Anyone fishing during the eclipse?

[pondbassin101]

It was 85% coverage down here but I was stuck in school so no eclipse or fishing for me ???

[A-Jay]

I didn't fish - but I did mow the lawn(s).

 

When I finished, the grass looked longer than before I cut it . . . . . 

 

Must have been those darn Eclipse glasses.

A-Jay

 

 

[JustJames]

Went out there today, it was pretty slow and I had to end my trip a little early than I want once I figured I forgot my fishing license and I was fishing main lake.

[N Florida Mike]

I was working but kind of wanted to see it. Weatherman said it would be clearer out towards the beach so I had a stop out there and went.Rain and clouds!!

So after the stop I had about 15 minutes before the peak time ,now the weatherman says best chance for a break in the clouds is inland. So headed that way and toward a little litening in the clouds  .Pulled over with several other onlookers and the sun popped out almost right on peak time. 

I thought Id be able to see it without the solar glasses , Honestly, I couldnt see much difference, could not see the moon., but there were some cool sun bursts coming down. We were supposed to be 90% coverage but I was suprised it didnt get much darker than normal. 

[Fishes in trees]

I went out yesterday - cloudy & rainy - it got a little darker ( a very little bit darker ).  If I hadn't known about the eclipse I just would have chalked it up to dark clouds.  Caught a few fish - all slots - pretty slow day all in all, but beat the alternative of not going fishing and it was the only day this week that I could go.

[Fishing Rhino]

18 hours ago, Gundog said:

Funny thing happened this morning. I woke up and my underwear was on backwards. Not sure how it happened or when. Pretty sure they were on the right way yesterday.  I had to replace them anyway so it worked out. BTW, I don't think the eclipse had anything to do with it but I can't be 100% sure. One question. Is there gonna be another eclipse tomorrow or is it weekly like my subscription to Life magazine?

 

That's nothing.  I woke up in my wife's underwear.  Strange things happen during an eclipse.

 

As an aside, you can get Eclipse in a bottle.

 

[Bluebasser86]

I fished all day and during the eclipse, it was less than spectacular fishing.I caught 14 bass and 2 huge sunfish all day.

[Oregon Native]

Did not want to fight any traffic so stayed close to home.  Mowed yard ...finished a book....went golfing with my wife.  

Still looking down at flowers....was a good day.

[Rollincoal420]

I didn't do so good.  Didn't catch anything, but did manage to send a $5 tungsten weight across the cove.  That's $15 in weights in 3 days.  Lol.

[Gundog]

I'm just glad its over. All day I was ascared of looking up. But now that my underwear is on the right way and Yetis haven't invaded my favorite lake I'm comfortable again. 

[Neil McCauley]

Few pics during peak

 

 

[BCline]

I fished for an hour just before the eclipse began and landed one just over a pound.  Had a few small bumps but couldn't get a hook in any of them.  Went for another hour today and caught six all under a pound.

[Wade Faulkner]

Bass fishing in Loxley, al.  At 1 pm feeding frenzy among shad on top that lasted for 20 min then abruptly stopped.  Interestingly no birds were working the shad until the eclipse ended.  Caught 20 lbs (#10) all on top water whopper plopper

[Sword of the Lord]

I hit my go to location about 4 hours before the eclipse. Caught 3 hogs and 1 dink. Went back during the eclipse and only caught 1 dink. 2 guys were there and caught 2 moderately sized bass. It's a posted catch and release location but those jerks kept them.

[Paul Roberts]

I got to see "totality". But we weren't fishing. My family slept out under the stars on open rangeland in NE with a whole lotta Hereford's, yipping coyotes, and quite a few shooting stars. It was wonderful.

 

Eclipse lighting was... eerie. We looked at each other and asked why it was so... strange, and truly eerie. My son said it was the perfect setting for a zombie apocalypse. We see dusk and dawn and deeply overcast days often; What was so different about this lighting? 

 

We decided it was the light quality. It was a “gray” light and we watched as color faded, leaving everything bathed in a “smoky” gray desaturated light. Since this was a mid-day event the shadows weren’t long like you’d see in the morning or evening, but short and faint. At totality -all 2+ minutes of it- things got dark enough to see some stars, and there was a “sunset”. It was a purple-red glow on the horizon but not just on one horizon; It was 360degrees. That was… weird. And very cool. Oh yes, the air got quite a chill to it too, and we put jackets on.

 

 

I’d read an article that claimed that animals can behave strangely during an eclipse. But the stories were anecdotal, and I was skeptical of many of them. One said that cows were reported to "all lie down”. Well since we were surrounded by Herefords and Angus we thought we’d wait and see. 

 

We also had prairie sunflowers around us and if you’ve ever watched them they will turn to face the sun and follow it across the sky as the day progresses. We thought we’d check on them too. Nothing scientific; And I balked at setting up a time-lapse camera set-up. I was just going to enjoy the short-lived event with my family, and add my own anecdotes to the body of anecdotes out there.

 

Problem with all this anecdotal stuff, and the reason I am often skeptical (It’s been beaten into me over the years), is that all too often the observations don’t include what “normal” is, or simply what was happening before the “event”.

 

Here’s what the cattle did: At dawn they filed in to the waterhole, beneath a tall windmill. After tanking up they ran out to graze -literally. They exuberantly and playfully ran, bucked and bounced out into open range. They were really cute. Elk do this too, after being bedded up for a spell and with the early morning air being so cool.

 

Our cattle grazed until late morning, when the sun got hot (brilliant blue day), when they all laid down. Just like elk; Although elk lie down in cover, and the second the sun strikes them. At totality we glanced over and noticed that most of the cattle had stood back up. Cue to head to sleeping quarters, feeling a little “eerie”, or… just needing to stretch? Elk do this too; About late morning to mid-day they often stand up to stretch and feed a bit before lying back down. The cattle were not grazing, just standing there in what could have been taken for “feeling a little eerie”. So… I can’t say much about cattle behavior during total mid-day eclipses.

 

The sunflowers? Well... we noticed they were still facing the eclipsed sun. No surprise since they are not physically all that fast to begin with. Some, we noticed, had their petals a bit folded up. Some flowers close entirely by nightfall. But, we didn’t know if this variety of sunflower did. And, we noticed, only a few were so folded. Kinda like the cattle -not all were standing. Were those flowers so folded before the eclipse happened? We hadn’t really thought to notice what to notice beforehand.

 

All I can say is, it came and went pretty quickly, made us feel a bit “eerie", and then it was over, leaving us to feel like we didn't really have time to appreciate it. Oh yes, it caused my son to get all giddy and start running around wanting us to run too. But then again, he was doing that on and off well before the eclipsing began. In fact, he’s doing it right now! Gimme that foam sword boy and I’ll show you a thing or two!

[frosty]

1 hour ago, Paul Roberts said:

I got to see "totality". But we weren't fishing. My family slept out under the stars on open rangeland in NE with a whole lotta Hereford's, yipping coyotes, and quite a few shooting stars. It was wonderful.

 

Eclipse lighting was... eerie. We looked at each other and asked why it was so... strange, and truly eerie. My son said it was the perfect setting for a zombie apocalypse. We see dusk and dawn and deeply overcast days often; What was so different about this lighting? 

 

We decided it was the light quality. It was a “gray” light and we watched as color faded, leaving everything bathed in a “smoky” gray desaturated light. Since this was a mid-day event the shadows weren’t long like you’d see in the morning or evening, but short and faint. At totality -all 2+ minutes of it- things got dark enough to see some stars, and there was a “sunset”. It was a purple-red glow on the horizon but not just on one horizon; It was 360degrees. That was… weird. And very cool. Oh yes, the air got quite a chill to it too, and we put jackets on.

 

 

I’d read an article that claimed that animals can behave strangely during an eclipse. But the stories were anecdotal, and I was skeptical of many of them. One said that cows were reported to "all lie down”. Well since we were surrounded by Herefords and Angus we thought we’d wait and see. 

 

We also had prairie sunflowers around us and if you’ve ever watched them they will turn to face the sun and follow it across the sky as the day progresses. We thought we’d check on them too. Nothing scientific; And I balked at setting up a time-lapse camera set-up. I was just going to enjoy the short-lived event with my family, and add my own anecdotes to the body of anecdotes out there.

 

Problem with all this anecdotal stuff, and the reason I am often skeptical (It’s been beaten into me over the years), is that all too often the observations don’t include what “normal” is, or simply what was happening before the “event”.

 

Here’s what the cattle did: At dawn they filed in to the waterhole, beneath a tall windmill. After tanking up they ran out to graze -literally. They exuberantly and playfully ran, bucked and bounced out into open range. They were really cute. Elk do this too, after being bedded up for a spell and with the early morning air being so cool.

 

Our cattle grazed until late morning, when the sun got hot (brilliant blue day), when they all laid down. Just like elk; Although elk lie down in cover, and the second the sun strikes them. At totality we glanced over and noticed that most of the cattle had stood back up. Cue to head to sleeping quarters, feeling a little “eerie”, or… just needing to stretch? Elk do this too; About late morning to mid-day they often stand up to stretch and feed a bit before lying back down. The cattle were not grazing, just standing there in what could have been taken for “feeling a little eerie”. So… I can’t say much about cattle behavior during total mid-day eclipses.

 

The sunflowers? Well... we noticed they were still facing the eclipsed sun. No surprise since they are not physically all that fast to begin with. Some, we noticed, had their petals a bit folded up. Some flowers close entirely by nightfall. But, we didn’t know if this variety of sunflower did. And, we noticed, only a few were so folded. Kinda like the cattle -not all were standing. Were those flowers so folded before the eclipse happened? We hadn’t really thought to notice what to notice beforehand.

 

All I can say is, it came and went pretty quickly, made us feel a bit “eerie", and then it was over, leaving us to feel like we didn't really have time to appreciate it. Oh yes, it caused my son to get all giddy and start running around wanting us to run too. But then again, he was doing that on and off well before the eclipsing began. In fact, he’s doing it right now! Gimme that foam sword boy and I’ll show you a thing or two!

Interesting observations. I noticed a yellow tint to everything, like looking at an old photograph. The shadows were very sharp edged, like everything was under a spotlight. Of course we were in the 90%-95% range. I heard that birds would start to roost near the area of totality. I also heard my dog would stand up and talk... stupid dog never could do anything right!

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, Paul Roberts said:

 

 

 

I  didnt even bother with pictures . There were going to be a million photos taken , so I just observed as much as possible in three minutes .  The time leading up , was exciting , then totality .Then like a cosmic orgasm , it was over .

[Paul Roberts]

1 minute ago, scaleface said:

I  didnt even bother with pictures . There were going to be a million photos taken , so I just observed as much as possible in three minutes .  The time leading up , was exciting , then totality .Then just like that ,  it was over , like a cosmic orgasm .

I hear you. I set up a tripod ahead. Whacked a few shots and that was all. I wasn't looking to "cover" the event. Quality photography is a job in itself. Gotta decide when and where to put your time.

 

"Cosmic orgasm" LOL. After, you are left wondering what all that was about.

[toni63]

I worked till about an hour before totality, then took off to meet up with my wife at her office about 20 minutes before. It was 99.5 where I was at. If I had been of a mind to, I could have driven an hour south on some country roads and been inside totality. I've been in the 90% plus range before, so I figured that half percent wouldn't be a big deal. I couldn't have been more wrong. 

 

The streetlights came on and the locusts went nuts, just like a normal dusk. It got noticeably cooler at totality too, like it dropped a good ten degrees. Shadows were oddly weird, very sharp and distinct but the lit areas really lacked "brightness." Anyway, after it was over it lit up pretty fast and I had towed my boat with me because immediately after it was over I headed off to go fishing.

 

Fishing wasn't much. Went to a new lake, caught a few dinks and a couple keepers over about 5 hours.

 

All in all, if I ever get near totality again, and next time my house is going to be dead center in that track, I am hoping for clear skies again and I will get in totality. From what I have heard and now experienced, even 99.5% is a big let down from totality. Funny thing I head was Carbondale, ground zero, was bright and sunny right up until about 3 minutes before totality then some wispy clouds moved in and blocked the sun for about the length of time of totality and then they moved away. Maybe not all of Carbondale, but that is what some friends who live there told me was there experience where they were standing. Darn the luck!