Accidental hook ups

[Aaron]

So lets here some of your stories about accidental hook-ups....Fishing type 

I had one a few years back on the Salmon. I was just learning how to use a baitcaster. I had attempted to toss out my set up, it landed about 6 feet in front of me and had one of the ugliest birdsnests I have ever managed. While trying to work it free, I was unable to pull slack up so I gave it a little tug thinking my setup was on the bottom...nope fish, attempts to run, but couldn't go anywhere....snap goes the line.

[Brian]

My favorite accidental hookup was years ago on the Humtulips River with chumdog. I cast out into a likely looking drift and hooked up with a fish. When it got closer to the boat I noticed my pink/white Birdie drifter was about 24" away from the steelhead. Then, I noticed another drift bobber in the fishes mouth. Upon landing the fish I discovered that my #1 hook had actually hooked through the eye of a #10 barrel swivel tied onto a 18" leader which was connected to the corky/ yarn rig in the fishes mouth. What are the odds of that happening. Even funnier, was that I saw the saw thing happen again the very next year.

[Backer51]

Brian, I was on the Carbon and saw a kid do the same thing.  Fought the silver all the way in to find out he had hook the eye of the swivel. 

[NavySeniorChief]

Now that's just plain insane, let alone see it happen more than once!!

[Todd]

Flyfishing on the Firehole River in Yellowstone NP...snagged on my backcast, and turned around to see my size 18 dry stuck in the tufts of hair between the horns of a big bull bison...a herd had walked down behind me to get a drink, and the river was noisy enough that I didn't hear 'em.

Long distance released...

Fish on...

Todd

[Chum Man]

a couple of years back my dad hooked and landed a 5lb or so steelhead by a leader hanging out of its mouth.  not by the eye of the hook or the swivel, but his #4 hook slid up the line, and got stuck around the corky!  it didn't penetrate the corky, just got stuck around it as it was larger than the bend of the hook!

[SciGuy]

Fishing for halibut in AK with a 16 oz stainless steel jig with a 2 inch circle hook and baited wtih a pink salmon head.  Landed a 30+ lb chinook.  Crazy.

[BobberDown]

Chumluvin and BobberUp have a good story to share that I was fortunate enough witness.  I will let them share the story, but it involves fly gear, a bat, BobberUp's head, and screaming like a little girl.  Great night.

[chrome/22]

Todd, gonna be tough to top your Buff-hook up! Mine is a bit more tame. I was fishing for Dec. steelhead waded out to a small island to fish over some brats. River conditions were crappy at best with 12-18" vis, I was throwing the brightest jig I had on me under a float fishing water about 6-8' deep. After about 1/2 hour of casting I knew it was pointless, reeled in & started chating with the guy next to me. Rod is tucked under my arm & I have my jig in about a foot of water, just off my 9' rod tip....... a 5-6 lb. brat nails it. I look over to my fellow fisherman & say apparently we were fishing a bit too deep.........



 ............C/22

[nick]

Driftin' a big Spin-N-Glow in a really deep drop offnext to the bank. Drift stops, I yank. I figured it was a snag. I pulled, and it started coming toward me. I figured a tree branch. Got it to the bank. A 60s vintage 8ft. noodle rod. Plastic shaft, wood handle, hand wound guides, no reel.

[Terrapin]

I have to third Brians strange hook up.  I was fishing below Blue Creek this summer and snagged up on something.  I tugged and then straight lined it to break it off.  It came off and it felt like I had something else hooked which was snagged.  It was coming but it felt like I was hooked to a big ball of line so their was resistance.  I get it about halfway in and then a rod jerking strike and then a five foot leap by a nice summer run soon follows.  The fish jumped high five or six times so I could tell something wasn't right immediately.  My corky was attached to some line and then three feet farther down I could see a tuft of cerise yarn in the nose of the fish.  I finally got the fish in thinking the whole time that I would lose it.  When I beached the fish I was hooked into the barrel swivel of someone elses line.  There was no line on the barrel swivel either!  Just my lead to a corky then a barrel swivel on the second leader to a tuft of yarn, hook and a nice 10-12 pound summer run.  I figure I pulled a line off the bottom and then the fish saw it and struck at the towed offering.  Either way I considered it a lucky catch and it topped off a very nice day of steelheading for me (and their were only four or five people at Blue Creek?)  I thought it would be a once in a lifetime fish but I guess not!

Terrapin 

[BigCohoTom]

Shawn, that's a great story, but with only four or five people, are you sure you were at Blue Creek ?

[Moose Eyes]

Here's a different type of hook up I experienced Saturday afternoon.  I was fishing by myself when another angler showed up around 4'ish.  I hooked a nice fish but shortly after setting the hook it was apparent the fish took me into a snag.  I tried to work it free but to no avail.  The fish surfaced and tried to jump and we saw it was in a bunch of line.  I tried to get the fish as close to shore as possible so my "new friend" could cut the other (hopefully!) line.  As it turns out the hook from the snagged line caught in my slinky when the fish swam into it.  The guy was able to cut the correct line and helped me land a nice 11# buck.  I still have the slinky with the red hook and 8" of leader attached.

[chumdog]

Mac, I forgot about that through the swivel eye fish on the Hump.  If I remember correctly, that hole, late in the day, made the float a memorable one.

My strangest hook up was when I was a kid(13 or so) spending the summer on my uncle's mink ranch in Finland.  My cousin and I were fishing for perch, and when I hooked one, a good sized Northern Pike grabbed the perch.  Funny thing was he wouldn't let go of that perch.  We "lost" him trying to lift perch and pike into the rowboat!  Pike are MEAN fish!!

[Jiggy]

Not quite as bizarre as some of the others but one time i was driftfishing a rag and shrimp. I got snagged and went to break it off. My lead pulled out of the tubing and i had a fish on. It had grabbed my gear while the lead was stuck in the rocks. I felt pretty lucky to have the lead break off and not my line. I would have never known it had even been there. Makes you wonder if fish ever grab any of those rigs you break off.