Yesterday was the first official family day back on the lake for some warm-weather fishing....and exactly what Mom wanted for Mother's Day. So, with much excitement, we all packed the back of truck with all the kayaks and gear and headed out for a day of adventure.
And what a day of adventure it was.
Since our favorite fishing lake was closed, we had to go to a more fished one. So, needless to say it was a bit of a struggle to find a place that hadn't been over-fished. We had fun paddling about, though, and did eventually find just where the big fish were hanging out.In the meantime, we did manage to catch a few random worthy fish on our way, and one of which I had on the stringer off the side of my kayak.
Following the group, I paddled off a ways into a shallow cove with the hopes of catching a bass. I cast out and was intently watching my bobber and half-listening to a conversation between my mom and sister when my kayak suddenly tipped to the right. The lone fa fish on my stringer started flopping oddly, and I thought perhaps he was stuck on an underlying log or branch, That happens sometimes, so I grabbed the stringer and pulled i backwards a bit and up to get my fish off a branch.
It wasn't a branch, though. Or a log. Or a rock, even.
When I pulled the stringer up, it felt much heavier than it should have. Feeling that, I thought maybe a small branch had gotten stuck in one of the stringer loops and was just freaking out the fish. Nothing unusual, especially since i am notorious for catching loose branches on my fishing hook. But I quickly noted that this branch was fighting back, swimming against my pull.
"Hey," I yelled. "Something has my fish!"
All eyes turned to me, and when I pulled the fish out further to free it, a large brown head appeared above the water, mouth attached to the belly of my fat fish. It was a snapping turtle, and he saw my potential dinner as HIS potential dinner, except he planned on eating his raw and right off my stringer!
Now, if you have been following my blog for a while you may remember one of my previous fishing trips, one in particular last summer when I was in the shallows and a snapping turtle the size of a log surfaced next to my kayak and hissed like a gator. Yeah. Add this memory to my current situation.
Desperate to free the fish and get this horrid creature away from my boat, I pulled the chain higher and higher into the air with him still hanging by my fish. He didn't just dangle above the air, though. Those flipper feet of his worked like crazy, actually giving me some trouble. To my horror, this turtle was big enough to completely stir up the bottom of the lake during our battle, surrounding my kayak in a huge cloud of mud.
Needless to say that as soon as I got his turtle-lips free of my munched-on fish, I paddled the heck outta Dodge. Not only had I been mentally screaming like a little girl, but I knew he'd now be following me around because of the almost-sushied fish on my stringer.
Ever time the fish flopped about after that instantly send me speeding off to avoid a similar experience. I don't care for snapping turtles, especially when they are large enough to hold their own in a tug of war IN the water against me. Nu-uh. Nope. Done.
Dang turtle ruined my evening of fishing. xD I couldn't wait to get out of the shallow water then!
Hope you all had an equally adventurous Mother's Day!
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