Yesterday I was able to run the first transect of my experiment. Forty-five minutes without a strike. There were fish working, but not strikes along the southern route. I later caught one fish by casting a sheep creek special near working fish. Other than that one fish, my day was a ton of cold adventure.
As I was fishing near the rock pile I noticed a Great Blue Heron in distress. It was on the ground and tried to move, but only one wing was moving. It looked like the bird was stuck on a line or something. I’ve held owls, black shouldered kites (don’t know their new name), Red Shouldered Hawks and the like during my MS field research. I was a little leary of getting near a Great Blue Heron as they are large with powerful beaks. However, I felt I had to see if I could help the bird.
I headed for the rock pile as I’ve seen people dock their boats there. I got my boat up to the pile and got my anchor on the shore. As I got out of the boat I slipped on the wet rocks and fell under the boat, getting soaked up to my stomach. My vest and side pouch got soaked and I was out of breath. I made it over the rock pile but found a small channel back towards the bird boxes near the distressed bird. I got back into my boat and moved into the channel towards the bird.
I got stuck in the back channel and had to lift both engines out of the water. As I was entering the channel I saw a Great Blue Heron on the shore a little upstream. It was disheveled looking but was standing upright. The heron in distress was about 10 feet into the bushes on the left. There is a nesting box in the white “V” trees in the middle of the picture. I couldn’t find the heron so I figured it was the bird I saw up the lake shore.
As I was wet and cold and a wind was picking up, I headed back to the marina. It was an eventful day and I hate falling in the lake. At least I have always fallen in close to shore. However, there were a few seconds of struggling to get on shore and not getting sucked under the boat. Exciting for a brief while lol.
Tight Lines!