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Close Encounter!


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#1 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 14 December 2010 - 08:56 PM

I was fishing for Largemouth Bass at a beach house this summer at about 6:30-7:00 AM and I suddenly heard a large splash so I turned to my left and there it was, less than a foot away, the tail of an approx. 30" Northern Pike! It scared me so much because it was practically silent before that. The had been fingerling sunnies and thousands of fathead minnows and shiners but suddenly they were all gone. Just an interesting story of mine, has anyone else here had some close encounters with some toothy monsters?

#2 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 14 December 2010 - 08:57 PM

I was fishing for Largemouth Bass at a beach house this summer at about 6:30-7:00 AM and I suddenly heard a large splash so I turned to my left and there it was, less than a foot away, the tail of an approx. 30" Northern Pike! It scared me so much because it was practically silent before that. The had been fingerling sunnies and thousands of fathead minnows and shiners but suddenly they were all gone. Just an interesting story of mine, has anyone else here had some close encounters with some toothy monsters?

*there

#3 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 15 December 2010 - 10:47 AM

I always wonder what happened to the people who originally captured the Elassoma gilberti that I keep in my aquariums in the wild. I mean, these people must have waded voluntarily into gator infested waters, unarmed, waving a net around in the hopes of capturing some fish less than two inches long. I wouldn't do that, not for all the money in the world.

#4 Guest_daveneely_*

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Posted 15 December 2010 - 11:16 AM

They died a horrible death from leech bites. Stay at home, there's no fish worth that.

#5 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 15 December 2010 - 11:21 AM

It's always neat to see one of the big guys up close. I've never seen a big pike that close, but I have gotten close to some fair-sized gar. As far as more dangerous beasts go, I've come close to stepping on cottonmouths, snapping turtles, and stingrays while wading.

Erica- you just need to go out collecting with some of the more gung-ho Nanfans a few times. Soon, you won't think twice about plunging into snake- and gator-infested swamps or crawling through a rhododendron hell in bear territory for the chance to see some tiny fish in its native habitat. You'll want to break through the ice to net 'em in winter too. I caught some Elassoma zonatum and Etheostoma gracile a couple weeks ago, with air temps so low my net was freezing stiff between sweeps.

#6 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 15 December 2010 - 11:26 AM

I've had many, many such encounters involving all sorts of preditors but the topper was on Tigertail Beach on Marco Island in FL. We had been wading the sand bars up to our waists in calm clear water all weekend fishing for snook, redfish and jacks. I had seen several smallish sharks come over the bar but all bolted when I stamped my foot.
One morning a wind had come up and there was about a 3 foot surf and the water was cloudy. I still waded but the surf kept me back to knee deep. At one point I was fighting a 5 lb jack and my brother and brother in law were standing behind me watching. As the fish got up to the surf line I took a step forward and was just about to reach for the fish when a huge shark, big around as a 55 gal drum and ten or more feet long, made a pass at my fish and missed. I would say it was at most 4 feet from my legs and 2 feet from my out stretched hand. Just the swirl and splash alone would have been enough but we actually saw the beast come out of the water. When they tell the story they claim I screamed like a girl but that's just fishermen stretchin a story. :wink:

#7 Guest_exasperatus2002_*

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Posted 15 December 2010 - 01:33 PM

It's always neat to see one of the big guys up close. I've never seen a big pike that close, but I have gotten close to some fair-sized gar. As far as more dangerous beasts go, I've come close to stepping on cottonmouths, snapping turtles, and stingrays while wading.

Erica- you just need to go out collecting with some of the more gung-ho Nanfans a few times. Soon, you won't think twice about plunging into snake- and gator-infested swamps or crawling through a rhododendron hell in bear territory for the chance to see some tiny fish in its native habitat. You'll want to break through the ice to net 'em in winter too. I caught some Elassoma zonatum and Etheostoma gracile a couple weeks ago, with air temps so low my net was freezing stiff between sweeps.



Thats right...gotta do it in a group. Its like a bear attack, you dont have to be the fastest swimmer/runner just not the slowest! Take a buddy, one of you will be able to go home with fish.


My close encounters are usually with large common carp that feel compelled to jump out of the water near by while Im fishing. Cast in one direction & they jump in the other.

Edited by exasperatus2002, 15 December 2010 - 01:37 PM.


#8 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 15 December 2010 - 05:11 PM

I've had many, many such encounters involving all sorts of preditors but the topper was on Tigertail Beach on Marco Island in FL. We had been wading the sand bars up to our waists in calm clear water all weekend fishing for snook, redfish and jacks. I had seen several smallish sharks come over the bar but all bolted when I stamped my foot.
One morning a wind had come up and there was about a 3 foot surf and the water was cloudy. I still waded but the surf kept me back to knee deep. At one point I was fighting a 5 lb jack and my brother and brother in law were standing behind me watching. As the fish got up to the surf line I took a step forward and was just about to reach for the fish when a huge shark, big around as a 55 gal drum and ten or more feet long, made a pass at my fish and missed. I would say it was at most 4 feet from my legs and 2 feet from my out stretched hand. Just the swirl and splash alone would have been enough but we actually saw the beast come out of the water. When they tell the story they claim I screamed like a girl but that's just fishermen stretchin a story. :wink:

Wow, that's pretty crazy, I've seen a few wild sharks while in Hawaii, but never that big! At one of the hotels we were staying at there was a "pool" that was just a part of the beach that was surrounded by a rock/concrete partition. There was a large hole in the partition that allowed the water to circulate but through that hole came a four foot long Hammerhead! That shark got within a fingers reach of a 3 year old next to me. It was pretty terrifying, but I was informed it wasn't very abnormal. Jus the day before I got there 3 people were stung by the same Box Jellyfish in that same "pool".

#9 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 16 December 2010 - 12:25 AM

They died a horrible death from leech bites. Stay at home, there's no fish worth that.


:-) Dave, you kill me!

#10 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 16 December 2010 - 02:50 PM

Thats right...gotta do it in a group. Its like a bear attack, you dont have to be the fastest swimmer/runner just not the slowest! Take a buddy, one of you will be able to go home with fish.


I've come to believe doinit alone is safest for me. A partner is just someone I'll have to rescue. Not really a problem cause I seem to scare off fishing partners after a couple of trips. Especially night fishing on wave swept jetties or ice fishing in -0 F weather.
Gators and snakes aren't a deterent, they're an attraction. :cool2:

As far as collecting small natives goes, sinking waist deep in mud or stepping on solid ground that turns out to be floating bog is the worst I've seen [snakes and gators don't count].

By far the biggest threat and the one thing that scares me is traveling on the highways, especially late at night. Just me, the cops and the drunks. :roll:

#11 Guest_wegl2001_*

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Posted 28 December 2010 - 03:04 PM

A few years back I was fishing for bluegill, at a local creek, in water just above my waist. I had a stringer of 6-8 tied to a beltloop. They were swimming aimlessly back and forth when suddenly they all decided to swim clockwise around me. I stood there wondering what had gotten into them when a 5'-6' alligator gar made a lunge at them and bumped into me. Luckily he missed and I didn't wait aroun for a second pass.

#12 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 28 December 2010 - 03:27 PM

Not long ago Erica you said how nothing could displace your precious swordtails. And now your pygmies have a tank to themselves.
I suspect you'll be eating your words below too, at some future southern NANFA meeting. (PS - There's no gators or venomous watersnakes in the Roanoke VA area; hope you can come in June).

I always wonder what happened to the people who originally captured the Elassoma gilberti that I keep in my aquariums in the wild. I mean, these people must have waded voluntarily into gator infested waters, unarmed, waving a net around in the hopes of capturing some fish less than two inches long. I wouldn't do that, not for all the money in the world.


And BTW - you can collect Elassoma without getting in the water at all. They're mostly in the leaf litter and plant beds right along the shoreline where you can get them from land with a fine-mesh dipnet.

Edited by gerald, 28 December 2010 - 03:31 PM.


#13 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 28 December 2010 - 08:34 PM

Not long ago Erica you said how nothing could displace your precious swordtails. And now your pygmies have a tank to themselves.


Ha!! We caught another one!! :laugh:

#14 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 29 December 2010 - 01:39 AM

And BTW - you can collect Elassoma without getting in the water at all. They're mostly in the leaf litter and plant beds right along the shoreline where you can get them from land with a fine-mesh dipnet.

Oooh, interesting. I would like to catch some more to diversify the gene pool of the fish in my tank. ^_^



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