Kevin VanDam's Line & Lure Conditioner

Line & Lore Fishing Stories

LORE HOME | STORY ARCHIVE | ENTER YOUR STORY | CONTEST WINNERS

Below are some random entries from our story archive.

Click Here to show more random stories.

Cottonmouths like whiskey!

I was fishing in a pond one afternoon when I saw a Cotton Mouth snake swim by. I noticed that he had a frog in his mouth and I figured that if I had that frog I could catch a fish with it. When the snake swam close enough, I grabbed it and pulled the frog out of his mouth. I didn't know what to do with the snake and he looked kinda mad, so I reached for the bottle of Jack Daniels that had been keeping me company and poured a little whiskey in the snake's mouth thinking that it might calm the critter down a bit. When he stopped squrmin' so much I threw him back in the pond. Well about the time I caught the second fish with that single frog, I felt a bump on my right leg. I looked to see what it was and damn if that ol' snake hadn't brought me another frog.

Vern
Ash Flat, AR

Car trouble.

I was fishing in the Sacramento River Delta one day with some friends at a place called the Mothball Fleet. Mothball Fleet is a shallow bay area where the United States government anchors old ships awaiting their death and dismemberment. The place is well known as a hangout for striped bass and sturgeon. The day had grown long and no one and seen any rod action for about an hour. We whiled away the time watching setting sun and a small boat with a couple of divers that were anchored about hundred and 50 fifty feet away.

Just about the time I was ready to call a day, my rod started into a dance and just about leapt out of the boat. I was lucky enough to get one hand on it, as it was in mid-air. The fish I had on the end of the line was definitely larger than anything any of us had caught during the day and could have possibly been one of the biggest fish I ever caught. In any case I knew it was going to be the prize to cap off a great day of fishing. I struggled with this fish for about 20 minutes and was barely able to make any headway with it. My biggest concern was that the fish would head into the anchor chains of the old ships and become hopelessly snagged.

Of course, as luck would have it within a few minutes there was no tension on the line and I could do nothing but hope that the fish would calm down and free itself from its entanglement. After waiting about 10 minutes for miracles to happen, I lost patience the came up with a great idea. I yelled out to one of the divers from the boat anchored near us and asked him if he would follow my line down to whatever had snagged it and my prize fish on the bottom. He kindly obliged and we watched him disappear from the surface of the muddy water. He resurfaced within minutes telling us he had located my fish and that it was a large sturgeon taking refuge in an old car buried in the mud bottom of the river. He asked if we had a rope on board saying he thought he might be able to lasso the tail of the fish and be able to pull him out of the sunken vehicle. I hurriedly fashioned a noose at the end of the anchor rope lying at my feet and threw it to him. He grabbed the rope and disappeared from sight for what seemed to be 15 minutes. As my anticipation of my great catch grew all I could do was watch the bubble trail that marked the divers location. I watched the bubbles grow closer to our boat but was confused as to why there was no tension on the rope that would indicate the diver was successful. The diver surfaced shaking his head in that telltale negative fashion. I asked I asked him if his idea had worked. He replied with a puzzled look on his face, " I'm sure it would, but every time I get the lasso up to the open window of the car the fish rolls the damn thing up!"

Rob
Acworth, GA

Exploding Life Jacket

This past year I was fishing in a charity bass tournament with a good friend of mine. Part of the rules for this tournament were if any angler was using the suspender type of life jacket, they had to be worn at all times. My friend uses this type, so he had to wear his throughout the tournament. Late in the day we pulled into a large marina to skip the docks. I threw up under a dock and got a bite. When I set the hook on the fish, the fish became tangled in a chain that was under the dock. So we moved our boat in towards the dock to try to get this fish. While I held my line tight, my friend started to lean over the front of the boat to reach under the dock. I was standing right behind him holding our boat close to the dock, as well trying to hold my rod. All of the sudden we heard this hissing, then suddenly there was a POP! My friend had caught his jacket on the side of the boat and caused it to inflate. Now if you have never seen this happen, these inflate like an inner tube. My friend has pretty short arms anyhow, and when his jacket inflated, the jacket pinned his arms in the upright postion. So now he was hanging over the boat, and couldn't move his arms. We both broke out in laughter. We couldn't believe how fast his jacket inflated, and then rendered him immobile. We certaily received plenty of attention from the people in the marina. Well, I had to put my rod down and pull my friend up out of the water. We lost the fish, but have a great story to share.

Chris
Cottage Grove, MN

LORE HOME | STORY ARCHIVE | ENTER YOUR STORY | CONTEST WINNERS