[Dry fly magic]

Yesterday when I was fishing a lake I unfourtanatly managed to hook a little duckling. I casted out and the group of ducks went to swim towards my fly line so when I picked up the line to cast elsewhere I caught a little duckling in the chest fur. As soon as he was on I had no clue what to do so I just used common sense and waded out to it and brought it to shore (much to the mothers dislike). The hook was just loged in the fur on its stomach so I took my pliers and gently eased it out. Soothed the wound with some water quickly and then let it back with its family. After this event it came to my mind that while we fish we occasionally hook in to something we dont mean to. Feel free to share your stories and say your opinions on what to do in the unlikely even of hooking something besides a fish

[Frank Whiton]

I think you handled it just the way I would have.

Back about 1950 we were out at a local lake in California. We were experimenting with a new fangled Spinning Reel to see what they were all about. My friend had a imitation minnow on his line. He was throwing it out and reeling it in. A Loon flew over and spotted that minnow. It landed and waited for it to come by again. We keep throwing it out and the Loon would dive under the water and try to catch it. Up on the hill across the cove we were in was a Fish and Game office. We looked up and here comes the Fish and Game guy with his Smokey the Bear hat. We figured we were going to get arrested but instead he said hi and pulled out his camera. He took a bunch of pictures and went back to his office. We had a big laugh over that and we all were thinking we were in trouble. We also learned where the expression "Crazy as a Loon" or "Loony" came from. That bird was definitely crazy.

Frank

[shorthaul]

I was fishing dries when i saw that an otter was going to intercept my leader--i thought maybe he might go over it but when i tried to pull it out from under, i hooked his back foot---an otter on a orvis "far and fine" is a mismatch, So was the 6x leader and it popped. It really wasnt happy.

[HuronRiverDan]

Hooked a bat one evening when fishing the Hex hatch...Needless to say, it was not very happy; and neither was I. Barbless hooks are a Godsend in that situation...LOL

Dan

[BlueDun]

My aunt hooked a seagull that thought it was catching a "free" minnow being tossed back into the lake. It actually tried to fly away with the hook in its leg. Since the line wouldn't just break and the bird had quite a bit of line out (so she couldn't just cut it), she to reel it in to remove the hook. That bird gave her an ear full of what it thought and they had every fisherman in view in stitches.

[packfancjh]

I caught a turtle fishing in a lake back when I was a kid.

[fishenrg]

A couple of weeks ago my buddy and I were pike fishing in my canoe. He was using big sucker minnows with a pike bobber. He tossed it out and then kicked back to let the minnow do its thing. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something swimming across the lake. It turns out to be a mink, which is a pretty cool thing to see so I'm just watching it swim. Suddenly, my buddy's bobber starts swimming along behind it! Luckily it never got hooked, but it ended up pulling the bobber all the way across the pond before it finally got untangled.

[fyshstykr]

I've hooked a Swallow before on the San Juan, little buggers were swarming over the water and I hooked one during a cast.

It was a site trying to get it to come in for the release.

[scottisko0L]

haha ok i got a story. i forgot where we were but we were fishing some river and it was just about to get dark and my grandpa caught a bat on the backcast. and there is a food place and they have a sign. it says "you catch it, we cook it"
well the bat was fine had the fly right in the corner of his mouth and we brought it to the place. they were laughing for an hour and they took a picture and posted it on their wall.

[tlcrep]

Originally Posted by Dry fly magic

Yesterday when I was fishing a lake I unfourtanatly managed to hook a little duckling. I casted out and the group of ducks went to swim towards my fly line so when I picked up the line to cast elsewhere I caught a little duckling in the chest fur. As soon as he was on I had no clue what to do so I just used common sense and waded out to it and brought it to shore (much to the mothers dislike). The hook was just loged in the fur on its stomach so I took my pliers and gently eased it out. Soothed the wound with some water quickly and then let it back with its family. After this event it came to my mind that while we fish we occasionally hook in to something we dont mean to. Feel free to share your stories and say your opinions on what to do in the unlikely even of hooking something besides a fish

I guess you havent had Duck before, yum yum!! I thought I had an interesting story, but it is the same ol same ol. Was back casting at dusk dry fly fishing, and caught what the majority of people here have caught, those evil flying rodents! A homeless person was nearby and thought it was cool so I let him unhook it, I thought he might take it to eat :P

I would actually be super sad if I caught a baby ducky