Whats The Most Interesting Thing You've Had Happen?

[PPSGT]

Hi FishRaiders,

Besides great fish catching stories, I love hearing stories about interesting

things that have happened to people whilst being out on the water.

And it would be great to hear some other stories

It would be best to keep the stories from first hand experiences, we fisherman love to tell

tall tales at the best of times - Mates of Mates stories are usually just urban legends.

My Top 4 are:

1. Being 15kms offshore, on one of those erie dead calm mornings with fog hanging just

off the water, when a Collins Class Submarine surfaced 500 Meters away. It was

big and black and looked like they mean business. ( Off Adelaide )

2. Having A whale go under the the boat whilst downrigging of North Head. It was so close

we had to cut the motor and hang on as it made quite a wake. It went straight under the keel about 4 metres from the stern.We got the downrigger up in time - image the Greenies finding a 8lb lead bomb hanging off a whale, they'd soon ban downrigging. My mate did take a video on his camera - Its great one of him screaming and yelling in excitment and an even better view of his finger over the lens.

It was only a small whale, but much bigger that his 4.5m tinny.

3. Having a mate hook a White Pointer whilst fishing for snapper. Being from SA, I've lost a fair

amount of snapper to sharks, and seen heads of 20lbs+ fish pulled into the boat.

My mate wanted to catch a shark so brought along a Penn Senator 9/0 with 50lbs line and

s/s wire thick enough to use on the washing line. He put out a whole one kilo squid after we lost

the berley bag to a shark. After about 5 minutes of letting out line it took off, if you've every hooked

a passing sail boat's keel whilst using braid it was exactly like that - it powered off high in the water, moving off at fast but constant speed without changing direction. I dont think it even knew it was hooked, and the drag didnt make any difference. After loosing nearly half the spool, it went limp and the wire was bitten through more than metre up the trace. It was all over in a very short space of time. (ok technically its a one that got away story....but it was a white pointer, how did I know its was a white pointer? when you hook one theres no mistaking what it is )

4. Having the boat surrounded by 200+ pelagic/common dolphins the ones that look they are painted brown and white on the side, with some riding in the bow wake. I had plenty of dolphins in the bow wake

before, but they've only been bottle noses in pods of 4-8, never so many.

These are some of the reasons I love fishing and being out on the water, experiences like these that stick in

you mind forever.

Jason

[livo]

Last year aroung September I took my 6 yr old son out to East Reef on a calm day. Having seen a couple of whales up at Crackneck the previous weekend, I revved him up with the possiblity of a glimpse from the distance. After half an hour the poor little bugger was a bit crook so he layed down on the floor of the boat and nodded off. Next thing I hear the unmistakeable soung of whale breath and real close. I woke him up to see a mother and calf Southern right Whale only about 100m away. He was amazed.

Still crook I decided to take him back in and on the trip in we trolled a couple of lures so we were going pretty slow. Anyhow to cut it short on the return trip we spotted a pod of Dolphin, then a big seal and finally a fairy penguin from the Lion Island colony. Pretty good spotting for one day. Only fish were throwbacks at the reef and the boy caught a keeper Tailor inside Box Head. That was it. Once he was up on me he made me take him home to tell everyone all about it.

[Penguin]

Tearing thru Botany Bay in 2000 in a 32ft Mustang Cruiser,

and wondering why we were being chased by the Coast Guard.

We stoped,and were being yelled at thru the loudspeaker"Cut

your engines your right on top of the whale".

I looked over the side and there was this leviathan cumin up for

a look at us.I had to wake up the others so they can have a look.

Crazy John was on board also,and we made the news and the

papers.

We got a close up veiw while all the other boats had to keep

100 metres away .

penguin

[wyldchyld01]

Whilst living in sydney I helped a mate deliver a yacht down from pittwater, just as we got through the heads at manly a sub surfaced not 5 min after we had passed over the same spot (could still see the wake), he must have known we were there, amazing sight.

Whales are found around the coffs area at certain times and i've gotta say it can be a common thing to see them around when you go out, kinda a pain when they are hanging around the good reef areas lol, mind you fishing does get forgotten when your seeing humpbacks breaching, a thumping sound as they re-enter

My personaly fav was the time I hooked onto something that had the boat (18ft grp) halted in a 6 knot current. never got to know what it was but I have a funny feeling it was the biggest thing you could hook up, ie the ocean floor lol, was amazed at the drag strength of the reel,

twas the only thing I caught that day except for the mutton bird that decided the cabin of the boat was a safe dry spot at 5am and I had to catch the blighter and release it (if they got named for their meat, the feathers were as soft as down).

[caine]

in botany once we had a sub go under us

dead calm no one around and heard nothing but big deisle engines with no boat in sight.

should have reported it, no navy base there!!! could have been spies

[Thunder]

I was towing my 17 yo daughter and her boyfriend around Sydney Harbour on New Years Eve.

As you can imagine, there were plenty of big cruisers moored early, waiting for the fireworks. Everyone was partying on the decks and waving.

The boyfriend kept telling me to go faster, so I obliged and started turning the boat left and right so they were jumping the wake.

After 15 minutes I stopped and my daughter screamed out that she had lost her shorts. She had also lost her bikini bottom and was mooning the harbour and its guests.

Lucky she had a change of clothes.

Her boyfriend was a copper, so lucky he didn't give her a ticket !!!!

Very embarrassing for a 17 year old girl, and she hates it even more when I tell her I posted it on here !!!!

Looks like I am in trouble again.

Cheers

Greg

[Wastin Time]

Having a bloody sub come up near where you just have been would have to give you different feelings

[Guest DV8]

Having a seal take a reddie on the way up and toss it 20 m into the air was my most interesting experience.

Hooking a sea turtle whilst crabbing in Brisbane Waters was also not expected.

davo

[livo]

Having a seal take a reddie on the way up and toss it 20 m into the air was my most interesting experience.

Hooking a sea turtle whilst crabbing in Brisbane Waters was also not expected.

davo

I too have hooked a turtle on a Pilly cube in Paddy's Channel. Bugger broke my rod tip off and then poked his head up and looked at me before busting me up.

[Jethro]

My brother and I were out fishing in Hervey Bay in a 12ft tinny. We only had a 6hp on the back but the bay was like a sheet of glass. We were getting a few small fish around Woody Island but things were pretty quiet.

As conditions were so good we decided to head a bit further out into the bay to one of the channel markers. When we got there we had a look back and it was a bit further out than we thought..... but while we're we may as well have a fish

I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and just thought it was another sea turtle... we had seen heaps of them through out the morning... When I turned to have a better look ..... hang on its a shark ........ hold the phone its a Tiger Shark... this thing was bloody huge!!!!

It slowly cruzed in for a closer look at us and swam right next to the boat. Now we are in a 12ft tinny with about 40cm of free board and thing had to be at least 16ft long...... so we "calmly" discussed our position (ok ok paniced) and decision was made to head back.

Looking back I shouldn't have been overly concerned as I can quite easily out swim my brother. But it was definately a very humbling experience.

[mrmoshe]

YIKES!!! Jethro.

I bet you both needed a change of underwear when you got back.

Seeing a shark next to your boat that's bigger than what you are in, has to scare

the living daylights out of you.

You did the right thing in high tailing it back to terra firma.

Cheers,

Pete.

Edited February 14, 2007 by MallacootaPete

[Dalucius]

Well it may not be the most interesting but it was funny.

Fishing at Lake Macquarie with my cousin we had a shag following the boat.

We would move, it would fly just behind us stopping each time we did. It would sit about 30 feet away from the boat.

As you know Lake Macquarie can have crystal clear water and this day you could see the bottom.

When we finally had a bream on the line the shag spotted it, dived and grabbed it. Looking for a free feed.

Not believing our eyes we were reeling in this bream with a shag attached.

Luckily the shag let go at the back of the boat. It kept us laughing for ages.

Again at the lake and the same people.

We had two flatties in the fish bag and when we pulled up to have a fish the skipper says 'ok put the fish bag back in the water. His wife just threw it over not knowing it wasn't tied on.

For the next 15 minutes we were fishing around with a crab pot hook in muddy waters trying to get our fish back. We got them back finally and now we use a fish box.

Like I said not great stories, maybe the most interesting thing in our life is yet to come.

[zen801]

I can relate to Jethros story.

In the 70's we lived in SA and used to go to Aldinga beach for our summer Holidays. One day dads mate who was a semi pro fisherman took us out to sea to go fishing in his boat. I was only maybe 10 or 11 at the time so details are sketchy but i guess the boat was about 4 or 5m. We were catching garfish and had a big chum trail out when a shark comes by close. He calls it for a big white pointer but i dont so anything until about the third lap of our boat. The shark started with a wide circle then eventually came in right at the back to the chum. The guy says have a "look at the size of this" so i do. All i see is this shark bigger than the boat right in front of me. No mistaken identity here. Captain grabs an oar stands up and smashes this pointer right on the fin. You could feel it take off after that slap. Needless to say so did we. After seeing that shark i was so scared that i was actually cowering on the floor. Thats SA for you big pointers their. Back then they used to keep guns on board and shoot big sharks if they came in too close.

Also saw Alex the whale at Grotto point in 1999. He had been there for a couple of days and the wife wanted a look. It was a week day and the only other boat out was the fisheries who were watching it due to the idiot factor. They let us sit with them. It was awesome to watch up close. Eventually it dived in front of us and came up and stuck its tail up. Thats when you realise how big they are. Wife freaked out about this stage and said take me home. I still have a picture of the whale from the Daily Telegraph of it breaching in North Harbour in front of some old guy in a little tinnie. AWESOME

[kingpig]

Some years ago my wife and I were fishing in Morton Bay near Bribie Island and a Dugong surfaced beside the boat. It hung around for a while and we got a good look. Last year I went on an eco tour from Morton Island and saw lots of Dugong.

On another occasion I was fishing in a boat near Bass Point in the dark casting unwaited baits into the wash. It was a very productive way to fish but scary. A pod of a about 5 killer whales surfaced very close and scared the S***t out of me.

Cheers

Kngpig

[zrealist]

a few years ago me and my colleague got sent up to Brisbane for a work trip.

On one of the weekends she went on a whale watching cruise and I went on a deep sea fishing charter.

I ended up seeing a smallish whale (didn't know what specie it was) as it surfaced about 50 meters away from our fishing boat on the way back to the marina. (We were told not to drop any lines in.)

And guess what my colleague who paid to see a whale didn't even get a glimpse on her trip.

It's funny how things work out sometimes. And by the way, I caught some nice fish (3 snappers and bonitos) that day too.