You caught what!?!

[Do-it Rep]

2 falls ago while fishing walleyes on the backwaters of the Mississippi I was working a One-Eye Jigging Spoon in about 10' of water and thought I hooked into a stick.  I quickly reeled in, as not to waste time, and low and behold I had hooked someones wallet! I quickly opened it expecting to find money in it but what I found was even cooler.  The young man's Drivers license fully laminated was still in it.  The driver's license dated back to 1983.  It wasn't until a couple weeks later through facebook and few phone calls that I was able to track down the rightful owner.  He called me shocked that I had found it.  He remembered losing it over the side of the boat as a kid on a family fishing trip nearly 30 years ago. I sent him the wallet and ID in the mail and was kindly surprised to find a return letter in the mail the following week with a $50 bill.  So, what other crazy things have you guys pulled out of the water!?

[Denny Welch]

A couple years ago I was fishing a cove in a  local lake towards the end of summer.  The water was way down...maybe 10-12 feet deep.  I was fishing a drop shot or some such thing and felt a little tension on the line,  I knew it wasn't a fish, but I knew I had something on the line.  I reeled in and found a piece of cord snagged on my hook.  I pulled it in only to find it tied to a larger rope which was tied to an even larger rope which was tied off to a chain.  I kept on pulling until I got the anchor in the boat.  That thing had to weight 20 pounds and it appeared to be brand spanking new.  Except for a little mud it still had a shiny paint job and no skid marks, etc.  Who knows, maybe it belonged to that big sailboat that was drifting dangerously close to the spillway.  Just kidding.

I gave it away to a friend who could use it.

[t-billy]

 Caught a water snake on a Pop-r at night. I mostly snag gross stuff. Caught a partially digested shad on a crankbait once. Three years ago I caught a wad of cotton on a string. Someones catfish bait maybe?

[BigHawgBaits]

2 years back I was fishing a local lake here in Washington state. Doing some shallow water cranking and felt some tension on my line. It was not fighting back so I knew it was not anything to write about till now. I had hooked a 52" waist pair of Boxers.

[kipbass]

2 years back I was fishing a local lake here in Washington state. Doing some shallow water cranking and felt some tension on my line. It was not fighting back so I knew it was not anything to write about till now. I had hooked a 52" waist pair of Boxers.

Lmbo.....your best catch!     just kidding.

[BigHawgBaits]

It was close to the best catch but very next cast I landed a 6.5# largemouth and that got the ball rolling

[chase102798]

Although it wasn't caught on a fishing line, a friend of mine found a pretty ripe dead guy with a gun and an empty six pack next to a small private lake out in the woods while he was shore fishing for bass. Guy offed himself after drinking the beer. Lake is used for local water supply out in the middle of nowhere, so no boats and alot of guys stay away from it cause the edges are hard to fish with the woods close to the water. He took some camera phone pics of the scene, which he never told the police when he called them.

[ipt]

weirdest thing i've caught was a 20' carpet in about 4' of water.

[BareKnuckleJigs]

I was draggin' bottom in heavy current offshore and came up with a cast lead Williamson Benthos7 Jig.  Nothin' to write home about but it was cool catchin' tackle.  The wire was eaten up pretty good so it's now poised to be melted down.

[pjmcla]

You folks saw my shovel catch ( in gallery ).  I have caught lawn chairs, buckets, clams, under ware ( both sexes ), shoes, socks, a big doll ( very spooky ), etc.   But the neatest was a collapsible wire fish basket that had 4 live bream and a live catfish in it.  Cat was pretty small though.   Most on jigging spoons.  Fish basket was on a shyster (  like a rooster tail spinner ). 

[Denny Welch]

It's a good thing you described the "shyster", Paul.  You hurt my feelings there for a minute.

[pjmcla]

The Shyster bait was an area produced bait way back when.  We never heard of Rooster Tail or Mepps.  Not sure why or how it got that name.  Many white bass and large mouth were caught on them. 

[Do-it Rep]

The wire fish basket with live fish reminded me of a bottom bouncer I caught with a live walleye hooked on a full crawler harness.  I've caught a few fishing poles as well.  The doll is an interesting one! 

[gstott]

One time I was fly fishing a small creek for trout.  My indicator fly went under so I set the hook on something solid.  I saw something large and brown under the water and though I had a respectable brown...until it got out of the water and ran across the rocks.  I had snagged a muskrat in the tail with my nymph.  He stopped running, our eyes met, and then I broke the line.  I definitely didn't think a fly was worth tussling with that toothy bugger.

[Botanophilia]

My wife had a great blue heron grab her tallywacker while musky fishing one time.  Somehow she managed to NOT hook the bird. 
Lost a mepps to a pike only to catch the pike and got the mepps back.  Lures, fish baskets, a boot, rods, a 10' log, anchors... some of the junk that regularly gets brought back to the boat.