What lurked in the depths, now is going to haunt your boat.
Be careful what you hook up. Aside from picking some vicious industrial garbage, you can bring to the surface some strange and unmentionable things. Most fishermen will happily brag about an extraordinary big fish (and we'll show plenty of those in this article). But sometimes the catch is so bizarre, that they'd rather try to forget it over a drink or two.
"Fish in Distress" Needs Saving
According to this source an eight-inch basketball was stuck in a catfish' mouth - the 50-pound fish could not swim or dive, so Wichita resident Bill Driver used a knife to poke the hole in the ball and deflate it:
(photos credit: Michael Pearce, Wichita Eagle, 2004)
This fish is also asking for trouble:
Goliath Tiger Fish
Want to catch the wickedest-looking fish, and snap pictures that are going to be forwarded by scared grandmas all over the internet?
Go to the Congo River (or Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa) and try to catch a Goliath Tiger Fish (aka African tigerfish or giant tigerfish), or Hydrocynus Goliath. Just make sure not to go swimming in these waters, as this kind of fish indeed is known to attack humans (the only freshwater fish in Africa that would do so) -
These live mostly at significant depths, so it's highly unlikely that they will be fished out. But if you do, then - don't make a false move in your boat: