strange new catch, ooops

[landy1]

g'day all
dont know if i should admit to this or not but my mate got a chuckle out of it, so here goes and animal libbers, it wasnt my fault.
when we went out last time i had just chucked the bait out when a seagull swooped down and grabbed it out of the water. it hadnt swallowed it so i was trying to pull it back out of its mouth as it flew circles of the boat about thirty feet out and up. i would gain some line then it would pull some of the drag. this went on for about five minutes until the stubborn bastard spat it back out then tried to grab it again. needless to say my mate was in stitches on the floor of the boat. cant imagine how it looked with the bird flying dozens of laps of the boat and me trying to stop the line hitting the aerial etc. while swearing loudly at the seagull.
anyway thats my confession, only bloody thing i caught that day as well.
cheers

[stevedemon]

HI Landy
Don't feel bad when it comes downs to it I think we have all caught a bird or two I no I have on many occassions the biggest shock of all I got one fishing trip was one of them shag's write down the pallet ???but on average I would say that at lest one or two gull's have a go a loose bait
P.S the shag I caught did manage to end up at Sea world not with broken neck or crab bait
anyway if they are silly enough to have a go what more can you do than to try pull it away hoping you don't catch the damn thing

CHEERS
STEVE

[krazyfisher]

Seagulls dont worry me but the big sea eagles on the outer island around here worry me I use 100lb braid out there I recon they would pull me out of the boat

[blaze]

I know what ya mean, had a mollyhawk pick up a float once and carried it seaward(bait and all) i thought that was a good move as was relying on wind to drift out to channel. so the bloody bird came back again and had another go, drop it again about 250metres out on back side of channel, only this time the float kept drifting away no matter how much line i retreived me none bird one

[Finnie]

I've had a couple of incidences!

Out on the front lawn of a mate's place one summer night after a few tinnies showing him how to cast a fly rod. I had a peice of white cotton on the end of the leader so we could see where it was going. I cast it up the lawn and left it there while I chatted about tight loops etc., when a bloody owl drops out of a tree and grabs the white cotton. It must have been a funny site, me on the front lawn with the fly rod bowed over, dumbfounded, while an owl tries to fly off with it. Anyway, he dropped it and then sat on a powerpole looking at me like it was my fault.

The other one was a month and a half ago when I was throwing raiders off the North Wall at Newcastle and a Penguin was making me very nervous by following my lure in MIGHTY close, and then popping up to watch me for a while before disappearing again. I had images of me trying to unhook a penguin with about 100 angry locals watching! Thankfully he didn't like the look of it and left it alone!

Kinda adds another (vertical) dimension to fishing doesn't it!

Cheers,
Finnie

[aquarius]

Hey Landy...Don't worry im sure it has happened to most of us...I remember a few years ago when trolling a skirted lure from a charter boat just out from the South Passge Bar when a huge Sea Eagle swooped down and grabed the lure with his giant feet.....In a few seconds the reel of 30lb line was peeling off at a great rate of knots......Mate it was just like flying a kite!!!!!.
10 minutes later the eagle landed on a sandbank so i was able to retrive some line......The boat pushed forward to the sandbank where a couple of the crew managed to throw a coat over the bird so we could untangle the line from his feet......success at last and he was free to soar in the blue yonder.
On another occassion i had a gull pick up my bait and head straight up above the boat....Then the damn thing let go!!... missed me by inches....might have to wear a safety hat.
Cheers Brent

[Jack_Lives_Here]

Have a mate that was chucking poppers at night for bass and on one occassion didn't hear the lure hit the water - next minute it's rocketing skyward. One of those little bloody bats had it pinned in it's choppers. Have you seen the teeth on those things - NASTY. Happy ending with a bit of rag and a bit of fancy hand work.

[craigie]

Had an incident with a Pelican in last years 'Flathead Classic'.
Was casting a Mann's 10+ around in Tiger Mullet Channel when a Pelican flew into the flight path of my cast lure.
What a 'Finger Burning' first run, I thought I was going to be spooled for sure. Fortunately the bird dived for the water and I was able to swim it back to me. I manage to pull the lure out of It's back while it was still some distance away.
Wound in a 'Pulled Feather' on the rear treble, I'm sure the Pelican was just as relieved as I that it ended that way. The thing was bigger enough to eat me.


Cheers
Craig.

[jaybee]

this happened to my brother..one night he heard the rachet on his reel going off slowly at first then at a great rate of knots..he jumped out of bed and grabbed his rod and reeled in a fiesty tom cat..apparantly there was a little bit of bait left on a hook and the cat took a likeing to it..not to worry the cat was a feral from adjoining bushland..the cat was put into a sugar sack the hook taken out and the cat release..but i bet it thought twice about a fish meal again

[dj69]

haha welcome to the gull club...

I remember once casting out a live poddy which must of landed on a sandbank just under the waterlevel..5 minutes later I get a stike..after a couple of tugs my mates starts laughing at me and tells me I've caught a gull. gull? I think to myself, never heard of that fish. Then while he is still laughing points out to the gull trying to take off and everytime I pulled on my rod it slammed back into the water...

once it got close enough, about 20 feet, it took off and circled right above us still attached to my line..of course it was a summers day and by this time we had 50 spectators watching..

After finally landing the gull, we threw a towel over it and remove the hook from its beak. When we proceeded to throw it up in the air it did a 180 and dive bombed us...LOL..

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

twas about 1983-84 and our school used to send a fishing team to compete in the Queensland State Secondary Schools fishing comp on the calm side of Moreton Is.
My brother Scott who had won the individual, & basically single handedly won the teams event for the school for the past 4 years could no longer compete because he was too old, even though still at school, so he went as our coach.
We were going well under his direction with a lot of schoolies but no size when he spotted a bigger lizard in the shallows about 20 feet out from shore with his fancy Polaroid sunnies (a rare technological appendage for a teenager in those days).
He gave Graham directions where to cast.
phZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz ...
Grahams cast touched down somewhere near the mainland to our disgust when a hungry seagull swooped on it & took to flight with the pillie.
A great struggle ensued - the gull trying to make off with a free feed - graham wanting the pillie back for another quick cast. The gull let go...
You guessed it.
The pillie landed right next to the lizard who scoffed it immediately & was duely landed by a very humble Graham.
The lizard didn't win biggest flathead for the day but came second overall & boosted our points tally to take the individual & team prizes again.
its all true - don't knock the gulls,
seeyainthesurf,
chris