When Pelicans Attack!

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I put in at N 12th street in Flagler Beach yesterday morning about 7:30. There was plenty of pogy action and I set about snagging some for bait.

I had lost a pogy or two to sharks and even had one follow my pogy right to the boat, frantically trying to catch what was left of the bait.

Pelicans were everywhere! They were really feeding hard and even diving the school of pogies I was fishing. I felt they were crowding me just a little but what could I do.

I had just made a cast with my snag rod when out of no where a pelican dives the school out ahead of me in the general direction  of my cast. I started ripping the rod to snag a fresh bait. About my third sweep of the rod I snagged something! Next thing I know that something is ripping line off  my little spinning reel at an alarming rate. The fight was on!

About this time I notice the pelican leaving and my line is going in that general direction. All of the sudden, it hits me!! I'VE GOT THE PELICAN!

OH NO, I'M ABOUT TO BE SPOOLED BY A PELICAN!

Immediately I start wrenching down on the drag to halt the quickly departing bird. Once the line comes tight he splashes back down.

Apparently, 30# Power Pro is perfectly matched for large brown pelicans. Who knew?

Well, it's me against the pelican from there.....pump and wind, pump and wind!

Of course, he don't know I mean him no harm and I'm just trying to make things right. When I finally get him alongside the yak, he goes on the offensive and attacks!!

Luckily, my paddle took the worst of it. It was across my lap and most of his focus was on it. That allowed me just the distraction I needed and I was able to get the pelican free from his entrapment.

Personally, I faulted the pelican for his negligence, I told him so too! He argued I was the idiot and accused me of  fishing recklessly. He really made an ugly scene, actually.

After our argument and now freed, he floated away with a puzzled look of "what the %&$#!$ just happened?"

I paddled back his way to make sure he was o.k.. He finally flushed and was off into the wild blue.

I could be mistaken but I would have sworn he shot me a bird as he departed.

Pelicans!

Larry S.

Has This Ever Happened to You?

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If you like to hunt and fish like myself, I expect you may have fallen victim to a temporary lapse in judgement just as my friend Troy did today. The following may help you with your situation.


I fished my good friend Troy Kent this morning. We were chasing pogy schools, looking for Beach Tarpon in our kayaks off Flagler Beach.

We had made our plan late Friday night and Troy was to meet me at the beach by 8:00AM the next morning. The only stipulation to going was that he had to meet his wife by 12 o'clock noon!

You can probably see where this is going......a fishing trip planed with me, on a time table? HUH??

We weren't having much luck hooking up a tarpon but the sharks were keeping us on our toes.

Well, about 11:00 I called over to Troy....."how you doin' on time ?, You need to go?"  Troy pondered the question briefly and responded back...."I'm O.K.!"

So, we kept on fishing. Who am I to tell my friend he needs to stop fishing so he can go meet his wife?

In Troy's defense,  we had probably seen 40-50 aggressive tarpon strikes at this point and caught 6-7 nice sharks.

About 12:00 ol' Troy hooked up another shark from under the pogy school and after a volley of stripped line and a tug-a-war, Troy finally brought him alongside the yak. I was able to de-hook the toothy fish and I thought that might be a fitting end to the trip so I asked Troy if he wanted to call off the dogs and head for the hill?

Troy paused a moment and said "let's try em again!"  I replied, "O.K......, let's go hook one up!"
(Troy) "that's what I'm talkin' bout'! You might have to write me an excuse for my wife though."

So, we paddled back to catch up with the school.

After about a half an hour the Tarpon action had slowed and I looked over to see Troy reeling in a pogy he had just snagged. He paused for a minute and I could see he was thinking about something. I decided I had better offer to head in if he needed to. He replied "what the heck.....lets run through em again!"

You don't have to ask me twice!

After about another 30 minutes  Troy finally said, "Larry, you know, I had probably better get going"

"Yeah, let's call it and head in."

It was probably 1:00 by the time we beached the boats and by 1:30 PM we were loaded and ready to head for home.

Now I should mention Troy and his wife are school teachers so the "writing an excuse" comment was kind of a joke but when I got back to the office it came to me to do just that.

The following is the excuse I prepared for Troy and feel free to copy it if you should find yourself in a similar situation!

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Heather,

Please accept this note as evidence of Troy's where abouts for the period of time between 8:30 AM and 1:30 PM.,  this day, Aug. 11, 2012.  The Tarpon striking action lured us into the false sense that we might hook up with one of the beasts at any moment. Unfortunately, this clouded our good judgement and best intentions.  Though others of our fishing party departed in a timely manor, we willfully abandoned our commitments and obligations, pressing on with our efforts.

Troy and I are deeply regretful of our actions today and Troy fully understands the implications of his broken promise to meet you no later than noon, this day.  He has given me all assurance that he will make this up to you at an agreed upon time and in a manor of your choosing.

However, as regretful and embarrassed as we may be of our shortcomings, I fear that Troy may fall victim of this circumstance in the future and recommend that he make additional copies of this note, for use as the need may arise.

For these reasons and under these circumstances,  I choose to offer no assurances to anyone as to my where abouts at any given time, as this has not proven to work out well for those individuals in the past.

Furthermore, I am understanding of your situation as Troy was 37minutes late  in meeting me this very morning!

In closing, please excuse Troy's poor judgement and tardy arrival.

Thank You,
Larry Stephens,

Perverts, Pogies & Red Bikini's!

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I ran to the beach yesterday to scout for bait around 6 PM.

I only checked the North end but I did find some flipping bait pretty much all the way up. It appeared to be pretty small schools and not bunched up. I could not see the schools in the water, I could only see them flash when they would flip.

They were a little to far out to see by eye, so as usual, I was glassing for them with my 10x36 Nikon's. Apparently, this type of activity attracts police attention! I was watching some bait to see if a fish would strike in them when something told me to look around. There in my rearview mirror sat a Flagler Beach Police Officer. I should add that I just happened to glassing in the direction of the only person on that part of the beach, a women in a red bikini!      Perfect!

So.... the Officer comes up to my window and asks what I'm doing?  Officer, I'm looking for pogies!" I explain. Of course he has no idea what the heck I'm talking about, (Guess he missed my Tarpon Quest article) I explain, it's a small bait fish that Tarpon and other fish feed on and I'm scouting for bait schools to fish.  Lucky for me, while conducting his investigation he misses the fact I have no fishing poles!

Officer-"what are you looking for, I don't see anything but that girl in the red bikini? I thought you might be stalking her!" Unfortunately, for me, the bait is all of the sudden..... gone! 

Me -"well....they were just there but they must have went down. I don't see any just now but what you want to look for is them flipping out of the water"  There was nothing but flat surf as far as the eye could see, couldn't buy a flip out of a flippin' pogy!

I had to do some quick talkin'....explained the in's & out's of tarpon fishing, locating bait, etc. and over whelmed him with fishing procedure to the point that no pervert could have made up. 

At one point I thought of asking if looking at half naked women on the beach with binoculars is illegal but I thought better of it and figured I better keep my mouth shut and leave well enough alone. That's just the kind of stunt my buddy Steve-O would pull. He' almost got me a full body search by the TSA once on a turkey hunting trip to Illinois. That's a story for another day!

But...... I had finally convinced the Officer I was on the up and up and saved myself from a ride down town in his black & white! 

Would have had an even harder time explaining that one to my bride, Tammie!

Moral of the story.........Always have a plausible excuse ready when glassing girls in red bikini's at the beach!

That was a joke...I wouldn't do that!

Be careful out there!

Larry S.

Famed Fishermen Injures Self While Catching Bait!

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This horrific injury happened this morning while we were attempting to catch some pin fish to troll behind our Kayaks on the big water.

Edwards (my fishing partner) just had to take a picture of my bloody big toe!

"You take a picture of everything else Stephens, I want to see a picture of this on your blog!" Well, here it is:

You wouldn't have been laughing if that was your life's blood draining into you flip flop Edwards!

Though I quickly returned to fishing without immediate medical attention, my sense is, Edwards would have cried. 

Down but not out!

Larry S.