How many of you have caught birds?!
Apr 29, 2019 12:47:29 #
I have had customers catch plenty of seagulls over the yrs. Just remember when you get him close enough to put something over his eyes he will calm right down so you can take the hook out. Never have been bitten by one doing that
Apr 29, 2019 19:13:20 #
Years ago, buddies and I fished San Francisco bay for halibut. Had some good luck but one of my friend's
caught no fish but hooked three pelicans. You have to be careful when and where you cast because they are always on the ready to grab your bait. For quite a while, we called him the
Bird man of Alcatraz" since we were fishing only a couple hundred yards off the prison island.
caught no fish but hooked three pelicans. You have to be careful when and where you cast because they are always on the ready to grab your bait. For quite a while, we called him the
Bird man of Alcatraz" since we were fishing only a couple hundred yards off the prison island.
Apr 29, 2019 23:03:06 #
Fishingsticks
Loc: Henderson nv
eddierbias wrote:
Hooked an alligator once. There was no fight. That alligator went where he wanted to. Could move him when he was resting on the top of the water. Equipment used - MH two piece rod and a Garcia 5000 red reel. Been a while since that happened.
I hooked a small blue Dragon Fly with #24 blue dun on 8 tippet.. oddest thing I ever seen
Apr 29, 2019 23:07:47 #
I was casting for Saltwater trout and my bait and hook slammed into a flying Pelican and hooked him. I have photos of my friends and me trying to free him at the boat. I would post the pictures but don't know how. he was ok and went on his way when we loosed him.
Apr 29, 2019 23:20:53 #
Apr 30, 2019 09:52:18 #
I was recently fishing from my dock using a bobber and live minnow. A loon was lurking under water and grabbed the minnow. Nothing I could do but cut the line. Had a similar experience years ago while casting with a surface lure. A gull came down and grabbed the lure. needed to cut the line.
Apr 30, 2019 10:47:33 #
Joe Beaderman
Loc: Adams Nebraska
Oh yes had a diving duck once about lost my pole but was quick enough, no blood by either of us.
Apr 30, 2019 12:54:42 #
excuse me I need to fish now
Loc: Puyallup, Washington (near Tacoma)
Back in the mid-90's wife number 2 and I took a week vacation at Twin Lakes near Republic in Eastern Washington. While fishing from a boat we had rented, she made a cast and as it arced through the air a sparrow flew under it and was captured as the lead hit the water and brought the line down. She hauled it into the boat half drowned but alive; we got it untangled from the line and set it on the little shelf in the bow where it sat for 30 minutes before it recovered enough to fly away.
I still sometimes wonder what the odds are of crossing something the diameter of 6# test over a 4 inch bird in flight 50 or 60 feet away. Just goes to show that even if the odds are infinitesimal...it is still possible!
Just for the record, this is the same woman who hooked a seal while trolling for salmon in the San Juan Islands of Washington. A slightly differrent ending...long-line release.
I still sometimes wonder what the odds are of crossing something the diameter of 6# test over a 4 inch bird in flight 50 or 60 feet away. Just goes to show that even if the odds are infinitesimal...it is still possible!
Just for the record, this is the same woman who hooked a seal while trolling for salmon in the San Juan Islands of Washington. A slightly differrent ending...long-line release.
Apr 30, 2019 18:53:17 #
wthoms2000
Loc: Newport Beach, CA
Never hooked a bird, but fond a pelican all hooked and tangled on the beach while surf fishing. Could barely walk. Wasn't too bad for my dad and I to restrain and free him after a while of cutting line. Freed and flew away
May 1, 2019 08:20:58 #
Laura D.
Loc: Midland, Texas
On Owens Lake in Calfornia. Bagged a mallard. Man, was he pissed. About pecked me to death before I could get my hook out of his foot webbing.
May 2, 2019 19:41:53 #
Redfisher
Loc: Florida
A low fly by pelican snagged my line and ruined my perfect cast and my morning fishing.
Had to chase it down and throw a towel over its head to untangle it’s feet.
I look both ways before I cast now !
Had to chase it down and throw a towel over its head to untangle it’s feet.
I look both ways before I cast now !
May 2, 2019 22:30:06 #
I've been on a few trips where just about every live bait gets picked up by a sea gull or other type of sea bird. Instead of lines going into the water, the lines are going up in the air attached to a bird. The deck hands are pretty good at getting hooks out of the birds, but with something like a Pelican, it takes a couple of them to get the job done. Usually no harm is done to the bird, at least not a whole lot, but when one of them dives on a trolled feather the outcome is never good. there's usually jokes going around the boat like, "hey, what pound test you using for seagull?" or "are you using straight mono or a floro top shot for birds?" I don't mess with trying to remove hooks from the birds, letting the deck hands do it, even so, I've seen them flop around and hook a deckhand on the leg and that'a not a pretty sight. I almost forgot this one that is always said and always funny, "follow your bird."
May 3, 2019 11:29:59 #
I have caught a pelican that flew through my line on a cast. And I have caught gulls that were competing with me in a bluefish blitz off the outer banks.
All released unharmed.
TB
All released unharmed.
TB
May 4, 2019 17:05:50 #
I used to go casting for Stripers at Baker's Beach by the Golden Gate Bridge, and Sharp park down towards
Pacifica. Pelicans will dive into the ocean to grab your lure and hook themselves. Avoiding those snapping jaws was risky while trying to remove the hook. I fought several of these huge birds with rod and line pointed straight up into the sky. Got spooled a couple of times. Felt sorry for the bird with a 4-6 oz lure in its beak, trailing 300 yds of 25# mono. A laughable scenario.
Pacifica. Pelicans will dive into the ocean to grab your lure and hook themselves. Avoiding those snapping jaws was risky while trying to remove the hook. I fought several of these huge birds with rod and line pointed straight up into the sky. Got spooled a couple of times. Felt sorry for the bird with a 4-6 oz lure in its beak, trailing 300 yds of 25# mono. A laughable scenario.
May 4, 2019 20:09:52 #
Trot here years ago, fishing off the City Pier on Anna Maria Island, Florida, I had a small make real on the hook. A pelican saw the fish and decided he wanted it more than I needed it. Luckily, a local fisherman told me to land the bird. Cutting the line would leave the hook in to get infected and hurt or kill the bird. A couple of other fisherman helped land and I got the hook out with little trouble. We were all happy to release the pelican back to the wild.
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