The Smallest Pike You’ll Probably Ever See!

I’ve caught pike in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but I have never seen one this small! Awesome!

via OFNC

E-mail Of The Week

Things are pretty busy at Fishing Fury headquarters. We get a lot of email and we make it a point to reply to each and every one of them. Its really not as hard is it sounds though. There was only one email this week that wasn’t spam. Luckily it was a good email, complete with great pike photographs, so I figure I should post it.

Gentlemen,

You have put Ken Reece on your website and our group of fishing friends can no longer tolerate his bragging….it is utterly painful. I beg of you to end this pain and put some of our quality catches on your site as well. While Ken Reece is a respectable fisherman, let me say this….
“If Ken Reece is a pike fisherman extraordinaire, the guys you will see in the attached photos could have reached Pike Fishing Immortality”.

…there is but one lure to rule them all.

Joshua Sapp
Toledo, Oh

Thanks for the email Josh, now its time to sit back and see what Mr. Reece has to say!

Urban Fishing BVI

It had been well over a month since I the opportunity to do some fishing here in the British Virgin Islands. I spent the last three days covering a variety of spots looking for barracuda and found many other fish while doing so. In my first official fishing report from Tortola I experienced more excitement then I had expected fishing from shore. Expect plenty more reports now that I have a few fishing spots where I know I can find big fish.

Clive Vs. the Barracuda!

“I climbed onto the bridge again to watch bait fish and take some photographs. Every couple of minutes large waves of bait fish would leap in the air while needle fish, small barracuda and yellowtail feasted upon them. I watched in awe at the melee below for about thirty minutes then headed back down to make some casts. I put the Suick back on and on the first cast the ominous figure appeared once again. This time moving much faster, I reeled faster and then it hammered the bait about fifteen feet from shore… “

Urban Legends of Fishing

Fishermen have always been great story tellers. I grew up hearing epic tales of the one that got away and stories where the fish got bigger every time the tale was told. When I was about five years old I recall hearing a story about a young girl who used to swim in our favorite fishing pond. She swam there until one day a snapping turtle bit her toe off, and she never returned. As I child I believed it, and I refused to swim on the shore that the story supposedly took place. Looking back on the story now, its seems pretty far fetched, but back then I would have had no way to prove otherwise. Today however we have the internet, and you can look up just about any far out story you hear about. Of course, the internet is probably the main source of urban legends now, especially though email forwards.

My family and friends send me emails about all sorts of crazy fish stories, many of which are quite believable, but I have uncovered the truths for myself, as many have before me. Here some popular urban legends of fishing I decided to investigate.

Story: Strange deep sea creatures found on shore after the terrible tsunami of 2004. I got this one in an email that had several photographs of unique fish.

Truth: Not true! Most, if not all of the photographs were taken in 2003 to document specimens collected during the joint Australian-New Zealand NORFANZ research voyage in the Tasman Sea.

There certainly are some amazing looking creatures in the ocean depths.
Check out more crazy deep sea fish on Google.

Story: A fisherman and his wife find a catfish with a child’s basketball stuck in its mouth, keeping it afloat.

Truth: This one was true! According to About.com They used a knife to puncture the ball and the fifty pound catfish swam away.
This one really makes you wonder how that ball got in it’s mouth though. That catfish certainly had a big appetite if he was trying to eat that ball. There seems to be a lot of urban legends about catfish.
Most catfish prefer to eat peoples hands rather then a ball.

Story: State record catfish caught on Lake Texoma in Texas.

Truth: Not true! There really was a state record catfish caught in Lake Texoma, but the fish in this picture was caught in Italy. I came across this story by accident while surfing the best catfish angling site I have seen to date. I bet this catfish could eat a full sized basketball with ease!
You are probably wondering what these guys do with fish this big. Well, some people keep them to eat, many release them for another day, but a select few keep their catfish as dancing partners.

Story: Huge great white shark attacks helicopter.

Truth: Not true! This one was a pretty obvious fake, despite some nice photoshopping. About.com shows the two original photos used to create this urban legend.

I could be wrong, but as far as I know there are no great whites Sharks in San Fransisco. Believe it or not though, many sharks, including great whites, can jump extremely high. Take a look at these incredible photos on National Geographic’s website.

Story: President Bush and his father go fishing in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Truth: Not true! This one is pretty recent, and I think its pretty obvious that this one is a fake, although the editing is excellent. I found it on Infoshop.com, and it looks like this one was made to show Bush’s lack of caring toward the people of New Orleans.

Snowboarding in San Francisco? FURIOUS!

It took more than 200 tons of crushed ice and 20 of the worlds best skiers and snowboarders, but it happened and will likely go down in history as one of the coolest events to be created. Just like Todd Lappin, who took photographs of the event, says:

“Every skier and snowboarder in Northern California has had the fantasy at one time or another: ‘If only it snowed in San Francisco..’

Well, they got their wish on September 29th, 2005 and rode the famously steep slopes of San Francisco to a kicker that launched them in to Californias clear blue skies.

Link via Boing Boing

Ever Wonder How Invasive Species Get in to Our Waterways?

In an epic tale of human kindness our hero rises to the challenge. While this guy certainly gets an “A” for effort, I’m not sure the outcome of the story was too successful. Jake Bronstein writes about his efforts to save a large Asian fish from a supermarket by releasing it back into the wild. A noble act indeed, but potentially damaging to the local environment. Every year invasive species such as the snakehead and zebra mussles are released into North American water and havoc is reaped on the ecosystem.

What is an Invasive Species?

An “invasive species” is defined as a species that is

1) non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration and

2) whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

Invasive species can be plants, animals, and other organisms.
Human actions are the primary means of invasive species introductions.

This story ends with the release of the fish, but judging by the photographs the fish appears to be dead already. Even dead, an invasive fish could cause potential problems.

For more information on invasive species visit www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov and www.invasive.org