Father’s Day and visitors.

[skeetbum]

First, Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there in crappie land. I hope it was a good day that you’ll remember with a smile. I’ve gotten to fish three times so far with some help from Mother Nature and her sprinkler system. My SIL and I hit it early yesterday and fished close to the ramp cuz we knew what was coming. We found a few but that area is pretty picked over and we were happy with what few we found. Once again, if it wasn’t for the slab sauce our pickings would’ve been slim, they just weren’t busy. Mike was the first one with a bent rod.
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Made a little drag music and back he went. We found few others and here came the big drops. Big enough that we sat in the truck and waited for it to lay down some before we dared put the boat on the trailer. Lightning makes me nervous. Got back to the house and changed into dry clothes and Mike said goodbye, but my Queen had a date with some of the girls from church. She left, I checked the radar and found I had a few hour window. Never having disconnected, I was on my way in record time. With a raincoat. I found a few more but nothing until the sun came out. I thought that was odd. The wind picked up and it wasn’t fun anymore so I headed home, mama hadn’t been there long and I had been gone about two hours. Perfect timing once again.

Now to this morning. The dogs decided I’d slept long enough and came to say hello. It was 5am. I was hoping for a little more but whatever. Made coffee and thought about my day and decided that I’d try for some daybreak stripers. If you aren’t there real close to first light, stay home. Last weekend they were active and boiling the surface but this week was slower. I had to run a couple of hundred yards and relocate cuz they had changed locations too. Spot lock is the only way for this and I love mine. I was throwing a white jerk bait and the first was a schoolie LMB that wouldn’t hold still. Took a minute to get him back and shortly, here came the boil once again. Jerked it twice and it came tight, this time with some authority. Lots more drag music and no jumps , I figured I’d gotten the striper I was after. A solid pound and a half but probably a bit more, it took a minute to get him released. And that was the last boil. The sun hadn’t even topped the trees yet. Fun while it lasted. I went back where I had started and watched solo bass chasing baits. About this time, something caught my eye. One of the many owls had flown into a. Tree about 75 yards away. Another boil, another pitch, and this one connected. LMB about 15” was giving all the 4 lb line wanted, splashing around and doing fish stuff. I looked up and the owl was landing on the rear seat.

Someone’s been feeding him and he wanted my bass. Now I wondered if I was going to have to fight for the fish. Got him close and flipped him onto the floor, just knowing this bird was going to make a move. Thankfully he didn’t, but I was still nervous. Got him unhooked and flipped back in past the owl. He looked at me like” hey, that was mine”. Trying to shoo him away did nothing, he left when he was ready. Gar flipping all over and another bass chased some bait and I guess he thought I had another fish. Next thing I knew he was back. This dude was insistent!

I stowed the TM to head home and he flew off. You just never know which way things are gonna go and thankfully, this went well. Kinda anticlimactic after all that, here’s a couple from yesterday afternoon. One of them is a dead on ten inch and felt like it before I saw him. A ten inch + cracker came also and everybody got a pass. I found a few today but took no pics. No crappie we’re caught but one about 5”. I’ve still had a great time and hope all you dads do as well. Til next time….Skeet

[BuckeyeCrappie]

Neat! Thanks for sharing your outings with us.

[Slimjim1]

love those early mornings on the river. thanks for taking us along.

[SuperDave336]

Wow, that’s super cool. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

[DockShootinJack]

Your buddy would have gladly taken a bream off your hands

["D"]

Owl say that was a good story. Thanks, never had a n owl in the boat , but had a pelican get in once. Like your owl he was looking for a handout. Cool though.

[Jamesdean]

Super write-up Skeet. As always, really enjoyed it and the pics. Thank you sir for the ride along.

[Ketchn]

them talons on them feet are really long and them leg muscles are super strong ....
just a quick fyi and do NOT ask me how I know for sure about it ....
BUT to be sure I know for sure about it ,,,,them are hard to get off ya when they get on ya .....
the good news is they rarely bite and just POP their beak at ya as they do their best to sink them talons in EVEN deeper ....