Smiley had snagged a scuba diver

[DevilDiver]

The incredulous catch took place a few weeks ago at Lake Norman where Wright was practicing for an upcoming largemouth bass tournament. In his company was Fritts, and the two Lexington anglers were fishing the numerous piers at Norman.

Wright got a strike and buried the hook in what he thought was a giant catfish.

"The fish kept taking line, and when I gained line back, the fish would take off again," Wright said. "I couldn't halt its runs."

This back-and-forth battle continued for almost 30 minutes until Wright, rather than the fish, was worn out.

"Here, you take the rod and see what you can do," Wright said, turning his equipment over to Fritts and telling him to subdue the underwater monster.

Fritts didn't fare any better. He kept battling the incessant runs of the fish until he had to "tap out" as well.

Just when our two heroes thought they would never see or land what Wright had hooked, the finny brute surfaced a short distance away from them. Its appearance and size left the two anglers gasping for words, so neither yelled for the other to get the net.

Their adversary was larger than life, and it had fins and it could swim, and it probably had whiskers, but it wasn't a catfish or any known species of fish.

It wasn't the Loch Ness monster, either.

Smiley had snagged a scuba diver, one of the few underwater creatures at Norman to exceed the minimum length requirements. It was definitely a keeper, but the line and diver soon parted ways, so Smiley and Fritts watched in awe as the undaunted diver swam away to fight again some day.

"He just moved off; the line broke; and he never knew he was hooked in his wet suit," Wright said. "I guess he was underwater fixing some piers.

"When I hooked him, he must have moved off, and it felt as if a fish was taking out line, and when he stopped, that's when I gained line, only to lose line again when he swam off to do other repairs.

"There was no warning flag to indicate his presence."

I didn't hear this fish story second-hand; I heard it straight from Smiley himself as we watched the weigh-in for the Bassmaster Weekend Series tournament at Norman.

That's Smiley's story, and he's sticking to it, and it's a story that tests the knowledge of fishermen who hear it.

Inept anglers doubt its validity; skilled anglers want to know what bait Smiley was using and where the big one hit.

[Foo2]

That is crazy! How did the diver not notice something was pulling him?

[DevilDiver]

I don't know... I was bored so I started posting funny/stupid stories I was finding while surfing the net at work.........

[Osprey]

Foo- I untangled a girl this past weekend during our OW dives who was snagged on A 7 FOOT BRANCH and didn't really know it until I told her a dive later what happened. She just said "huh, I thought I felt slowed down"

So who knows what people think

[Doug B]

I was nearly hooked a few years ago.

I was in the neighborhood pond (looking for some stuff that neighborhood kids had stolen-vandalized) with about 14 inches of viz. Found a few of the items.... and then, I started hearing this buzzing sound every once in a while.

I few minutes later I surfaces, looked over and a guy was casting a lure in my direction.

He said, "oh, sorry...saw the bubbles and thought it was a school of fish". I said back to him, "um...did you notice the fins and air tanks there on the shore?"

Lesson learned... I guess I should have been floating a diver flag.

Then, I told the fisherman that my dive buddy was underwater too... a few feet away from me, and not to fish on top of his bubbles either.

[terrillja]

My dad lost a fin while diving with me and didn't realize it. No cue how, but he didn't have a clue it was gone...

Granted it was his first DS dive, but still....

[Chocoholic]

I hitched a ride with my Uncle U/W, I was holding on to his tank valve, he had no idea, at one point we had three of us hanging on and he still had no idea.