04-27-2018, 12:11 AM
[#0000FF]In my younger years I spent a lot of time on fishing boats in California. Probably caught about every species of sea bird you could name. But the worst birds I ever had to deal with are the western grebes. Fishing off the old mouth of the Jordan River, casting jigs for walleyes, it was not uncommon to catch those nasty %$#@&...either by them hitting the jigs or by snagging them. Once you brought them to the top of the water...and they figured out you were the cause of their grief...they would come for you with their little red eyes flashing. Eyes? Those sunny beaches would actually try to peck out your eyes if they could get close enough.
The seagulls were the worst when trying to flyline a fresh anchovy for yellowtail or other surface feeding fish. As soon as your weightless 'chovy hit the surface a gull would swoop down and chomp it. Often the gull would get away with your bait. No harm and no foul. But you would be out of action until you could rebait and recast...sometimes in a hot but brief bite. Since it was against the law to harm those lovely feathery bait eaters we had to improvise. One way was to bring in one that was wrapped or hooked...dodging the beak. Then we would tie a partially inflated pink balloon around one leg and let it go. As it flew off trailing something that looked good to eat all the other gulls would follow...for a while. Long enough to get in some casts anyway.
And people wonder why they call that "Bird Island."
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The seagulls were the worst when trying to flyline a fresh anchovy for yellowtail or other surface feeding fish. As soon as your weightless 'chovy hit the surface a gull would swoop down and chomp it. Often the gull would get away with your bait. No harm and no foul. But you would be out of action until you could rebait and recast...sometimes in a hot but brief bite. Since it was against the law to harm those lovely feathery bait eaters we had to improvise. One way was to bring in one that was wrapped or hooked...dodging the beak. Then we would tie a partially inflated pink balloon around one leg and let it go. As it flew off trailing something that looked good to eat all the other gulls would follow...for a while. Long enough to get in some casts anyway.
And people wonder why they call that "Bird Island."
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