# Fish stories...



## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Well both the LMR and GMR are way up, it's 34 degrees out and frankly it's one of those rare times I just didn't have it in me to go out and find a place to fish today. Seems like a good time of year to swap some fish stories and dream of spring...


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

It was 4 am below a low head on the Great Miami. I'm fishing a lipless crankbait on a medium spinning outfit. When the rod loaded up and bent into the cork. I remember it was pretty much a standoff with the fish taking about as much line as I was gaining for a long time. Long enough that my arm began to hurt. Finally I'm gaining line and the fish is to the point where I've got it up shallow several times before it powers back out to deeper water. A couple more of those and Ill have it. Then at the end of one of these short run the fish just stops. What the?? I just had the thing about landed and it's hung up out there in the dark. Just the week before in this same place I had hooked a giant that had just decided to leave and was well on it's way to spooling me when it pulled off. I wanted this fish badly. Out comes the wallet and the cell phone. I lay the on a rock and begin inching out into the dark. Just a little further... I'm now out in the river at 4 in the morning reaching that depth where certain parts of your anatomy don't wanna get wet. The rods bucks, the fish is still on somehow but still stuck. Just a bit more... Past the point of no return and the waters up to mid chest and the fish finally







swims free. A couple minutes more and I had a deathgrip on a big lower jaw and drug my fish to shore with a memory I'll never forget.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

First year out of high school. I was crazy about largemouth fishing back then. Single, cheap gas, money from that first real job, I fished a lot back then, and wasn't a slacker like nowadays. I'm pretty sure I snuck into just about every single farm pond in Warren county fishing a musky jitterbug at night for big bass. Remember the shimano bantam 100? The newest bestest baitcaster in the world back then. I remember fishing with mine so much that I wore the chrome plating off the side frame where I palmed the reel at. Well my brother Vic was selling fishing lures at the Cincy boat and travel show. (Back then they actually had fishing tackle at the show) I met this slow talking guy from Georgia that owned a huge farming operation. Well it turned out he had all these ponds and lakes dug all over the property to irrigate his farm from. I forget what the exact details were but I ended up paying him like a hundred bucks for his trouble and I could camp on his land for a week and fish all his different ponds and lakes. What a different world for a kid from Ohio. Some ponds had cypress trees growing in them with cypress knees sticking up everywhere. Others had big live oaks along the banks with spanish moss hanging down. In the evening farmers in bibs and floppy straw hats would catch giant bream on 15 foot long cane poles. It was a different world and I'd never seen anything like it before. The bass fishing was slow but when you caught one it was four or five pounds. Three or four of those a day made a kid fresh out of school pretty happy. I remember fishing a huge 3/4 ounce willow leaf spinnerbait with blades like five inches long every day trying for THE fish. Finally just about the time I'd given up hope this guy crushed it. Ten pounds four ounces! To this day I remember putting it the cooler because I was going to get it mounted and the tail lapping up on one end because it wouldn't fit. That's my clearest memory of the fish, being this excited kid looking in the cooler at this fish that didn't fit.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

I was in grade school... my dad and I took his smokercraft Canoe out to Ceasars Creek one Saturday morning to find some spring crappies. He has an ultralight fenwick rod he bought years before that, all graphite, you could tie this thing in a knot, it's that flexible. He adores this rod, so much so that to this day, I've never had the privelege of using it. 
Anyway, we were anchored off Walkers Island in about 15' of water over some cover. I was busy in the front of the canoe trying to set a slip bobber just off the bottom, dad being the diehard chartreuse jig fisherman he is, casting from the back. 
A big gust of wind comes up and breaks our anchor hold and we start drifting just as he snags his jig on a retrieve. We were anchored from the back, so my dad is trying to fiddle with the anchor in one hand and holding his rod in the other, he could not flip the bail open to let the slack out...he tries to place his beloved ultralight between his legs so he can grab the anchor rope with both hands... and then it happened ...."kerplop", his ultralight sinks down to the depths . i'll never forget the disappointed look on his face that day .

We paddle back to where we think it was lost and we get a good anchor hold again. 
my dad takes out a bigger 7 foot spinning rod and rigs up with a large treble hook and an egg sinker, he starts casting and retrieving along the bottom in hopes of catching his line or a fishing rod.
after 20 minutes of this I get bored and resume fishing with my slip bobber rig .
My dad casts out one more time with a desperate look on his face, you can see that he's about to cash it in and give up.
Just as he is doing that I finally find the bottom with my slip bobber rig which has one thin wire hook. as I am reeling up to biat my hook with a minnow...my dad's rod gets a little bend in it... his face lights up because he thinks he has called his fishing pole, when he reels it up he actually caught and 13 inch white Crappie!!
As I lift my slip bobber rig out of the water to bait up, i notice there is one thin strand of 4 pound monofilament laying over the shank of my hook... I reach down and grab it and start pulling ....
yep... I finally get to the end and I see the tip of an ultralight Fenwick rod !
So...my dad is fishing for a rod and catches a fish, and I am fishing for a fish and I catch his rod.... that was an incredible day that I will remember for the rest of my life !


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## Fisherman 3234 (Sep 8, 2008)

I have two fishing stories that really stick out in my memory, here they are:

The first story takes place when I was still in High School. I met my dad over at the local pond for some fishing after football practice. We both began to fish, I had one rod tight lined on the bottom baited with a hotdog that was being propped up on my camping chair. I was casting a Rooster Tail with my other rod trying to catch Crappie or Bass. Dad was fishing close to my chair so I told him to watch my rod while I went around a big bush to do a couple of casts. I make a two casts and on my third I heard a big splash... I immediately knew what had happened. I ran back around the bush to find my camping chair in the water and my rod gone. I said to my dad, "I thought you were watching my rod?". He said, "I did, I watched it go straight into the water." I had to chuckle a little bit at that one... I waded out into the pond to feel around the bottom to see if by some miracle it got caught on a rock or limb to no avail, it was gone. A few months go by, and on a random weekend I decided to head back to the pond to do some more fishing. While casting around the pond I ran into an old friend that was catfishing using a bottom bouncer. He was reeling in to check his bait while we were chatting when he felt something strange on his rod. There was definitely a fish on there but it just seemed strange. He kept reeling and reeling and out of the depths came my missing rod and reel with a giant Carp on the end of line. I couldn't believe my eyes. Before we could secure the Carp he made a big flop and broke the line. I told my friend what had happened months before and we both started laughing, he couldn't believe it either. So, I cleaned up the rod and reel and added back into my fishing arsenal. Dad still laughs about this story every time I tell it.

The second story takes place a few years ago when I was still working at Bass Pro Shops in Rossford. Me and a buddy I worked with were out one night on his pontoon boat (the CAT-MAN-DO) chasing big Flatheads during pre-spawn. We had anchored up on a good spot with great depth and cover. We casted out our bluegills to see what was hungry, and it wasn't long. I got a big take down on my right rod, I felt the fish on for a couple of seconds, it was huge. It ended up running straight into a snag. I tried to muscle him out at first, he was not budging. Then I tried the waiting game, and after 20 minutes I said to heck with it. Started pulling again and the line snapped. I was pretty bummed. The very next weekend we went out again to the same spot. This time my buddies rod gets taken down, same thing happens. Leon starts trying to pull the fish out of the snag. He can feel his line rubbing on the tree, he knows he has to be careful. Then it happens, he feels something give way in the snag and he begins to reel. I asked him "Is he still on?" Leon says "I don't know." Then all of a sudden his Berkley E-Cat rod bends all the way down to the cork handle. "He's on and he is a good one!" Leon fights the fish for twenty minutes. We finally get the monster Flatty up, and get a good look at him. I tell Leon "Bud, that could be a 50, we have to get him in the boat quick!" The fish came up again, and made another HARD run. Finally, on the third attempt the fish hesitated enough for me to get him in the net. We were both speechless. It was the largest Flathead I had ever seen in person. It measured 45" and weighed in at 44 lbs. The line and leader were frayed so badly, I have no idea how it didn't break. As it turned out this fish also had an old hook in his mouth...my hook from last weekend. After some photos, we released the river monster back into the depths, hoping that one day we would meet this leviathan again even bigger.


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## dytmook (May 3, 2015)

For a guy who likes fishing I can't say I have a ton of big fish stories. I think this past year was the first time as an adult I really went at it. most the time I went fishing with my family and had a great time but other than some trophy walleye on a charter, but I still don't feel like it was an awww. I spent a lot of time dinking and dunking in the river and small lakes with friends and it was a great time, but just not a dedication I guess to figuring out fishing.

As a kid though I remember fishing with my dad at Rocky Fork back when it apparently was a big Musky lake. We had a john boat and we less than expertly "trolled" around the lake. We snagged something. As we tried to dislodge it suddenly it starting running off line until there was a literally no line left. We were able to switch back and forth to get some line back. Finally we were making progress and my dad moves the boat closer to where it seems the line was and as he slowed down the fish I guess took off under the boat and snapped the line.

Same trip I remember my dad telling me to cast my bobber out by a log and it got a hit I missed. one of the first times I remember fishing beyond just throw it out there and hope.

I lost my biggest fishes I can remember at Rocky Fork. Another time there several years later I remember getting off our boat and dinking around with a nightcrawler and I hooked something big under a dock. Of course it snapped the line but it was exciting.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

dytmook said:


> For a guy who likes fishing I can't say I have a ton of big fish stories. I think this past year was the first time as an adult I really went at it. most the time I went fishing with my family and had a great time but other than some trophy walleye on a charter, but I still don't feel like it was an awww. I spent a lot of time dinking and dunking in the river and small lakes with friends and it was a great time, but just not a dedication I guess to figuring out fishing.
> 
> As a kid though I remember fishing with my dad at Rocky Fork back when it apparently was a big Musky lake. We had a john boat and we less than expertly "trolled" around the lake. We snagged something. As we tried to dislodge it suddenly it starting running off line until there was a literally no line left. We were able to switch back and forth to get some line back. Finally we were making progress and my dad moves the boat closer to where it seems the line was and as he slowed down the fish I guess took off under the boat and snapped the line.
> 
> ...


Lol. You need to upgrade the line....


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## tylerd1994 (May 11, 2009)

Saugeye Tom said:


> Lol. You need to upgrade the line....


I remember line breaking all the time when I was a little kid. May have been because that Trilene had been sitting in that zebco 33 for 15 years in the shed! Lol


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## dytmook (May 3, 2015)

Saugeye Tom said:


> Lol. You need to upgrade the line....


Well at 6 that was my dad's call and the other one was on a pretty cheapo rod and reel.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

dytmook said:


> Well at 6 that was my dad's call and the other one was on a pretty cheapo rod and reel.


Lol at six I was using stren gold...the ugliest yellow line I ever saw


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## dytmook (May 3, 2015)

Saugeye Tom said:


> Lol at six I was using stren gold...the ugliest yellow line I ever saw


haven't you learned that I'm way behind the bell curve on these things. I hadn't put my own line on until 2 years ago. A guys got to start somewhere.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

When I was around 15 or so we used to fish and camp a lot on the Ohio river. This was back in the day when you could take a boat right up to the big dams like Meldahl, even to the point of tying off in a gate they weren't letting water out of. Some of catfish fishing was incredible. We would pitch a big tent on the rock bar and camp, fishing the dam by day and out in front of camp by night. I remember dad had a mepps spinner that he fixed up with a skirt of frayed nylon rope. He would spend hours chasing gar with this thing. The trick was they would get all those teeth tangled in the rope and you could land them. I remember it worked better in theory than in practice though it did work sometimes. I do think that this kind of fishing where you are trying to catch whatever is biting,be it white bass, catfish, gar or bass or carp, is just about the best way you can ever learn how to fish. I know I wouldn't trade all those times on the river growing up for anything. Well one time my dad and were heading out to the river and it was hot. Really hot. Well instead of setting up on the rock bar below the dam and broiling like a lobster in the sun we decided we would be smart and we set up camp in this huge concrete culvert or tunnel that funneled a dry creek bed under the railroad. Man it was awesome a concrete patio out front to fish off of and back inside the tunnel it felt like air conditioning, it had to have been 10 or 15 degrees cooler than outside. We even found an old barrel that we set up as a table. Life was good. Then like the second or third night you could hear lightning off in the distance. Lots and lots of lighting. To this day I sill don't think I've ever seen a more severe thunderstorm than the one that hit about dark. There were hundreds and hundreds of lighting strikes and no way we were getting out of that tunnel. Along one side a tiny trickle of water began to run. Just an inch or two wide at first. We were perched up on cots snug as a bug in a rug and enjoying the show. The problem was it wasn't letting up. Pretty soon the trickle was a couple feet wide and an inch deep and we were really paying attention. In a bit things like pieces of styrofoam cups and other trash was washing down the culvert and it was a couple inches deep on the one side and stretched most of the way across the tunnel including under our cots. It looked pretty eerie in the light of the old gas lantern. And the storm was just as severe as ever. I remember dad saying now don't zip up your sleeping bag and we had a life jacket lying on each cot. I think we could both picture a couple feet of water flooding down the culvert and washing us both out into the river. I remember seeing at least one crayfish crawling along and sometime during the night we saw a small snake slithering along between our cots. Long story short it never did get over a couple inches deep at it's deepest but that's plenty deep enough when it' running under your cot. After a long sleepless night we packed up first thing and moved back to the rock bar!


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

When you have spent a lifetime in the woods you naturally run into a bear now and then. This is the story of the only bear that scared me a little bit. We were backpacking in the smokies and I'd fished this creek before and knew it doubled back on itself so much that if you actually walked straight away from the creek in a few minutes you would hit it much further upstream without having to have waded a bunch of unproductive water. So I'm thrashing around thru the woods and "Oh S%$, there's a bear". A really close bear maybe twenty yards away and he was just standing there looking at me. So I talked to the bear calmly letting him know I was a human. "Hello bear, how are you today?". Nothing, the bear just stands there looking me right in the eyes. We both stand there for what seems like forever. I talk to the bear some more. The bear just stands there. Then suddenly you could see in the bears body language it relax. It lowers it's head eating on something and I take a step or two slowly backwards. It raises it's head and it's got a deer leg in it's jaws! No wonder it wasn't going anywhere. "Good bear, nice bear" as I take a couple more steps backward. Now that the bear has relaxed I slip the camera out of my pocket and snap a couple bad pics as I ease back towards where I came from. Come to think of it the fishing wasn't too bad in those last couple pools...


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

About 8 years ago in July, I was Lucky enough to join my father and all 7 of of his brothers on a fishing trip to the Kenai peninsula in Alaska to chase the Sockeye Salmon run. We flew in to Anchorage, rented two huge RV's.. and just drove around sight seeing, hiking, and fishing for 2 whole weeks. 
About midway into the trip we stopped for some fishing along the Russian river,which was prettiest water I've ever had the pleasure of stepping foot in, just plain gin clear.
Only knee deep, but you could watch as thousands of Salmon slowly made there way upstream right next to you.
i'm about an hour into it with a few nice salmon on my stringer at my feet ... I remember a few gentleman to my right reeling up their rods and walking up river, at the same time,several gentlemen on my left reeled up there rods and walked down stream , I didn't pay any attention to them because all I knew was that I had the entire section to myself now. I look directly across the small river, which is only about 40 yards, and I see people on the boardwalk taking pictures . then I start wondering and it dawns on me that something is behind me.. at that moment a wildlife officer comes running down the boardwalk, hand gun drawn ... and this was no 9 mm pistol , my best description would a small hand cannon with an 8" barrel.
He looks at me and says " release your stringer and make your way across the river... NOW." I did just that ,while looking behind me to see a huge black bear staring down the fish on my stringer.. and only about 15 or 20 yards away. The next thing I remember is sitting on the boardwalk on the other side of the river looking back at my stringer of fish, the bear, and my yellow backpack... A kind old angler sitting next to me pulls out a flask of whiskey from his vest... i politely took swig and thanked him...
then returned to the RV and promptly changed my shorts ...


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## MDBuckeye (Sep 29, 2009)

One of my most memorable experiences ever was with my brother when I was only about 10. He is 11 years older than me and decided to take me to our Uncles pond with the canoe on an over night trip. This pond is loaded with solid 3lb bass and very nice gills to boot. As it usually was, my brother had me fishing for gills for dinner and he was bass fishing. I was catching a ton of nice gills and got bored so began bass fishing too. We both caught a few nice bass and he decided he wanted to try to catch a bigger fish so put on a giant floating Rapala, J18 or something that just seemed unnatural to me. It was chartreuse and he worked it very slowly for several casts right at dusk before getting a bite. The bite wasn't a normal strike, it was so violent it moved the canoe. Being many years ago I remember it towing our canoe around like nothing. Finally the fish tired and my brother got it to the side of the boat with his rod held high. He told me to reach down and grab the fish by the lower lip and lift it in the boat. It was enormous, easily the biggest bass I had ever seen. I reached down and grabbed the Rapala instead of its lip pulling the lure out of its mouth. The fish laid there motionless for what seemed like an eternity before swimming off. My brother beat me with the canoe oar and cursed me out the entire night. He was sickened. The following Spring he went to the pond with a friend of his who happened to catch the bass. They weighed, measured, and took pictures of it before releasing it once again. The bass weighed 9.7oz and was nearly 25" long. My brothers friend had a replica made of it and to this day my brother brings up how I lost him the only largemouth he would have ever mounted and largest he would have ever caught. No one ever caught that fish again or one that size out of the pond as far as we know.


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## jmpmstr1998 (Jun 19, 2009)

While I was stationed in Oklahoma I tried to take my daughter on any outdoor adventures I could. One day I packed her in the truck with a couple poles and off we went to a little pond off one of the boundary roads.
We cast out a couple crawlers and I set my rod down to relax. My daughter wanting to be like daddy did the same and we sat on the tailgate of my truck. I told her that she might want to hold the rod in case she got a bite but she said she was good. Less than 2 minutes later her rod(a little kids rod) took off like a bottle rocket and quickly disappeared. I quickly brought in my line and out on a big treble hook while hoping I could retrieve the pole. I went around to the side and on the 4th or 5th cast snagged her line. Upon bringing it in I quickly retrieved the rod and felt the telltale pull of a fish. I handed her the rod and with some help she was able to bring in a catfish longer than she was tall. We got a couple pics which were destroyed in a flood and let it go for someone else to catch. This was 2002 and to this day she still remembers it vividly as do I.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

was salmon fishing at Manistee Michigan and was reeling my bait in and felt some resistance on my line. I set the hook but there was nothing there. I kept reeling and still felt something wasn't right. when I lifted my bait there was a fishing line over a barb of the hook. I took the line in my hand and started coiling the line between my feet. then I felt something on the other end of the line. I began pulling on the line, and it pulled back hard. I would pull and coil the line then let the line slide through my hand when the fish made a run. after what seemed like half an hour the fish was brought to the side of the boat. it was hooked in the tail and every time we tried to net it it would take off splashing us good. we finely netted the 23+ lb salmon.

another time at the same place my brother hooked one. after a short battle his line got tangled on the bottom, but he still had the fish on. after some time trying to get his line loose he gave up. I took my rig and cast it out over his line between the snag and the fish. I would gain line and my brother would reel up the slack. when it would make a run he would give me slack and I would let the line slip through my hands. after a while the fish was netted and my brother was very happy with our catch. I have other stories but I've rambled on long enough.
sherman


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

One that comes to mind ... I was pretty young. Maybe 10 or so. Me my dad and one of his co workers decided to fish CJ Brown one spring day for panfish. We caught some fish and headed to the N side of the lake fishing the large wooden piers. It wasn't long and a huge storm blew up with torrential rain and wind. Now anyone that knows CJ knows for whatever reason that lake can get real nasty in a hurry. We were fishing in a 15ft 1970s model Cajun bass boat that certainly wasn't designed for those conditions ! We headed back towards the dock and it was all I could do to hang on. Dad put me in the floor and the waves were so high the front of the boat seemed to jump 10 ft in the air and then would come crashing down! For a 10 year old it was kind of scary. We made it safely across and to this day I don't remember being in a more unsafe condition on the water than we were that day !


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

ML1187 said:


> One that comes to mind ... I was pretty young. Maybe 10 or so. Me my dad and one of his co workers decided to fish CJ Brown one spring day for panfish. We caught some fish and headed to the N side of the lake fishing the large wooden piers. It wasn't long and a huge storm blew up with torrential rain and wind. Now anyone that knows CJ knows for whatever reason that lake can get real nasty in a hurry. We were fishing in a 15ft 1970s model Cajun bass boat that certainly wasn't designed for those conditions ! We headed back towards the dock and it was all I could do to hang on. Dad put me in the floor and the waves were so high the front of the boat seemed to jump 10 ft in the air and then would come crashing down! For a 10 year old it was kind of scary. We made it safely across and to this day I don't remember being in a more unsafe condition on the water than we were that day !


Gotta get you out on erie....


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## Seaturd (Apr 14, 2004)

I was saugeye fishing by myself at Atwood one time - trolling homemade spinners tipped with a minnow. I was using a L action spinning rod/reel spooled with 8 lb test. I had caught a couple of 15 inchers and was trolling the edge of a weedbed when my rod suddenly bent over. Thinking I was snagged I kicked the motor into neutral and started pulling hard on the line trying to drag my boat to the snag. Suddenly the snag came to life and started fighting back. It would peel some line and I'd get it back, peel and reel.... While I'm fighting this epic battle a pontoon boat full of Amish people had pulled up to watch unbeknownst to me. I finally get the beast in the net and get it in the boat. Suddenly I hear voices and clapping and turn to look - there off the starboard bow is a pontoon full of Amish congratulating me and applauding. I felt like an ass hoisting my 12# channel cat for them all to witness.


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## zimmerj (Oct 17, 2014)

When we made our first trip to Canada we always wanted an early start. Every morning we woke up before 6:00AM. Most of the time the winds would be calm which gave a mirror-like surface to the water. That was our go signal. If the winds were up, we just took a little more time before hitting the water. If we were out by 6:00AM we would fish for about three hours and then head in for breakfast.

My mother, who liked to fish, was not an early riser. Usually in the middle of the afternoon we would take her out for a couple of hours, anchor at a cove, and just relax. The area we fished at that time of the day was very quiet. We’d catch a few fish dropping a worm over the side and she would be happy. Then one day, lightning struck, and we were not ready.

Anchored at a cove, my mother hooked into a big fish. She was using the old rod my grandfather made. That fish, whatever it was, put a big bend in it. My father looked at me with his eyes wide open. We sat in the boat giving her all kinds of instruction as she reeled the fish in. My father just kept saying “don’t horse it in”. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that the net we had, with a collapsible handle, wasn’t ready. When the fish came to the surface it was a big largemouth bass. I truly believe a bowling ball would have fit comfortably in its mouth. Seeing the fish, my mother began to panic, as she didn’t want to lose it. My father reached for the net but because the handle wasn’t engaged it started to spin and he couldn’t put it under the fish. My mother, forgetting all the instructions just given her, saw that and tried to lift the fish in the boat. Her fate was sealed at that point. The fish broke the line, and all three of us sat in stunned silence that felt like hours. What happened next is something I will never forget.

The quiet of that afternoon was broken as my mother yelled “YOU IDIOTS”, in a decibel level that no human before or since has ever come close to matching. I’m sure people in Quebec, 300 miles away, heard those words. Dogs hid in fear. Birds flew to the safety of their nests. No words could be spoken to calm her down. If she knew how to swim I believe she would have jumped out of the boat and swam to shore.

Not funny at the time, but 50 years later, hilarious.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Be careful I lost a great fishing partner to a snake in the river years back!!!

My buddy was a big LMB fisherman and was working tournaments at the time. All I did was talk about how much fun these bronzebacks were. I convinced him that he needed to wade the river with me and hunt down some Smallies . . . see what all the fuss was about. 

My Friend was your average outdoorsmen and angler. A different stock of people than my other associations! He had never waded before, but knowing he was such an avid outdoorsmen I had full confidence in him, no worries . . . right? 

We fished most of the day and I attempted to give pointers on how best to fish for and catch a smallmouth during our session on the river. He just continued to fish like he was used to for largemouth and consequently toward the end of our excursion he’d only landed a few fish and all were largemouth. 

So, we ended up on one of my “honey holes” !! In-between us and the shoreline was a deeper channel that separated us from the bank, it was about 20 ft out. In the midst of our fishing I notice a water snake winding its way above the water. I quickly pointed it out, both as an FYI and because it was a larger specimen of about 3 ½ - 4 feet in length. 

Immediately my partner locked up and froze at the sight of this large reptile. Being not afraid of snakes, I continued to cast my rod in hopes of ending the day with a good catch. The snake was coming toward us now and it looked as if it had been swimming from the opposite side of the bank we were fishing. Rooted in now, like a statue, moving only his lips my buddy frightfully whispered, “its coming for me.” 

I laughed it off as just a humorous comment from him. I told him they’re harmless of course, but then I saw the real fear in his eyes. I thought, wow he is scared to death, I thought he was an outdoorsmen, its just a snake.

Being paralyzed in fright my friend hadn’t moved for sometime. The snake had been on a lengthy swim and must have found my friend a restful sanctuary lying motionless in the middle of the river. The snake moved for my friend and his flight or fight response took him over. He chose flight, and bound through the river in retreat of the snake that followed him. 

He ran as fast as he could splashing all the way and yelling in high pitched tones, “its after me . . . I’m being attacked.” 

His panic attack got him no-where because the resistance of the water forced him to run in slow-motion through the river toward the bank and the deeper water. With no regard to how deep the water lay before him. He lurched forward and disappeared. The deep hole that was between him and the bank swallowed him Whole. 

Soaked to the bone and relieved of the snake’s pursuit, my buddy left the water with no smallmouth caught and a bad taste for wading the river. 

He’s not returned since. Like I said, “I lost a great fishing partner to a snake in the river years back!!!”


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Smb I chocked on my sub laughing why reading your story....
I laugh but would react the same


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

I had a deathly encounter with a big copperhead when I was a kid. I ended up standing on the snake while it kept biting the side of my boot. I froze and hollered for help. my cousin came and seen the problem and used a garden hoe to behead the snake. and I've had a fear of snakes ever since then. I would probably jump into a fire pit to get away from a snake.
sherman


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## Hammerhead54 (Jun 16, 2012)

When I was 13 or 14 years old my best fishing buddy got a fly rod. After seeing him catch some fish with it I decided I absolutely had to have one too. It took a few months of scrimping, saving and whatever kind of little odd jobs i could get to finally accumulate enough money to finally get one. A couple months after acquiring my fly rod I was fishing a local farm pod with another one of my buddies. I was fishing for bluegill with a tiny little fly (and catching quite a few nice ones) while the guy I was fishing with was casting lures (we almost exclusively used "purple worms"which was our term for purple plastic worms back then.) Any way, after awhile I got tired of catching bluegill and he got tired of not catching any bass, so we decided to trade off poles for awhile. On maybe his 4th cast or so, he hooked into something that absolutely bent my flyrod in half. I was freaking out that my recently acquired flyrod was going to be broken in half, so i told him that i was going to grab the line and break it before the rod bent. He kind of growled at me that if I broke that line he was going to throw me in the pond. Him being a head taller and a couple years older, I decided to stand back and watch the fight. After a few minutes , a large fish came to the surface and just kind of wallowed around a little bit. The mystery of what he had hooked was revealed to be the biggest largemouth bass either of us had ever seen. I think that bass was trying to jump but it was so big it couldnt quite clear the water. After a really good fight my buddy muscled the bass about 3' from the bank and had it on the surface. At this point I was so excited that I voluntarily jumped in the pond and rammed my hands up under its gills and threw it up on the bank. That fish weighed 7 pounds and 15 ounces and remains the largest bass I have ever seen in person.


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## B1gDaddyT (May 19, 2006)

OSG that's a great story, fishing creates wonderful memories for those of us who are captured by its passion.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Early trips with my father always hold special places in my Fishing memory bank.
Some time in late April or early May my dad and I would pack fly-fishing gear and camping supplies into the fishing car, an 1958 edsel wagon for an annual fishing trip. Thursday evening we would head east to the Scioto river. Dad would take a vacation day on Friday and I was permitted to skip school. We camped in one of many of my father's fishing spots, often fishing several tributaries over the W/E. Our main target was and still is my favorite target-- W/ bss
My mother , Bless her heart, always filled out cooler with fried chicken and homemade tater salad for dinners and biscuits and home-made sausage and home-cured ham, which we warmed in our camp fire for breakfast and she always included a special surprise dessert to go along with dads special "cowboy coffee" often apple turnovers or a blackberry pie made from last season's canned berries-- yum !
In my memory the fishing was always fantastic and mid days were spent mushroom hunting, looking for arrowheads and exploring old barns and old homesites near the river , late evenings by the campfire passed by too quickly as I listened to my father's "tall tales" of his early years fishing and hunting this same area. We would soon fall asleep in the back of the fishing car listening to the sound of barred owls, foxes, racoons or just the distant sound of old man river moving south-- Great times and my best fishing memories.
Good luck and Good Fishing !


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