Ok... so I'm out in the street test-casting a broken rod rebuild at 1:00 in the morning because the rain just stopped and the weirdest thing I've ever seen happened. I see a moving shadow from the street light and it's a HUGE owl swooping down, picked up my 1/4 ounce jighead and 4" chartreuse paddle tail, and flew back up in the neighbor's tree with it! He spit the hook after a little tugging and didn't seem to be hurt. I just had to share. I gotta go check the security cameras and see if I got it. If only I was that good of a fisherman!!......

Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2009 01:26AM by Steve Johnson.

You see some cool things if you spend long enough outside.
We have to watch for sea eagles sometimes when floating live baits.

I had a ton of fun on a dam one day with a water dragon (lizard)
Unbeknown to me he was sitting on a fallen log.
I cast my lure at the snag and he launched after it.
Not wanting to hook him, I quickly retrieved it, whereupon he went back to his station.
Out of curiosity I cast it again, and sure enough he attacked instantly.
This went on over and over, each time he went back to his perch with an odd look like "where'd that thing go?"

Glad the owl wasn't hurt!

cheers,
Owen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2009 03:01AM by Owen Dare.

Catch and Release

Nothing like trolling spoons for Spanish Mackerel and terns trying to eat them.

Which is the "craziest thing" part? Test casting at 1:00am or the owl?...lol...must've been pretty cool to see.

MJ

NERB that types with a bar of Ivory soap in his mouth.

Great story......only a rod builder! LOL .....I chop the hook of my test subjects :-)

DR

I'd like to hear the owl's side of the story about the "big one that got away last night".

And they say artificial baits do not look real. Got to tell the birds.

I caught one of those Cormarants. What a fight. Wish I had a base rod instead of one for crappy, would have pulled him in and broke his little head. I watch then eating the fish in one of the lakes I fish. 20 of those all summer eat at least 10 or so, if not more every day, heck that is a lot of fish I could be catching

Bill - willierods.com

Aggressive Squid. I was down out of San Filliped and was fishing for bait late at night. We started catching these 25 lb squid. They were very aggressive coming up and grabbing the pelicans that were swimming around hoping to get some of the bait fish. The next day during a pause in the fishing from our Panga I had my rod hanging over the gunnel with the lure dangling above the water and had a big squid come up and nail it. We sure had a lot of calamari from those big guys. They were 4' to 5' long.

200 lb seal in th e CC canal....bye bye..but a good rush at night.!!

I barely got a flash of him flying away on the cameras. (we had to install them in the front of the house due to some neigborhood problem children) You can tell it's a bird but it's not a real clear picture. Crazy stuff. Great stories everyone!

Steve

Steve-if I come across someone in need of a good owl rod I'll get that setup from you. I have one that works well for Great Blue Herrons.

Nice. Always cool to see stuff happening late a night, and wildlife encounters always leave a lasting impression.
In Kenya I made a topwater by clipping the lip off a Bomber 14A and went bass fishing on Lake Naivasha. Found a shollow weedbed and cast out, and a kingfisherswarmed all over it as I walked it back, repeatedly diving and catching the plug. It even lifted it into the air and flew a short distance before dropping it. A few weeks later the same thing happened with a juvenile African Fish Eagle.

I was fishing a bass tournament a few years back and we were fishing a bank of slop throwing frogs and we had an owl take a couple of whacks at our frogs. Funny thing is I thought owls mostly fed at night, and this was in the heat of the day.

A college kid at CSU in Fort Collins outside my daughter's apartment window sitting in a tree casting pine cones at the squirrels and messing with them across the lawn in games of catch that pine cone if you can! She thought he was cute....

Pesco Ergo Sum

Sea Eagles
ocean rock fishing , I like to keep my catch alive as long as possible & then dispatch & clean at the end of the session, so I keep them in rock pools till I have finished fishing.
1.
Frightening:
put a fish in a pool 10 ' from my gear & am stooped down rebaiting.
6th sense says something is happening, commence to stand up to see & almost collide with a very large sea eagle gliding in above my head to grab the fish in the pool.................If I had fully stood up we would have collided..............scary.............especially with those talons.
2..
Very annoying:
Same area but a different spot many months later( opposite end of the same beach )
Catching some nice Silver Bream ( very nice eating) .............only me & the missus at the cabin so only need 2 fish for dinner.
So I am keeping the fattest ones aren't I , & releasing the rest of the cull.
Catch one last fish & its not a good as the 2 in the pool, so I release it, turn around & take a step towards my gear to pack up & see TWO sea eagles in formation, swoop down & take both my carefully selected keepers from the session

Not happy , sun is up & fish have gone off the bite.
Go home fishless ( despite catching 7 -8 for the session).................to cop the barbs from the missus about being a poor fisherman who can't catch dinner.
Belief of the event ..................NIL

Sea Eagles........ 3
Denis .......... NIL

Magnificent animals, but you cannot work with the darn things.....................if they would only advertise their presence you could happily feed them the culls, but taking my best fish...........................rotten , bad attitude animals.

Those Water Dragons ,Owen referred to , have the most incredible quizzical look on their faces when the lure manages to escape, back on perch head cocked to one side & almost scratching its head in a human way. "What happened there".

On the other end of the spectrum...Purple Martens (a type of swallow) chasing #20 Adams (small dry flies), while casting...I've never managed to hook one of these acrobatic little birds, but I've had some strikes.

When I was in High School I took my brother who was about 12 at the time fishing in a lake full of hydrilla. We were casting weightless plastic worms and letting them slowly sink into holes in the vegetation. The bass couldn't resist! There were several big white ducks that stayed on the lake and liked to get in the way. You guessed it, my brother hooked one of the ducks, got him right in the corner of his beak in the ligament that makes the hinge. He fought that crazy duck for about 20 minutes before he got it in close enough that I could catch it. You don't think those white ducks can fly, just hook one and watch! I had to pin it to the ground while my brother got the hook out. Every time I see one of those AFLAC commercials I think about that. My brother died at the ripe old age of 40 and those commercials make me think about him and the crazy things we did together.

That`s a reel Hoot!

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

Denis,
Terns and frigates do the same thing on the beach down here when the Spanish Macks come close to the beach. Steal them right outta the bucket.