Lake Seminole Labor Day. . . .
Posted: September 6th, 2006, 9:05 pm
I received this report from my cousin Bryan who lives up in Colquit GA. He is a big fellow and a good fishing partner. Here is his Labor day fishing report from Lake Seminole.... (Enjoy)
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Well, I decided to celebrate Labor Day by going fishing. No big surprise there. But the fishing trip itself held some surprises for me.
I told my Momma this story and related to her the many odd occurrences surrounding this trip. She said I should have "read the signs" and stayed home. I'm not convinced.
The first bad omen occurred when the guy who was supposed to go with me backed out at the last minute. He called me at 10 pm last night to inform me he couldnt make it. Maybe his cancellation was a "sign" or maybe he just has a better sense of danger than I do. Either way, he wasn't going. But since I had spent the better part of yesterday afternoon getting my boat and fishing stuff ready..... I was danged sure going !!!
So this morning, I woke up and was getting everything packed when the second bad omen occurred. I was placing my rods in the boat at 6:30 this morning when I got a funny feeling in my stomach. I hop scotched it back into the house and made it to the bathroom door, but didn't quite make it to the "port of call" so to speak. Twenty minutes later, attired in a new pair of underwear and my 2nd "luckiest" pair of fishing shorts , I finally proceeded to finish packing my stuff.
The drive to the lake was uneventful except for a report I heard on the radio. About two miles from the boat ramp the news came on. The announcer reported that Australia was mourning the sudden death of "Steve Irwin -- The Crocodile Hunter". Great, just what I wanted to hear. I am going fishing by myself in the alligator infested waters of Lake Seminole... and the "Crocodile Hunter" has just died !!! But he died from a stingray....not in the mouth of a crocodile. No consolation to Steve but it made me feel a lot better !!! Maybe that was the 3rd "sign" but it was not enough to make me turn around and head back home. After all, I was at the lake by the time the news went off.
I launched my boat, started the motor and proceeded out towards the channel. After traveling about 300 yards, my motor quit on me. No big deal. I just hadn't let it warm up long enough.
This motor has ALWAYS started and ran perfectly and NEVER given me a bit of trouble. Until today that is. I spent the next 15 minutes cranking and adjusting and fussing and all to no avail. It would not start. Perhaps that was sign # 4 but I was not going to leave now. I was on the water !!!
But it's No Big Deal I said. I have a trolling motor and I could see bass jumping all over the place. So I spent the next hour chasing and attempting to catch some of them. But whatever those fish were eating must not have resembled anything I had tied onto my fishing line. No bites.
Then I tried my big motor again. HURRAY !!! --- it started. I scooted off down the lake to seek out my next stop. I found another fishy looking place, so I cut off the big motor, eased in, and made a few casts. I had only been there a minute or two when I heard a strange noise. Imagine the sound of a bullfrog croak mixed with an angry pig grunt. That was what I heard. I suspected "alligator" and my suspicions were confirmed. About 50 yards away was a "10 footer" and he was staring straight at me... and grunting that ominous sound. I got up, shouted, and waved my arms. Thankfully he retreated and swam off AWAY from me. It was about that time that I remembered that news report that I had heard earlier about poor Steve Irwin --Crikey !!! This event might be interpreted as sign # 5 -- but who is counting ? I know I wasn't.
No fish were caught here. (Maybe the alligator ate them). So I proceeded on down the lake, stopping from time to time to try my luck at fishy looking places. At about 11 o'clock I finally caught my first bass. I quickly caught a 2nd one minutes later.
It was shortly after this that I experienced the MAIN event of the day and the reason for writing this letter. I made a cast that went errant and it hung in the side of a stump. I could see it just hanging there about 6 inches out of the water. But it wouldn't shake loose. So I eased my boat over to it to retrieve my $5 lure.
About three feet to the left of the "stump with my $5 lure" was another "stump". This one had bushy sprouts growing out of the top of it. As I pulled up close, my boat happened to bump into the bushy stump.
Please take note that the following events happened in about a 10 second time period.
Shortly after bumping the bushy stump, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a dragonfly darting around my head. He kept buzzing me as I was trying to shake my lure free from the stump. I could hear his wings flapping. I finally took off my fishing cap to swat him, and as I did I noticed something.
What i noticed was that it was not a dragonfly I was attempting to swat ....but an oversized wasp. A wasp on steroids. An Hulk Hogan wasp. It looked like an orange humingbird with a stinger. (In all honesty, the body of that wasp was close to 2 inches long).
And he had friends with him. And he and his friends were none too happy about being bumped out of their nest by my boat. This took 2 seconds.
I was stung on the head on the 3rd second. During the 4th and 5th second I dove through tackle boxes and fishing rods to get to the back of the boat. For the next 5 seconds I lay on the floor of the boat in a fetal position comtemplating my situation and the following thoughts....
If the hummingbirds start stinging should I jump in the lake with the alligators?
Didn't I just hear the distinct sound of a pig grunt a few minutes ago ???
Which death would be more likely to get covered by CNN? Death by bees or alligators ?
If I am stung to death, at least they can find the body for burial.
Steve (the Crocodile HUNTer) just died from a STING RAY....
Bryan had an Alligator GRUNTer and may die from STINGS while out in the sun's RAYS...
kind of eerie .... all right maybe not.
But I am proud to say that none of my dire predictions came true. After a few seconds of buzzing around my boat, the wasps went back to their nest and left me alone. After regaining my composure and rubbing ice on my swelling head, I checked out the brushy stump (but from a safe distance). On the back side, there was a nest the size of a dinner plate hanging from a little branch. There had to be 75 of those king sized bees sitting there. I WAS LUCKY !!!
So in review.... I had plenty of bad signs telling me to stay home.
Sign #1 --- Last minute cancellation by my fishing partner
Sign #2 --- Nervous Bowel Syndrome.
Sign #3 --- Ominous yet relevant radio news report
Sign #4 --- Strange mechanical behavior of my historically reliable boat motor
Sign #5 --- Obvious antagonistic territorial behavior by an alligator
But the end result --- Two bass and only one bee sting.
See Mom, you were wrong !!!
I will keep ignoring the signs as long as my bass outnumber my wounds !!!!
Hope everyone had a calm and restful Labor Day !!!
Take care,
Bryan
==============================
============================
Well, I decided to celebrate Labor Day by going fishing. No big surprise there. But the fishing trip itself held some surprises for me.
I told my Momma this story and related to her the many odd occurrences surrounding this trip. She said I should have "read the signs" and stayed home. I'm not convinced.
The first bad omen occurred when the guy who was supposed to go with me backed out at the last minute. He called me at 10 pm last night to inform me he couldnt make it. Maybe his cancellation was a "sign" or maybe he just has a better sense of danger than I do. Either way, he wasn't going. But since I had spent the better part of yesterday afternoon getting my boat and fishing stuff ready..... I was danged sure going !!!
So this morning, I woke up and was getting everything packed when the second bad omen occurred. I was placing my rods in the boat at 6:30 this morning when I got a funny feeling in my stomach. I hop scotched it back into the house and made it to the bathroom door, but didn't quite make it to the "port of call" so to speak. Twenty minutes later, attired in a new pair of underwear and my 2nd "luckiest" pair of fishing shorts , I finally proceeded to finish packing my stuff.
The drive to the lake was uneventful except for a report I heard on the radio. About two miles from the boat ramp the news came on. The announcer reported that Australia was mourning the sudden death of "Steve Irwin -- The Crocodile Hunter". Great, just what I wanted to hear. I am going fishing by myself in the alligator infested waters of Lake Seminole... and the "Crocodile Hunter" has just died !!! But he died from a stingray....not in the mouth of a crocodile. No consolation to Steve but it made me feel a lot better !!! Maybe that was the 3rd "sign" but it was not enough to make me turn around and head back home. After all, I was at the lake by the time the news went off.
I launched my boat, started the motor and proceeded out towards the channel. After traveling about 300 yards, my motor quit on me. No big deal. I just hadn't let it warm up long enough.
This motor has ALWAYS started and ran perfectly and NEVER given me a bit of trouble. Until today that is. I spent the next 15 minutes cranking and adjusting and fussing and all to no avail. It would not start. Perhaps that was sign # 4 but I was not going to leave now. I was on the water !!!
But it's No Big Deal I said. I have a trolling motor and I could see bass jumping all over the place. So I spent the next hour chasing and attempting to catch some of them. But whatever those fish were eating must not have resembled anything I had tied onto my fishing line. No bites.
Then I tried my big motor again. HURRAY !!! --- it started. I scooted off down the lake to seek out my next stop. I found another fishy looking place, so I cut off the big motor, eased in, and made a few casts. I had only been there a minute or two when I heard a strange noise. Imagine the sound of a bullfrog croak mixed with an angry pig grunt. That was what I heard. I suspected "alligator" and my suspicions were confirmed. About 50 yards away was a "10 footer" and he was staring straight at me... and grunting that ominous sound. I got up, shouted, and waved my arms. Thankfully he retreated and swam off AWAY from me. It was about that time that I remembered that news report that I had heard earlier about poor Steve Irwin --Crikey !!! This event might be interpreted as sign # 5 -- but who is counting ? I know I wasn't.
No fish were caught here. (Maybe the alligator ate them). So I proceeded on down the lake, stopping from time to time to try my luck at fishy looking places. At about 11 o'clock I finally caught my first bass. I quickly caught a 2nd one minutes later.
It was shortly after this that I experienced the MAIN event of the day and the reason for writing this letter. I made a cast that went errant and it hung in the side of a stump. I could see it just hanging there about 6 inches out of the water. But it wouldn't shake loose. So I eased my boat over to it to retrieve my $5 lure.
About three feet to the left of the "stump with my $5 lure" was another "stump". This one had bushy sprouts growing out of the top of it. As I pulled up close, my boat happened to bump into the bushy stump.
Please take note that the following events happened in about a 10 second time period.
Shortly after bumping the bushy stump, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a dragonfly darting around my head. He kept buzzing me as I was trying to shake my lure free from the stump. I could hear his wings flapping. I finally took off my fishing cap to swat him, and as I did I noticed something.
What i noticed was that it was not a dragonfly I was attempting to swat ....but an oversized wasp. A wasp on steroids. An Hulk Hogan wasp. It looked like an orange humingbird with a stinger. (In all honesty, the body of that wasp was close to 2 inches long).
And he had friends with him. And he and his friends were none too happy about being bumped out of their nest by my boat. This took 2 seconds.
I was stung on the head on the 3rd second. During the 4th and 5th second I dove through tackle boxes and fishing rods to get to the back of the boat. For the next 5 seconds I lay on the floor of the boat in a fetal position comtemplating my situation and the following thoughts....
If the hummingbirds start stinging should I jump in the lake with the alligators?
Didn't I just hear the distinct sound of a pig grunt a few minutes ago ???
Which death would be more likely to get covered by CNN? Death by bees or alligators ?
If I am stung to death, at least they can find the body for burial.
Steve (the Crocodile HUNTer) just died from a STING RAY....
Bryan had an Alligator GRUNTer and may die from STINGS while out in the sun's RAYS...
kind of eerie .... all right maybe not.
But I am proud to say that none of my dire predictions came true. After a few seconds of buzzing around my boat, the wasps went back to their nest and left me alone. After regaining my composure and rubbing ice on my swelling head, I checked out the brushy stump (but from a safe distance). On the back side, there was a nest the size of a dinner plate hanging from a little branch. There had to be 75 of those king sized bees sitting there. I WAS LUCKY !!!
So in review.... I had plenty of bad signs telling me to stay home.
Sign #1 --- Last minute cancellation by my fishing partner
Sign #2 --- Nervous Bowel Syndrome.
Sign #3 --- Ominous yet relevant radio news report
Sign #4 --- Strange mechanical behavior of my historically reliable boat motor
Sign #5 --- Obvious antagonistic territorial behavior by an alligator
But the end result --- Two bass and only one bee sting.
See Mom, you were wrong !!!
I will keep ignoring the signs as long as my bass outnumber my wounds !!!!
Hope everyone had a calm and restful Labor Day !!!
Take care,
Bryan
==============================
Great story!