Caught a 30 pound buffalo on a Bandit 200 using 10 pound flouro. That flouro was burnt up after getting it in.

Also had a 3 foot snake in the dark right before the sun came up. Thought is was a rope and almost grabbed it. Put it back in the water and it came off.

Fishin a tx rig on docks on lbj. Right after my electric grape worm went under, felt a little twitch. Set the hook and it was on. Got it to the boat and it was a 12 lb carp....hooked in the tail fin lol. Couldn't do it again if I tried, and I have lol

caught a rock in the Potomac River during a tournament. Hooked a barnacle with a square bill. Really (it seemed too) put up a big fight. Probably weighed 3 pounds. I kept it and still have it in my work shop.

The most unusual for me was a freshwater mussel on a crappie jig, an unopened beer can on same crappie jig, crayfish on a plastic worm and a pair of granny drawers on a crankbait - all in the same day on two different lakes/ponds.

Biggest was a 6-7 foot alligator gar, snagged in the side with a crappie jig and brought to the side of the boat where I reeled to the jig and popped it free - lipping was out of the question.

Too many carp, buffalo and catfish to remember them all but always an unexpected surprise at the time.

Caught two carp in the mouth on crappie kids fishing for sand bass in the brazos river. Lots of people don’t believe me when I tell them.

You name it and me or my partner have caught it in a tournament...anywhere from turtles on crankbaits, comorant on chatterbait (cast still in the air and flew into line), bowfin, catfish, pickerell, and last but not least a diaper fishing riprap on Ray Hubbard....

a clear dixie cup coming at you puts up a good fight.

As for “junk” caught fishing. I caught a 3-1/2 pounder on a cast, then hit the same spot on a second cast and caught two new spinning rod combos with the tags on them and a set of boat buckles still on the plastic display hanger. They hadn’t been in the water long enough to even get slimy. That was a great two casts. It put me into second place and the junk I caught made up the difference in money. Lol.

Fairfield at first light tossing a buzz bait across a point and big blue heron was sitting near the bank. As soon as I ripped it out over the grass he takes off...UNDER MY LINE. I can't let go of my rod and my line is across his back. Tried to let it just slide over and off of him but it hooks him on the back of his wing. Now I have 30 yards of line out, a big arse blue heron up about 20 feet above my boat flapping around and squawking like I had insulted his momma! I'm trying to reel him back down while a couple of guys in another boat 100 yards away are getting a nice morning idiot show. Finally got him down to the water and ease him next to my boat and that sucker tried to peck my freakin eyes out! Managed to get my net over his head to secure his beak and finally pull my buzzbait out of him with no major injuries to him. Popped off the net and away he went!

that's funny, reminds me of a seagull whos life i saved on gvine years ago. drove up on him struggling in the water looking like a gator had a hold of him. get to him and see he is drowning due to a zara spook hooking his beak to both of his feet. i pulled out the net, scooped him onto the deck and jumped on his back with pliers in hand. same thing, once i freed his beak he became dangerous. finally free i let him up and remove the net. he kindly then hopped to the bow of my boat, turned around and skwawked at me then proceeded to turn the bow of my boat into a nasty smelly greyish liquid mess. damn bird.

We were fishing a night tournament in Tennessee several years back, and my partner set the hook and then screamed for the net. After several seconds, he said that he had something VERY heavy but it wasn't a bass. He would pull line in and then it would slowly sink his rod tip into the water. After several minutes of this it came into sight and he exclaimed "OH GOD! I CAUGHT A DEAD BODY !!!" Confused, I asked him what he meant. He said ..."It's a body. It has on a plaid flannel shirt". I told him to bring it up again and we'd decide what to do with it. Needless to say, we were both quite shaken up by now. As he slowly brought the "body" to the surface and we got a good look at it in the black light, we saw that it was a folded out chaise lounge style lawn chair that had the old style laced plastic webbing. We had a good laugh about it, but we were both thankful it wasn't a body.

Hair Jig

dang, i started a good thread...only reason i did is cause i caught a few of these ugly/skinny cats at a tank on a #2 Mepps...this one weighed 4.6 lbs...imagine if it were healthy~~~

yawl's stories are much more interesting

^^ that's a pretty good sign that those cats are starving and having to eat almost anything that hits the water. You should take a few out and eat them so it helps thin the herd some!

Caught a Shimano chronarch on a Castaway rod at the highway bridge on Monticello. Sent the reel back to Shimano for repair and they sent me a brand new one.