2010 Fishing Blog

I was debating whether I needed to have this blog this year, but it's necessary if only for this initial post.

A couple months ago I accidentally won some reels on Ebay (only X dollars for 2 slightly used reels and 12 hours left? I guess I'll put in a bid even though I'm sure someone will outbid me...) and I put some line on them last night. With the warm whether today I figured I'd head out to the park more to test things out than really try and catch anything, because this was my first attempt at putting mono on a bait casting reel. So I'm out there repeatedly chucking a medium sized spoon with a treble hook and cranking it back in. Then on one cast as I'm following through and watching the lure go a seagull swoops in out of nowhere. I think it came under the line, the line tangled around its right wing, which whipped the leader and lure around its neck and one of the barbs caught in his neck. It flailed a bit, fell to the water, and flailed a bit more before just sitting there.

My options were just cut the line or try to free it. So I cranked it in, which went pretty well except for when it turned and torqued so that I dunked him pretty good. But I'm guessing seagulls can hold their breath under water? Anyway, I got him up near shore and instinctively knew that you can't go sticking your hands near birds heads unless you don't value the use of your fingers. Fortunately I had my needle nose pliers with me which gave me the extension I needed to not get bitten. I'm still not entirely sure how his wing was still wrapped up, must have been from the stiffness of the leader. But I was able to grab the spoon and free the barb while the bird was snapping at me and once that came out and the leader and line wasn't taught he worked himself free and flew off. And I get to stamp the seagull on my 2010 fishing species bingo card!