Every once in a while you get some action on swimbaits, but not from the target species. Some of my catches include:

* Catfish (MS Slammer, wide open deadstick bite)
* Bluegill (also MS Slammer, they must think the hooks are worms)
* Crappie (5" chartreuse big hammer. Crappie LOVE chartruese grubs)
* 7lb trout (BBZ fast sink, at night)
* 2+lb redtail perch (9 inch wood striper plug, at night)
* Lots of carp (always snagged by accident)
* Two Canadian geese at the same time (should have rethought that cast)
* Owl (well, almost. Not on a rat lure)

Anyone else get some weird ones?

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7006-hungry.jpg

Nothing quite like your list...

2lb trout on an 8" Triple Trout the first day I threw it... hit it twice before getting hooked.

Quite a few trout on a 5 inch big hammer... would keep hitting and hitting and hitting. Lure would come back with scrape marks from the hook back. Only a few opened wide enough to get over the hook.

Had an osprey start taking flight with my Slammer but let go about 5 feet above the water.

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Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

15lb Channel on the 8" Triple Trout (Thought I had a donkey until it started rolling like a sand bass)

3 other smaller cats on the Triple Trout

7lb Trout on the 13" Tool

17lb Carp on the Armeggedon

Me and my partner were fishing a point last week with swimbaits. I had my rod back getting ready to make a cast when my buddy had a fish swipe at his bait. I held my rod back over my shoulder for a few more seconds waiting to see if the fish was going to come back. When I did commit to the cast something swooped down on us, a juvenile Bald Eagle. He almost grabbed my bait out of the air! It scared the crap out of both of us. Not a catch, thankfully, but close. Besides that:

-Owl (M.S. Slammer)
-Otter (BBZ-1) At least it wasn't a Real Deal Don, lol
-Few Catfish (Hudds, Stocker Trout)
-8 lb. Trout (Rago Raptor)
-Carp (snagged on a bunch of different baits)
-Squaw Fish (Wake Jr.)
-Steelhead (Triple Trout)
-Seagull (3:16 Wake Bait)

22lb channel cat on the hudd was fun. I manhandled that thing to the net in about 30 seconds :9 Thought I had super bessie bass hooked.

http://calfishing.com/gallery/d/7555-2/22_8lb_cat.jpg

Several crappie and bluegill on the Slammer. One bluegill was no more than 4 inches long. Crazy thing. The crappie hit surprisingly hard for their size.

http://www.ichthy.com/topwater/c-1.5.jpg

Squawfish on the slammer at the Delta. Fought like a wet rag.

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/2_9_07_squawfish.jpg

No carp for me on the big baits. The one that ate my 12" worm had me excited though.

I knew you were Captain Catfish. Who knew you are also Corporal Crappie and Sargent Squawfish.

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have-yous

carp on 9" eagle, Lake Hemet, actually hooked it in the mouth.
Squaw fish, 7"Slammer, Shasta
Catfish, 12"Slammer, LMV

not an exotic, but one time I was burning the 9" Eagle at San V. and I hit a wad of grass on the surface, I ripped my bait out of the grass and when I got it to the boat and picked the rest of the grass off, there was a 2" largmouth hooked in the mouth with one point of the treble.......

I also had a very near miss from a White Sea Bass off of San Clemente on one of first baby bass 12" slammers that looked more like a Mackrel. It just missed the bait right at the boat!!

I've caught a few of these on Hudds and Slammers, this one went 14.00lbs. They are exciting until you see them....My only other exotic was a catfish on a Slammer.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7181-Copy_of_2-22-08_14.00lbs.jpg

Jake J

http://calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/jakej/

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You've probably all seen the great blue heron strike at Siemantel's BBZ-1 in his DVD...I had the same thing happen, except I didn't see the bird until after it struck and held the lure in its beak. Luckily, the hooks didn't take hold when I yanked the BBZ-1 (floating) out of its mouth...unhooking a heron with a 12"-dagger-like beak while in my pontoon doesn't sound like fun.

- Prescribing a steady diet of steel to the local fishes -

Well, I wasnt so lucky. I couldnt out reel a great blue heron, and one hook on my Real Deal found home. A passing boat even stopped to see what I was gonna do. I reeled it to the boat, and luckily it was flapping backwards as hard as it could. When the right time came, I grabbed it by the bill in a death grip. Once I did that it was kinda like dealing with a gator, it really couldnt do anything. I got the hook out without damage and sent it on its way. It flew to the bank and as far as I could tell said some nasty things to me in blue heron language.

Biggest disappointment. Fishing the lagoon all day, rolling a Hudd deep. Finally get bite, Im stoked. Three cranks into it I know something is wrong. I caught a wesetern grebe, it bit in 18 foot of water. Oh well.

#1) Hooked a bluegill on an 8" Hudd. See photo:



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7191-exotic_perch.jpg

#2) I'm guessing it went 20 pounds. I caught a 20 pound-ish striper on Day 3 of the FLW on Clarks Hill in October 2008. 8" Triple Trout, chartruese shad. It bit right of a brushpile. I mean, I thought I had a 7-8 pound largie and really had a flood of emotion in that fight. I mean, this fish killed it, and proceeded to just pull and dog me. I was sure it was a big largie. Big striper. I was shaking for about 15 minutes after, still just so jacked up on the whole deal. It was cold and raining too, and I was covered in blood and slime. Fish had my bait inhaled. Tournament fishing can be intense!!

#3) Hooked an Osprey on an Eagle, on San Vicente. Back of Kimball, something crashes on my Eagle in the middle sand bar back there. I was totally confused until a full on Osprey lifts out of the water with my Eagle in his talons. Thankfully, the one jerk I gave it, the Eagle came loose. Can you imagine fighting an Osprey to get a bait back. No way.

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

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