1
After spending a long weekend in the sun, I decided to take a trip down to my family's camp and do a bit of fishing. I brought my phone with me to take pictures of any fish I caught, and figured I'd throw pretty much everything back unless I caught a Catfish or a few Black Crappie. (They're absolutely infesting the lake and it's encouraged that you harvest them.) So, I grabbed a chair, a bucket of bait, a few sodas, and my tackle box, carried them down to the dock, and threw my line out to see what I could catch.
After two hours and eight casts, I began to wonder if the fish weren't exactly interested in my bait. It was slightly disappointing since I'd been looking forward to this all day. I rarely ever get to go fishing, so of course when I do, nothing's biting. Then, I noticed the reason why the fish seemed to be steering clear of my bait. My bobber was floating near the neighboring camp's floating dock, when something came out from underneath it...
IT WAS A FAMILY OF DUCKS. There had been a family of ducks sitting under the dock the whole time, scaring off the fish. Immediately, I did what anyone would do in that situation. I reeled in my line, ran up the hill to the camp, grabbed an entire loaf of bread, and brought it down to feed the ducks. I fucking love ducks. They're one of my favorite animals, and by far my favorite bird. You have no idea how happy I was to just be sitting there, throwing little pieces of bread into the lake and watching the baby ducks having the time of their life chasing them down.
After about 10 minutes, the ducks seemed to lose interest and swam off. I went back to fishing, and about ten minutes later, I caught this guy.
Just a ridiculously small, largemouth bass. I laughed for a bit about the fact he'd gone for my bait, which was just a little too big to fit in his mouth, took the picture, and dumped him back in the water. He didn't seem to want to venture away from the dock, so I tried throwing him a bit of bread too, but he didn't seem to be as into it as the ducks had been.
I cast my line again, and about 15 minutes later, my bobber went straight down. No toying around with it like fish usually do, no movement whatsoever, just straight down. I fought for about 10 minutes, but I couldn't seem to get whatever was on the other end of my line to move at all. I figured it was just a fish that had wrapped itself in the weeds. Eventually, my line snapped and I reeled in nothing but my bobber. A few seconds later, a very, very large snapping turtle stuck it's head up from where my bobber had been and stared at me for a few seconds before ducking back under the water and swimming away.
Now, I like ducks as much as the next guy, (Probably a lot more actually) but I absolutely love turtles. They're my favorite animal. I was super excited and immediately started throwing bread all over the place in hopes the turtle would come after it, but luck was against me that day, and I never saw the turtle again.
Hours went by with no bites, and I threw my line out one last time before packing it in. I definitely should have just grabbed my stuff and left, but noooooo, I had to try just one more time. My bobber sat in place for about 10 minutes, when I noticed something was swimming around it. It was around 11PM at this point, and it was completely pitch black. (My bobber has a light built into it by the way) I pulled out my flashlight and shined it at the mysterious figure to determine what it was.
It was a beaver, and apparently my bobber had offended it in some way, perhaps by insinuating it'd had sex with the beaver's mother or something? The beaver was swimming circles around my bobber, occasionally grunting, and trying to bite it. I just stared for a second before figuring I should reel in my line. Now, here's where things get REALLY interesting. Apparently, if a beaver is pissed at something, the last thing it should do is move. The beaver flipped it's shit and absolutely DESTROYED my bobber. There was nothing left. There were a few random pieces of plasting floating around, but other than that, nothing. The beaver grunted again, turned away, and swam to shore to start eating trees or whatever it is beavers do.
In silence, I grabbed all my stuff, carried it up the hill, loaded it into my car, and began to head home. About halfway there, I stopped at a red light, and finally yelled the one thing that had been going through my head since I left. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT BEAVER'S PROBLEM?!"
After two hours and eight casts, I began to wonder if the fish weren't exactly interested in my bait. It was slightly disappointing since I'd been looking forward to this all day. I rarely ever get to go fishing, so of course when I do, nothing's biting. Then, I noticed the reason why the fish seemed to be steering clear of my bait. My bobber was floating near the neighboring camp's floating dock, when something came out from underneath it...
IT WAS A FAMILY OF DUCKS. There had been a family of ducks sitting under the dock the whole time, scaring off the fish. Immediately, I did what anyone would do in that situation. I reeled in my line, ran up the hill to the camp, grabbed an entire loaf of bread, and brought it down to feed the ducks. I fucking love ducks. They're one of my favorite animals, and by far my favorite bird. You have no idea how happy I was to just be sitting there, throwing little pieces of bread into the lake and watching the baby ducks having the time of their life chasing them down.
After about 10 minutes, the ducks seemed to lose interest and swam off. I went back to fishing, and about ten minutes later, I caught this guy.
Spoiler
Just a ridiculously small, largemouth bass. I laughed for a bit about the fact he'd gone for my bait, which was just a little too big to fit in his mouth, took the picture, and dumped him back in the water. He didn't seem to want to venture away from the dock, so I tried throwing him a bit of bread too, but he didn't seem to be as into it as the ducks had been.
I cast my line again, and about 15 minutes later, my bobber went straight down. No toying around with it like fish usually do, no movement whatsoever, just straight down. I fought for about 10 minutes, but I couldn't seem to get whatever was on the other end of my line to move at all. I figured it was just a fish that had wrapped itself in the weeds. Eventually, my line snapped and I reeled in nothing but my bobber. A few seconds later, a very, very large snapping turtle stuck it's head up from where my bobber had been and stared at me for a few seconds before ducking back under the water and swimming away.
Now, I like ducks as much as the next guy, (Probably a lot more actually) but I absolutely love turtles. They're my favorite animal. I was super excited and immediately started throwing bread all over the place in hopes the turtle would come after it, but luck was against me that day, and I never saw the turtle again.
Hours went by with no bites, and I threw my line out one last time before packing it in. I definitely should have just grabbed my stuff and left, but noooooo, I had to try just one more time. My bobber sat in place for about 10 minutes, when I noticed something was swimming around it. It was around 11PM at this point, and it was completely pitch black. (My bobber has a light built into it by the way) I pulled out my flashlight and shined it at the mysterious figure to determine what it was.
It was a beaver, and apparently my bobber had offended it in some way, perhaps by insinuating it'd had sex with the beaver's mother or something? The beaver was swimming circles around my bobber, occasionally grunting, and trying to bite it. I just stared for a second before figuring I should reel in my line. Now, here's where things get REALLY interesting. Apparently, if a beaver is pissed at something, the last thing it should do is move. The beaver flipped it's shit and absolutely DESTROYED my bobber. There was nothing left. There were a few random pieces of plasting floating around, but other than that, nothing. The beaver grunted again, turned away, and swam to shore to start eating trees or whatever it is beavers do.
In silence, I grabbed all my stuff, carried it up the hill, loaded it into my car, and began to head home. About halfway there, I stopped at a red light, and finally yelled the one thing that had been going through my head since I left. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT BEAVER'S PROBLEM?!"
