Well that was different

[SC53]

Yesterday, early morning,  I’m fishing a frog against a bank with trees on it. As I’m working the frog through some pads I look away for a second and feel a pull on my line.

I look back and an owl is flying off with my frog. ?
Fortunetly it dropped it when it felt tension and  I didn’t have to deal with sharp talons and a beak. 
It flew back into the tree and continued to watch the bait as I worked down the shore, even walking up the branch to get a better look at it as I moved away. 

I’ve had herons and other birds attack baits but never an owl. 
 

That was the only hit I had on it that day?
 

[Jar11591]

I’ve had many different birds follow or attack my lures, mainly seagulls with poppers and loons following my spinnerbaits. Never an owl though. Must have been pretty cool given the fact you didn’t hook it. 

[SC53]

Jar it was ?.
And yes, seagull are notorious for attacking top waters. 
This stretch of the river had a younger owl that would fly and land on a buddy’s boat and wait for a handout. This one was full grown but might be the same one now that it’s older. 

[Bankc]

That's crazy!  I've never even seen an owl on the water before.  They're pretty rare around here, at least in the daytime.  It's been years since I've seen or even heard an owl.  

 

I was worried the other day about a muskrat that was interested in my soft plastic craw.  I've had water snakes follow lures as well.  I've even gotten a seagull temporarily tangled in my line on a cast because it was trying to pick off my spook out of the air.  But the only time I've caught a non-fish is a single turtle.  I've been lucky I guess.  I cringe at thinking of trying to unhook one of these animals.

[Deleted account]

Darn, that's the only one I need for Bingo, Have pretty much everything else.

[PaulVE64]

I nearly caught a bat night fishing a jitterbug. 

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

Never caught an owl, but I did catch a duck. Ducks are vicious. 

[fin]

What a coincidence. I caught a cormorant this morning. First thing besides a fish or turtle I've ever caught. The stupid thing would not leave me alone. I kept throwing rocks and sticks at it to try and drive it away, but it would just leave for a couple minutes and then surface right in front of me. It finally got tangled up in my line. I reeled it in and snapped the line and it flew away. I think it finally learned its lesson. I've never seen one that hard-headed. Must have been a youngster.

[SC53]

2 hours ago, Bankc said:

That's crazy!  I've never even seen an owl on the water before.  They're pretty rare around here, at least in the daytime.  It's been years since I've seen or even heard an owl.  

 

I was worried the other day about a muskrat that was interested in my soft plastic craw.  I've had water snakes follow lures as well.  I've even gotten a seagull temporarily tangled in my line on a cast because it was trying to pick off my spook out of the air.  But the only time I've caught a non-fish is a single turtle.  I've been lucky I guess.  I cringe at thinking of trying to unhook one of these animals.

Bank, you haven’t lived until you hook an 8’ gator ?. It was resting on the bottom in January in about 3’ of water. Hooked it in the back with a rattletrap. I knew what it was after a minute or two into the battle when I couldn’t get it to come up. It finally did and after that, said I’ve had enough and fortunately when it surged, the lure came free. 
Being down here in Florida we have gators chase bait all the time. I’ve caught a few water snakes too. None got hooked, they just hold onto it. 

[VolFan]

Ducks, bats on flies, cormorant and ospreys taking shots at swim baits… they are the WORST 

[Darth-Baiter]

this is my nightmare while fishing.  an owl would have been scary.

 

I got a goose once.  wrapped him up with a dropshot rig.  I casted and he flew into the flight path of my bait.   I was so shocked.  I didn't realize what was happening until I noticed the bird flying up in the air with my line.  I closed the bail and he came down.   two other kayakers converged without a word and helped me.  that bird was ticked!!  we released it unharmed.

 

the guys were wearing goPro's so it was all on video.  we cussed a lot.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

3 hours ago, Deleted account said:

Darn, that's the only one I need for Bingo, Have pretty much everything else.

Lol, same here, but I got the baby duck being inhaled by a giant bass on my card.

 

Watched a momma and her ducklings come around an Island bend, and then one of the most violent and loudest explosions occurred......a tank of a Bass ate the last duckling in the chain.  

 

Sad and awesome to witness.   You see things out fishing that are wild.   I watched Bass run themselves up on the rocks yesterday chasing shad like the Orcas do with Seals.  

 

Fisherman are some of the most blessed nature observers 

[SC53]

47 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Lol, same here, but I got the baby duck being inhaled by a giant bass on my card.

 

Watched a momma and her ducklings come around an Island bend, and then one of the most violent and loudest explosions occurred......a tank of a Bass ate the last duckling in the chain.  

 

Sad and awesome to witness.   You see things out fishing that are wild.   I watched Bass run themselves up on the rocks yesterday chasing shad like the Orcas do with Seals.  

 

Fisherman are some of the most blessed nature observers 

Seen baby coots eaten as well. That’s why you throw a loon/black whopper plopper down here in spring once you start seeing the babies. 

[TnRiver46]

During the bassmaster tournament on the St. John’s river this year, Paul mueller said he was fishing a row of docks and a homeowner warned him about an owl that would steal anglers hats off their head. He was fishing along, kind of forgot about it, then catches a dink fish. While he’s flipping it into the boat, and owl dive bombed and almost got the fish. The whole thing was captured on video 

 

[Basser2021]

Cool encounter! I'm glad you didn't hook him. 

[TnRiver46]

 

[looking45]

I’ve had to stop using my swim baits because the Bald Eagles would keep trying to get them. I’m surprised they came within 20 feet of the boat. It was great to see them so close. They’re beautiful birds

[scaleface]

I had Kingfishers dive bomb a spinnerbait twice . Luckily he missed . My cousins boy and I were night fishing with buzzbaits , and there was all kinds of splashing going on . I quickly hit it with a light and a Raccoon was frantically swimming after the boys buzzbait . A few minutes later it happened again and this time the boy said he felt it .

[schplurg]

On 8/18/2022 at 7:34 AM, PaulVE64 said:

I nearly caught a bat night fishing a jitterbug. 

 

 

I had a bat fly into my fishing line one night. It's on video - I'm blabbing and suddenly "Ope that bat just flew into my line!" Could feel it.

 

They like to chase baits when they're in the air still. We used to toss rocks in the air at the park when I was a kid to see if the bats would crash into the ground following them (nope).

[fin]

21 hours ago, schplurg said:

We used to toss rocks in the air at the park when I was a kid to see if the bats would crash into the ground following them (nope).

 

We would stand under street lights and flip pennies in the air when bats were circling. They will grab pennies and carry them for a second or two.

 

I was throwing a Heddon torpedo yesterday morning and they seem to like that propeller noise.

[Woody B]

I had an osprey come after a devils horse.   I saw the bird coming and jerked it away.  The bird followed to within 5 feet of me and my boat.    A muskrat got tangled in my line once, but got loose.   

[El jefe]

One of the lakes I fish here has a ton of bats.... at night they attack the line where it enters the water (jig fishing).... drives me nuts.... feels like strikes.

[Deleted account]

On 8/18/2022 at 10:34 AM, PaulVE64 said:

I nearly caught a bat night fishing a jitterbug. 

 

I killed one on a back cast late one evening a while back.

[Bird]

Never caught an Owl and would rather not. Lol

 

I did over cast a Spinnerbait and hang it on a dock and the family dog came running down and grabbed it and took off. 

All ended well but still have the vivid memory of that fiasco.

[WRB]

Back when I was using big swimbaits often you had to watch for Osprey’s constantly. Trout swimbaits look real and fool Osprey’s that see them in the air after casting and swoop down 180 mph grabbing them midair and they don’t mis!

Tom