todd starts cranking as fast as he possibly can. Fish is now completely out of the water, skipping over the surface. And, with about two flips of his tail, that gator is up on a plane (just like an airboat) on his chest, his front legs are no longer even swimming; they're just down along his sides. This gator is now coming for this fish like a guided missile! He's flyin'!!
Todd gets the fish to the bank at the exact same second the gator got there! We're both standing right at the water's edge. Todd says..."Net him!! HURRY!". I lunge for the fish with the net, and at the exact same moment the gator grabs the fish by the tail. Without even thinking about what's going on, I whack the gator on the head with the net hoping he'll let go. Todd has his pole lifted up as high as he can over his head, and this gator is hanging onto the other end of this fish! The net was having no affect on Mr. Gator, but I didn't have anything else...except a 5 gallon bucket behind me. So I grabbed the bucket and tried to clobber this gator over the head with the bucket (totally oblivious to the fact this gator could have easily grabbed me). And you know the sound an empty bucket makes when it hits something "BONNGK!". Now the gator, Todd, me and the fish are all in the exact same space. He's 3/4 of the way out of the water on the bank now, and he chokes up further on the fish. Todd is trying to wrestle this fish away from him, and I'm busy playing 'Baba-Loo!' on this gator's head with this bucket! (the only thing missing was Ricky Ricardo himself). The gator chokes up once more. Now the only part of the fish outside the gator's mouth is the head. The valiant battle was lost; it was over. The gator had won.
It was only then the reality of what was happening hit us. Only one brave thing left to do now...RUN!! And this is exactly what we did, dropped everything and ran like little schoolgirls up the bank. That gator wanted no part of these two crazy people; he just wanted the fish, and now he had it. Mr. Gator looks at us, and we look at him, and in a flash he was gone, back into the lake; that gator swam off with a fresh Bass lunch and a full belly, and we collected up our gear then hung our head's in shame. Bass fishing that day was over.
What a freaking 'adventure'!
The End.
(Also a true story)
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
Hmmm...I thought a couple short stories might be fun and engaging. I guess not.
I'll leave this up for a few minutes more, and then I'll delete this distraction.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - Bally002 - 07-19-2025
(07-19-2025, 10:01 PM)FCD Wrote: Hmmm...I thought a couple short stories might be fun and engaging. I guess not.
I'll leave this up for a few minutes more, and then I'll delete this distraction.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
All's cool. Just tuned in. Like good fishing stories. Got many myself including flamin pelicans taking off with the fish on my line. Those buggers aren't fun to reel in, choke hold and reach down their guller to drag fish and hooks out. Onlookers were quite taken aback at my treatment of those birds but the blighters are hard to wrangle. One fella was so wrapped up in the line I had to take to him with the fillet knife and cut the line away from his neck and wings. That scene certainly upset the tree hugging viewers at the time.
Birds eventually took off but were a bit hesitant to try it again. Couple of table fish to be had at home out of pelicans' guts. Got some good croc stories as well from up north.
That GRouper you caught would had been a sight.
Kind regards,
Bally. )
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
Bally,
I do love pelicans as birds, but boy can they be pests when it comes to fishing! Especially with small(er) fish.
edit - Regarding Grouper, you have a lot of big honkin' Grouper in your part of the world too. The ones around Oz and NZ are the Giant Grouper variety. The one I caught was a different sub-species (genus or whatever') called a "Goliath Grouper". And despite their name (i.e. Goliath), I believe the Giant Grouper (which you have) are actually bigger than the Goliath variety. I've seen reports of them reaching 400 kg (800+ lbs). They say the Goliath's can approach those weights, but I've never heard of one being caught. Mine was a 'medium' sized one (hard to believe, I know!)
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - Bally002 - 07-19-2025
(07-19-2025, 10:37 PM)FCD Wrote: Bally,
I do love pelicans as birds, but boy can they be pests when it comes to fishing! Especially with small(er) fish.
edit - Regarding Grouper, you have a lot of big honkin' Grouper in your part of the world too. The ones around Oz and NZ are the Giant Grouper variety. The one I caught was a different sub-species (genus or whatever') called a "Goliath Grouper". And despite their name (i.e. Goliath), I believe the Giant Grouper (which you have) are actually bigger than the Goliath variety. I've seen reports of them reaching 400 kg (800+ lbs). They say the Goliath's can approach those weights, but I've never heard of one being caught. Mine was a 'medium' sized one (hard to believe, I know!)
Pronounced Groper here. Have seen pics of record fish. Old mate and I used to trek to some cliffs off the Pacific near Jervis Bay on the coast. His specialty was Groper. He'd catch a reasonable crab, big hook, some steel trace at the end of his heavy nylon line and heft that lot with a heavy lead into the nearest deep hole. He'd catch one, generally 15 to 20 lb. And that was his take home back up the cliff. Me, I'd fish the surface for a kingy or 2. Some other take homes might be a good red snapper or a reasonable Australian Salmon.
Back then you could fish that whole are. Now it's a fish sanctuary and Groper are a protected species in some parts.
Bally)
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
Quote:...Groper are a protected species in some parts.
Yeah, same here now. Heavily restricted open season, very limited areas (to where the fish AREN'T), and all sorts of restrictions on min/max size. It's like you have to carry a regulation book with you anymore to fish them.
Too bad some people just totally over-exploited the opportunities and got greedy. Really started when restaurants started paying good money on a per fish basis right off the docks. Greed! (SMH). I my particular case, I couldn't cut that fish loose because I had no way to weigh it. Plus, it wasn't looking too great when I finally got it up to the surface. Wasn't a big deal back then because there were lots of them. Now, not so much.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - Bally002 - 07-20-2025
(07-19-2025, 11:27 PM)FCD Wrote:Quote:...Groper are a protected species in some parts.
Yeah, same here now. Heavily restricted open season, very limited areas (to where the fish AREN'T), and all sorts of restrictions on min/max size. It's like you have to carry a regulation book with you anymore to fish them.
Not just the reg book but the latest charts that specify where you are allowed to fish nowadays even in the rivers, inlets or creeks. I just take home what I catch for a feed. But, if the fish is literally hooked and damaged beyond repair what do you do. I won't cut a dying fish off and let it suffer. I'll land it and do something with it. Won't waste it. Even the innards and bones go into my veg garden. Rest I eat or freeze for a meal later.
Kind regards,
Bally)
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-20-2025
You know, today I wouldn't have won that same fishing contest with the Grouper like I did back then. Nobody knew it then, but the class of "Grouper" (the fish) was actually several different kinds of fish. Heck, I didn't know it then either. So, what had happened was, I had caught a fish in a different class than regular reef Grouper. Reef Gouper max out around 20-25 lbs (I think), and the Goliath Grouper is still considered a 'juvenile' at 20 lbs. Even back then, the fish I caught were referred to slightly differently...they were called "Jewfish", but that moniker went away long ago as a Politically Incorrect term. Not sure why they were called that, but it had nothing to do with 'Jews'. I'm sure there was some reason, but I don't know what it was. It was thought (then) that they were just a really huge variety of Grouper. So, today Goliath Grouper aren't even a class (or legal) so I wouldn't be allowed to enter it.
Irony and changing times, I guess.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - Bally002 - 07-20-2025
(07-20-2025, 08:54 PM)FCD Wrote: You know, today I wouldn't have won that same fishing contest with the Grouper like I did back then. Nobody knew it then, but the class of "Grouper" (the fish) was actually several different kinds of fish. Heck, I didn't know it then either. So, what had happened was, I had caught a fish in a different class than regular reef Grouper. Reef Gouper max out around 20-25 lbs (I think), and the Goliath Grouper is still considered a 'juvenile' at 20 lbs. Even back then, the fish I caught were referred to slightly differently...they were called "Jewfish", but that moniker went away long ago as a Politically Incorrect term. Not sure why they were called that, but it had nothing to do with 'Jews'. I'm sure there was some reason, but I don't know what it was. It was thought (then) that they were just a really huge variety of Grouper. So, today Goliath Grouper aren't even a class (or legal) so I wouldn't be allowed to enter it.
Irony and changing times, I guess.
"jewfish" or Jewies as we tagged them years ago were a much sought after catch. Have caught a few back in the day. Now known as "Mulloway" Bigger fish hovered around pylons of bridges where I used to fish as a kid. Other times off the beaches. They are a silver, large scaled fish. Very good table quality. I don't know what you call them in America. Of course over time the tagged name changed. Not related to groper.
Also known for a good fight from down deep.
Kind regards,
Bally)
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-21-2025
Yeah, the "Jewfish" I am referring to are definitely Grouper, they look identical, just WAY bigger. Upon very close inspection, you can see some very minor differences in their coloration (nothing major though), other than that they are virtually identical in stubby body shape, head structure and so on. And yes, they are EXCELLENT eating fish!! Firm, white, flaky meat and delicious flavor. Probably some of the most sought after fish of all for table fare. Definitely not a commercially fished fish though...which is probably a very good thing.
Definitely a gamefish too, in terms of putting up a fight. Getting them up, off of the bottom, is the hardest part. They immediately swim straight down and head for line-cutting cover like reef structure and underwater formations.
Snook, Grouper and Redfish are three of the best eating fish in Florida. Pompano, Snapper, Wahoo and Flounder kind of round out the top fish for eating (in my opinion). Mahi-Mahi also. A lot of people really like Spotted Seatrout, and Kings, along with some others, but I am kind of "Meh" on those. Tuna is also popular (pretty much everywhere), and it's good for sure, but I never really used to target fishing for Tuna exclusively. Usually caught Tuna when fishing for billfish offshore. Can't really eat billfish, IMO (i.e. Swordfish and Marlin), it's too "fishy", but some people love it.
Edit - Two other fish I used to really like to eat, which other people considered garbage fish, were Sheepshead and Mullet. Fried up and in a sammich, those are two of the unsung heroes of the fish world, IMO. And, they were everywhere. Mullet you had to get with a castnet though.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - rickymouse - 07-21-2025
Did that big fish you caught taste good?
As far as fishing goes, I never fish for fish that can eat me or fish or swim in areas where fish or reptiles want to taste humans. I hate swimming in swimming pools, but would swim in them any day rather than in a lake with fish that like to eat or bite us.
I have hooked some fish in Lake superior and in the portage lake that I could not turn so they were huge, I used twenty five pound test, off the Houghton breakwaters one time and hooked something huge. it took out all my line, and at the end, my pole snapped and then it finally broke the line at where the pole broke.. I used to buy the real good fishing line so it would not break or cut easily. I do not know what kind of fish that was, probably a sturgeon or something.
Another time I was fishing on a boat with my uncles in an entry between a lake and portage lake and I thought I had a snag...but snags do not pull the boat backwards against the current and turn the boat around without reeling the line in when the boat is anchored. My uncles thought I was snagged too, until I told them about how the boat was being pulled against the current. Probably a sturgeon that time too, and logs do not float against the current either. They were laughing at first, but when they saw what I was saying, they said we have to get that fish...but it was impossible, the line was all out, and I could feel the fish swimming like it was not even straining.
There is some really strange fish living in that canal according to divers I know, they are huge and sort of prehistoric looking but not sturgeon...but are curious and just come to check out the divers by the bridge without actually bothering them. So they don't like to eat people, safe place to swim yet in my mind, the seaweed is more dangerous if you get caught in it when diving...I know two people that died diving off a boat from seaweed, the girl went in, and didn't come up, and her boyfriend dove in to save her and got tangled in it and also drowned. Divers untangled them when they went in to search for their bodies I heard, I had just left from that area about an hour before they died. We also get undertow currents here when swimming, it felt like someone or something grabbed my feet and pulled me out a hundred feet when I was standing in water just above my waste, I did manage to get loose and go to the top and swim to shore...never swam there again, and never will. I avoid any area with rip tides to this day, there have been more of those happening over the last ten years that have pulled people out than there were in the years before for some reason I guess, they used to be more rare to have that happen.
I did go swim in the ocean one time in Florida, then the wife and I went down to an area with docks and I asked how the fishing was, the guy said it was a great day to fish for sharks, he showed me the ones he had caught...I asked them if they bite when you swim, and he said there is a a warning about it for swimmers, no wonder nobody was at the beach swimming where the wife and I were swimming. I guess there were signs posted. Those sharks were small, maybe about two feet long that he caught, but he said when there are lots of them and they are hungry they nip at people swimming. He laughed at me when I told him I was just swimming a quarter mile down the shore.....He said something about the lack of people swimming being a sign. And here I thought it was nice to have a whole beach to ourselves....I suppose the people at the restaurant where we were eating were watching to see if we got bit out the windows facing the lake.
The only sturgeon I have caught were about eight inches long...one day in the sturgeon river in chassell around the time they had hatched. I think I caught three or four of them, kind of weird looking little fish, almost prehistoric looking. I knew they had to be tossed back because they were pretty rare and not legal, and I made sure to take the hook out gently and left when that was the only thing biting. I didn't want to kill any, sometimes fish die when they swallow the hook so I felt it was too risky to keep fishing when that is all that seemed to be biting that day.
I don't usually fish in areas where real big fish are, I'll stick to fishing for fish under twenty five pounds or less.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-21-2025
Ricky - Grouper are excellent eating fish, some of the best of all fish, IMO. I didn't taste any of that particular fish, because it was sold to a local restaurant which was a super-expensive place to eat (the kind where you had to wear a tie and a suit coat, if that tell you anything).
Regarding Sturgeon, I lived in Michigan for a while, but I've never caught a Sturgeon. I've heard they can get huge, and can be quite the handful to reel in. Never hooked one, so I don't know personally. I used to have a friend who had a cabin at Houghton lake. He raved about the fishing there.
Best fish I caught in MI was a big Muskie. The wife and I were fishing for Perch one day using some ultra-light rods and reels. The water was so shallow I didn't even have to anchor the boat. This was in Lake St. Claire (which is pretty shallow all over). I figured being as shallow as it was we'd be fine fishing for Perch with ultra-light gear. All of a sudden my rod tip fluttered like I had a Perch. I went to grab my rod, and the whole rod suddenly bent over to the snapping point, and the line started peeling out. I backed the drag off and thought..."what the heck, I'll give it a try!". It was something really big. Forty five minutes later I boated a 39" Muskie! I didn't have a scale, but I guessed he was 20-25 lbs or so. I thought it was huge! But looking at the regulations for that area (which I usually have a copy of when I fish), I saw the minimum legal length for Muskie was 40" (Wow!). Still, I was pretty impressed being able to land that fish with ultra-light gear. So, I turned him loose to fight another day. Muskies aren't that good to eat anyway, from what I understand.
I think what happened was I'd hooked a small Perch, and the Muskie saw this and gulped him down. So, I'd gone from reeling in a small Perch to fighting a big Muskie. It was pretty fun.
Mostly what I fished for in MI was Walleye and Perch, which are both excellent eating fish. I've caught a few Steelhead too, but not a lot of those.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-22-2025
I don't have any really great fishing stories from MI. Most of my exploits were just catching Walleye, Perch and the odd Pike.
About my craziest story is, one year I had eye surgery late in Nov and I didn't get our boat out of the water. It got really cold and ice formed around the boat freezing it in to our marina and it never went away. So we had to keep the boat free from the ice all winter (no fun!). Stupid me! So, I've got pictures of guys ice fishing all around our boat for Perch. LOL! Not my proudest pictures. Fortunately, we weren't the only ones who had that happen that year, and one guy even lost his small sailboat to the ice because he never came out to bust ice from around it. Wasn't too big of a boat though
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - rickymouse - 07-22-2025
(07-21-2025, 02:56 PM)FCD Wrote: Ricky - Grouper are excellent eating fish, some of the best of all fish, IMO. I didn't taste any of that particular fish, because it was sold to a local restaurant which was a super-expensive place to eat (the kind where you had to wear a tie and a suit coat, if that tell you anything).I was about fourteen, and I would go fishing in Dollar Bay Michigan when my dad worked at the flooring mill all day. I would do that in the spring almost every year, in the summer, we had the farm, so I couldn't do that so often, but before the strawberries were ripe, I was out there all the time fishing all day and I would cook some of what I caught on a small fire in my mess kit, timing my cooking so I could give my dad some fried fish when he was on lunch or coffee breaks...he came down to check on me. Carried butter and flour and salt and pepper with me when I went fishing.
Regarding Sturgeon, I lived in Michigan for a while, but I've never caught a Sturgeon. I've heard they can get huge, and can be quite the handful to reel in. Never hooked one, so I don't know personally. I used to have a friend who had a cabin at Houghton lake. He raved about the fishing there.
Best fish I caught in MI was a big Muskie. The wife and I were fishing for Perch one day using some ultra-light rods and reels. The water was so shallow I didn't even have to anchor the boat. This was in Lake St. Claire (which is pretty shallow all over). I figured being as shallow as it was we'd be fine fishing for Perch with ultra-light gear. All of a sudden my rod tip fluttered like I had a Perch. I went to grab my rod, and the whole rod suddenly bent over to the snapping point, and the line started peeling out. I backed the drag off and thought..."what the heck, I'll give it a try!". It was something really big. Forty five minutes later I boated a 39" Muskie! I didn't have a scale, but I guessed he was 20-25 lbs or so. I thought it was huge! But looking at the regulations for that area (which I usually have a copy of when I fish), I saw the minimum legal length for Muskie was 40" (Wow!). Still, I was pretty impressed being able to land that fish with ultra-light gear. So, I turned him loose to fight another day. Muskies aren't that good to eat anyway, from what I understand.
I think what happened was I'd hooked a small Perch, and the Muskie saw this and gulped him down. So, I'd gone from reeling in a small Perch to fighting a big Muskie. It was pretty fun.
Mostly what I fished for in MI was Walleye and Perch, which are both excellent eating fish. I've caught a few Steelhead too, but not a lot of those.
Well, one day I was fishing and I had this pesty fish nibbling on my bait under a bobber, just a worm which I would toss out over and over again because that fish would suck it off somehow. I got kind of pissed eventually and was running out of worms so I Yanked on it the last time, figuring I might snag that tiny fish. To my surprise the pole bent way down, and a tail at least twenty inches wide when spread out with about a eight inch thick body at the base of the tail fan which was about six inches thick came about a foot and a half out of the water and slammed down and the line broke. I have never seen a tail like that on any fish around here, It was not a pike or bass, it was not a salmon and from where the line with the bobber entered the water to the end of the tail was about three to three and a half feet away. I often wonder what it was, it was not a trout, very familiar with those fish, the scales were really big, not like anything I have seen around here. It was about twenty feet from shore where I was fishing, the water there was about seven feet deep and my bobber was about two feet deep, the seaweed is just in from that, and that time of year, if the wind pushed the bobber in, it wouldn't get tangled and lose a hook.
Maybe it was a huge carp, I have seen small ones and some have the big tail. But I have never actually caught a big carp here, so I don't know what the tail shape is. Back then, carp were very rare around here, but I suppose people set their gold fish free or other aquarium fish and it could be one that grew big. I let some of my fish free when I was young, almost everyone did that back in the early sixties figuring something would just eat them. Someone would have dumped almost any kind of fish into the canal there. Now there are a lot of carp up in the copper country so I am guessing that and people using gold fish for bait introduced them into the lakes. Later on, they started regulating baits at the stores, but that started in the late sixties or early seventies.
I think the biggest fish I ever landed was only about twelve or thirteen pounds, I kind of lacked the patients to play the big ones and tried to get them in too quick. The tail on that fish looked like a mermaid tail on those TV shows that had mermaids. Whatever it was, it seemed to like eating worms and was good at taking them off of the hook, but again like you said, it could be that I actually got the little fish, and a big one grabbed it too. There are some huge fish up there in the copper country.
Those small sturgeon were definitely a sports fish, they fought way harder than a bass and would jump and glide a lot over the top of the water. I wonder if the big ones are as sporty as those young ones were, it would be a hell of a fight. Muskies and northern pike do that jumping and gliding/flying too. I never got a legal musky. but over the years I have caught over a hundred assorted pikes. Never swish your fingers in the water around bass nests, they come after them when fishing off a boat. Never been bit, but had some close calls, got to look when washing your hands in the water while fishing, or before eating your lunch. Just a little info for people who haven't fished before in a boat. Most times they just bump your fingers and leave, but I did see someone with a bass stuck to his fingers when I was a Boy scout on a river trip when I was young.
Did you get a decent price for the fish?
I caught a Grayling one time at the mouth of a river in Lake superior. There was another old fisherman there and I asked him what it was. It had a high and big fin on top. The guy said it is a rare and protected fish, so I put it back in and it swam away...no phone cameras around back those days to take pictures. It is not supposed to be in Lake Superior anymore, but nobody told the fish he was not supposed to be there I guess. Kind of a weird fin they have. I suppose they became extinct after they planted the coho in lake superior. Not many people liked when they planted those Coho in lake Superior in the copper country, they were right, they really impacted the numbers of smaller fish, they might grow fast, but can wipe out most smaller fish really quick because they eat so much. The DNR wanted to plant fish that sports fishermen liked, as a kid, I liked fishing for the smaller fish like crappies, bass, and Lake Superior Perch. A quick tasty meal, just skin them, season them, andwrap them in foil and toss them onto the grill for twenty minutes. Easier to skin them than scale them using one of those crank fish skinners.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-22-2025
Very cool story!! I wonder what your mystery fish was? I've never seen anything like that, myself.
I don't remember now how much money the restaurant paid us for that fish. I just remember we were standing around going..."Okay, what are we going to do with this fish now that the fish has been weighed?". I didn't even know places would actually buy fish from you like this right off the dock. The fish was way too big for us to ever eat, so I was just really happy to get something, anything, for it. They just showed up I guess from word of mouth from others in the looky-loo's who showed up. I think they were used to more showing up when the pro guided boats came into dock, and I wasn't one of those. They probably low-balled me, but they were the only ones there with any offer at all, so I was like..."Sure! It's all yours!" It wasn't a lot.
edit - Isn't there a place in Michigan called "Grayling", a town or something?
I thought a Grayling was similar to an Arctic Char like I used to catch up in Alaska, but I just looked them up and they're nothing like AC's. And yes, that is a crazy-big dorsal fin on top of the fish. That's pretty wild.
------------------------------------------------------Separate Reply (Grrrr)---------------------------------------------------
Some other fun, kinda cool, fishing stories...
Fished with Curt Gowdy (the Sports announcer) one time in Jackson Hole, WY. We didn't even knew who it was for about the first hour or so. He never said who he was. Super nice guy! I think he was probably feelin' us out to see if we were going to make a big deal out of it. When we didn't, he introduced himself after a bit. This was on a guided fly fishing trip on a raft on the Snake River. There was room for one more guy on the raft, so he just showed up. I kept looking at him thinking he looked really familiar, but who would you ever run into someone like that in Wyoming of all places?? (This was long before Jackson Hole became the celebrity s***hole it is now); back then it was just this nice little town. Boy, did all those rich folks F*** that all up!! Now you can't even get a motel there for under about $600 bucks/night!
Anyway, he was a really cool guy. Turned out he was part owner in the rafting company we had chartered for the day...which explains how he could just walk up and jump in any old raft. Real down to earth guy. And boy, could this guy fish!! Probably one of the best fly fisherman I've ever known (technique wise). I was just young, and he showed me all sorts of tricks. I always differentiate him as one of the "good guys" in Jackson Hole. His whole world outside of the announcing booth was fishing, and trout fishing in particular.
Never caught any monster fish while living in Wy., or anything really notable beyond your average trout and panfish.
Another time we got permission to go fishing on the Shoshone Indian Reservation (now it's been named some other PC name). Had to get permission from the Tribal Council, and it was a pretty big deal because no white man ever got to do that. Took like a year to get it. Went fishing on these lakes up on the east side of the WindRiver Mountains, there was about (5) lakes. Had to pack in on horseback from outside Lander, and it was about 50 miles in (took over a day to get there). No monster fish, but the one thing I do remember was you could catch a fish on every cast. Seriously, every single cast. Nobody ever fished those lakes, not even the indians (they were all too drunk in town, per our Shoshone guides). You'd throw out a lure and it would be sailing through the air just before hitting the water and fish would literally leap out of the water to get the lure before the other fish! It was crazy. It wasn't whether you were going to catch a fish, it was how big? (You'd get a lot of small ones in between the odd decent one). I'll never forget that. This particular lake was right next to our camp. I remember we actually didn't like fishing on that lake because of this. (Imagine that! Not liking fishing on a lake because you were catching too many fish! LOL!) So, we'd go fish on these other lakes for big Cutthroats. Never had that happen before or since!
No great fishing stories here in Colorado...at all. This state sucks really (sucks all around). They say it's "Gold Medal" fishing here, but the restrictions and regulations are endless. I seldom even try anymore. Game and Fish behind every bush and rock. I've never been out once where the DNR boys didn't hassle me for one reason or other (sometimes multiple times in one outing). I've caught a few trout (like 4) and one Walleye (just one) in the 30 years I've lived here. Sad. I even sold my big boat and bought a special smaller boat just for fishing here in CO, and all it does is sit in the barn collecting dust. Bunch a fukin' NAZI's here!!
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - Bally002 - 07-22-2025
(07-22-2025, 07:55 AM)FCD Wrote: Very cool story!! I wonder what your mystery fish was? I've never seen anything like that, myself.
I don't remember now how much money the restaurant paid us for that fish. I just remember we were standing around going..."Okay, what are we going to do with this fish now that the fish has been weighed?". I didn't even know places would actually buy fish from you like this right off the dock. The fish was way too big for us to ever eat, so I was just really happy to get something, anything, for it. They just showed up I guess from word of mouth from others in the looky-loo's who showed up. I think they were used to more showing up when the pro guided boats came into dock, and I wasn't one of those. They probably low-balled me, but they were the only ones there with any offer at all, so I was like..."Sure! It's all yours!" It wasn't a lot.
edit - Isn't there a place in Michigan called "Grayling", a town or something?
I thought a Grayling was similar to an Arctic Char like I used to catch up in Alaska, but I just looked them up and they're nothing like AC's. And yes, that is a crazy-big dorsal fin on top of the fish. That's pretty wild.
------------------------------------------------------Separate Reply (Grrrr)---------------------------------------------------
Some other fun, kinda cool, fishing stories...
Fished with Curt Gowdy (the Sports announcer) one time in Jackson Hole, WY. We didn't even knew who it was for about the first hour or so. He never said who he was. Super nice guy! I think he was probably feelin' us out to see if we were going to make a big deal out of it. When we didn't, he introduced himself after a bit. This was on a guided fly fishing trip on a raft on the Snake River. There was room for one more guy on the raft, so he just showed up. I kept looking at him thinking he looked really familiar, but who would you ever run into someone like that in Wyoming of all places?? (This was long before Jackson Hole became the celebrity s***hole it is now); back then it was just this nice little town. Boy, did all those rich folks F*** that all up!! Now you can't even get a motel there for under about $600 bucks/night!
Anyway, he was a really cool guy. Turned out he was part owner in the rafting company we had chartered for the day...which explains how he could just walk up and jump in any old raft. Real down to earth guy. And boy, could this guy fish!! Probably one of the best fly fisherman I've ever known (technique wise). I was just young, and he showed me all sorts of tricks. I always differentiate him as one of the "good guys" in Jackson Hole. His whole world outside of the announcing booth was fishing, and trout fishing in particular.
Never caught any monster fish while living in Wy., or anything really notable beyond your average trout and panfish.
Another time we got permission to go fishing on the Shoshone Indian Reservation (now it's been named some other PC name). Had to get permission from the Tribal Council, and it was a pretty big deal because no white man ever got to do that. Took like a year to get it. Went fishing on these lakes up on the east side of the WindRiver Mountains, there was about (5) lakes. Had to pack in on horseback from outside Lander, and it was about 50 miles in (took over a day to get there). No monster fish, but the one thing I do remember was you could catch a fish on every cast. Seriously, every single cast. Nobody ever fished those lakes, not even the indians (they were all too drunk in town, per our Shoshone guides). You'd throw out a lure and it would be sailing through the air just before hitting the water and fish would literally leap out of the water to get the lure before the other fish! It was crazy. It wasn't whether you were going to catch a fish, it was how big? (You'd get a lot of small ones in between the odd decent one). I'll never forget that. This particular lake was right next to our camp. I remember we actually didn't like fishing on that lake because of this. (Imagine that! Not liking fishing on a lake because you were catching too many fish! LOL!) So, we'd go fish on these other lakes for big Cutthroats. Never had that happen before or since!
No great fishing stories here in Colorado...at all. This state sucks really (sucks all around). They say it's "Gold Medal" fishing here, but the restrictions and regulations are endless. I seldom even try anymore. Game and Fish behind every bush and rock. I've never been out once where the DNR boys didn't hassle me for one reason or other (sometimes multiple times in one outing). I've caught a few trout (like 4) and one Walleye (just one) in the 30 years I've lived here. Sad. I even sold my big boat and bought a special smaller boat just for fishing here in CO, and all it does is sit in the barn collecting dust. Bunch a fukin' NAZI's here!!
G'day mate. Just come across this apparently posted a few days ago. It's a bit amatuery in the reading but there is a point.
Just a everyday fisherman standing up to the DPI, Dept of Primary industries, (covers fisheries) on the banks of the Clarence River, Grafton New South Wales, near where I live and I sometimes fish on the waterway.
The talk covers Mulloway mostly and he refers to them as Jewfish. Groper and Kingfish included.
https://youtu.be/1O0bgbo215c.
This is a young bloke, I'm a pensioner and I'd be using a few choice words towards the DPI and Greenies if it was me. All fish targeted by recreational fisherman in this state are being subject to catch and release seeing they are now released by fisheries from breeding ponds. Funds for these ponds are paid for by rec fishermen and woman through licencing and taxes. Aboriginals (and those who identify as same) and Pro fishers aren't reflected as they don't pay for this and can take their catch including some protected species.
Interesting to me as this little talk comes up after previous posts and also I cross those bridges in the background most days including later today.
Your thoughts and knowledge would be appreciated from across the pond.
Kind regards,
Bally (Nymboida)
Efit to add. A bit more that I found regarding the same gentleman referring to Mulloway/Jewfish.
https://youtu.be/B_dEKqi6mrQ
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-23-2025
Bally,
Sigh...yeah, it's very frustrating! And, I'm not sure I have a solution for it; I have yet to see anything work. Two of the biggest problems making it a formidable front is:
- There are so many fisherman from both in and out of state who are perfectly happy to participate in catch & release, it makes the already difficult odds stacked heavily against change. And...
- At least here in this (mutliple explicatives) state, there are also so many tree huggers running around who would like to ban fishing altogether. "You're being mean to the fish!! Leave them alone!!"
When you're up against those two opponents, pleading a case for something different just falls on deaf ears.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - 727Sky - 07-23-2025
This was a time when Sea Hunt (1958) with Lloyd Bridges was on T.V. and Moby Dick had been released into the movie theaters (late 50s I suppose). I grew up in central Texas on a 40 acre farm so all my fishing was freshwater for Bass, Perch, and Catfish. No high tech just a cane pole some some places where you could get down to the water to throw your line out. I caught a 5.5 pound Bass out of (24 days on a raft in the Pacific with Rickenbacker) Bill Cherry's stock pond which broke my cane pole in two places. Someone, maybe dad, had told me to tie the line not just at the end of the cane pole but in the middle and the end where you hold the pole... That saved me from losing the fish as I ended up basically pulling my broken pole and fish to dry land.
Sometime later dad said we were going to Baja and do some deep sea fishing.. I was excited as visions of going fishing on the boat Lloyd Bridges used danced in my stupid little brain !
We arrived and met Ernesto who would be our skipper and guide. He and his wife plus a few kids had a mud floored hut close to the water where they lived. I was sitting on a 16 foot wooden
boat with maybe a 10 or 20 H.P. ? outboard motor waiting for the Sea Hunt ship/boat to arrive... The next thing I knew I was being commandeered to help pull the wooden boat into the water ...
There were Seals and all kinds of birds that would steal your bait and anything else they thought they could get away with. The ocean swells were big enough I was starting to get sea sick then the ocean not 50 yards away exploded into a geyser of hissing sea foam and water. I looked at Ernesto who had his big floppy straw hat pulled down as I assume he was asleep. With all the noise he stirred just enough to open his eyes and point while saying, " Whale" with a very Spanish accent.
Folks this was many years before there were cruises to go pet the whales and be one with nature. This was a time in my mind that Moby's Dick was not 50 yards away and might be coming for us all !!
Needless to say we all survived and even caught a few fish .... Also having a Moby encounter absolutely cured my beginning sea sickness...