Loved that video - I have seen it before but it still makes me laugh so hard I almost come to tears. I wish fishing was actually that easy out on the Bow River some days!
Oh, and I have seen hooked fish jump right into the boat more than once, but never a fish that was not hooked.
On my first ever (and thus far only) attempt at FF’n for Tarpon my then 13 yr old son, using the guides baited spinning rod, hooked a small (12-15 lb) Tarpon that immediatly took to the air and on the third jump landed squarely in the boat. It made for an awfully short fight, but at least he got one, I wore the skunk hat home!
Had a bass jump into the boat many, many years ago when I was a lad of about twelve. Lake fishing for perch when five or six fish all came out of the water at once and one of them landed in the boat. Asked what could have made that happen and was told that they were probably trying to get away from a big pike or pickeral. Wasn’t near as exciting as the time when a small water snake swam up the side of the boat, slithered across, and out the other side.
I sent the video to my cousin who speaks Spanish. He tells me that the fellow says they chummed the lake with Mexican jumping beans. Somehow I don’t believe him.
One time I was out bass fishing with my buddy… and it was a slow day both of us just fishing all silence except for the soft rain and then all of a sudden we hear a loud thud and both look to the center of the boat and see a 9 inch trout laying lifeless, like it fell from heaven and we both looked up to see an eagle being attacked by an osprey… that was a neat experience.
The only time I experienced airborne fish was years ago while bass fishing at night. To wrap it up, I had to pass a very shallow cove where good sized bass would feed. Upon my passing, they would get out of there as fast as they could go and would frequently jump when passing my boots. Once, one got me just below the belt. Son of a gun just didn’t know the rules!
I don’t remember where I saw it but there is a great story about Ted Williams and Curt Gowdy filming a segment for the old “American Sportsman” tv show.
Mr. Williams and Mr Gowdy were in one small jon boat with a camera crew in another.
Ted hooks into a truly huge tarpon which procedes to leap right into the camera crew’s little jon boat. Smashing everything. Great stuff for tv. Only the camera crew was so startled that they never started filming.
Williams had a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush. I would have liked being a mosquito on the wall that day.
“too much of anything is bad, but too much whisky is just enough”
Mark Twain
[This message has been edited by dudley (edited 16 January 2006).]
In my younger days (much younger), before I learned about fly fishing, my sister and I were spinning for some perch in Lake Champlain. From the canoe. I saw large movement in the water right before a Northern grabbed her line and immediately bit through the leader. I proceeded to reel like mad to bring my line in and put on a wire (yes wire, I was young) leader. A Northern charged the swiftly moving worm and/or bobber, I pulled the line from the water, fish followed, right into the canoe. Picture a 38-1/2" Northern flopping around on the bottom of a 15’ canoe, eight inch teeth and all, and we are barefoot. Only legal Northern I ever caught in Lake Champlain, and I didn’t have to hook him, but did have to clobber him with the anchor.
I used to do some spin fishing for bass in the Susquehanna River. My fishing buddy and I were drifting my john boat, just taking it easy. I had my rod leaning against the oar lock, with a Heddon Tiny Torpedo dangling on the line. A smallie jumped right up and hooked itself on the lure and it fell into the boat.
I have actually had this happen twice. Kinda like Ripleys-believe it or…
I have had barracuda jump into the boat on three occaisions (they are notorious for that). I believe the fish in the video are some type of mullet. They are famous for for jumping into boats when a light is shining on board. No one know for sure why they do it. Thre is another type of fish, in S. America, I believe, that does the same thing, however they posses a respectable ‘spike’ on thier head and can spear you seriously if you’re not careful. I can’t remember what they are called. Maybe some kind of needlefish.
Nearly 40 years ago I had a 12 pound silver salmon jump into my low sided car topper on the Siletz River in Oregon. Sometimes the danged salmon just jump like crazy and don’t bite.