Not that I had one. I mean the hardest I had was easy for most, a California halibut. But I know there are people here who have experienced a rare catch. I wanna hear stories about it.
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Not that I had one. I mean the hardest I had was easy for most, a California halibut. But I know there are people here who have experienced a rare catch. I wanna hear stories about it.
The more I thought about the question, the more I realized I never had one! Not because I'm some all around great fishermen. But when I had a challenge, I would figure a way to catch one. (mostly by cheating!) Lol No not by poaching, but by figuring out where these things live in their most abundant waterway and go there to fish for them. I'll throw out some catches that are unusual to most Southern CA anglers. If anyone wants to hear a story about any of them, chime in and I'll tell you the story. Lake Trout caught on ultra light tackle. (a lot of 8-15 fish) Dolly Varden trout and Graylings including a Trophy Dolly. Wahoo in abundance! Marlin, DD Steelhead out of the Chetco river. 20 pound King Salmon caught in abundance in CA. 200 pound Alaskan Halibut and all the big Lings you would want! Guided the womens record Rainbow trout! Catching almost 1,000 Catfish in 1 season out of the local parks! That should be enough Chum to see if anyone is interested in a fish story! Lol
Catching and getting her in my boat! 14 pound 13 once large mouth bass at Lake Isabella January 1998. Weighed her and released her immediately. Kept my rod berried under water so she could not jump and I was able to land her. What a thrill!
Back in 2010 I caught a 10.5 LMB at Perris while Bluegill fishing using 2# test on my ultra lite. I weighed, measured, took pics, and released her. I had a replica made and she's on my office wall.
I contacted CDFW to see if there were any line class records and was told there aren't. They sent me a certificate, which is framed and on the wall as well, stating that I caught and released a trophy bass.
Thanks for your responses! Wow, I am so jealous! I feel like it's impossible for me to be like all of you. You have great stories.
You had an amazing time! I don't think I'd be able to accomplish even one. Gaud, I could only imagine the experiences you had. So much fun!Quote:
Originally Posted by etucker1959
What a thrill indeed! I would also love to feel that thrill. That few minutes in our lives is rare and I would trade all the techs we have now just to experience that real adventure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jig-Guy
Wow, that's awesome. Wish we could see the replica! Congratulations by the way.Quote:
Originally Posted by NFCD I
Fishing the harbor and hooking a bat ray on 6 pound test is always fun.
Hooking a 30# 'stripper' on 6 pound test is always fun too.
Dating a pyscho ex was a pretty challenging catch too. Good thing that human sculpin was released.
I was in awe for the first two and when I read the last one, LOL. You're hilarious! Must have been really challenging.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkShadow
I am envious of all of your stories. I always want that sense of adventure but I think I have this fear of unfamiliar things or new things. Is there such? I mean, I can do things but the normal ones. Beyond my comfort zone, never done anything really. I know this is not that big of a deal but I was thinking of seeing a therapist to see if this is something that can be addressed. Has any of you had any experience in that?
Eh, anxiety is a regular part of human existence, and it exists in our DNA for survival.Quote:
Originally Posted by Althea Hamby
The greatest part is that nowadays, we don't have to worry about saber tooth tigers or other predators taking us out. (We just have to worry about cops thinking we're reaching for a gun.)
I have a trip to a new time zone this weekend, where I'm flying out for the first time in a while, and my anxiety got the best of me. But when you visualize success, you too can overcome the anxiety you get when encountering unfamiliar territories.
And, wear a mask if you're around people these next few. You have a lot of these anti-vaxers who have an IQ smaller than their shoe size that can still be carriers.
I have had a lot of "weird" catches, but not "challenging" ones. That's probably because I like lots of action but I am not a "lunker chaser." I don't spend a lot of time trying to catch one big fish, although I may do things a bit differently from other fisher people.
Some of my "interesting" catches include catching a 2 1/2 pound personal best Crappie at Bass Lake on a small, bead headed Zug Bug, catching a 17 inch bass in the Owens Valley on a small Black Ant imitation, and nearly catching another about that same size last year at Perris on an Adams, but it got into the brush and broke off, plus catching a bunch of pretty orange Salamanders in northern California at what was supposed to be a trout lake. (I did eventually catch a couple of trout there.) Also there was the bird at Perris that I fed five small Bluegill to last year, and a weasel a couple of years ago in Wyoming that made friends with me and followed me around, begging for a trout to eat. I never gave it any fish, but I figure that somebody must have been doing that before I came along. LOL Those other critters weren't "catches," but they were interesting.
Where is the photo of your catch? So that everyone around you would be a little jealous. I have never come across a large fish. All that I caught was small or closer to medium. It would be cool to catch a salmon weighing 7-8 kilograms.Quote:
Originally Posted by Natural Lefty
You bring up an interesting point about posting fish pictures on a fishing website. (everyone knows I don't post pictures) Their is a couple of reasons why I don't post pictures besides the obvious, they can be a lot of work to do it!Quote:
Originally Posted by Kay_B
1. I'm an ugly dude! I'm in my 60's and yes people still judge you by your looks! I know that for a fact on here!
2. By posting pictures, I think you lose your audience of your written story. (which I do like to tell a story in my fish reports)
3. I can't stand the fact on most fishing websites, a picture is all you get most of the time! Half of them won't even post the lake they went too!
4. This is the most important one! It keeps the Haters and the Trolls off of your fishing reports.
So here is the choice you get, show a picture and say nothing! Or saying anything you want, but don't post any pictures. If you do both, you will be
accused by some of burning a lake! People just can't take seeing and hearing it all! I wrote one of my favorite threads about that topic! (I'm still sticking
with that thought!)
Kay B, as I mentioned, my most memorable catches have been mostly unusual, not very large. On the large Crappie that I caught on a fly, our camera was not working during that trip so there were zero photos of that vacation. I don't think we bothered to take photos of the bass on the fly. It was just ordinary size for people using bass lures. It was just unusual for the tiny fly that I caught it on. (As mentioned, it almost happened again last year, so it might not have been a fluke.) The salamanders were amusing but I quickly put them back.
I do have lots of fishing photos from the past several years that I have not posted here yet. Perhaps I ought to but I have a lot of other tasks and things on my mind. However, I have learned to be careful about posting photos for various reasons. Some of them can bring out the haters, as Eric mentioned.
Hardest sought after fish for me was probably a 10lb Southern California bass.
Ive caught thousands of fish. Sometimes 30 per day, no joke. And you’ve all seen me. They’re always where they should be. Except momma bass. She’s a smart mofo.
8lbs I be at. Never higher.. and respect to those who have.
I’ve caught 10lb steelhead. Huuuuuge teeth. They draw blood and cut line.
10lb redfish in Florida
7lb catfish from Isabella on shrimp
3lb stocker trout
i lost a 10lb snook several times. They have rough teeth also. Saw line apart.
I banked a 20lb striper at Diamon Valley and I have a witness. The fish broke my line and took my “Perris trout” custom swimbait with him back to the deep.
I found a 16” brown trout in a Southern California stream in your back yard that you didn’t know existed, as well.
I lost a fish at Perris once under the Marina, who wrapped me on a dock post. that fish might have been a lake record. It might have also been a carp. We will never know. Lost part of my soul with that fish.
it’s also hard to catch sharks because they saw everything in half.
bay spotties can be difficult sometimes because of their teeth.
i caught a 1lb bullfrog being a douche at Fairmount with a little spider jig. Lesson learned..
caught a baby rattlesnake at silverwood. That animal is now inside my best fishing rod handle.
i released a foot long water mocassin in a Florida estuary along with a 6-1/2’ alligator.
i got my two back to back lunker punker striper out of DVL on a windy day, also. Those ones felt REALLY GOOD.
i got a 4lb striper on Bob’s boat on Tourney day at DVL. Flylined my anchove into 200’ of water like a boss.
i caught a 8lb momma bass on a deep diving crankbait that I moved the line tie position on the bill and filed the bill down to make it a shallow crank at Angler’s Lake right in front of Matt Duarte and SoCalRippen (Brian) in Hemmet before they plowed the whole lake with tractors. Only to reopen it years later for trout fishing.
another 6-8lb from the same lake on a flyline Yamamoto flapping hawg with Ewg worm hook
got 4lbs flylining a plastic frog at Fullmore
I watched skyler hook a 20” holdover trout out of silverwood on a lunker punker I just gave him also. Lmfao
lucky bastard. Wtf lol
only punker fish I ever seen out of silverwood. And I have been up there, trying. All hours of the night. With all kinds of striper plugs longer than your moms fingernails from the 80’s. To the tune of spotting kangaroo rats, who resemble Pokemon, crossing my moon lit paths. Listening to the coyotes watching behind me as I cast cast cast allllll night long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkShadow
they’re all that way. Never met one who was understanding and caring or supportive of anything I ever did. Lol
part of their programming.
not to be a hater but a lot of women folk are very self centered And selfish.
they definitely aren’t the type to post on a fishing forum “hey everybody come meet me down at my spot and share my giant fishes with me”
before all the women hate me for saying all that, know that I firmly believe that behind every good man is a good woman. Or in front, if Shes even better. That’s obviously why I’m completely nuts... the woman in my life.
definitely makes a fool out of me everywhere I go.
i wouldn’t have woke up in a 5x8 trailer in the forest this morning otherwise. I have kidney disease. Women think this is funny or a joke.
Not a rare catch at DV, It was the Blue Cat I caught in Rawson Cove @DV, I did not even have a proper rod for a heavy cat (Cannon 8ft Downrigger Med-Light action), the beast broke the rod at the neck of the handle and I did not even have a large net to land it so that bent and broke at the handle as well. We brought it to the Marina store and it weight in just under 32lbs released at the launch ramp. That was I think OCT 2010.Quote:
Originally Posted by Althea Hamby
The story is interesting, but it falls into the category of fishing fables that many fishermen tend to tell, exaggerating facts in order to impress other fishermen.Quote:
Originally Posted by GdHkSet1