My son, who lives in Burbank, is back in Alabama for the holidays. He and I went fishing this am just to get out of the house. He was reeling in and noticed it was getting heavy. So, by the time we got it to the bank, we realized we had caught a freshwater mussel. Ok, weird things happen, you snag something, sure…however, you’ll see by the pic below that this mussel had actually “swallowed” the grass piece. I know it’s not intentional as they’re filter feeders, but this dude was clamped tight! Had to use my pliers to pry open the shell. Almost had to go get a knife to cut the abductor muscle just to open it and get my grass piece back. For size reference, that’s a 5/8 oz grass piece flex with a 4.5” spunk shad trailer. Also, my hands are “normal” sized.

So what you’re saying is that when he felt the line getting heavy he had to “mussel” it on?

Do those Spunk Shads come in a clam pack?

A can of SPAM, sure enough in about 75, throwing a crappie jig in a small creek.. casting into a deeper section and started my retrieve and the jig hook grabbed it and I reeled it in. Me & buddy’s were cracking up, of course we had to open it….. it was green and had a very gross odor.. 

 

I always thought I’d find a message in a bottle, or a mermaid.🧜‍♀️ instead I got a can of spam 😂

I've told this before.

I caught a dog and it was an intense fight.

Threw a spinnerbait at a dock and got hung on a top board " bad cast " and trying to free it, enticed a dog.

Dog grabbed it and hooked him in the mouth,  drag squealing.

My buddy hit the floor laughing as I ran the dog down and got his head between my legs and freed the hook.

Glad the homeowners weren't home 😳

One time I made a cast at about 5 am from the back of a pocket across the front of a dock with a lipless crank bait on a freshly spooled reel - sun was just beginning to light up the sky - birds were starting to chirp - ducks flying across the sky - wait wha…..my line hasn’t landed - oh my - one of the ducks flying across the sky took about half my fresh spool before he realized what was happening and let go of my red eye shad.  He’s awful lucky I didn’t knee jerk set the hook in the low light!  
 

My son had a giant nutria annihilate his frog at about the same time of day on a different occasion and he rose vertically out of the pond with the frog in his mouth and we thought we were in the middle of a horror movie together for about 1.2 seconds!  😂😂😂😂

Many years ago I would come home from work and would stop off and fish for a couple hours at the same pond. One day I came home a different way and saw a bassy spot on the side of the road. Not a busy road so my back cast would be into the road. 
 

Anyway I see a boil and needed to launch my dog walker pretty far to get past the boil and walk over it. I learned that by extending a little more line and feeling the rod load up like you would feel on the back cast of a fly rod, your lure would look like a perfect spiraled football in flight, increasing casting distance. 
 

I reared back and let her rip. Next thing I know I have a raptor hooked and losing line by the yard. 
 

Well I got spooled real quickly ending my trip. 
 

Alright, full disclosure, it really wasn’t a Raptor, it was just a regular Ford F150 XLT I caught my treble hook on the side mirror.  

9 hours ago, scaleface said:

Do those Spunk Shads come in a clam pack?

Unfortunately no. However, I wouldn’t want to carry those around in a clam shell anyway. That dude was HEAVY! 😂😂

We have significant issues with invasive Zebra mussels.  They must have good reflexes because Ive had a few clamp down on my bottom baits.  Ours are much, much smaller however.  I've pulled a few off the bottom that were only an inch or two across.  Even that small you still can't shake them off your Trick Worm.  I'm impressed that you did battle with one that size.  @Kayak Koz already nailed the dad-joke so I'll just move on now.  

I was fishing jigging spoons off the end of a boat ramp when the water was high. I caught two wrist watches , a landing net and a spinning combo.

I know how expensive those Grass Pieces are so I already know the ending.

 

 

 

 

RIP clam.

Less unusual but still, my wife & I were live bait fishing the St.Johns, Wild shiner fishing, I had released a 3 pound fish (wife caught) when 30 feet away from my balloon/shiner a seagull dive bombed the water. I watched it swim underwater, approaching my shiner, grabbing it and then attempting to fly away, but the quantum spinning reel with bait sensor began to peel off line in a controlled manner and I grabbed the rod and I’m cranking this seagull in but he won’t let go, at 5feet away the wife grabs the rod (at my behest) and I jerk a Buck knife out and I’m slashing at this bird who’s trying to steal my bait. She's laughing 🤣 and I’m slashing… I never fought a seagull before & finally it let go.. it got the shiner, She got a belly laugh and I got a memory that still cracks me up to this day 🤣🤣🤣

I snagged a filler spool of fishing line one time.  I hooked the loose end and at first thought it was a breakoff, then I thought that maybe someone had dropped a rig into the lake.  I finally saw the spool and got it all into the boat.

3 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

Less unusual but still, my wife & I were live bait fishing the St.Johns, Wild shiner fishing, I had released a 3 pound fish (wife caught) when 30 feet away from my balloon/shiner a seagull dive bombed the water. I watched it swim underwater, approaching my shiner, grabbing it and then attempting to fly away, but the quantum spinning reel with bait sensor began to peel off line in a controlled manner and I grabbed the rod and I’m cranking this seagull in but he won’t let go, at 5feet away the wife grabs the rod (at my behest) and I jerk a Buck knife out and I’m slashing at this bird who’s trying to steal my bait. She's laughing 🤣 and I’m slashing… I never fought a seagull before & finally it let go.. it got the shiner, She got a belly laugh and I got a memory that still cracks me up to this day 🤣🤣🤣

I have visions in my head of some epic battle between an F14 and a MiG 29 happening along the coast of Alaska/russia now.

I've got a few, my son always says I hook the weirdest stuff.

Delaware river hooked a dead lamprey, that was pleasant 

Caught a mussel too on a ned rig, same thing it was clamped down inside it.

Had an epic battle with a 5 gallon bucket bottom fishing in the Ambrose channel by the Verrazano  bridge.

Tog fishing in Cape May, hooked a pair of horseshoe crabs in the mating position, that was a first in many years of fishing. Wouldn't ya know about a hr later did the same thing again.

Friend of mine who's not a good fisherman was fishing the Delaware river with me in my tin boat.

He finally hooks up and is having a good fight in the current, finally manages to bring it up to the net, a real beauty of a 20" sock 

 

I've caught a few mussels over the years. My #1 lake is loaded with large snails. I catch those on a regular basis. 

11 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

One time I made a cast at about 5 am from the back of a pocket across the front of a dock with a lipless crank bait on a freshly spooled reel - sun was just beginning to light up the sky - birds were starting to chirp - ducks flying across the sky - wait wha…..my line hasn’t landed - oh my - one of the ducks flying across the sky took about half my fresh spool before he realized what was happening and let go of my red eye shad.  He’s awful lucky I didn’t knee jerk set the hook in the low light!  
 

My son had a giant nutria annihilate his frog at about the same time of day on a different occasion and he rose vertically out of the pond with the frog in his mouth and we thought we were in the middle of a horror movie together for about 1.2 seconds!  😂😂😂😂

Reminds me of fishing the saltwater piers as a kid in Florida. We accidently

hooked more birds and pelicans. Or had them steal a fish ya caught and swallow it and the hook and try to fly away. What a mess at about 13. We didn’t know what to do haha. Thanks for trigger for some good memories Pat. 

I caught a ghost.

 

As a kid, I was catfishing in a steady rain one day. In got a bite and set the hook. What I reeled in was a catfish head only, hooked in the mouth. It had glassed over eyes, like it had been dead a while. I can't imagine the sequence of events between the bite and landing the head. I told my mom and she said to stop telling tall tales.

59 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

I caught a ghost.

 

As a kid, I was catfishing in a steady rain one day. In got a bite and set the hook. What I reeled in was a catfish head only, hooked in the mouth. It had glassed over eyes, like it had been dead a while. I can't imagine the sequence of events between the bite and landing the head. I told my mom and she said to stop telling tall tales.

 

I've landed heads of saltwater fish when sharks are their bodies,  but freshwater is freaky? Was it a huge catfish? Snapper? Gar? And the eyes looking like they were long dead makes it even freakier.

6 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I've landed heads of saltwater fish when sharks are their bodies,  but freshwater is freaky? Was it a huge catfish? Snapper? Gar? And the eyes looking like they were long dead makes it even freakier.

My guess was I got a bite from a big turtle that was also munching on a dead catfish. Then I just hooked the fish head.

6 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

My guess was I got a bite from a big turtle that was also munching on a dead catfish. Then I just hooked the fish head.

 

However it happened, it sounds like a scene from a horror movie.

Was at Catalina Island and we're getting buzzed by helicoptors regularly.  As one was coming I threw a scampi tail on a jighead straight up and it must have wrapped around a skid.  He must have been surprised when he landed and found 200 yds of line trailing him.

 

I’ve caught birds, lobsters, clams, fishing rods with fish still on the line, lures, and 1 umbrella 

I caught a Canadian goose with a Kastmaster as it was flying mid air.  Wasn't trying to catch the poor bird.  Was sending bomb casts for deep water lake fishing for brown trout.  Right place, right time I guess.

I had a gentleman land a mussle on his dropshot weight on a guide trip once. Said he felt a distinct tap, and then reeled in the musscle clamped on the weight. It was very difficult to remove. 

 

I've had an owl pick up a jitterbug while nightfishing and get hooked in the foot. Gave a heck of a battle before crash landing in some sticker bushes and pulling the hooks out.

 

I've had more than one seagull pick up freelined shad and get themselves hooked. They're a headache but not overly hard to unhook. 

 

I hooked a Great Blue Heron night fishing with a bladed jig. Never saw it standing on the dock and when I cast it leaned it's head forward to fly off, line went over it's neck and when it hit the end of the line, the hook dug in. I was going to try to unhook it until it started stabbing it's bill at me, decided he could keep it after that. Hooked a goose in similar fashion this past fall with a finesse jig. 

 

I cranked up a nice diving knife and harness several years ago. The fire department practices their dives at the lake I was at, so I guess one of them must have lost it.