I've caught three non-fish species along with I don't know how many fish species. I've caught a whole lot of the freshwater species in America, probably all of the warm water ones and a lot of the cold water ones. I've caught about a hundred different kinds of saltwater fish too.

But three of my most memorable catches have been something other than fish.

Turtles. I've caught a couple of dozen hundred or so turtles in my life. Mostly while fishing on the bottom for catfish with cut bait and a lot more on trot lines. But I've caught turtles on spinners and spoons and last weekend I caught one on a woolybugger. Actually I've caught two on a fly, but one was foul hooked in it's front paw. This last one was fair hooked in the mouth. Had it not been for my needle nose pliers it would still be wearing that fly. Turtles don't fight so good though so I don't target them. Tried to eat one once, they are a real pain to clean and you get just a tiny bit of meat - and it didn't taste all that good either. Someone told me that they are good if you cook them right - I've known cooks that could make cardboard and shoe leather taste good cause they could cook them right. I'm a pretty darn good cook myself, but turtle apparently isn't in my circle of ability.

I've caught two cotton mouth water moccasins. One I saw swimming and I cast across it and snagged it in the middle - yeah I was a kid then and thought it would be fun. Actually it was fun, that thing put up a tremendous fight, one of the best I've had on a Zebco 202. I caught it on one of my favorite Mepps spinners and didn't want to cut the line. You should have seen the fight after the fight on the Zebco - that thing was hooked right in the middle and was truly angry. It kept striking at me and was wily as all hell. Took me quite a while to get its head pinned down with a stick - and then it wrapped it's body around my forearm when I pulled the hook free. Getting shed of it was harder than catching it. The other I fair hooked in the mouth and having been through that experience once before I donated the lure to it, along with about twenty feet of line.

When a friend and I went fishing in his boat I saw one and cast to it, a bass bug fly, trying to entice it to bite. I thought Dave was going to throw me out of his boat, and I'm sure he would have if it had bitten. Apparently he doesn't cotton to having a cotton mouth in the boat with him. Makes him right feisty too.

There was this stock tank I used to have permission to fish, back before my older brother cussed out the new owner one day - the one I caught the 2.5 pound blue gill out of in 1972 when I was on leave from the Army. Before I went in the Army I fished that tank just about every day, it was a short walk from home. The upper end of that tank, where the creek came in, was a real fishy spot. Narrow and deep and lots of brush, and dark water. I can remember it like it was yesterday, but it was early 71. I was fishing with a plastic frog about two inches, one that floated on top. I'd cast it out to the other side of that upper end, about 100 feet or so to where there were some lilly pads.

I landed the frog on top of a lilly pad and then let it set there for a long time, just wiggling it a little now and then, shaking that pad. I could just imagine a big old bass under those pads looking up and seeing that frog's shadow through the pad leaf and getting tenser and tenser as it kept shaking that leaf. That old bass's mouth would be watering (if such a thing were possible) just thinking of that nice juicy meal about to jump into the water.

I plopped that frog off that leaf into a small opening in the pads and WHAM! You wouldn't believe the massive water boil and how far water splashed - and then the fight was on. It felt like I had a ten pound bass on, maybe a twelve pounder. My heart was beating fair to bust and I don't think I breathed the whole time. I fought that monster all the way across that murky water and when it got close I saw a flash of white down below and I started shaking like a leaf.

Finally I pulled the monster up close to the surface and saw I had a bull frog on. He was a big old bull frog, but he wasn't no bass, and for a moment I was disappointed and let some line slip out. The frog took off with that run of line and I fought him back up again - and while doing that I realized it wasn't what I had on the hook that mattered, it was the fight it put up that counted. I got that frog off after a good battle, and immediately went to trying to catch another one. To this day I've not caught another one. Which makes bull frogs something special and remarkable in my fishing history - I'll keep trying though and maybe some day I'll do it again.

I sure hope so.

Bull frogs are down right mean as well as good eating and will attack anything!

Enjoyed the post. Thanks for sharing.

i used 2 fish for bullfrogs...i'd c 1 close 2 the bank and throw my mepps spinner on the bank...they'd jump on it and bak n the water...thanks for reminding me of the good ole days...don't seem 2 c very many bullfrogs around nemore

Not many bullfrogs on the river banks for some reason - in fact none that I've ever seen. Maybe they don't like moving water.

Great times, thanks. ...... I mean I would never condone or think it was fun to target other animals like snakes and turtles. ( never eaten one that was...taste good). Lol those are times we take to our final day. I like to think my kids will still be able to catch gills and throw them to the blue herin, look back and say that was not the nicest thing we've done but it was fun! Life lessons.

I foul-hooked a 6 foot gator once, on a black and blue H&H. Reeling him in was like reeling in a log. No fight at all. Until it got to the boat. See, that was my only blue and Black H&H, and it had been catching fish, so I wanted it back. I got it back, but it cost me 2 foot off of the end of a $20 rod to save that 75 cent spinner.
I thought it was worth it.

(Oh. Uhhh, no comment on how I managed to foul hook a gator. None at all )

Kirk

A gator! I'd try that...

Funny story, thanks for telling!!!!