What is your best "mistake" catch?

[occasionalfisher]

If you spend much time on the water you have a few "mistake" fish you have caught. What was your best/worst and what and where was it.

For me I have a couple that stand out.

One that stands out was fishing in the One Fish Wonder Tournament two years ago in Mid-April at Allatoona, I caught a six-pound catfish while waking a spinnerbait. It was about 8:30 p.m. and it was already good and dark and we were fishing the point on the left as you go past the Stamp Creek Marina. I was really fishing the spinnerbait fast and this thing just creamed it. It was a Booyah spinnerbait I had just put on and I got one fish out of it as by the time we got the fish to the boat it had mangled that thing beyond repair. I know we all have caught cat's on Toona with strange things, but I had never caught one on a spinnerbait till that night.

The other one happened last year over at Lake Weiss. In July we fished a tournament out of Riverside and we left early and went out to the river channel and started fishing until the light got up enough to run. I was throwing a topwater walking bait, and there were lots of shad up shallow on that river channel edge running up onto those flats. I was throwing up in inches of water and working the bait back really fast when it just got nailed. I set the hook and the fish was so shallow that it was making a wake as it ran and took drag. It took a while to get in and I thought I had a big spot, but it turned out to be a 7 pound or so striper that was cruising the shallows. The water temp was in the high 80's and this thing fought like you would expect when it is in the 50's. Didn't help the tournament sack that day but that was a fun fight in that skinny water.

[tinker1]

I got a strange "mistake" catch. Was fishing Stamp Creek just past the ramp on the rocks, beatin the banks with a square bill crank bait. I was about 30 feet off the bank and slingin that sucker hard. I let a cast rip and a Heron jumped off the bank right in front of my lure. I could not have timed it better. The back treble hook caught the bird in the leg and between me trying to jerk the lure out of it's way and it trying to get away from some idiot with a flying pain inducer.....Well the poor thing was hooked. So what do you do? The bird flopped into the water and poohed a white slick big as the boat. It was squawking and I was just sittin there wondering....What now? I reeled in slow and easy trying not to hurt it. (I know I was) The bird was fighting a little but not much. I got it next to the boat and again.....Now what? So I grabbed the only thing on the bird I thought could hurt me. The bill. (beak?) Lifted that joker up out of the water, grabbed the treble hook with some needle nose pliers and popped the hook out. Sounds easy right? Wrong!! Wings were flapping. Feet were dancing around. I mean who could blame it? Sure am glad I had a hold of that 8" dagger. I finally got the hook out. Them things got tough skin on the legs. Again...now what? I kind of slung it away and it sat up in the water like a goose. It swam over to the bank, climbed out and stood there eyeing me. I watched for a couple minutes maybe and continued on down the bank, fishing. It did take off and fly away so I guess it was OK.

Can't say what it weighed (7 or 8 lbs) but it was a long sucker.

[RangerCliff]

Tinker, you must have had one with a bad temper, I caught one on a CR on lake Weiss while fishing a tournament. Didn't actually hook him, just wrapped the line around his wings. Like you he took off just as I cast past him and flew right into the line. I reeled him in and he sat peacefully on the front deck while I got him unwrapped, then I just stood back and he took off.

[Bob Smith (Porko)]

Tinker, I was in the back of Stamps on the Sunday Afternoon tournament just this past Sunday and made a long cast with a spinner-bait back near the Campground. Just before it hit the water a Canada Goose decided to take off and flew right into my line. That sucker started squawking and trying to get a way when my line popped and the spinner-bait dropped into the water. She was lucky that it never hooked her and never got wrapped up!
Other than that I caught a 27lb drum in Texas on a finesse Jig, all I can say is that the Shimano Crucial Drop Shot rods are tough! Bought that monster to the boat, my buddy netted it, we CPR'd and released it only to find out that it would have been the lake record! Oh well! it was fun

[ProMo]

Jan 17th ABA Tournament, ran to the area i had caught 9.87 lbs the previous ABA tournament, including a 4.57 lb largemouth by 8:25 that morning. This day...same place...a 14 lb striper and an 18 lb striper on the same crankbait i caught the good limit on. Released the first striper but gave the 2nd one(18 lber) to an older gentleman on the bank. Another mistake catch, i was fishing for Channel cats in the Potomac River in Maryland chunking chicken liver from the bank, a duck flew out and tried to snatch the liver in mid air and caught the treble hook, pulled really good for a minute but did'nt want to harm the duck so i cut the line. Looked pretty crazy fighting that thing, like flying a kite sort of.

[occasionalfisher]

When I started this topic I never thought we would have so many birds involved. I have been lucky and never hooked a bird, I did hook a turtle last year up Stamp Creek on a crankbait, luckily the hook only went into the shell and after getting the thing to the boat, I gave it a little slack and the crankbait fell out, was not looking forward to unhooking that thing.