Holy Grail in fishing

[MuskieBait]

Since I chat about this a little in the other thread...

What are your Holy Grail in fishing?

I'm not talking about catching a 60lb muskie or a 40lb salmon...those, as much as they are uncommon, are really quite reasonably reachable. I'm talking about the truly far fetch catches that would send such humongous shockwaves in the angling world that giant tsunami would flood the angling news worldwide and the catch will forever put your in ANY fishing hall of fames.

As much as there are some highly respected targets on my bucket list...like Inconnu ( Eli), Arctic Char, Alligator Gar, Taimen, Giant Tigerfish, wild Arapaima...etc, there are a few truly Holy Grails on my list.

1) The Coelacanth - this would probably entail a year long expedition fishing the the deep dark depths of the Indian Ocean for a rare encounter of this very old yet extremely cool species. The only thing I am leery about this chase is the fact that the coelacanth will like not survive the capture and there is no way to release such a record catch. It really is a shame.

2) The Antarctic Toothfish - a related species to the Patagonian Toothfish (aka Chilean Seabass), this species live in the Antarctic continental shelf. An expedition to capture one would likely not be as impossible as catching a coelacanth, yet nonetheless impressive due to the challenges of reaching and fishing in the Southern Ocean in the Ross Sea. There is actually a fishery for these fish currently. This would also allow me to check off Antarctic as one of the 7 continents where I have fished in before I die (it is my goal to achieve this before I reach 50 years old. So far I've already fished in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia. South American and Africa is fairly obtainable...Antarctica is truly difficult...but not unreachable).

3) The King of Herring (or Oarfish) - this would be a very damn cool catch. Very little is know about them, but the are one of the longest fish on record and they are really only ever seen when one washes up onto shore.

The caveat in targeting all three of these fish species is that electric reels can be used to drop baits and check baits quickly, but once there is a fish on the line, the angler MUST MANUALLY reel the fish in. In some cases, we're talking about reeling the fish up from 1000m+ of water. There should not be any assisted mechanism for bringing the fish on board.

You would absolutely have to be a pioneer in the quest for these fish, since none of it has been accomplished so far for recreational anglers.

Along the way, I'm sure targeting these deepwater fish will give you all kinds of ridiculously amazing deep sea catches that people can drool over.

[Giuga10]

1. Ocean Sunfish

2. Oarfish

3. Angler Fish

4. Lamprey (hooked in the mouth)

5. Silver Pike (not tsunami worthy but something special)

6. Northern Pike/Chain Pickerel Cross Breed (saw it on WFN, said to be extremely rare but possible)

[MuskieBait]

Mola mola and relatives are actually not that rare of a catch...

People have done it multiple times on the long range boats out of San Diego. They are usually caught while people are fishing with live squid, although the bulk of their diet consist of jellyfish.

I would be super cool to target fish for Mola mola using jellyfish.

Lamprey caught legally (hook in the mouth) has been done by Steve Wozniak already.

[MichaelAngelo]

(02-06-2013 10:51 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Lamprey caught legally (hook in the mouth) has been done by Steve Wozniak already.

http://1000fish.wordpress.com/2012/05/31...nds-welsh/

Worth reading... fascinating.

[OldTimer]

1. Michelle Pfeiffer in my boat.

2. a boat.

** smile

For me it's not what one fish - more the variety of the group you catch in a single outing........... sorta like hitting the cycle in baseball.

For example - on the lower Grand - holy grailness = catching at least one decent size each of: smallmouth, channel cat, pike, walleye, sheepshead, mooneye, rock bass, sucker, perch, and carp in one half day outing (10).................... I've done 7.............

[Eli]

As awesome as species hunting is, there is a large part of me that wants to catch very large specimens of fish I've already caught. Two of my holy grails are a 30lb+ pike and a 40lb+ carp.

I also really really want to catch a natural tiger muskie. Every local river has both muskie and pike so it's a real possibility and I've seen some stunning specimens caught (including a 48" from a kayak) but it's yet to happen to me.

I'll list the top species on my to-do list..the one's I actually plan to pursue in my lifetime

-white sturgeon
-grass pickerel
-bowfin
-copper redhorse
-flathead catfish
-taimen
-amur grayling
-amur pike
-lenok (both species, if possible)
-shovelnose sturgeon
-aligator gar
-arctic char
-bullseye snakehead
-king tarpon
-quillback
-barbel (various species in Spain)
-wels catfish
-asp

I like that list because in targetting these fish I will automatically be in locations where other species will also be achievable. These are species I would otherwise not travel great distances to catch. For example, I'll be able to target and likely catch shortnose gar, smallmouth buffalo, and various shad species during my hunt for shovelnose sturgeon. The white sturgeon outing will give me a shot at peamouth, largescale sucker, and northern pikeminnow.

[kevintorcan]

1) lockness monster
2)GAR
3)monster squid
4)Hammer head

[rich_ace_G]

http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/anglerfish.html
trilene better start selling 3000ft mono...