I 've had some things stolen over the years, but never a fish, and never by a loon!
Just came back from the lads annual fishing trip. The lake has several loons and it's fun to watch the mommas with the babies or to hear their calls ring across the lake.
On Saturday, as I was trolling in my pontoon boat, I looked over to my left and there was a loon about 25 ft away, slowly tracking parallel to me. I thought I would have some fun with him so I splashed my rod tip in the water to simulate a splashing fish. He dove under, and I could see his white back as he whistled past the front of my boat. He re-surfaced to my right so I repeated the splashing rod trick and he dove under again.
He stuck with me for a bit and I realized two things (1) up close, loons are very large birds with very large, scary large, beaks, and (2) if I hooked a fish, I was screwed.
No sooner had I thought about (2), than I hooked up. Oh crap! I started stripping line like a madman to get the fish in quickly, but it was futile. The fish got in close, the loon dove under, the silver flashing of the fish met underwater with the white back of the loon, and the line went slack. I got my fly back and the loon surfaced nearby to swallow his prize.
Serves me right for teasing him
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Topic: Fish stolen (Read 4121 times)