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Fish Tales
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The Turkey, The Trout, The Bunny and the Turtle - February 5, 2007
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One time I was fishing with my trusty pal Mike. For a few summers we had a ritual.
After work we would meet at a creek north of Philadelphia, in an area that ran
for about two miles with only one public access point. There was an abandoned
railroad bridge along with a ten foot rock dam. We would jump into our waders,
get into the water at the dam and walk and fish the creek. The area was pretty
heavily fished, but had an isolated nature about it. Downstream, the creek turned
through a very large public park, but here at the north end there was no bike
path, picnic pavilions, or anything. Just dense brush along the banks. Every so
often you would hear a deer with that “honking” noise, or a bird screech.
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The Turkey
This particular day we were about half a mile down from the railroad bridge, where
the creek makes a pretty sharp turn at a large rock formation. I was ahead of mike
by about twenty yards or so. On a small gravel and sand island in front of me stood
a wild turkey. I couldn’t help but catch my breath. The bird was splashing about at
the edge of a nice pool that looked promising. I figured a throw a cast and scare the
turkey which would make it fly away and stop scaring the fish. Now at this time, I
was using a small white trout spinner with a treble hook. Mike and I new this creek
well, and it was better to fish using the lightest tackle possible. With the lightest
possible cast, I flipped the spinner to what I thought was the left of the turkey. My
aim on this day sucked…for the turkey. The spinner flew over the head of the bird,
and when I realized where it was headed, I jerked back on my rod to keep the hook
away from it. This didn’t work, and the spinner wrapped around the turkey’s neck.
I pulled again to try and free it, but it didn’t work. So here I am in the middle of
this creek with a turkey thrashing and flapping at the end of my fishing line!!!!! Mike,
in hysterics, was almost laying down in the creek. I had to think fast about how to save
this poor bird. I quickly reached for the fingernail clippers that I keep on a lanyard
attached to my vest and snipped the line. Immediately, the turkey scrambled up the bank
and into the woods. While Mike laughed, I stood there stunned. I had a sense of guilt
while I wondered if the bird would make it. Was it tangled in the line?
Oh well, no way of knowing anyway.
The Trout
On another occasion, about a week later, I was fishing the same spot with Mike and
my friend Joe. We were doing our walk down the creek stopping at each hole along the
way. I was in the lead, followed by Joe and then Mike. When we came to a small shallow
patch that ran over some rocks, I decided to toss my spinner to the opposite side of
the creek. One of my favorite things about bass and trout fishing is when you throw a
cast and a fish hits it as soon as or before it hits the water. The few times this has
happened to me have been incredible. This was one of those times. Though the rainbow
wasn’t that big, it was still great to pick him out of the rocks like that. As I pulled
him in, I noticed that the hook was set a little strange and as he got closer I realized
part of the treble hook went through his eye. I’ve always hated that aspect of catch-and-release
fishing. Inevitably, some fish will die. All I could do was take out the hook(along with his eye),
and return him to the water. By this time, Joe and Mike were standing next to me and as
I released the fish I noticed he was swimming funny. Usually, they just take off right?
Not this time. He was swimming in a circle!!!!!! The three of us were hysterical, and
laughed for a few minutes, but of course I felt a little guilty. So, within the space of
two weeks, I had hooked a turkey around the neck and ripped a trout’s eye out. Not a
great feeling for a conservationist like myself.
The Bunny
I work in an industrial park with lots of open lawns that are manicured in the summer.
Some of the landscapers’ machines amaze me with their speed. I didn’t know lawnmowers
could go so fast. About a week after my trout incident, I was walking to my car from
my office when I saw something move in the grass next to the sidewalk. I looked closer
and saw a tiny little rabbit trying to hide near a small pile of fresh cut grass. I
immediately went back into my office for a box and came back to retrieve the rabbit.
It was then that I saw how he was abandoned. I noticed a large rabbit that had been
obviously hit by the lawnmower along with a few other babies. The one left alive was
a pretty luck little fellow. When I got him home, my wife suggested I try to call a
shelter, which I did. We found one that was about a half hour from our house, so we
jumped in the car with the box. The volunteer at the shelter told us that most times,
rabbits this small won’t make it, but that they would do everything they could to help
him. She seemed sincere, so we left with a pretty good feeling knowing he had a better
chance there than where I found him. Later that evening, I met Mike at one of our
favorite watering holes and told him that I had evened the score with nature by taking
that bunny to the shelter. He laughed and called me a wuss.
The Turtle
About two weeks later, Mike and I were fishing a new spot. I found a reservoir
that we didn’t know about and that was about a forty five minute drive from Mike’s
work. It was a nice site, but not a lot of access. There were a few areas where you
could get off a cast without getting hung up in the trees. I put a senko worm on,
wacky rigged, and let it fly. BOOM!!! A nice largemouth when the bait was falling
through the water. It’s always good to get one right away. I did a little gloating,
to which Mike replied with an expletive.
A few minutes later, he caught one on a rubber frog. As he was taking the hook
out, my rod started to bend under the weight of something heavy. I watched as my
line move horizontally across the water in front of me. It looked like something
was swimming away with it, but it was moving a lot slower than anything I’d ever
seen. As I started to reel it in, it felt like I had a snag. A snag that moved??
“Mike, check this out, I have something really big!!!!” Mike came running over.
I was thinking of a huge largemouth covered in weeds and I was also praying that
my line wouldn’t snap. Funny thing was there was no struggle. Any fish will struggle
a little. Mike and I were stumped."What the *&^% is it??”. “I have no %^$#@! Idea.”
When we finally got a glimpse, I heard the all too familiar laugh from Mike. He
knew what it was as soon as he saw it. “Holy Shit. HAHHAHAHAHAHAA”. I saw the claw
first, then part of the shell. It was a huge snapping turtle!!!!!!!! What the hell
was I going to do with this??? No way was I going to handle it. Those things have
been know to clip off fingers in a snap. I could see that the hook was right
through its foot/claw. I snapped the line in an instant and it disappeared
into the water.
Mike was still laughing as he came over to me and said “I guess you and mother
nature aren’t even anymore, huh? ...wuss”.
About the author:
John Larish is a successful web publisher and a regular contributor to my-fishing-equipment.com; your number one online resource for fishing rods, fly fishing equipment, tackle boxes, lures, hooks and reels
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