One day, I was pike fishing with my baitcasting gear. Used a big smelt, and I got snagged up, so I started to pull and tug, and it freed. So I'm sitting there for a while and I was watching the seaguls play.

So I see this gul swoop down and take this big dead........smelt, from the top of the water. Apparently when I freed up the line, it broke off the weight. So my smelt floated to the top.

So anyways, he wasn't hooked, but he also wouldn't let go. So I reeled him in to about 20 feet of me when he let loose. I was being gentle with him, since I thought he was hooked. It's illegal here to harm one of those beech chickens.

Thanks everyone for the stories. Some of those had me LMAO. And for you folks that fish in bear country, you're all nuts

Shane