Coolest Fish You've Ever Caught

[snagged in outlet 3]

Best fighter, tarpon.

Best fighter freshwater, Hybrid Striper, big one, on a nine weight!!!

Weirdest, sturgeon out of the mississippi and the next cast a spoonbill.

Both caught in the mouth.

I've caught about everything that's considered a rough fish on the fly.

Drum, Common carp, Asian Carp, Buffalo, shad and gar.

Untold numbers of birds, snakes and turtles. Even snagged a muskrat on accident.

Coolest, toss up between a 9lb Bonefish and a 29 inch rainbow at McClellans.

[EddieRay]

I guess the coolest would be the fish that fought the hardest for me. In October, 2009, the wife and I went saltwater fishing in Baffin Bay down in Texas. We caught a few redfish in addition to some spotted sea trout and black drum. The bigger redfish were awesome taking quite a bit of time to fight and land. We had a few in excess of 30 inches with the largest right at 35 inches.

[stlfisher]

Coolest-

I hooked into a Tiger Musky at Busch Wildlife when I was a kid and with the help of my grandpa we had it boat side, before it got loose. They are long gone by now but it was pretty cool at the time and seemed pretty darn big. I caught it on a worm, bobber, and Zebco 33.

Stangest-

I caught two nice Crappie back to back on buzzbait.

[cnr]

Coolest fish I didn't catch:

Tarpon at boatside in Boca Grande eaten by a Hammerhead shark. Fish estimated at 150lb by the guide, shark bit it completely through the middle and left me with just a head. Scared the heck outta me!

Funnest fish I have caught:

Steelhead hands down, nothing swims in freshwater that can compare IMO. Had one break me off by jumping 3 feet up into a low overhanging tree. Small stream and big rainbows are a blast!!!

[Outside Bend]

Weirdest- I caught a burbot on a fly once out west. Wicked ugly things that look like they'd be more at home in some blackwater jungle stream than a Rocky Mountain freestone.

[Justin Spencer]

The next fish I catch will be the coolest, that's why I keep going fishing.

Probably the coolest would be a 29 inch muskie I caught trolling with my dad (who would have been 63 today)as a kid in Michigan. He kept saying I was hung up but I knew it was fighting back. Once we got it up we were both scared to death of a fish with teeth like that. Finally unhooked it and threw it back and it went belly up on the bottom. Decided we'd try to dip it up and clean it since we thought it was dead and when we did it turned over and shot off.

Another cool fish was a school of Dolphin my wife and I got into out the St. Lucie inlet one day. Caught them on mullet that Amy had cast netted, and kept one hooked in the rod holder which kept the school around so we could catch fish after fish. Kept a few for the grill and released quite a few of the green acrobats before the school moved on.

Coolest on fly was a 29 inch seatrout in the Indian River Lagoon. Caught it on a flat with stingrays and other creepy crawlies swimming around me.

First fish for each of my kids cool, first on fly for kids cool, just like deer hunting, duck hunting, bird hunting, seems like every fish has a story. I could go on and on but that would be boring for most of you. What a fun hobby we all enjoy!

[jasperflyfisher]

Port O'Connor Texas. Caught a Sheepshead and didn't see the teeth until it was almost too late. Same trip caught a 6' shark and tried to pick it up by the tail and about got my arm bitten off.

[dennis boatman]

18# Northern Pike on 4lb test and no steel leader. I was about 15 and we were in Manitoba. Years later I found out that was a world line class record. Probably not now, but still fun to know.

[Guest csfishinfool]

While fishing a tournament at Lake of the Ozarks, we had about two hours of the day left to make something happen. We had two fish in the well. We pulled up to a dock in the river that literaly has bushes growing off of it. Made three pitches and caught three solid keepers on consecutive casts. The last one ate it as soon as it hit the water. Seen him come out flare his gills and ingulf it. That was so exciting. Ending up winning with that last fish !!!

[Buzz]

I caught a 29" Northern Pike while trolling Stockton Lake in 1970 when I was 7. Pretty cool.

A 25 inch 8 lb. Golden Rainbow from Hickory Creek about 4 years ago. Very strange.