Every time I end up in a Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, or Bass Pro Shop, I end up spending way more than I want in the fishing section.
Rows of crankbaits, spinners, rattletraps, spoons, plastic worms, and topwater frogs seemingly call out to me from the shelf, each one looking like the final piece I need to add to the tacklebox to move me from an okay fisher on the right day, to a flat out professional angler landing lunkers in any body of water and all conditions.
Obviously, the $70 I spend on random lures never pans out like I pictured it in my mind, but still, I generally get the feeling that I’m at least moving in the right direction.
That is until I started going down this rabbit hole and I realized that it may not be the types, styles, brands, or colors of lure I’m using. It may just be my lack of skill…
Turns out, people are using all sorts of weird things to catch fish. We talked about his guy using a whole turkey a few days ago but even in freshwater seemingly random objects are pulling out good sized fish that I’d love to catch.
Let’s look at 6 of the weirdest things people have used to catch a fish.
Pink Kid’s Crocs
Crocs may catch a lot of flack, but just like Nickelback, I believe way more people like them than don’t.
This guy rigged up a couple treble hooks on a what may be his daughter’s shoe and lo and behold, he caught a good sized largemouth.
Maybe this is the way to fish top water?
Spongebob & Patrick Star
Moving from something people love to hate to some characters everyone loves, this angler decided to toss a toy Spongebob and Patrick Star into the water and again proved that lure companies may be selling us a load of nothing by getting a number of strikes before hooking up with a nice bass with each of them.
The guy’s commentary was also top notch after catching one with Patrick…
“Got him. I got a fish on Patrick. I got a fish on Patrick. No way…
Patrick the mother loving Star.”
Gotta love it.
@jmaxfishing Replying to @thiago026 THIS was NOT EASY!! Fishing with my boy spongebob is a BATTLE! But we caught A FISH!! #bassfishing #fishing #fyp ♬ SLEEPIN! – nobigdyl.
@jmaxfishing Replying to @Yep WE DID IT!!! NEXT?? Patrick is lowkey an underrated lure baby!!! What lure do you want me to make next?!? #bassfishing #fishing #fyp ♬ SLEEPIN! – nobigdyl.
Baby Doll
Okay, this one looks straight up creepy but if nothing else it proves that it’s important to keep your children out of dangerous water.
The same guy who used the whole turkey went back to see if a baby doll would catch a fish and, shocker, it worked…
They were chumming the water to bring a bunch of sharks near the boat but those sharks sure were interested in the baby and snapped at it a few times before one fully went to inhale it.
Good life lesson here: If you’re going to let your baby swim in shark infested waters, keep a hook in it so you can retrieve it easier.
(That was a joke guys, come on)
Rubber Duck
Can’t say rubber duck without thinking of Ernie’s “Rubber Duckie” song…
“Rubber Duckie you’re the oneYou make bath time lots of fun”
Anyway… Turns out you can throw a treble hook on one of these, walk it near the shore line, and link up with a largemouth bass.
Am I proving that largemouth bass are easy to catch or that lure companies are robbing us? Hard to tell at this point, but maybe a little of both.
Finding Nemo
Yes, this one is shaped like a fish, but we’ve all seen those pool toys that are supposed to swim realistically and know that they don’t.
One of my favorite fishing accounts, Monster Mike, teamed up with another fisher named Mikey Moser to build a Finding Nemo lure and honestly, it worked really, really well for Peacock Bass.
Here’s a short clip and a longer form version of this and if there’s one bait I may take from this post, it would be this one. It swam well and gave some noise like a rattletrap, which drove the peacocks wild.
Bare Hands
Sometimes I guess you don’t even need bait.
We know noodling catfish is somewhat of a southern tradition, but you can also get a bunch of other fish to strike at your bare fist.
Can you imagine getting skunked while a guy down the bank pulls them out with his fingers? I’d be trying to drown myself in that lake…
