My new friend

With time on my hands and temps rising quickly as the day progresses, I went to Woods Res. early this morning. I have a firm belief that at certain times we are spoken to for reasons beyond our understanding and this, as you will read, was one of those times. Loaded up with my trolling gear and a couple of light jig rods I idled out looking at the lake I had all to myself, no other trailers at the ramp. A very good feeling. I haven't fished by the Pumping station for almost a year, but following something inside I headed that way. The pumping station has had the reputation of being the Candy Store, so you can imagine how much fun has been had there in the past. Motoring over that way i got the feeling that I needed to hit the downed on the left first. Shut down, dropped the TM and set up to cast the tree. First cast just hit the water and something caught my eye to my left. It was either a young or female Loon had gotten tied up in an abandoned limb hook and had been there long enough that it could barely move as I approached, all but done in. All of us have witnessed the indiscriminate way these things kill and are left unchecked, and I'll not say how I truly feel but I have a feeling you already know. I put down the rod, and said "I can't stand for this" and got out my little Case knife that is always in the pocket. Grabbed the branch the nylon string was tied to, cut the bird loose and brought it aboard. For those of you that don't know, Loons have a 4 1/2" face mounted spear that demands respect. This bird was so done in that it only made 1 or 2 half hearted attempts to defend itself, and this made me even madder yet. Grabbed a towel I keep in one of the hatches and draped it over the birds head and went to work. Holding the head thru the towel I cut off the string that was wrapped around the birds right wing, but there was more. Unwrapping the tag end I finally made my way to the rusted hook that had to have been there for a month or more before the bird got to it,which had wrapped itself onto the leading edge of the wing. Unhooked, checked for raw skin, felt for broken bones, found none so I released the bird and walked to the front of the boat. The bird walked to the rear of the boat to the drivers side of the motor and settled down, panting hard, no doubt stressed out bad, and thoroughly saturated. I started to fish, talking to it some in a calm voice, and worked my way from that point, past the candy store, across the creek mouth to the far side and fished a cove that had given up many crappie in the past but was a ghost town this day. 45 minutes after I picked up my hitch hiker I moved to pick up a tackle box about half way to the back of the boat. My new friend must have gotten enough rest 'cause he flapped his wings about 3 or 4 times, landed about 10 feet off the back of the boat, settled the wings and paddled off into the sunrise. Spoken to, for reasons beyond my comprehension, to do what no one else was there to do? I'll leave that up to you. I can safely say I know how Jack Hanna sometimes feels. I will also say that sometime in the future you may hear of me in trouble with someone over cutting these abandoned lines because I intend to remove every one I can. Thanks for taking the time to read this, tight lines......Skeet

PS.....I finished the day having released 18 keepers and home before noon.

Good on you.

you done good, loon or no loon that ain't the way he should of been left before you came, thanks

Good story. Good deed.

Awesome Skeet! NO critter should suffer.

Good job

Very cool. Nice of you.

Good deal Skeet, one happy loon now!!

Great story, and great job on helping out!!

Great post Skeet and well done my friend!

Good job!!

Great Story. Thanks for sharing.

You done good my man! Great story.

Why am I not surprised about your deed? Great Tim!

I'll bet that bird is heading north by now to find cooler water. Got your message and will do.

Great story,

You know the old saying...."Everything happens for a reason"

Way to go, very good deed

Nice read brother. There's lots of good stories like this where crappie fisherman have been strangely led to fish somewhere different than they normally would... that mysteriously led to helping someone or something that was stranded or somehow in a bad way. I believe that this is just God's mysterious way of coming to the aid of any and all of his creatures that are in need.

I do the same thing whenever I see limb lines, trot lines or any other type of snare or trap (that are) (clearly) abandoned or left unattended. I have pulled up many carcusses of dead fish and other wildlife that have been cruelly ensnared in these types of devices only to die a long slow death and then go totally to waste. We should all make it our business to police our waterways and rid them of this type of danger to the fish and wildlife. Thanks again for caring enough to help and for the great story.

A great thing to do Tim. Lucky for the loon you were there that day.

Good job it must feel good to help mother nature out now and then.

Great job buddy, I use trot lines and have pulled a bunch out someone else has left. I have taught my boys the right way we check them every 4 hours and pull them all when we are done . We also camp where we have them set out, mark them with jugs and solar lights so everyone on the lake knows right where they are. I have buzzed down a lake before and dang near drove through one. I'd rather lose a few fish because someone checked it for me lol then to have someone run through it and get injured or worse.

you did good........

Nice move, Skeet !!

Had a similar experience back when I was in my 20's ... a friend & I ran upon a young Raccoon, stuck on a cliff ledge at a local lake. We "netted" the animal in our dipnet & transported it to a safer location. It was wet & weak when we found it, and we assumed it had fallen off the cliff and managed to climb out of the water ... only to find itself stuck on a ledge with no exit points.

... cp :kewl

Nice job Skeet, Good Karma headed your way for sure. :highfive

Nice job. I am sure that the favor will be returned soon.

You were there for a reason and I believe this happens to us many times in life. My son & I fished a couple of people out of Percy Priest one raw day in early spring. I told them, "do you know how lucky you are for us to be here, I live in KY and this is the first time I've been out on Percy Priest. All other boats had already headed back to the dock 30 minutes before.
You did a great job helping out the bird and I'm guessing how it made you feel afterwards is plenty enough of a reward. Congratulations on stepping up.
Loved the quote under your boat. "The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age,
which means never losing your enthusiasm." Very true & Great Post!

Good post!

Great story.

good deed

Hats off to you skeet, for your good deed

Good job, also hate the darn abandon line! Way too many guys just leave that crap out in the lake and for no good reason!