What cool, freaky or ugly things have you reeled up?

Dave S

Dave S

Active Member
I thought it would be interesting to see what freaky or cool things have been reeled in from the chuck.
First video here is an octopus we hooked while anchored up for hali. At first I thought I was bringing up a hali, then I saw a big orange blop. The thing was suctioned down to the deck and didn't want to let go.

[video=facebook;10150721641235133]http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150721641235133
This fish, a cabezon, is one ugly fish. We chopped him up, dropped into some beer batter and fried him and it tasted great, but damn ugly.
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My 11 yr old reeled up an octopus that looked just like the one in the video - I did not dare taking it in to the boat and managed to shake it off. Within less than 10 minutes, he reeled back up the exact same octopus - it sounded pretty ticked off the way it was snorting and blowing.

You never know what you might catch - one of many reasons that make fishing so much fun!
 
Last summer same thing while halibut fishing.

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Bugger grabbed onto the side of the boat and it was quite the fight.

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Shrimp dragger... before the excluder... nuff said
 
holmes said:
skates are pretty cool and freaky to pull up, i have a pic somewhere....holmes*

nootka086.jpg
Click to expand...

We pulled one of them up a few years ago fishing off of Bartlett Island offshore. I wish I kept it now but didn't know how to deal with it process wise. Would have made for some great fake scallops etc.
 
Commercially dragged for them... The excluder was a cage thing that sat about halfway down the 50ft long net. It shot the bigger by-catch out. Before that you never knew what was coming up. We had skates that we needed the boom to get them out of the sorting table, monster lings if we got too close to a wreck, piggy grey cod.
The slime eels were cool. Take a 5 gal bucket with about 6 inches of water in it, throw hagfish in..... poke it a couple times then through the eel over. You could then pick up every last drop of water in the bucket without leaving a drop in one big ball of slime, we had fun with that crap.
There are also a lot of different sculpins down there. One that I remember well was about 6 inches long but it looked like it was made with riveted steel plates.

Got a octi on Constance once too... those things are hard to get off the bottom of a boat.. got it in, trimmed a leg and threw it back.
Dropped the leg and pulled a 60lb hali within minutes
 
Shrimp dragger = bottom trawler. Excluder is a thingy that keeps certain non-target species out of the net. They work a bit, but even working with one we got some neat stuff. But an old skipper had some truly interesting captures in the bad old days of dragging.

I post the same thing every time this topic comes up, but weirdest thing yet is catching the transom of a wooden boat with the band from a pair of men's undies hanging off it. On a hook too, but I think I snagged it. Also caught an antique tiny glass bottle in a crab trap around Esquimalt.

Cabezons are definitely strange, but never eaten one.

Oh, I once caught an eagle by trolling a live seagull in flight as bait... also unintentional.

Lipper, I see you beat me to the explanation.... Did you ever play with those little grunt sculpins? They croak like a frog. Never landed a hag fish though.
 
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caught a few "puss" before while hali fishing. Labels the day, cut off a tentacle skin it and drop it back down and see what happens. Caught 5 wolf eels over time, 4-6 feet, hidious creatures,usually cut my litre can't stand the serpants.
 
None of you guys kept those Octies? As Lipripper said, that would make awesome bait. How the heck do you kill an Octopus though? I have now idea.

Lipripper, what happens when you lop off a leg? Does it grow back?
 
Yes in pretty short order..

The one we got was huge and was a good boxer.. as to kill it?.... kill it with fire, they don't die very easy
 
Mighty Sylvan said:
They seemed to turn them inside out to kill them.
Click to expand...

The commie guys around here dive for them too... and turn the head inside out. We would get them into the fish plant a day or two after. You could still slap the bag and turn them red
 
I never kept the octo we caught but regret not taking a leg or two. Next time. My wife thought it was too cool to kill, and didn't really know or think to use a leg for bait. Nor would I know how to cook the thing so no need to kill. I don't really like killing solely for bait.
 
saw a tv show where the commies were cutting the heads off as soon as they were out of the traps. right at the base, below the eyes. something about these creatures makes me reluctant to kill them though, I wonder how smart they would be if they could live for 80 years?
 
Jigged up a scallop near Porlier pass.

Trolled into a ratfish at the lighthouse in Nootka.

I think I may have caught an Atlantic near Stuart island this past summer.

Pretty sure my old man has caught diving birds nearly 200ft down while mooching live herring.
 
to kill an octopus just cut the beak out!....wish i had more time on deck to take pics when i worked on a dragger 8 years ago....the fish that come up from 1500-2000 feet down would blow your minds! locally id have to say slime eels are the nastiest things ive pulled up...a few monster octo's commercial prawn fishing that were wrapped around the trap because they were too big to get inside. wolf eels, salmon sharks(never landed one personally but have came close). one of our guides this summer snagged a prowfish while halibut fishing.
 
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