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Top waters and annoying birds?
Nothing is better than early, cool summer mornings than the sound of a bass explode at the surface as it engulfs your topwater bait! This has always been my favorite and most exciting ways to fish for bass.
When you start getting into the larger topwaters say...5 -inch poppers, or walk the dogg type baits I have allot of issues with birds wanting a piece of my lure. Last year I was using a zara and saw a bird come down from behind me and knew exactly what it was doing. I retreived as fast as I could to beat the bird but it didn't work. So the bird (I think they are called blue herrings) is just sitting in the water with the spook bait in its beak, both trebles are clear and not in its mouth or anything but its just sitting in the water staring me down like I need to make the next move.
After about 30 seconds of us staring each other down I see his wings start to expand and I jerk as fast as I can and actually cleared the bait and got it back to the boat and the bird flew off unharmed.
The very next week an osprey came into the area I was chuckin my spook, so I didn't want to take any chances. Set the rod down on the deck and pick up another one. That stupid freakin bird is doing fly-by's actually trying to get my spook off my deck. The second fly-by it flew close enough for me to reach out and grab it. So the third time I was prepared and swatted at it with an older rod. After that the bird was still just hanging around the boat mocking me. And I really wanted to use that spook that day.
So I have a question, what do we do in these situations? What if its tourney time and I need to use my spook, but I got some stupid bird that wont leave?
When you start getting into the larger topwaters say...5 -inch poppers, or walk the dogg type baits I have allot of issues with birds wanting a piece of my lure. Last year I was using a zara and saw a bird come down from behind me and knew exactly what it was doing. I retreived as fast as I could to beat the bird but it didn't work. So the bird (I think they are called blue herrings) is just sitting in the water with the spook bait in its beak, both trebles are clear and not in its mouth or anything but its just sitting in the water staring me down like I need to make the next move.
After about 30 seconds of us staring each other down I see his wings start to expand and I jerk as fast as I can and actually cleared the bait and got it back to the boat and the bird flew off unharmed.
The very next week an osprey came into the area I was chuckin my spook, so I didn't want to take any chances. Set the rod down on the deck and pick up another one. That stupid freakin bird is doing fly-by's actually trying to get my spook off my deck. The second fly-by it flew close enough for me to reach out and grab it. So the third time I was prepared and swatted at it with an older rod. After that the bird was still just hanging around the boat mocking me. And I really wanted to use that spook that day.
So I have a question, what do we do in these situations? What if its tourney time and I need to use my spook, but I got some stupid bird that wont leave?
Views: 43
Comment
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Comment by Chris Blandi on May 4, 2009 at 7:54pm
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I almost caught a bald eagle 2 weeks ago now. I was throwing a large topwater, and over my shoulder it sounded like a jet coming over. I gave it a heck of a jerk and it thought better. The talons were definetly extended and about 6 feet above the bait. Man that was a rush.
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Comment by Tag Watson on May 4, 2009 at 7:39pm
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T-Dot,
I've had several eagles dive down, talons extended trying to snatch my topwater swimbait. They must be able to see your braid.
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Comment by bassmasterderek on May 4, 2009 at 7:34pm
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Spook is up on deck, so get ready!
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Mike, you crack me up!
I've had to unhook several seagulls that have attacked my topwater walking baits. Most of the time they remain pretty still while you are extracting trebles but some of them try to bite you. I try to reel quickly to get the bait away from them like Seung mentioned. I've found that the bite is typically pretty good when birds are present so it is certainly annoying.
Big topwater swimbaits like the BBZ and wake baits are the worst. These realistic swimming contraptions are like magnets for large birds of prey. Bald Eagles can see these baits from the next county and will dive bomb them out of nowhere. So far I've been fortunate enough to get the bait away from them just in time. Ospreys are just as bad.
Mike, any tips for unhooking a bald eagle?
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Comment by Mike Bess on May 4, 2009 at 5:20pm
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Fish the spook. If you catch the bird, wring the stupid thing's neck and throw it in the pepperoni pile
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Comment by S Hwang on May 4, 2009 at 4:50pm
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Reel reel reel. I've been pretty lucky and pay pretty good attention to most of the stuff going on around me (too bad I can't pay attention to the actual fishing that well) and haven't had one take one from me yet.
Seagulls are the worst of the bunch imo.
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