Whats the most unusual thing you've caught (or nearly caught)

Illkillya

I know I've got a caught a lot of unusual stuff over the years, some of which were fish I know i'm forgetting some really weird things i got years ago, so i'll just mention a few things:

fish: I got a really weird fish once while fishing for wrasse with a small hook and a little bit of barnacle. I can't remember the name of the species, although I identified it in a book. I remember finding them in shrimp pots when i was about 5 and I used to help with the shrimp. Its a small blue fish shaped a bit like a male angler fish (small), a bit like Blinky from the simpsons but without the 3rd eye Its blue on the back and white/blue/red/oil coloured in the belly which is v.soft. It weighed about half a pound i suppose. I remember as a youngun being told that those fish were poisonous to touch, but since then I've been told that the only poisonous fish you'll catch like that would be weevers, and this wasn't a weever afaik.

dogs: I have caught my own dog twice (a rat-like terrier). Once when my bro came to visit me while i was catching some mackerel, the dog liked to chase the german sprat as I was casting and so he got a hook in his backside.
The second time I caught my dog was when he was there as i was fishing (i was more careful this time) and I caught a nice big pollack, and I was reeling him and just about to get him when the fish started thrashing on the surface (as usual) and the dog went insane and jumped on top of the fish. Of course, the fish was unhooked but the dog wasn't so lucky. he hasn't been fishing with me since
The third time i caught a dog, i was fishing at night on a beach for bass, and a load of travellers came out to walk their dogs along the beach. they were very interested in the fishing, and soon i was surrounded by them and their dogs and i couldn't see much, so next thing I heard a yelp as I was reeling in and saw a scrawny greyhound standing on his front legs, the rod was almost bent in 2, it didn't last long, because when I retrieved my hook the hook was completely straightened out

Lobster: I didn't quite get it, but I nearly did. I was fishing for conger off a pier, lying flat on my stomach watching the conger's head peering from beneath the pier, staring at my bait. Then i noticed something unusual... two big huge lobster claws appeared from underneath the pier. A fully grown adult lobster was under this pier, and staring at my bait. Naturally I ignored the conger and thought of the £20 I could get off some yachty types for this lobster so i moved my bait over to him, and he went for it. Came completely out from beneath the pier, and went for the bait. Grasped it with his claws, and I started to lift him up. I've done this with big crabs dozens of times and it often works, but maybe this lobster was more intelligent because he let go. At low tide I was back with some waders and lobster catching tools, but we didn't get the bastard. I left a baited lobster pot there overnight but we never saw the **** again.

jd

Originally posted by Illkillya
I know I've got a caught a lot of unusual stuff over the years, some of which were fish I know i'm forgetting some really weird things i got years ago, so i'll just mention a few things:

fish: I got a really weird fish once while fishing for wrasse with a small hook and a little bit of barnacle. Its a small blue fish shaped a bit like a male angler fish (small), a bit like Blinky from the simpsons but without the 3rd eye Its blue on the back and white/blue/red/oil coloured in the belly which is v.soft. It weighed about half a pound i suppose. I remember as a youngun being told that those fish were poisonous to touch..

Sounds something like what we use to call a stoney cobbler in wexford-I think they are actually called bullheads

It could have been a young gurnard too maybe?
take a look here
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/.

i caught a pipefish in wexford harbour years ago.


http://www.marlin.ac.uk/demo/synacu.htm

also a ruffe in a lake near wexford town
a dead blue shark in kerry
a seagull off kilmore
and a few more
jd

Illkillya

ya thats the ****er in the first picture.. i'm still scared of them even tho i've been told since that they're not poisonous. Google search shows that its also called Short Spined Sea Scorpion or Fatherlasher (thats the name i knew it by in the book). I remember being told not to pick them up even with gloves on because their poison would go through the glove (spines i presume)..
I must have got it mixed up with weevers when i was a youngfella, since the websites say its not poisonous

I got a pipefish with my hands once in america. also a tiny stickleback. The dead blue shark is kind of funny... i caught a dead whale once, but that doesn't really count because it was on purpose

also caught the back of my friends boat just as he was leaving the harbour... had to cut the line

Acidflash

a friend of mine nearly caught a seal while fishing for conger eels off the side of a pier