Real Anglers Share Fishing Ghost Stories

Ghosts and fishing seem an unlikely combination, but plenty of fishermen (and women) report strange events near seemingly tranquil waters. With that in mind, here are four freaky tales from various fishing forums across the web.

The Wreckers
“Back in the colonial days, there were people called ‘wreckers.’ They would stand on beaches with lanterns and trick ships into running aground and then loot the ship and kill anyone who survived on the beach. They’d then drag their bodies back to the water to make it look like a normal shipwreck.

Well, one night on East Beach in Rhode Island I was fishing with my father and as we got down to the beach we saw some odd drag marks in the sand. After about a half hour of casting, we made our way back to the truck and as we hit the parking lot our German Shepard started acting really weird, We were loading up the truck with our gear when we saw a light coming out of the dunes. As we got a good look, we saw it was an old 17th or 18th century lantern. We then saw two more lights and four people walked out wearing colonial clothes. At that point we just threw everything in the truck, picked up our now growling dog, and blasted out of there. As we pulled out, our lights went right over the people and we saw they were wearing ratty colonial style clothes. It really freaked us out.” – Stripers Online

The Premonition
“About 11 years ago, I was living in Long Island and saw something strange. This was Veteran’s Day weekend, after the smoke plume from 9/11 had gone away, so it wasn’t from that. I was fishing FI Inlet and saw a huge plume of what looked like black smoke rising into the air from the area of the Rockaways. It continued for several hours. It was still going on, thickly, when I got back to the parking lot where I’d left my Jeep. By the time I started it up and got to the Captree drawbridge – no more than two or three minutes – the smoke vanished. Completely.

I checked all of the newspapers the next day, the NYC ones and the Long Island Newsday. I also checked online news sources. I even checked FDNY fire logs. There wasn’t a mention of any fire, or even any calls/responses, to anything in the area of the huge smoke plume. I thought it could have been a drill from JFK airport as they have a dummy plane fuselage they set on fire to give the firefighters practice. But they never, ever do those at night. The drills are always at 11 a.m. and are over and done with in 10 minutes.

Two days later, American Airlines Flight 587 went down in the exact area where I’d seen the rising smoke.

Coincidence? Probably. But I’m not discounting a premonition.” – Stripers Online

The Perfumed Presence
“My buddy and I were fishing at a certain fort in Jamestown, RI one night, soaking bait. At one point, my buddy decided to walk to the boat dock about 50 yards away. The whole walk there he said he sensed someone behind him and heard footsteps. He thought I was walking with him, but when he turned around he was alone. He said it creeped him out pretty bad and he never went back to that spot with me.

Now flash forward to next summer. I decided to fish this spot by myself. I had completely forgotten about my friend’s experience. I got to the dock and unloaded everything and started to soak some bait. It was a clear, moonless night with no wind or breeze.

About a half hour into watching my rod, I started to smell perfume around me. I thought it was pretty weird since I was the only one there. The smell kept getting stronger and stronger, so I walked about 10 feet to my right and the smell disappeared. I walked back to my original spot, and the perfume smell was still there, stronger than ever. It was strong to the point that my nose started to burn. At that point, I said “where the hell is this smell coming from?” Soon after I said that the smell disappeared. That’s when I packed up and left. I’ve never been back to that spot.” – Stripers Online

The Soldier
“Only once when I was fishing did I have a ghostly experience, and that was when I was fishing a lake in France.

I’d been there for a couple of days, and my time was really nice and peaceful. There was an old château nearby riddled with bullet holes from the Second World War. Anyway, this lake is on a French Army training area so it was pretty secluded.

During the late afternoons, I had the feeling of being watched from the woods at the far end of the lake. Each day, at the same time, the feeling would return, usually around dusk, and from different areas, as if whatever it was was getting closer.

I remember waking on the last night of my trip. Outside the bivy it was very foggy and I could hardly see the dim glow of my bite alarms. I decided to make a brew, and as I flicked on the lighter the sparks silhouetted the face of a helmeted German soldier peering into my bivy from the darkness outside.

The next morning I packed up and went home but not before speaking to an old French Estate Warden who told me that the château had seen some fierce fighting when the Americans liberated that area of France. The Germans had fled into the woods only to be ambushed by a patrol in reserve. They were all killed and buried around the lake. I don’t think I’ll fish there again.” – Cemex Angling

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