The Highs and Lows of this Mornings Fishing

This morning I fished a section of Licking Creek I named the Crippled Turtle stretch after finding a box turtle here last year that had a broken shell perhaps from an encounter with a bear. As I waded into the stream movement at the top of the ridge across the stream turned into a doe with a fawn, a nice way to start the morning. After catching several small Smallmouths I decided to change lures. As I was doing this I noticed a reflection in the water and looked up in time to see an Osprey fly over me at treetop level then just behind it came a Great Blue Heron. Both out looking for breakfast.

The fishing was slow but the smallies I caught were nice, healthy looking fish.

The low point of the day was losing two nice fish probably in the 15 inch class.  Not bragging but usually when I hook a fish I land it but not today. Don't know whether the fish weren't striking the bait hard enough or what but the first one I lost was hooked long enough to make the drag scream twice as it fought me from the bottom before the hook came out. The second one made one nice jump and threw the lure back to me. It is nice to know that there are some nice fish in this section of the creek. Last year I only caught small bass in this water.

The high point of the day came as I was fishing just below a large sycamore tree with branches that almost touched the stream. As I as watching my line on the retrieve I heard the beat of wings and looked up to see a Bald Eagle fly past me no more than 15 or 20 feet away. It had been flying down the stream looking for a meal no doubt and the sycamore tree had shielded me from it's view. The last few years I've been lucky enough to see an eagle or two each summer but never this close. It's a sight that continues to thrill me.

I ran into these two fishermen as I worked my way upstream. I watched them for awhile but when I moved closer they decided that there wasn't room enough in the stream for all of us.

After about 3 hours of fishing the temperature started to climb into the uncomfortable zone and my back told me it was time to head back to the truck. It was a very enjoyable morning on some beautiful water.