Mola Attack!

[dman25]

I've always heard they could jump and swim pretty quickly but I've never seen one do anything but float on it's side. With the kind of mouth they have I would expect they eat jellies. I wonder if the spread just spooked it and it jumped out of reaction?

[FESS]

Very strange critter for sure. Heard they can jump pretty well, I've never hooked one...thank goodness...hear tell they are very strong...kinda like an 800 lb trigger fish.

[Nimrod]

Back in the late 60s/early 70s my father and grandfather captured one of these things via harpoon - something my dad said he would ever do again! The thing was several hundred pounds and a total mess. I recall them telling me of how bad the fish smelled and that it had very abrasive skin like a shark and was covered in slim like an eel.

They decided to boat it and nearly destroyed the teak covering boards dragging it over the transom (like a huge sander). The slime was so thick and nasty that I don't think they ever got it all off the boat. To top things off they decided to have the damn thing mounted! It still smelled when they got it back from the taxidermist. It even stunk up the house. They ended up selling the house it was in and made sure the mola mount conveyed with the sale.

[reel fool]

Hooked one chunking at the dog a few years back... Fastest i've ever seen a fish run... It cleared the water quite a few times...

Were you fishing with Marty Moran? saw him hook up on one chunking. watched the thing breach several times right past our transom

[babalaza]

always thought this was a lazy fish lol

[Squidnation]

sunfish are very curious animals. They tend to breach often. We had a few breach in our chum slick and right besides the boat quite a few times. Last year fishing with Biebs and Nico in the OC sharkers tournament we had one breach on a calm day right in our chum slick. Thought it was kind of odd until we saw a 150lb class mako right on his arse.

Fishing with Bill Knessi on the old My Desire (now the Muff Diver) we hooked one in the Poor Mans. Didn't do much but I did get to experience the stinky slime coat.

They are actually a food fish on the west coast and a few weeks ago they had it on the menu at Sunset Grill. I ordered it and it was OK. Don't know if I would order it again.

[hotrodmarlin]

I thought they were a protected species-
Foul hooked one a few years ago. Thought we had a nice Bluefin but after a 1 1/2hr fight we pull up this huge sunfish. Very dissapointing...

[squirtis]

I may be off here, but MOLA are bad new to Westies....

really bad luck to catch one...

I did not know they ate them out west either, I never saw it personally.

OPAH however, just as weird looking and definately eaten out west?