"Come Fly with Me"

First, I’d like to offer a little background on my fishing prowess. Prior to coming to Loon Lake, I had never caught a fish in the Adirondacks and not for the lack of trying. Sylvia and I were sure that acid rain had done in the fish population in the Adirondacks and that fishing was totally in vain. When we came to Loon Lake in June of 2003 to look at our lot on Molasses Bay, we were shocked to see not one, but two 15-18" bass swimming under the stairs into the lake (apparently nesting time). Having come to believe there were no fish in the Adirondacks, we were sure that these were mechanized fish (perhaps radio operated) placed in Loon Lake to excite potential buyers. Despite our skepticism about the presence of fish we purchased the lot anyway. We are now convinced that there are fish in Loon Lake as I often catch and release. But I digress… Back to the fish story.

It was a beautiful afternoon in August and we were camping on an Island on the Lower Saranac Lake. I decided to sit out on a major rock, perhaps 10 feet above the water and "wet a line." Now, I tend to be a "bubba" fisherman, opting to use a bobber, hook, and nightcrawler for fishing, rarely having much luck with artificial lures. I have experienced the occasional hit on a Mepps spinner or artificial worm, usually a small perch or crappie. But this particular afternoon I decided to go big and use a Jitterbug that looks like a swimming frog as you reel it in.

So I cast out this Jitterbug from this huge rock outcropping about 10 feet above the lake and slowly started to reel it in. There may not be any fish, but I was marveling at how well this lure mimics the movements of a frog. Well, all of the sudden this seagull plops down in the lake right next to the Jitterbug and starts eyeing it. I stopped reeling it in, but before I could yell at the seagull he reached over and snatched up the Jitterbug in his beak. Now, I’m usually pretty good in thinking my way through serious situations, but this happened so fast that I guess my knee-jerk reaction wasn’t the best idea. My mind first questioned "what if this gull swallows this…" and I immediately whipped the rod back to get my lure away from the seagull. Just as I took that action, I had this mental image pass thru my mind that I had set the hook and seagull was flying off with my lure and the line attached.

Well, to my great relief the lure popped free from the seagull’s beak and plopped back in the water a few feet in front of the gull. The gull, apparently feeling cheated out of a meal came forward and went for the lure again! Cooler minds prevailed this time and instead of yanking it way I stood up on the rock, yelled, and waved my arms sending the gull fleeing. Perhaps all’s well that ends well, but to this day I still have a vivid mental image of a hooked seagull trying to fly off into oblivion with my lure and still attached to my fishing pole.