Ashamed to admit it but..........

I broke my first rule of never going anywhere, whether fishing, hunting or just for a walk, without my camera tonite. The day after my last blog I awoke with a pulled muscle in my back. After two weeks off work I went back to work last week. Tonite I had some free time and just had to get out on the river before the summer slipped away. I had some new plastic baits that I wanted to try out on the smallies, was in a hurry, and forgot my camera. I went to the same spot that I had seen the eagle and the big bucks several weeks ago but this time I fished upstream. The smallies seemed to like the new baits and I caught several in the 10-12 inch class in the first several minutes. As I worked my way upriver I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head I saw an osprey winging its way upriver toward me. It set its wings and landed in a dead snag about 75 yards away, within range of the little Canon if I had remembered it. I watched it for several minutes as it paid no attention to me, posing handsomely. Cursing my forgetfulness I continued fishing catching several more, one a chunky 13 incher. After about an hour my back began to tell me it was time to turn back when on the next cast I had another strike. The fish came toward me as I reeled in quickly to keep a tight line. Suddenly it veered off to the side making the little Daiwa's drag scream. After several more hard runs she played herself out and slowly came into view. I eased her up to me and slipped my thumb into her mouth. A very nice heavy set 16 incher the best for me so far this season, and without a camera :(. After admiring the old girl I slipped her back into the river and headed toward the truck. As I waded back down river who should appear but the osprey making another fishing run no doubt. As he flew by me on the opposite side of the river he suddenly banked his wings and landed in another dead snag, now only about 40 yards away and proceeded to stare me down. I just had to laugh at myself on this hard learned lesson. Hope to get out this weekend for some more fishing and you can be sure I won't be "cameraless" again.