17 skipjack and a blue heron 10/20/2006

[FishNews]

Since my fishing tournaments have slowed down I finally had time to take my boat in for a few minor repairs that I haven't had time for. I had to take it to Guntersville and after dropping it off, I decided since I was so close to Guntersville Dam, I might as well stop by and see if any skipjack were biting. (My skipjack stash had gotten a little low with all the catfish tournaments). Now boatless, I had to resort to back to my roots of boatless bank trash fishing. <br /><br /> There were Herons all around me at the time and they paid me little attention as I hauled in the Tennessee Tarpon one after the other. After some hot "cat candy" action it started to slow down a bit and I decided to "put my back into" the next cast towards my right. I guess the heron to my right had gotten a little impatient as well and decided to leave............but he didn't get far...or high......... before he flew into my flying line. He gets entangled and cannon balled into the water like a fat kid at the pool. He kept trying to regain altitude without success. I hollered for him to stop, but he evidently didn't understand English. He might have understood if I had yelled "parada por favor" or "請中止" since he more than likely had picked up on some of the dialect of the local dam bank fishermen. At any rate..... I had no choice but to real him in...after all I hated to loose my new spoon and popping cork I had just bought minutes earlier. As I reeled him in against his will, and the current, he became a tad bit and started making a lot of racket. Finally I got him to the shore and he was able to stand up. I thought I might be able to "unloop" him but tried without success. .....he's getting more pissed by the moment....... Finally I decide I must sacrifice my lure for the sake of the birds health. I get within feet of him trying to salvage as much line as possible and he once again he goes bananas. After we regain our composures I am able to cut the line with my knife and set him free. As he flies away my claimed tackle drops from his wing to the rocks and I am able to recover it....all $2.17 of it.<br /><br />I decide to head for home and bump into fellow CFFer "Spoon" at the store up the road...nice guy......good to meet you "Spoon"....<br />