MDRAnglers Fishing Stories guest book
This Fish Stories Guest Book is here to collect your fishing tails. We'd like to know what you fish for and how you do it? When are you successful and when not so successful? What was the best part. The funniest part? Email them to webmaster @ mdranglers.com and maybe we will post them.
Read the Fishing Stories below...
Halibut - Mako - Yellowtail - Valentine - Joke - Wahoo
Comments
IGFA World Record Class Halibut by MDRA member in 2001
Vic Jedlicka, catches a 40 lb. 9 oz. California Halibut
big enough for a 8 LB line Class IGFA World Record
Five days after Vic Jedlicka got his 30.4 LB Halibut on Harold Cabrera’s boat the “Jackpot” he was off again with Harold to do it again. Well Harold can find the spots and that “Jackpot” of his gets bit for sure. Vic says: “We got on this spot not to far from the tankers. It was almost the same spot as the other fish…Well, after about 30 minutes I put on a real hot sardine. As soon as it hit the bottom bang! I felt a steady tug and then it stopped. I let him eat, eat and eat until I was sure he was ready for a hook set. Gentle but firm I set the hook. Well, this fish felt exactly as a barn door should. I went real slowly with a very light drag on 8 LB test line. He didn’t head shake much, mostly heavy weight and no strong runs.
When we saw the fish coming up we decided quickly it was a Halibut for the gaff. Harold hit him on the first try and into the boat we hauled him. What a whopper for sure. The fish weighed 40 LB 9 OZ. at the dock and had lost a lot of blood.
Another nice trophy halibut on the “Jackpot” and Vic’s first IGFA Line Class World Record….Vic’s biggest Halibut ever and how thrilled he was….A great day to remember with his friend Harold.
Comments
IGFA record Mako Shark on 4 lb. line
On Saturday, July 21, 2001, April Wakeman and her husband Stephen Mras were joined aboard their Blackman 20 SALSIPUEDES by Keith Poe. The goal for the outing was to best the current women’s IGFA 4 lb line class record for mako shark of 17 lbs 3 oz. In the planning stages for over two years, the planets finally aligned and the angler of the moment agreed to go. Launching out of Sunset Aquatic in Huntington Harbor, we headed for Keith’s Lat/Lon numbers off Palos Verdes where he caught a number of small makos the prior week.
The first mako showed up in the chum line after about 30 minutes and looked to be about 40 lbs. We quickly went over our strategy and assignments and presented a mackerel slab to Mr. Mako. The fight was on. From aerials, deep dives, to lateral runs, we chased this fish for a little over 30 minutes. Finally, we had the fish deep looking tired and showing its side. The 13’8” leader consisting of 30 lb. mono and a 12” piece of 60 lb single strand wire was within 2” of the rod tip. We were hoping to get at least a wrap on the reel before grabbing the leader, but the fish darted under the boat and the line got wrapped in the outdrive. The leader must have been in the outdrive as we spent a couple futile minutes coaching April on how maybe to get it out (IGFA rules preclude touching the main line). Finally, the line parted.
It was not until the end of the day and the last plumes of chum were exiting the final chum bucket that another mako showed. Smaller than the first, this one looked to be 20 to 30 lbs. April fed it a mackerel slab and the fight was on. This fish made a few aerials, a lateral run or two, but nothing deep. Then it rose to the surface about 20 yards from the boat and we ran on it. The leader came on and Keith performed his crucial assignment flawlessly, plucking the fish by hand from the water, shoving a wash down hose down its mouth and wrapping it in a towel to calm it. The goal for this record was to weigh the fish live on land to comply with IGFA rules for record consideration, tag and then release it. A true triple header intended to emphasize the Sport of Fishing as opposed to just catching.
We made the run in to Cabrillo launch ramp, quickly rigged a sling from a sea anchor and weighed the fish using a certified digital scale from West Weigh. The fish weighed 22.0 lbs with a fork length of 40 3/4 inches and a girth of 19 ¼ inches. We hastily took the requisite photos and hustled the fish back to the boat. The female mako was tagged and released in good condition about ½ mile outside the San Pedro Gap. This is believed to be the first live release of a pelagic apex predator submitted for world record consideration.
Tackle for the effort included an old 6’ Sabre 1196 C and an Accurate Boss 270 specially modified by Accurate to handle 4 lb line. New Fishall generously supplied the chum for this effort. This was a true team effort, with each member performing their assignments flawlessly. The importance of Keith’s contributions really struck home as we filled in “N/A” on the IGFA Record Application for the type of gaff used.
In December of 2001, we received verbal confirmation from the IGFA that the submitted record has been approved.
- name:
- scott warnick
- email:
- mitzubishi@ yahoo.com
- Date:
- 13 Mar 2003
Comments
I had just bought a new fishing rod, a ugly stick, the night before I caught my biggest carp. It was about 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening and I could barely see. So my dad got the flashlight out of the tacklebox to look at the poles. He looked at his first and nothing had hit it, then he looked at my brothers and it was bouncing up and down like crazy, but before anyone could get to it, it took off into the water. My brother got really mad but hey that's life. So after all that commotion was over he looked at my pole to see if it had been hit and sure enough it was and the fish was taking line like crazy. I bolted to my rod and picked it up. I locked the bail and when I went to go set the hook almost all of the line was gone. I finally did set the hook and when I did this fish almost took the rod out of my hands. I knew he was big once the hook was set. I got this fish in about fifty yards and he decided to run another thirty yards. He was out about a hundred yards and still taking line slowly. Finally after about forty-five minutes he started to get tired and he had me worn down to just about nothing. I got him in about ten feet of the bank and I guess he saw me because he gave it the rest he had and ran another twenty yards and he was done. So I got up to the bank and I couldn't believe my eyes. He was huge. I pulled him out of the water and my brother started screaming because it was bigger than he was. I laid him on the ground and measured him. He measured out to be forty inches in length and weighed about thirty five to forty pounds. Just before I let him go I got a picture and was congratulated by my dad. Catching a forty pound carp on twelve pound test is a fight. Believe me I know. Now I know what catching a monster really feels like. Scott Warnick
- name:
- Franklin Graves
- email:
- gravss@ mail.etsu.edu
- Date:
- 23 Jun 2003
Comments
I was fishing with my Dad in Boone lake. We caught some blue gill and a little carp and I kept seeing something flop up. So I put a piece of bread on and cast out there. I sat there for a while and all the sudden my rod bent double. I was holding it then he took off just burnin' my cluch so I wrestled with him for a while then these two people asked me if I needed any help and I said yeah so they saw it and went out into the water and grabbed its gill and handed it to me. It was a 25lb carp.
- name:
- turd furgasen
- email:
- cooliochicken@ aol.com
- Date:
- 20 Nov 2003
Comments
Once fishing off the northeast end of Anacapa Island. I came across a giant kelp paddie. So big it could hold all the fish in the sea. Unfortunately all that was there were flys. After catching our limit in flys. We decided it was time to move, until we noticed our good friend Jim bob was missing. We looked all around the boat for him but with no success. We didn't like that Jim bob guy much anyways so we decided to give up the search after only 5 minutes. BAD IDEA. That Jim bob guy never did come home. And up until this day I have never told a soul. PLEASE JUST KEEP THIS BETWEEN YOU AND I.
Comments
On Valentines day 2004 I took my wife on her first sportsfishing trip. We went out of Dana Point with Dana Wharf Sportfishing.
About 2 hours into the trip I felt a tug at my line. As soon as the line started to unwind off the spool, I set the hook and my line went crazy in the water. At this exact moment my wife's line also took off. We thought we both hooked into a school. Our lines went towards the bow of the boat so we ran towards the bow.
After a few moment's we realized we musta hooked into the same fish. After a heavy and tiring fight with the fish it finally surfaced with my hook in the right side of it's mouth and my wife's hook in the left side of it's mouth. We had pulled in a GIGANTIC HALIBUT. Bigger than anything I have ever caught.
When the fish was brought aboard the boat, the captain and deckhands jaws dropped in disbelieve. They had said in all their years this was one of the biggest halibut they had ever seen taken from Dana Point. A nice gentlemen, Jay, whom we had met on the boat earlier pulled out his digital scale and we weighed the halibut. It weighed in at 38 lbs 7 ounces.
This is one Valentine's Day we will never forget. What are the odds that on Valentine's Day a Couple would both hook the same fish, and one that is 38lbs at that. Needless to say, my wife is hooked on fishing now and we plan to incorporate sportfishing into our leisure activities.
Great Story Thanks
webmaster
- name:
- JOEY MAROTTA II
- email:
- joeym2@ n....net
- Date:
- 01 May 2004
Comments
we caught puffers or blowfish off montauk point with squid bait. these fish were so good to eat. i am looking to make contact with a fisherman at marina del rey who has a boat and would like a friend to fish with. please e-mail me soon if you have info on such a person. i also worked on the boats at Monterey Ca. thanks joey.
Please Stay on topic
of West Coast Saltwater fishing
- name:
- Terry R
- email:
- 2004 Winner @ halibut derby.com
- Date:
- 18 Jul 2004
Comments from Halibut Derby Winner and the trip he won!
Just got back from my trip to Baja and I have to say it was absolutely amazing!! The first day out fishing yielded 9 dorado’s and my first tuna but it was tiny but still my first one nonetheless. The second day was a bad day in that we caught nothing, we did have one on the hook but we lost it. There seems to be controversy as to what the cause of the bad day was. That morning at breakfast a fellow angler that I had befriended noticed I had put 2 bananas into my backpack. He asked me if I was going to take those on the boat which I replied “yeah”, he then told me it was bad luck to take bananas on to fishing boats. Having never heard of this superstition I paid no mind and proceeded to board the boat that morning armed with said bananas. After several hours of fishing without a single bite the bananas went overboard. Did that help? Not really, we still came home empty handed. The worst part of that is my angler buddy casually asking me why there were no flags flying on our boat when we came home. We all actually had a good laugh over that one. Have you ever heard of that superstition? The third day of fishing was phenomenal!!! The night before we had a watched a video of one the anglers pulling in a Marlin on a panga. It was a great fight for the guy and the fish weighed in around 250lbs. After watching that video, I wanted to go for marlin the next morning. The next morning we instructed our boat captain to head straight out for marlin. We began trolling for marlin around 7:15am and after 3 hours of trolling and nothing our patience was starting to taper. The boat captain told us that there was still a lot of time left and to be patient. About a half hour later we caught a 10lb dorado and kept trolling. Then about 40 minutes later we hooked a blue marlin. I was awestruck by what I saw, this huge fish flying out of the water and that image will always stick in my head. I grabbed my camera and the fish made a second jump but unfortunately all I got just the splash. Everything that you hear about the fights that marlin give is so very true. All 4 of us on the boat proceeded to fight the fish for the next 2 and half hours. Sadly the marlin made one last dash to the bottom and died. I guess that happens a lot because they have heart attacks or something which is sad to see in such a beautiful fish. So for the last half hour the fish had be line pulled to the boat. The marlin was so big that it couldn’t be put into the boat and had to be lashed down to aft outside of the boat. The boat captain said that this was the second biggest marlin he’s gotten in the 30 years that had been fishing. The weight of the marlin turned out to be 396 lbs. So the tally for the third day of fishing was 2 fish, 1 dorado and 1 very big marlin. I’m still shocked that we were able to get a marlin our first try let alone one that big. My friend that was supposed to come with me couldn’t make the trip, his 70 year old father came instead and he said that it took him 5 trips to Cabo to get his first marlin with this one being his second. The rig we used for the marlin was 60lb test with a 220lb mono leader with green and yellow troll jig. We had intended to let the fish go if it hadn’t died so the marlin was given to the hotel. Unfortunately my angler buddy who gave me heck about the bananas left that morning but I sent him an email with “See what happens when you don’t take bananas on to boats?” in the subject and out picture with the marlin. So in conclusion, we had a great time and managed to come home with 30lbs of fish. Punta Colorada will be an annual visit for me in the future and I highly recommend any serious angler get there at least one time. Thanks, Terry Rathbun
- name:
- Carl
- email:
- Lambertinc.com
- Date:
- 22 Jul 2004
Comments
IGFA World Record won by MDRA member in 2004
44 pound Yellowtail on 6 pound test line
| Carl Lambert caught a world record Southern Yellowtail. It is also a New Zealand record. Caught on 6 pound mono in 2 hours and 35 minutes. The fish weighed 44 pounds. One day I caught 4 fish that were between 35 and 37 pounds, just shy of the old record of 38 pounds. Those fish broke the club records for the Bay of Islands Swordfish club in Russel. That day I spent a total of five and a half hours fighting fish. On the day that I caught the record, I was hooked up 11 times to big fish. The first 10 rocked me. My last bait was a 3 pound kawaway (like a green coyfish). The huge yellowtail ate it on the surface in an incredible display of power. Luckily the fish which was hooked in 12 feet of water headed out to a depth of 120 feet. It then almost wrapped around a longline buoy before heading for a neighboring island. I got the fish turned, then it went for a narrow gap between two small islands. The fish finally came to gaff after dark and we knew that we had a record. I was using a custom 11 foot rod with 19 guides built by Wade Cunningham. I used a new Avet MXJ lever drag reel with the smoothest drags ever! My fishing partner, Jerry Garret and I tested the Ande line the night before at the Whangaroa Big Gamefish Club six times and it consistently broke at six pounds even. Captain Geoff Stone on the Major Tom II, did a masterful job at the helm. This was definitely one of my more memorable fishing trips. |
 |
Confirmation did come in from IGFA as a record catch.
- Spam posts deleted. Please inform webmaster if you see items posted here not related to fishing.
- name:
- Mark
- email:
- black_cat1@h .com
- Date:
- 18 Nov 2004
Comments
Lets add some joke to this spam list:
A blonde and a redhead were sitting together having drinks, when the blonde noticed a man walking towards them with an arm full of long stem red roses. The blonde says to the redhead, "isn't that your husband coming carrying all those roses?"
The redhead says, yes it is. The blonde responds by saying, "Oh you are so lucky". The redhead says, "No I'm not. All that means is that I have to spend the whole week-end flat on my back, with my legs in the air and spread apart."
The blonde says, "Oh my, don't you have a vase to put them in"?
- name:
- kodi
- email:
- kodi2250@c...net
- Date:
- 29 Nov 2004
Comments
Ok, One day in the middle of the 2002 summer drought in Colorado , me and my dad went fishing at a little private pond we new about. All we would catch their would be little 7-12 inch largemouth bass. So one day we went their and it was about 90 degrees out and we were just throwing a little 1/2 inch worm with a bobber out about 10 ft. out. (the pond was only about 20ft.wide by 75ft. long)
But as I watch it ... all the sudden my bobber goes down so I set the hook and I couldn't see it so I didn't know what it was but all the sudden my reel jams and I couldn't reel in and I know it was big cause my pole almost broke in half so out of know were I decide I'll just reel it in with my hands. So I grab the line and just start going one over the other and about fifteen minutes later I pull up a huge bass.
My dad was fishing on the other side of the pond so I am running around the pond holding the bass by a foot long piece of line (couldn't put my hand in its mouth cause my hands were wraped up) running around and both my hands are purple and I finally reach my dad set it on the ground, unwraped my hands and weighed and measured it. It ended up being a 18 1/2 inch 6.2 pound largemouth bass. That was one of my best fishing memories and I thank you for letting me share it with you. Thanks
Comments: “ UNREEL” Goes To Bahia Magdalena, Mexico!
By: Vic Jedlicka
Planning a 16 day Marlin fishing trip to Mag Bay, Mexico fishing grounds started one year ago when Bob Godfrey’s 48 foot Ocean “Unreel” returned from a fantastic trip. Yes, Bob and his crew Vic Jedlicka, Andy Blister, Mickey Scheinbaum and Jeff Morris were going again from October 31 through November17, 2004. The entire planning, extra freezer, provisioning, extra fuel, tackle etc. was ready. Vic re-spooled the reels with new “Maxima Perfexion Line” a favorite line of choice that has provided him with excellent success. We arrived 17 days later home at our DRYC slip at 1:30 AM. Our count not as good as last year but respectable. Seven Marlin Releases, Sixteen Dorado, Four Tuna, Eight Wahoo (one world class), and Two Mako Sharks. Of course a couple of lobster dinners! A lifetime trip like this is more then just fishing. It is a serious adventure. It tests your true grit. It is being with old & new friends and sharing some wonderful experiences at sea and in ports. An every day learning experience for all of us on how to get along, share and care for each other’s well being. Oh Yes! Let’s not forget what takes us on this adventure….. “Fishing & Catching”. We are in pursuit of the beautiful Stripe Marlin who challenges us in the hunt and during the fight. It is a wonderful beautiful experience to find him, hook him, fight him, and view him and successful release him back to his habitat.
World Class “WAHOO” caught by Angler Vic JedlickaOn Thursday 11/4/04 at 2:00 PM near the Moore Bank one of the rods goes bendo and the reel is screaming out. Vic in the cockpit grabs the rod and sets the hook. Two strong long runs and he knew he had a big one and probably a big Wahoo based on his runs. As Vic brings the fish to the boat no one can believe their eyes. This fish is huge and I mean huge. We used three gaffs and all our strength to get this Wahoo over the side into the boat after a good clubbing by Bob. A world class record fish for sure estimated at 150 LB. Biggest Wahoo anyone has ever seen. What away to start our fishing trip. A real highlight! |
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Comments
Dear Abby,
I have been so blessed in my life. Great parents, great wife and kids, great job, and a great education. When I finally retired, I could hardly wait to spend time enjoying my favorite pastime -- bass fishing.
I got my own little fishing boat and tried to get my wife to join me, but she just never liked fishing. Finally, one day at the Bait & Tackle Shop, I got to talking to Sam, the shop owner, who it turned out loves bass fishing as much as I do. We quickly became fishing buddies.
As I said, the wife doesn't care about fishing; she not only refuses to join us, she always complains that I spend too much time fishing.
A few weeks ago Sam and I had the best fishing trip ever. Not only did I catch the most beautiful bass you've ever seen, only a few minutes later Sam must have caught his twin brother! So I took a picture of Sam holding up the two nice bass that we caught and showed the picture to the wife, hoping that maybe she'd get interested.
Instead, she says she doesn't want me to go fishing at all anymore! And she wants me to sell the boat!
I think she just doesn't like to see me enjoying myself. What would you do?
Tell the wife to forget it and continue my hobby or quit fishing and sell the boat as she insists?
Thanks, A Fisherman
P. S. I have enclosed the picture of Sam showing off the bass we caught.
**********************************************************************
Dear Fisherman,
Get rid of that narrow minded wife.
Abby
Sam and the two Bass
that we caught that day.
- name:
- Keith
- Date:
- 30 Mar 2005
Comments
14 years ago ... Trip to Lake Powell
I used a friends little old pan fisher and a borrowed car to tow it with. Took it all the way to Lake Powell from Los Angeles. Drove out onto that big ol' lake following the houseboat and the ski boat. Got really wavy and sorta dangerous but I persevered.
Ski boat turned up a finger and went that-a-way. When I finally got there there was not even a ripple to help me find the way. So I picked a likely option and forged ahead. Luck was on my side and they eventually came back down with news of a good camp location up the finger.
After making the Big Houseboat fast to shore we used the small fishing boat for some fishing and lots of exploring. The Stripers were elusive that trip but a few nice catfish made some good eating. Future mother-in-law cooked up catfish for Breakfast. I was hooked. Wonder if you ever had fried catfish and eggs for breakfast.
But the best was the trip up one remote side finger of the lake. We came across a big school of carp on the surface. Basking and bubbling away. We could have scooped them up if they were not so big and heavy. The ladies on the boat were in awe. Then we found a narrow split in the rocks. We slid quietly into a fisher maybe 6 or 7 feet wide and well over 100 feet tall on each side. It went into the side for maybe a 100 + yards. A great boating adventure.
