Ever since you were a child, your parents and friends have probably told you dozens of stories about haunted houses, windmills, and castles. While these places are scary, nothing will give you the chills like being out on the water and experiencing something frightening. You can’t run, you can’t hide. It’s just you and the open water.
We asked our readers to share stories of spooky and mysterious things that happened to them on a fishing trip. Each of these stories is scary in its own way. Some of them will definitely stay with you next time you go fishing, especially if you decide to visit one of these haunted fishing destinations. So, let’s hear them!
Taking a Break on a Cursed Island – Never a Good Idea
When Paul Chappel was fishing in the Andaman Sea, off the coast of Koh Lipe, he wanted to stop on a small uninhabited island Koh Hingham to rest a bit and eat his lunch. As he steered his boat towards the coast, Paul remembered all the mysterious stories he heard about the place.
The small Thai island is covered in beautiful black pebbles, but it’s believed they are cursed by the God of Tarutao. Tired Paul shrugged these stories off and got off the boat anyway.
“I sat down on the beach to eat my dinner and heard some strange noises coming from behind,’’ says Paul. He looked around a bit, but couldn’t find where the noise was coming from, so he decided to ignore them.
Paul continued to eat his lunch, but the noises became so loud he couldn’t ignore them anymore. He stood up and walked a few steps in search of the source of the racket. That’s when he saw something that made him run for his boat.
A few meters from me, I saw pebbles moving in a circular motion. It was bizarre and scary. I didn’t dare to get closer to the moving pebbles, so took my boat and got away from the cursed island.
We hear you, Paul. We would run for our lives, too!
The Invisible Force That Makes People Go Crazy in Croatia
Whenever we hear a mysterious story with no rational explanation, we try to ignore our thoughts and pretend like it’s nothing. It’s a normal human reaction to fear and inexplicable events. This is exactly what Siniša Pintar did when he was planning his next fishing adventure. Siniša wanted to fish around Ugljan and Pašman islands in Croatia.
According to locals, this was a great fishing location because there was a fish farm a bit further away, and it attracts all kinds of fish species. But they also mentioned that you can hear voices, see shadows lurking from the distance and that there’s an invisible force that makes people go crazy.
Siniša was a bit skeptical at first and he decided to ignore these stories. However, the human brain works in mysterious ways, and deep down, he was still thinking about their words as he was approaching the islands.
As fishing here is best when there are stronger currents and a north-eastern wind, the weather was unpredictable during Siniša’s trip. Could that explain the noises he heard?
After some time, I couldn’t distinguish the sound of the wind howling under the bridge and a sound that seemed like distant screaming. I kept telling myself that it is all in my head because locals told me so, but it seemed so real. I kept turning around and searching for the source, but I couldn’t see anything, which made it even worse.
Siniša decided that he’d had enough and it was time to go home, but a chilling feeling stayed with him for a couple of days. Today, 13 years later, he still remembers it vividly, but he keeps telling himself it was just his imagination. However, he never went back to fish around that island. Who would?!
Catching Bass in the Middle of a Mexican Graveyard
Pete Robbins and his wife love traveling to Mexico for Bass fishing trips. They frequently fish Lake Picachos and Lake El Salto in Sinaloa, Mexico. While both of these lakes are great Bass fisheries, they also have a chilling story behind them, too.
“Both lakes were flooded over existing towns and their residents were moved to higher ground – except for those who were buried there,” Pete explains.
When the water level is down, you can’t access the flooded cemeteries by boat, but when it’s up, the area is a great place to catch big fish. Pete says he’s caught fish next to headstones, right in the middle of the graveyard.
Is it disrespectful or spooky? Maybe, but I prefer to think that the deceased are just helping fellow anglers out.
Some anglers will do anything to catch the fish of a lifetime, even when it means fishing in the middle of the graveyard!
Night Fishing Trips Are for Catching Huge Fish and Encountering Ghosts
When Dale was visiting a friend who lives in Dallas, TX three years ago, it was the perfect time to go night fishing on White Rock Lake. The lake has a 9.9-horsepower limit, so they decided to go kayak fishing. They caught lots of fish that night, so Dale and his friend started paddling back towards the ramp.
“That’s when I saw a woman who was flagging down a car on the nearby road,” Dale said. “She was wearing a white dress that looked beat up and dirty, and when the car stopped, she kneeled on the ground and seemed to start crying.” Dale turned to his friend to alert him, but when he turned back to the scene, the car was already driving away and there was no sign of the woman.
When we got back to my friend’s home, his aunt, a long time Dallas native, overheard us talking about the incident and said we had seen the famous Girl of White Rock Lake. Since the early 1960s, area residents have encountered the ghostly young woman.
In every account, she flags down a car, reports that she was in a boating accident, and asks the driver to take her to nearby Gaston Avenue. If the driver invites her into the car, she gets into the back seat, and then she vanishes.
I’m still not totally convinced I saw a ghost that night, but it sure creeped me out!
We hear you, Dale. Night fishing trips are scary enough without having to encounter a ghost!
Hearing an Eradicated Language in the Remote Scottish Highlands
In Argyll, on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, there’s a small lake called the Cam Loch. The loch lies in the rolling hills about two miles north west of the village of Ardrishaig.
“This was the favorite fishing spot of my uncle Christian,” Mike Peddie starts his story. “Christian was a marvelous storyteller and an evening of his tales was always far more entertaining than anything on TV.”
Mike shared one of his uncle’s stories with us, and it gave us chills down our spines. In the late 1930s, it was a still summer evening, and Christian knew the fish would be biting. He climbed up into the hills in the hope of catching some tasty Trout. As he approached the loch, he heard some voices. The nearby Auchendarroch Estate employed two gamekeepers at the time, so he decided to lie low and observe.
While he was lying still in the ferns beside the loch, he could clearly hear the voices coming from the other side of the loch. But he could not quite follow the words. That’s when Christian realized they were speaking Gaelic, a language that had been practically eradicated in Argyll by that time.
Christian was nervously tracking the sound of these voices when he realized they would soon reach him and become visible, but nothing appeared. He waited a bit longer, but the voices were becoming louder.
Christian was scared to his bones, and he started running back home as fast as he could.
On the bright side, the gamekeepers didn’t catch Christian for poaching.
As if there’s a bright side to this chilling story!
And Many More Haunted Fishing Destinations…
Seeing a ghost on your night fishing trip, hearing voices in the middle of the sea, and catching a Bass in the middle of a graveyard are only some of the scary stories we discovered.
There are many more, and anglers experience spooky stuff on their fishing trips all the time. Most of them end up being great fishing tales, but we’ll never know if these stories are true or not. And that’s exactly what makes them so scary!
Now, back to you… What’s the spookiest thing that’s happened to you on a fishing trip? Did you see a ghost or mysterious rocks, or did you reel in something creepy? Let us know about it in the comments below!
