Stripers And Anglers Most Unusual Catch Awards!

[DarkSkies]

There are some members here who every time they are out there, they are giving it 200%.....they don't know the meaning of a "slow day at the beach".

Trying new methods, techniques.....
They don't always catch, but it makes for some interesting stories.


A while back I told ya's I would try to pull all these together and give out awards.
Although the awards are only paper signs I've created, they are every bit as important as a trophy.....
You folks who caught these unusual creatures....I'm blown away by your determination....and in some cases didn't know it was possible to catch these species in NJ.....


I'm trying to pull these from the threads from memory....if anyone remembers something that you think was worth mentioning, PM me, and I'll make sure that person gets the "recognition" they deserve......

Thanks........

[DarkSkies]

Monty.....AKA White Water Monty.....



The longest item retrieved with a plug award.......for Hooking a tree in his backyard,,,,,,,,
sometime around Fall 2011.......
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...nty+hooks+tree

Well I have a week vacation, last day of work was friday. Could not fish this am because power problems and can't leave wife at home alone with 5 cats and a bird and a new hip and new knee (that's what she told me so I did not fish). So picked up a bunch of branches outside this morning, found big branch broken in tree 15 feet high, stuck there. Thought better get it down, could fall on a kid. Threw brick at it, no good. Great idea, SS popper, 2 3/8 oz, big hooks, tied it to 50 lb PP, threw it at the branch. Never left my hand.

Let's hear it for Monty!

[DarkSkies]

Another Award for Monty.....

The Hook in Finger Award........
For solidly embedding said hook in his finger when bored out of his mind from not fishing, targeting tree limbs in his backyard (see above award)

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...nty+hooks+tree

Great idea, SS popper, 2 3/8 oz, big hooks, tied it to 50 lb PP, threw it at the branch. Never left my hand. Embedded hook (and barb) into pinky. Went to wife's sons house with bolt cutters, he cut the hook so SS plug was not dangling. Went IMC , xrays, said go to hospital. At hospital as I write this, needed something to do while waiting. Yup googen of the year, should have thrown that plug with my lami. Rough start to my vacation, a frieking snow storm and googen judgment LOL, is that the correct spelling for googen?

[DarkSkies]

And was kind enough to supply us with a pic of his "trophy".....the entertainment value is priceless....thanks Monty....

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...nty+hooks+tree
(Post #8 in the above thread)

Thanks for the well wishes.
As to it could have happened to anyone...
Who is 30 miles from the beach, takes a plug in his hand, ties line too it, and throws (tries to throw it with his hand) it at a tree.....
The Googan of the year does it.
Well all better. Thanks again....
Here is an xray of it.

[DarkSkies]

The above shows what a good sport Monty is......but beyond his proclaimed victory as the Googan of the Year ( A title which I am at times jealous of and have tried to steal from him with my own googan mistakes.......)

Monty is a compulsive fisherman.....
When he's out there he is (usually) targeting bass.....

However, sometimes other creatures jump aboard the retrieval train of White Water Monty.....

There was the time in the summer of 2012........
When he caught the cownose ray on the teaser.....
And promptly got mugged by Al Ristori, who was fishing nearby......

(note, Al is a fixture among the salt water community, writer, colorful character, somewhat of a BS' er, but still, in all, a part of NJ Saltwater Fishing History...... )
















Here's that story, giving White Water Monty the title of StripersAndAnglers "Biggest non-bass Catch caught on a teaser"



July 15, 2012, post 41
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...nty+al+ristori

Great report, congrats on the bass (again) Finchaser
My wacky report.
I fished this morning ocean side from 2:30 - 8:00.
Was delayed (stuck on the Driscoll Bridge ) for an hour and half. Fished one area for an hour and did not catch anything. Moved south about 10-15 miles. I proceeded to catch everything but what I wanted to catch .
Caught a herring on a teaser, 3 Sea robins on teasers, a small blue fish on a teaser and then two rays (one on a teaser, ended up hooked on the tail....took a good 15 minutes and some strong runs to land), the other on J-rod 4 oz metal....when it hit the lure I think I saw it roll in the wave....., landed and released in 5 minutes. Was real happy how my rod and line held up to these fish as I had to really put it to them to stop the runs and get them off the bottom. Lost a few fish on long casts (small fish), missed a blow up on the Dookster . Was fun, no bugs, water not to hot, no one else out there until the sun came out. I had not caught a sea robin this year until last week (now I'm catching them on teasers in front of poppers) and I can't remember the last time I caught a ray.

[DarkSkies]

Here's Al Ristori's follow up report........

Monty's now famous, ....congrats Bro...you gave Al a run for his $$.....
As he was driving home, he told me about this guy who was mugging him on the beach. Every time Monty got a fish the guy was there to see what he was doing and how he was doing it (Monty was the only guy on the beach that got fish that morning......)
Later on, we discover it was Al.....







Al Ristori's report......
"I didn't catch anything in the surf this morning, but watched a surfcaster fight two snagged sting rays. Fortunately, he was using relatively heavy spinning tackle that enabled him to work the first ray that I'd estimate at 30 to 50 pounds and was snagged in the tail. He switched to a surface plug, and was working that hard when he hooked up with a sea robin that hit the fast-moving teaser on the surface. Then he went back to the original diamond jig, and amazingly snagged into another sting ray that he eventually cut off on the leader in the wash. "

[DarkSkies]

Chas527, the Long Long way from Home, 2012 AWard.....










For catching a Sheepshead, at Sandy Hook, in the middle of October 2012.......
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ing+sheepshead

fished the hook this morning.rough water 6 onces was just holding bottom.4 bass 2small 2 keepers on clams.also got a drum.i think? pretty fish silver with black horizontal stripes about 6 lbs.

that was a sheeps head. the tackle store told me it was a druml

[Monty]

I catch weird things like Stomin Steve finds dead things.
Some catches this year:





Last few years

[cowherder]

Monty kudos for all the crazy things you catch! The reports are always funny and the pics rock even when its not a bass.

[storminsteve]

The coolest - the stargazer and the hooked shoe. Did you kiss that stargazer for good luck monty?

[ledhead36]

Nice going . There was a guy who got a 70lb drum off one of the piers in Sept. Maybe you can add that to your bucket list, you seem to have every other creature conquered. Awsome catches.

[cowherder]

If it could be caught or snagged monty will probably catch it!

[jonthepain]

The coolest - the stargazer ...

i caught one of those in surf city 30 years ago - had no clue what it was, the old timer fishing next to me told me not to touch it (as if!) cuz it's a shocker

crazy looking beast

my fishing partner caught a hatch cover in the rips back in 1990... fought it for about an hour... never laughed so hard in my life.

then we ran out of gas on the way in. his paddle had delaminated, so we paddled in with the handle.

until the tide turned.

no matter how fast he paddled, the dock kept getting farther... farther... farther away

luckily some stunad took pity on us and towed us in.

my face hurt for a week after that trip.

turnabout was fair play, though, cuz when we got back home i burned out my clutch trying to back his dam boat up his steep crooked driveway on a skinny busy street in central jersey rush hour... luckily i couldn't see him laughing at me cuz of the giant cloud of clutch smoke.

[DarkSkies]

my fishing partner caught a hatch cover in the rips back in 1990... fought it for about an hour... never laughed so hard in my life.

then we ran out of gas on the way in. his paddle had delaminated, so we paddled in with the handle.

until the tide turned.

no matter how fast he paddled, the dock kept getting farther... farther... farther away

luckily some stunad took pity on us and towed us in.

my face hurt for a week after that trip.

Hatch cover, priceless.....
I remember when I used to fish bait at night, caught a piece of odd shaped furniture and as it got tossed up and down in the surf under a new moon I ran down the beach after it...convinced I had the world record bass as it kept "pulling drag" .....what a googan night that was.......

Paddling back on an outgoing tide in the 90's?
There must have been a point when ya's got very nervous.....that tide can be extreme as I found out being on the wrong side of it in a kayak some years ago.... Good stories Jon, thanks for sharing. Do ya miss Jersey sometimes?......

[jonthepain]

Yes I do.

[DarkSkies]

I really hope you have a chance to come back here, one season when the fishing is worth it, Jon.....
My humble house, though small, is always open......

[jonthepain]

Thanks Rich! I'm looking forward to it.

[DarkSkies]

The Storm that brought in the Big Fish.....(courtesy of Finchaser)

One of the old salts, finchaser's friend, was "out back" plugging last night.....many are the times when we talk about a rough nasty ocean forcing some big fish to hide where it's calmer, until the seas calm down.......

So his friend, was plugging last night.....hoping to catch a feisty bass.
Things had been dead, as a lot of the bait had cleared out in the last few days......

This guy was just plugging, right time and tide.....hoping for a bend in the rod.....
All of a sudden... "Bang!!!!!!!"...he gets hit by a freight train.......
A fish hits his plug and takes off into the night.....pulling drag steadily......

At first he thought he had a world record bass,
but then it got tired, still a challenge to bring in...he wondered if it could be a bass, or something else ...

He allegedly was fighting this fish for over 10 minutes.,,,,and began to gain ground.....
He finally got close enough to look at it.....

The moment of anticipation....he saw a big form in front of him......wide bodied fish.....
As he shined his headlamp on the beast,,,,he realized it was not striped bass, ray, nor a shark......
If was a freaking giant drum....estimated to be in the 50-60 lb class......

The fish was tired from the fight...but so was he...as his rod was one you would fish for schoolies with...together with a quality reel.....

The fish took one look at him....shining the light....he saw that it was a large black drum...(50-60lb class).....it then rolled on him as he was trying to maneuver it closer....and with one swipe of its tail was back in the water....swimming away...splashing his face in the process....as if to say..."Eff you pal! Not tonight!"








The guy who reported this is a credible source...doesn't exaggerate....although it's highly unusual to catch a large drum on a plug....it's certainly possible....and more so in the middle of the night when fish are less spooky......
Some of you who fish a lot may hear of the story circulated in tackle shops the next few days....
I'm telling ya's...this is a true story....believe it when you hear it.....
Truth is stranger than fiction....believe it or not....

[cowherder]

Check out these giant fluke. It shows that you don't have to be on a party boat way out there to catch a big fluke. From www.nj.com the ristori report

"What has to be the largest river fluke of the year was boated Thursday in Shark River as Frank Kossell came up from Lewes, De. to boat a 14-pound, 15-ounce super-doormat. Bob Matthews, at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina said that giant hit a peanut bunker. The same angler added a fluke over 9 pounds today.

Also reporting big fluke was The Tackle Box in Hazlet. An angler identified only as Andre A. from Sayreville was fishing the surf at Sandy Hook when he landed a 9 1/2-pounder on a mullet. "

[ledhead36]

Those were some big fluke. Congrats to the anglers.