I was fishing with a buddy of mine when he caught this catfish weighing about 5lbs. He wanted to keep him which we rarely do. I had the stringer so I put him on the first hook on it. He was getting a little roudy splashing around and getting me wet. I was getting soaked so I decided to put him on the last hook on the stringer. I kept picking on my buddy telling him his fish was scaring my fish away and how I was going to hook the stringer on his boat. Then something strange happened on the way back to the dock. I was paddling along at a pretty good click when I felt a tug that just about stopped my boat dead still. I figured that the stringer had gotten hung on a stump or something. When I pulled up the stringer the fish was gone. The hook on the stringer was still closed. My buddy said where did you loose my fish, I told him I ate it. A week after that I saw an add posted in a conveince store about a man that went around hunting snapping turtles out of peoples ponds. He was saying that there favorite food was fish especially the ones in distress. I told my buddy the turtle ate his fish he said sure it was with a smile. Anybody had any similar things happen to back me up or am I on my own. Thanks a lot!
It could have been a turtle
Or it could have been a large musky.
A bunch more possibilities.
- Big D
the strange part is that the stringer …
...... hook was still closed , and there wasn't any of the fish left on it , and you didn't mention any type of distortion to the stringer ??
I'm guessing your stringer is one of those metal chain type , or at least the hook clasping part is metal to lock closed . Was it one of those types ??
Years back a couple buddies of mine fished some select Delaware ponds . I went with them on occassion . They (we) had discovered a few "very special" ponds for Crappie ... I mean monster Crappie too , *that is/was the secret" !! The 3-1/ pounder hangs on a tackle shop wall to this day , and many came close to it , all were huge .
Anyway , we were at this one pond and had a full stringer of big ones (maybe 10-12) . Then all hell broke loose , the chain stringer hanging over the side of the Jon boat went balistic . As quickly as possible we hauled it up , every fish on there was torn to shreds , not a whole or eatable fish left . It happened just that fast too . My figuring is a bunch of turtles all gathered round , and all at once made the attack ??
It was definately turtles , the rip and tear marks told that much . These waters had plenty of large Jack Pike in them but it was not them .
Have had a Muskie chomp a Smallmouth off just behind the head . Another time a Bluefish chomped a white Perch in half . Both of those fish were beiing reeled in (not as bait) .
Your missing fish has a real mystery to it because it was "all" missing , and the stringer hook was still closed . I guess it's possible to rip one completely off , the metal hook would have to literally tear through the fish though and seperate it's gill from it's head/mouth somehow ??
Mysteries like that are freaky to me !! I believe you though ... but you are gonna be scratching your head on this one for a long time to come .
Unless of course you secretely let it go because you got tired of draging your Buds fish around for him , lol ??
Ripped it’s (fish parts) out?
Could it have pulled hard enough that it tore through the gills or wherever you had the stringer hooked?
BIG FOOT
Me and my buddy were paddling to the back of this cove earlier this spring and saw something strange. My buddy said he saw something that looked like a log floating on the water but that it was moving. I looked and at first didn’t see anything then I saw it too. I paddled up close to it, my buddy wouldn’t go anywhere near it. What I discovered was that it was two large snapping turtles mating and when I got close the one with it’s head above water hissed loudly at me for disturbing his lovin. He sounded like he was just going to chomp my boat in two. Come to think about it that was the same day he caught the big fish and I had pulled it up several times to check on it. Also I was latter told that a cable ran across from a short boat dock to the other side of the cove which was a distance of about 100’ and right past that was when I got pulled. But of the many times that I’ve past this point it has never showed up on the sonar fishfinder. I don’t really know if a cable would even have a big enough mass to show up on the fishfinder. It was a metal chain type stringer and there was absolutely nothing of the fish left on it and it didn’t distort the metal loop of the stringer. I guess the world may never know meanwhile my buddy is a little leary of leaving big fish on my stringer. To this day he still pics on me about I guess I deserve it we both just have a good laugh about it then he puts his big fish on his stringer HA!HA!
snakeheads
saw a show on discovery the other day on a type of fish called “snakeheads”, live in the SE U.S. now and spreading quickly. Can live for up to 3 days out of water, but voracious eaters, like piranha. Maybe snakehead?
Frankenfish is over-rated
If you had believed the sensational newscasts about snakeheads when they were first discovered in this area, you’d think they would have formed their own political party and had all humans working as slaves to the betterment of the snakehead society by now. As it is, muskies and smallmouth bass and catfish seem to think their fry are rather tasty. They’re just another predator fish among many predator fish. From what I hear, they’re pretty good sport and I know several people who target them from time to time.
- Big D
frankenwhat?
I have never heard of a snakehead fish. So what is it and how do you target this fish? Dose anybody have a picture of this fish so we can see what it looks like? Dang we might have to call out the national guard or something!!
TEETH
Man that thing has some teeth on him. I was talking to a friend at work bought one in a pet store and said it was very aggressive and hyperactive. Looks like trouble to me.