Strangest thing caught through the ice and other weird ice fishing tales

[icy mike]

Just curious what the strangest/oddest/ugliest thing all you guys have brought up through the ice.  I once had a water bug about 4-5 inches long set off a tip up.  It did not take the bait but was crawling up the line.  I have even snagged sticklebacks less than an inch long while jigging for trout with 3/8 oz spoons.  The strangest thing that I ever witnessed was on a caribou hunt about 200 mile north of the arctic circle.  It was early October and we were blasted by pretty bad cold front.  We were at a lake for water and the whole lake was 'humming' as it was freezing.  Then there was the time I had a pike stick it's head into the bottom of the ice hole as I was packing up for the day.  Scared the snot out of me!

Icy Mike
Palmer, Alaska

[ChapstickCharlie]

First day out last season I had on my old ice fishing coat that my best buddy had borrowed the season before. Found a pair of his socks rolled up in one of the sleeves too. I didn't pull a thing out of the ice that day but I did catch wind of something. Well, a new ice season is right around the corner and I can't be more excited, cause I got me a new jacket to wear. It doesn't come close to fitting me, as a matter of fact it's a slinky seethru nightgown, but my buddies wife says it will do the trick anyway. Tight lines ya'll.

[oakorchardfishking]

this may be nothing to some of you, but it was odd for me as i have never seen them before... my first year ice fishing, i was in a lake erie harbor and i caught a rather large mud puppy.... damn, they are ugly! also, in my first year i managed to catch a boat seat!  since then, i have perfected my technique and now i catch nothing but fish or a buzz or a nap!... havent caught a cold yet during ice season!

[wisicefishinnut]

The wirdest thing I've  caught would have to be a mud puppy also.  The wierdest thing I've seen is a moose out on the ice.  We don't have hardly any moose up here in NW wis. so it was very odd to see.  It was a nice sized buull too.

[Trophy Hunter]

I had a skunk come walking up towards me last winter peppy didn't even flinch when i fired up the auger but luckily he didn't come too close.Also last winter my uncle and i were fishing fairly close and he got a nice bite then me we were both fighting what ended up to be the same nice pike but it came up my hole so i say it was mine  both our jigs in his face greedy bugger ;DI cleaned a walleye last winter that had a plain hook with a fresh piece of gullet on it in his stomach must have bit someone off the same day before i caught it

[2 dogs]

Had two tip ups set with shiners for northerns and jigging for blue gills with a wax worm on a small pink jig and nailed a 26 inch northern. I wondered at the time why he would take such a small bait but when I cleaned him he had a perfectly perserved plastic frog in his stomach. It had apparently been there some time as  the hooks were very badly rusted. He was so blocked up with it I figure he could only process small bits of food thus my puny little jig and wax worm. This was in Feb and figured he must have been carrying the frog since Sep or Oct?

[edfalc]

i caught a 22" musky on a bright pink depth finder last year.....freaked me out.......let him go

[Blaine]

Years and years ago, I caught a mudpuppy as well... I had no freaking idea what it was at the time. My partner caught a big ol' carp on a shiner, luckily he had a 10" hole. The oddest had to be my buddy catching not one but TWO atlantic salmon through the ice on a cove of the CT river while pike fishing! We called the DEP and they had no idea why they would be in the river at that time if year. If anyone knows the plight of the salmon on the east coast, you know how rare it is to see one.

[Trophy Hunter]

cool nice fish Blaine 8)

[bigfish57]

Wow!

[akdg]

One time while catching brown trout we caught a sailboat rudder.  We thought the fish had wrapped around a branch or something, but I almost got poked in the eye when the end of the handle came popping up the hole!  Needless to say it took a bit more chopping to get it all out, and we even managed to still catch the fish   here's an old pic of the guys I was fishing with and our catch of the day!

[TimC1086]

Wow, where on the CT river was that man?

[Jigmaster]

Jigging for smelts at a local hotspot sent my jig to bottom and hooked into a 10" cast iron frying pan! It must have been dropped there who knows when as this area has been fished hard for many many years with many smelt shacks in the general area.

[Blaine]

The salmon was on a cove just south of Hartford, CT

[Out4Trout]

Lost my ice chisel thru a hole one year. Went back and fished it out the next day. It had a rope loop at the handle that we hooked into. When we pulled it up, we found that that something had almost chewed thru the rope while it had been under water that night. Muskrat maybe?

[varmntguy]

I dont know if this counts or not but here goes. About two years ago me and a couple buddies are fishing for perch out of a boat and one guy stands up to answer the call of nature, well he lost his balance and falls in. We were fishing a strip mine club in IL in about 25 feet of water by a nice underwater point, he gets back in the boat and starts emptying out his pockets to dry off his wallet and stuff. He notices he has no truck keys, He has an extra key in his wallet so he figures no big deal. This past winter we're set up over the same spot jigging for walleye and I snagged his set of keys. I,m sitting in my shack cleaning off the keys since there pretty rusty but in good shape, I walk over to his truck about 200 yards away and start it up walk back to my shack like nothings going on. He notices his truck running and freaks out, thinking someone is stealing his ride. he runs over and notices the old keys in the ignition and just stands there like a deer in the headlights. He still thinks I've had those keys since the day he fell in, the look on his face was priceless. What are the odds of getting those keys back like a year and half later?

[billditrite]

Blaine that is really remarkable!!nice atlantic salmon and to get two of them wow,good one

[blufloyd]

A few years back wind drifting a pretty good ice fishing lake near here for gills and crappie, My buddy sets hook into something that pulls hard. He's losing line from drag and its moving side to side all over the place. I toss out the anchors.
He's pumping and winding, jabbering about pike or catfish or wall mount stuff. I get a glimpse of red out in the water but keep quiet. Its getting close to the boat and he sticks the rod end in water to keep it off the prop. Shortly he skillfully lip lands a pretty nice but cheap ice ladle dipper. You know the kind aluminum hook handle with red plastic scoop.

[oakorchardfishking]

i've lost 2 of those down holes....  hmmmmmmmmm...lol

[bud]

weirdest thing about blaines salmon is i believe he was fishing for pike!  that is weird!

[Blaine]

Yeah Bud... They were on a 5" Arkansas shiner

[iceintheveins]

The oddest thing would be an old tire rim my brother caught while fishing for rainbows through the ice. I have also caught an oar while open water fishing in the Colorado River.
However, the grand daddy of them all, I don't know how lucky this is. I was open water fishing the Colorado River, when I reeled in a clump of moss. As I reeled the clump in through the clear water, I saw what seemed impossible in the clump, money. I then brought it to hand, revealing that I had caught a perfect $10 bill in excellent condition. What are the odds of that? In a big deep river like the Colorado? I never spent that ten, I keep it in my valuables box for a good luck charm.

Tyler

[Blaine]

revealing that I had caught a perfect $10 bill in excellent condition

Ladies and gentlemen... We have a winna........

[moosehunter]

when on the ice i useally set my traps 25 to 30 feet apart in different directions. we are allowed 5 traps up here in maine. one late december we were pickeral fishing on 5 inches of clear ice that was so transparent that you coult see bottom at 5 or 6 feet. from shore i could see a flag up. as i was heading out another and another flag is up.  i figure i have hit a bonanza. by the time get there all flags are up.  i am looking threw the ice and see my lines everywhere. try too pull the fish up i can,t.so itry to follow the lines to find the fish. i can see him threw the ice swimming around with my lines around him. big pickeral.that fish took 1 shinner and went to the next trap and swallowed another then swam around and tripped the others. i finnally caught the fish but it took my buddie and i an hour to untangle everything. hardest pickeral i ever caught.

[APU GARCIA]

I was fishing Constance Lake ( central sask ) for Kokanee Salmon, yes Salmon in Sask.(stocked of course) I was laying on the ice with a jacket over my head watching the fish laugh at my lure when up the hole at full speed came a Muskrat!! Well I damn near craped myself.

[JigAwhopper]

I was fishing Constance Lake ( central sask ) for Kokanee Salmon, yes Salmon in Sask.(stocked of course) I was laying on the ice with a jacket over my head watching the fish laugh at my lure when up the hole at full speed came a Muskrat!! Well I d**n near craped myself.

ha, ha,,, that's funny!  My fishing buddy  and I were fishing in 30 fow and  I see him set a hook on something on the bottom.  Rod bending, drag screeching,  five minutes later he brings up a thick piece of rope with a mashroom anchor attached to it and 3 jigging spoons imbeded in the rope. Pretty good for a 6 lb test line 

[nepa old man]

Two years ago on Wallenpaupack, not me but a guy that was fishin with us caught a 18"  brownie on a piece of a hotdog on a tip up he didn't finish for lunch.

[The Muddler]

I was flyfishing one day and caught a trout but didn't hook the trout.  Turns out the trout had previously taken one of those snelled bait hooks, the kind with the leader and loop preattached.  Must of broke the line off right above the loop some time in the not so distant past and I ended up snagging the loop of the leader that was still hanging out of his mouth!  Took me a minute to figure out what the heck was going on.  At first it looked like the fish was connected to my fly by some invisible force (couldn't see the mono loop)   Talk about a fluke

[joco]

HI everyone

me i caught a  salamander(kind off amphibious) bring it out put it on the ice and start to walk,jeeee that was weird for me and all the other ,it was in a ice fishing tornement on the ottawa river(ontario)................

and in summer caught one water boot in the verendry park ,,,,,,and my father caught a pick for the old draft people on the water to puch the log...........

and mabe caught ,what i lost   one brand new rod,,,,,,some sunglases ,,,,,,,ancker
about 2 box off lures pliers,,,a chain whit some real nice walley on it >:



take care guys,,,,,,,,,and have a great ice season

[majormaj]

A buddy of mine swears that this is true.  He and a friend were ice fishing one night in a shack and to their disbelief up through one of the holes pops a the head of a little white dog!  They grabbed him and pulled him out.  They went outside and found a guy and a lady a little ways away calling the name of their dog.  They took the dog over to them and gave it back.  The couple had said they let the dog out of shack to take a leak a few minutes ago and thought he ran away.  Must have fallen through a hole and swam underwater towards the lighted hole in the ice below their shack.  That's really strange.