Because it wasn't a fish.  I've heard of people on rare occasions catching turtles, muskrats, and frogs, but it was the first time I had experienced/heard about this one.  I was set up in about 4.5 feet of murky water fishing for perch and walleye.  I was jigging a firetiger PK Flutterfish tipped with a minnow head in one hole and rigged up two deadsticks with minnows on bobbers in the other holes (3 lines per person in MI).  I'd been doing well on perch that morning when one of my bobbers jolted in a weird twitchy motion.  Something a perch wouldn't do.  It's got to be a walleye I thought.  I kept jigging my flutterfish, but concentrated a little harder.  I then got a hard hit on one of the times I went to raise my lure.  Before I could set the hook, the fish was gone.  I kept jigging and probably 7 seconds later I felt another hard hit, but this time I was ready and set the hook.  I was feeling pretty confident, thinking that I had a walleye on.  I quickly realized that it wasn't the case.  Up the hole came a big, black curled up creature.  I wasn't quite sure what it was, but later looked it up and found out that it's a type of underwater salamander called a mudpuppy.  This one measured just over 10.5 inches.  I took some pictures, revived it, and later released it behind my house back into the river.  I didn't weigh it, but it was a pretty fat salamander.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That thing is ugly. Never seen one before

1 minute ago, riverbasser said:

That thing is ugly. Never seen one before

Definitely.  There's a handful of videos on youtube of people catching them ice fishing, but I think it's a pretty rare occurrence. 

Very cool! Turtles are the coolest thing I've caught.

Slimiest thing has to be the American Eel...

Those are called waterdogs out west, correct?  I remember my uncle using them for bait when I was real young and my sister releasesed them all when he wasn't looking.  She didn't want him to kill the "water lizards"...

3 hours ago, UPSmallie said:

Because it wasn't a fish.  I've heard of people on rare occasions catching turtles, muskrats, and frogs, but it was the first time I had experienced/heard about this one.  I was set up in about 4.5 feet of murky water fishing for perch and walleye.  I was jigging a firetiger PK Flutterfish tipped with a minnow head in one hole and rigged up two deadsticks with minnows on bobbers in the other holes (3 lines per person in MI).  I'd been doing well on perch that morning when one of my bobbers jolted in a weird twitchy motion.  Something a perch wouldn't do.  It's got to be a walleye I thought.  I kept jigging my flutterfish, but concentrated a little harder.  I then got a hard hit on one of the times I went to raise my lure.  Before I could set the hook, the fish was gone.  I kept jigging and probably 7 seconds later I felt another hard hit, but this time I was ready and set the hook.  I was feeling pretty confident, thinking that I had a walleye on.  I quickly realized that it wasn't the case.  Up the hole came a big, black curled up creature.  I wasn't quite sure what it was, but later looked it up and found out that it's a type of underwater salamander called a mudpuppy.  This one measured just over 10.5 inches.  I took some pictures, revived it, and later released it behind my house back into the river.  I didn't weigh it, but it was a pretty fat salamander.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice catch. I have caught lobsters as bycatch when fishing for snappers.

Hellbender think they are endangered 

That's pike bait. 

That looks like these nasty slimy things they catch up here they call burbot. This time of year you see a lot of them caught. 

Thanks guys.  

I was doing something similar one time. Back home in Michigan, I was about 11 or so years old(13 years ago) I was bobber fishing with worms in a state park.. it was a marsh and had wooden walkways built through it for couples to walk around and enjoy. There wernt very many spots for me to fish... I finally found a spot and was catching a few bluegills... As time passed something nailed my bobber.. I started to reel in out of excitement. And hooked into a big fish ! It thrashed Nd gave me hell trying to get it up to the boardwalk. I finally got it up and had no idea what it was. It was dark and light brown and had an eel like body.. it was about 2 foot long and also had teeth, and made a weird noise when I had it out of the water. I was excited , and a little nervous. Because I had no idea what it was.. 

 

My step father was an EMT. And was sitting in an ambulance in the state park parking lot. I ran to him with the fish and his buddy chimed in and told me it was a "dogfish" . Which made sense to me cuz of the weird noises it had made. I know today that it was a bowfin , often mistaken to be an invasive snakehead. 

13 hours ago, CoBass said:

That's pike bait. 

Around here, it's catfish bait!

 

Tom

Mean little SOB's I catch them quite often perch fishing in Door County

I believe these are referred to as Eastern Hellbenders in NYS. I had a buddy who caught one a few years back and he misidentified it as a snakehead.

Thats an awesome creature. Definitely a good sign concerning water quality and pollution.  

Thanks guys.  Could be wrong, but I think the hellbenders might be slightly different.

http://ohioamphibians.com/salamanders/Is_it_a_Hellbender_or_Mudpuppy.html

Yep. That's a mudpuppy. A adult one at that. 

 

Hellbenders don't have the external gills. Also hellbenders normally live in cold water streams and rivers.

 

Waterdogs are the common name for the larval stage of the Tiger salamander. A totally different species on its own. They normally max out around 6 to 7 inches long. In the larvae  stage they look a lot like a mudpuppy.

Mudpuppy for sure, we have the hellbenders here in Md,  which they say are endangered and should be released 

On 1/15/2017 at 1:31 PM, UPSmallie said:

Because it wasn't a fish.  I've heard of people on rare occasions catching turtles, muskrats, and frogs, but it was the first time I had experienced/heard about this one.  I was set up in about 4.5 feet of murky water fishing for perch and walleye.  I was jigging a firetiger PK Flutterfish tipped with a minnow head in one hole and rigged up two deadsticks with minnows on bobbers in the other holes (3 lines per person in MI).  I'd been doing well on perch that morning when one of my bobbers jolted in a weird twitchy motion.  Something a perch wouldn't do.  It's got to be a walleye I thought.  I kept jigging my flutterfish, but concentrated a little harder.  I then got a hard hit on one of the times I went to raise my lure.  Before I could set the hook, the fish was gone.  I kept jigging and probably 7 seconds later I felt another hard hit, but this time I was ready and set the hook.  I was feeling pretty confident, thinking that I had a walleye on.  I quickly realized that it wasn't the case.  Up the hole came a big, black curled up creature.  I wasn't quite sure what it was, but later looked it up and found out that it's a type of underwater salamander called a mudpuppy.  This one measured just over 10.5 inches.  I took some pictures, revived it, and later released it behind my house back into the river.  I didn't weigh it, but it was a pretty fat salamander.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks tasty i would have fried that puppy up quick!

Whatever it is , its one of the coolest things I have ever seen . They catch them in one of the rivers around here , but I have never seen one . Neato  . A walking fish .

They're called Water Dogs where I come from. We use to catch them pretty often while cat fishing when I was a teenager 

On 1/18/2017 at 3:48 AM, mrpao said:

Yep. That's a mudpuppy. A adult one at that. 

 

Hellbenders don't have the external gills. Also hellbenders normally live in cold water streams and rivers.

 

Waterdogs are the common name for the larval stage of the Tiger salamander. A totally different species on its own. They normally max out around 6 to 7 inches long. In the larvae  stage they look a lot like a mudpuppy.

 

Yup, dead on IMO.  Also, hellbenders have "flappy" skin vs the smooth on a mudpuppy.  

Thought these things were supposed to be rare, but maybe not.  At least not where I've been fishing I guess.

 

Short youtube video on the release for those interested

 

That is one weird little animal. Closest thing I've seen to it is the salamanders that live in a creek near me.

Mud Puppy.  They get big.