Very slow morning for me, the water is way down now and with only 1hr to fish before work this AM, all I could manage was a quick trip to the cable pool.
Fished bait and blades to no avail. I think its that time of year again when the dam clamps down and the fishing really seems to get tough. With very little snow left in the hills, we are going to need some rain I imagine, before they open it up again.
Anyhow first cast the did have a bit of action so to speak...would have been great had it been thanks giving and I felt like serving bird...well, blue heron that is
Thats right, first cast a friggin blue heron flies smacking into my line and gets tangled up.
It looked like it was around the wing so luckily it couldnt fly and I could control it some what. I was up on the cliff and a guy I bump into lots on the cap said he would help, so I walked the bird around the cliff as I would a steelhead or large coho and then worked my way around the cliff to the end of the stairs. The guy suggested cutting the line but I had a drenan on the other end and the bird was tangled in 30lb braid so I didnt want to cut it off unless I knew it would get freed.
Luckily I had my waders on so I could get in the water with the bird, I didnt want it getting its legs underneith itself and being able to kick, scratch, run, poke me eyes out etc!
I passed my rod off and walked up and took the bird by the neck. It understandably was un settled and started to thrash...now the line was in its feet too. I decided to grab the wing...good choice as it allowed me to pull the bird close to me and get my other hand on its breast. As I initially grabbed it, I could feel its heart racing incredibly quickly and I knew we had to free it quickly before it suffered and major injury.
In my arms, I was able to fold the wings tight into the body...the bird seems relatively comfortable so just cradled it in my left arm. Fortunately I had a second pair of hands avaiable and we cut the line off the wing tip and untagled the feet.
I then opened my arms and it ackwardly flew away...I was glad to see it makes its way off...another prime example of a successful catch and release! Only thing that could have made it better was a pic or two, maybe next time