fisherman – Syndication Server

Fisherman thinks he hooked a stingray, but pulls up an alligator

An angler in South Carolina hooked into something that acted like a stingray. But as he says in the video, “Oh boy, that’s not a stingray.”

Robert Birchmeier was fishing for flounder in Murrells Inlet in South Carolina last week when he hooked into something that acted like a stingray. But as he says in the video, “Oh boy, that’s not a stingray. Surprise, surprise.”

Surprise, indeed. When Birchmeier pulled his catch to the surface he was staring at a 7- or 8-foot alligator, which had been hooked in the back leg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD_AUvRR5Rc

“I assumed I had a stingray, as they are pretty common in this area and the ‘fish’ behaved just like one,” he explained to USA Today/For The Win Outdoors. “ I slowly was able to get it off the bottom and come up to the surface, and as you see in the video was totally surprised.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Rays provide a ‘wow’ moment for everyone but clueless fisherman

Birchmeier, known as Capt. Birch of Pawleys Island Beach to Creek Guide Service, was fishing from a kayak in the salt marsh near the Atlantic Ocean that he has fished a few hundred times. On this day, the water clarity was “very poor” with less than 12 inches of visibility, making for quite the surprise when the catch surfaced.

“The gators do go into the saltwater at times, but, really, in this location, I may see a small one every other year,” Birchmeier told For The Win Outdoors.

After the video ended, Birchmeier said the hook on his 3/8-ounce jig straightened for “a clean release and happy gator.”

Angler’s mishap with snake takes big bite out of his pocketbook

A fisherman at Dale Hollow Lake endured an unfortunate incident involving a snake that caused him pain in more ways than one.

John Brown was on a fishing trip to Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee when he was bitten on the ankle by a venomous copperhead snake that was hiding under a boat cover, prompting him to call 911 as he feared for his life.

When an Air Evac helicopter arrived on the scene, the EMTs insisted he receive antivenom immediately, meaning a helicopter ride to the ER, though Brown resisted. He preferred and apparently expected to be transported by ambulance, according to WZTV in Nashville.

“They told me that I could lose my leg or possibly lose my life,” Brown told WZTV. “So I agreed to sign their papers and get on the helicopter.”

Brown, who was later told by physicians that the bite was not life-threatening, was transported from Celina to the Cookeville Regional Medical Center in a 20-minute flight.

“They didn’t check my vitals. They didn’t get me any IVs. They didn’t do anything during the flight,” Brown told WZTV. “The emergency room doctor said the shot was more deadly than the snake bite, so they waited four hours before they started giving me any antivenom.”

Though poisonous, the bite from a copperhead snake is rarely fatal, as its potency is among the lowest of all pit vipers. A bite can cause extreme pain, tingling, throbbing, swelling and severe nausea. Photos in WZTV’s report showed swelling in Brown’s lower left leg.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Catfish breaks angler’s scale; might it have broken a record, too?

The biggest bite was taken out of Brown’s pocketbook as Air Evac billed Brown $42,806, of which he was responsible for $36,406 as insurance covered $6,400.

“I always pay my bills, but this one I feel like I’m being unfairly charged,” Brown told WZTV.

The incident occurred last summer but was first reported by WZTV on Thursday. More from WZTV:

After reaching out to Air Evac to ask if cost information was provided to Brown upfront, FOX 17 News was told that Brown must complete a HIPPA release form. For that reason, patient privacy laws prevented representatives from discussing any details surrounding this specific transport…

Back in December, lawmakers on Capitol Hill passed the No Surprises Act. It’s an effort to crack down on surprise medical bills for hospital services and treatments outside patient’s insurance networks, this includes air ambulance costs.

WZTV reported that Brown completed the HIPPA release form and the station was awaiting a response.

“From here on out, I don’t know what to do,” Brown told WZTV.

Photo courtesy of John Brown.

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Fisherman warns trapped and terrified boy ‘don’t move’

Watch: A fisherman is being hailed a hero after he used his fishing skills to rescue an 11-year-old boy who was trapped atop a small ice floe.

A fisherman is being hailed a hero after he used his fishing skills to rescue an 11-year-old boy who was trapped atop a small ice floe on the Desenka River in the city of Kyiv in Ukraine.

The boy, who somehow became stranded on the ice, couldn’t swim. Richard Gorda, the angler, kept him calm by telling him, “Stand still, don’t move…Don’t be afraid…Don’t turn around. Look at me.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler makes rare catch of prehistoric fish while surf fishing

Gorda made a cast with a hookless weight to the boy, who grabbed the line, held on tight and followed Gorda’s instructions. He didn’t move.

Two videos show the rescue, one by Reuters via Twitter from the angler, the other from a bystander who posted it on Facebook.

A man in Ukraine was seen casting a fishing rod equipped with a weight towards a boy floating on a block of ice to save him pic.twitter.com/q2k0EEmrHr

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 24, 2021

https://www.facebook.com/100001614670417/videos/4030367643693685/

Ukraine’s Independent Information Agency of News (UNIAN) reported that the “terrified” boy was drifting on the piece of ice “dozens of meters off the shore.”

UNIAN also stated that Gorda directed adults present at the scene to call emergency services, as the river depth at that spot was 65-feet deep.

Turns out, emergency services were not needed because Gorda pulled the boy ashore without incident, but he admonished the youth, telling him, “It’s over now, but you deserve to get a spanking.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Boy, 12, catches 72.4-pound catfish for Texas record

Gorda told UNIAN he doesn’t consider himself a hero and said he’s done things like this before.

“There is no feat, we just turned out to be in the right place and at the right moment,” Gorda told UNIAN. “The fact that I cast [the spinning rod] and hit at once is God’s mercy. I might have had time for another try. The ice piece was cracking under that boy. The child didn’t even get wet or anything, he’s safe and sound, but he will learn that lesson for life.”

Photos courtesy of Richard Gorda and Sergey Bulavsky.

Angler breaks 55-year-old brown trout record, calls it ‘next-level big’

Robbie Dockter recalled a 25-pound salmon he once caught and thought the trout he landed might be bigger. He was right. It was much bigger.

Robbie Dockter was fishing the Marias River in Montana last Wednesday when he thought his lure snagged something. When it started moving upriver, he knew he had hooked into something big.

“I was thinking I’d finally gotten a brown over 10 pounds, but then she rolled in my headlamp and we realized this thing is next-level big,” Dockter told the Independent Record.

Dockter, fishing with his daughter at the end of daylight, landed what turned out to be a Montana record for brown trout, weighing 32.43 pounds, measuring 37 inches in length with a 28.5-inch girth and breaking the 55-year-old state record.

The old record was 29 pounds caught by E.H. Peck Bacon in Wade Lake in 1966.

Dockter, who was fishing a stretch of river known for its big trout, hooked the fish with a Kastmaster on an ultralight fishing rod and 4-pound test. When it started upstream, the brown trout “did whatever it wanted” as if it hadn’t even been hooked, Dockter told the Record.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Official ‘gobsmacked’ over huge brown trout caught ice fishing

He battled the fish for 15 minutes before managing to steer it downriver where he finally beached the fish. His daughter Sierra handed him the net and he scooped it up.

Dockter recalled a 25-pound chinook salmon he had caught in Tiber Reservoir and told Sierra he thought this fish might be bigger.

Back at the truck, the fish weighed 32 pounds on their scale. Sierra, meanwhile, went online and discovered the state record was 29 pounds.

“I called my wife and told her I think I just caught the state record and she didn’t believe me,” Dockter told the Record.

The next day, they met with a game warden, who authenticated the catch as they watched the brown trout weighed on a certified scale at Christiaens Meat & Grocery in Valier.

“It’s a really humbling experience and I think it proves that monsters do exist, and it’s proof that you just never know and it just takes that one cast,” Dockter told the Record. “That’s what makes fishing so cool.”

Photos courtesy of Robbie Dockter.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Huge lake trout is a last-minute catch through ice, but who caught it?

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Whale slams into boat, knocks fisherman overboard

A fisherman took an unexpected swim when a minke whale collided with his boat, sending him overboard as his fishing partner, who videotaped the encounter, went flying to the deck.

A fisherman took an unexpected swim when a minke whale collided with his boat, sending him overboard as his fishing partner, who videotaped the impact, went flying to the deck.

Cris Lane and Dave McCann were fishing off West Cork, Ireland, on Monday when they noticed quite a bit of activity in the water.

“There were dolphins, fin whales and minke all around us; a group of whales about 300 yards away from us,” Lane told CorkBeo.

“Next thing I knew, one of the whales just slammed into the side of the boat. The other guy went flying onto the deck and I went flying off the back of the boat into the water.

https://www.facebook.com/cris.lane.1232/posts/3265608833495697

“Dave got up and he didn’t know where I was,” Lane continued. “He checked the cabin because he thought I might be in there. It took him a moment to realize I was in the water trying to get back on.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: A human-sized bat? It’s big, and photo is real, but…

McCann captured video of the impact from which he produced a photo of the minke whale colliding with the boat.

Lane, who was wearing a lifejacket, was not injured but did lose his cell phone in the mishap. He used the opportunity to warn others to always wear a lifejacket.

“You have to wear a lifejacket, and you should have a means of getting back in the boat, too,” Lane told CorkBeo.

CorkBeo reported that minke, fin and humpback whales are currently feeding off the coast of Cork and that Lane’s boat “simply got in the way of one hungry whale’s lunch.”

Photos courtesy of Cris Lane.

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Bizarre catches by Russian fisherman

A commercial fisherman started photographing weird catches that come up in the trawling nets, and some of the fish are out of this world.

Roman Fedortsov works as a commercial fisherman on a trawler out of the port city of Murmansk in the northwest part of Russia. He began photographing the bizarre catches his boat made and started posting the photos on social media.

He now has more than half a million followers on Instagram.

These strange-looking fish are out of this world. Behold…

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