Every once in a while you get some action on swimbaits, but not from the target species. Some of my catches include:

* Catfish (MS Slammer, wide open deadstick bite)
* Bluegill (also MS Slammer, they must think the hooks are worms)
* Crappie (5" chartreuse big hammer. Crappie LOVE chartruese grubs)
* 7lb trout (BBZ fast sink, at night)
* 2+lb redtail perch (9 inch wood striper plug, at night)
* Lots of carp (always snagged by accident)
* Two Canadian geese at the same time (should have rethought that cast)
* Owl (well, almost. Not on a rat lure)

Anyone else get some weird ones?

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7006-hungry.jpg

Nothing quite like your list...

2lb trout on an 8" Triple Trout the first day I threw it... hit it twice before getting hooked.

Quite a few trout on a 5 inch big hammer... would keep hitting and hitting and hitting. Lure would come back with scrape marks from the hook back. Only a few opened wide enough to get over the hook.

Had an osprey start taking flight with my Slammer but let go about 5 feet above the water.

15lb Channel on the 8" Triple Trout (Thought I had a donkey until it started rolling like a sand bass)

3 other smaller cats on the Triple Trout

7lb Trout on the 13" Tool

17lb Carp on the Armeggedon

Me and my partner were fishing a point last week with swimbaits. I had my rod back getting ready to make a cast when my buddy had a fish swipe at his bait. I held my rod back over my shoulder for a few more seconds waiting to see if the fish was going to come back. When I did commit to the cast something swooped down on us, a juvenile Bald Eagle. He almost grabbed my bait out of the air! It scared the crap out of both of us. Not a catch, thankfully, but close. Besides that:

-Owl (M.S. Slammer)
-Otter (BBZ-1) At least it wasn't a Real Deal Don, lol
-Few Catfish (Hudds, Stocker Trout)
-8 lb. Trout (Rago Raptor)
-Carp (snagged on a bunch of different baits)
-Squaw Fish (Wake Jr.)
-Steelhead (Triple Trout)
-Seagull (3:16 Wake Bait)

22lb channel cat on the hudd was fun. I manhandled that thing to the net in about 30 seconds :9 Thought I had super bessie bass hooked.

http://calfishing.com/gallery/d/7555-2/22_8lb_cat.jpg

Several crappie and bluegill on the Slammer. One bluegill was no more than 4 inches long. Crazy thing. The crappie hit surprisingly hard for their size.

http://www.ichthy.com/topwater/c-1.5.jpg

Squawfish on the slammer at the Delta. Fought like a wet rag.

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/2_9_07_squawfish.jpg

No carp for me on the big baits. The one that ate my 12" worm had me excited though.

I knew you were Captain Catfish. Who knew you are also Corporal Crappie and Sargent Squawfish.

carp on 9" eagle, Lake Hemet, actually hooked it in the mouth.
Squaw fish, 7"Slammer, Shasta
Catfish, 12"Slammer, LMV

not an exotic, but one time I was burning the 9" Eagle at San V. and I hit a wad of grass on the surface, I ripped my bait out of the grass and when I got it to the boat and picked the rest of the grass off, there was a 2" largmouth hooked in the mouth with one point of the treble.......

I also had a very near miss from a White Sea Bass off of San Clemente on one of first baby bass 12" slammers that looked more like a Mackrel. It just missed the bait right at the boat!!

I've caught a few of these on Hudds and Slammers, this one went 14.00lbs. They are exciting until you see them....My only other exotic was a catfish on a Slammer.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7181-Copy_of_2-22-08_14.00lbs.jpg

You've probably all seen the great blue heron strike at Siemantel's BBZ-1 in his DVD...I had the same thing happen, except I didn't see the bird until after it struck and held the lure in its beak. Luckily, the hooks didn't take hold when I yanked the BBZ-1 (floating) out of its mouth...unhooking a heron with a 12"-dagger-like beak while in my pontoon doesn't sound like fun.

Well, I wasnt so lucky. I couldnt out reel a great blue heron, and one hook on my Real Deal found home. A passing boat even stopped to see what I was gonna do. I reeled it to the boat, and luckily it was flapping backwards as hard as it could. When the right time came, I grabbed it by the bill in a death grip. Once I did that it was kinda like dealing with a gator, it really couldnt do anything. I got the hook out without damage and sent it on its way. It flew to the bank and as far as I could tell said some nasty things to me in blue heron language.

Biggest disappointment. Fishing the lagoon all day, rolling a Hudd deep. Finally get bite, Im stoked. Three cranks into it I know something is wrong. I caught a wesetern grebe, it bit in 18 foot of water. Oh well.

#1) Hooked a bluegill on an 8" Hudd. See photo:



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7191-exotic_perch.jpg

#2) I'm guessing it went 20 pounds. I caught a 20 pound-ish striper on Day 3 of the FLW on Clarks Hill in October 2008. 8" Triple Trout, chartruese shad. It bit right of a brushpile. I mean, I thought I had a 7-8 pound largie and really had a flood of emotion in that fight. I mean, this fish killed it, and proceeded to just pull and dog me. I was sure it was a big largie. Big striper. I was shaking for about 15 minutes after, still just so jacked up on the whole deal. It was cold and raining too, and I was covered in blood and slime. Fish had my bait inhaled. Tournament fishing can be intense!!

#3) Hooked an Osprey on an Eagle, on San Vicente. Back of Kimball, something crashes on my Eagle in the middle sand bar back there. I was totally confused until a full on Osprey lifts out of the water with my Eagle in his talons. Thankfully, the one jerk I gave it, the Eagle came loose. Can you imagine fighting an Osprey to get a bait back. No way.

Dang it Matt, you beat me to it:)! LOL

Caught this beast at Lake Jennings; slow rollin' the Hudd ROF12. I got "bit" about three or four times before hooking it. My theory is that I was running my Hudd through a school of them, bumping into them; before I finally snagged this guy. LOL

<a href="http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm90/Allatoonabass/?action=view¤t=pics006.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm90/Allatoonabass/pics006.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Also, a couple times while bank fishing at Muray; I had Ospreys carry away my baits. I'm casting a Hudd ROF5 and as the baits flying through the air; I'm looking around while thumbing the spool. The SECOND the bait touches down; I hear a huge splash. Naturally I'm thinkin' it's a bass that just crushed my bait as it hit the water. So I set the hook and the rod loads up; and here's this big Osprey coming out of the water. Thank God I don't use trailer hooks. LOL Thing raised up about 20' and just dropped the bait.

The other time, I was waking a 3:16 10 1/2" Wake Bait; you know the cheap baits:)! LOL I turn my head for one second and here comes this Osprey and it grabs my bait and starts to fly off with it. All I can think is what am I gonna do now!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm watching it fly away, I'm tryng to shake my bait loose, it's still flying further away; and finally it drops it. That's a $150 bait!!! LOL That would have sucked if it would have broke me off.


Other than that, nothing special. I'm really surprised, as much as I fish Hudds; that I haven't caught a catfish yet. Everyone else has it's seems. LOL

I've caught a lot of stuff with other baits though.

Arden

I had a blue herron grab my frog off a matt

Caught this 20lb carp on my gill. I dont think it ate it but who knows. It was hooked close to the mouth
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/Mattlures/DCP_2570.jpg
I caught this giant squid while throwing a slammer at Casitas.
It bit in about 300ft and took me a long time to reel in :+
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/Mattlures/DCP_2569.jpg