Never in a million years would I have thought it possible, but I snagged a dragonfly in mid-air last night! I was casting a popper for bass and heard a SMACK on my forward cast, and my fly looked about 3 times as big as it should have on the water.
I forgot my camera at home, or I’d have some pictures of the fly with the dragon stuck on it, plus a couple bass…
I’ve also gotten hooked on using a 10-ft jigging pole and 1/32 oz jigs I tie. It’s a small step up from “cane pole”, because it’s got a reel and I have some line control. But that’s a whoooooole 'nother ballgame!
cool man. i hooked another anglers fly once but that was deliberate.
You caught a DRAGONfly? Awesome!!
I keep hoping for a bat, but so far nothing.
I would venture a guess that the dragon was trying to catch your fly when in flight. I saw one cross the Hooch a couple of years back with a butterfly in his mouth, it really looked strange.
Dave, yup! It had about a 7" wingspan. Big ol sucker.
Jesse, that’s what I thought at first too, but it was hooked in the back. I would think if it was trying to catch it I would have snagged it in the belly.
that’s crazy- we don’t have dragonflies out here in arizona( not that big, at least) however, I have snagged a lizard that wanted my fly…
I’ve had them take a fly while I was casting as well and it’s kind of strange. I made my forward cast with my four wt rod and it felt a little funny as the line slipped through the guides. Then I noticed that the fly and tippet were slowly moving up in the air when it should have been settling on the water. A large dragon fly had grabbed my fly and was doing his darnest to take off with it. I guess that’s called dragon fly fishing.
Jim Smith
FishnDave ? I’ve caught a number of bats when I was night fishin for brown trout a number of years ago. It’s a pretty strange feeling because nothing feels right. They were always caught at the end of my backcast. I would simply take all my line up into the reel until the bat hit the end of the rod and then hold it under water until I knew it was dead. Then I’d cut about four feet of leader off just so I didn’t have get close to it. When night fishing I also wore a hat with a large brim on it so the bats wouldn’t fly too close to me while trying to catch the bugs that hung around me. When you can feel or hear the wing beat, they are too close.
I caught a pelican once on a fly-rod fishing for False Albacore off the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Fortunately, I was with a guide who corraled the bird and extracted the Clouser from him. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him! Those birds have a nasty disposition when hooked. It was really a funny feeling pulling something down from the air instead of up out of the water.
Poke, you haven’t seen a nasty disposition until you hook your fishing guide. Trust me on this one. 8T 
The best I can do is a female goldfinch back in June. Evidently, according to the guy I was with, she nailed my hare’s ear when it stalled at the end of my backcast. She got loose on her own (barbless hook) and no harm done. I sat on the bank one morning and watched a squadron of dragonflies decimate a mayfly hatch below the dam at Waconda. They were catching the flies out over the water then perching on the bushes beside me to eat them before flying off to grab another one. The hatch and the ensuing dogfight lasted about 45 minutes. I forgot to fish while it was going on, it was just too cool.