[AVA67]

Hit a local weedy section of a canal last night to try my hand at hollow body frog fishing. I really haven't done a whole lot of fresh water bass fishing the last 10 years or so, and almost no top water so I knew there was going to be a re- learning curve.

Got to the spot I wanted to try at about 7:30, at 7:33 I was on my way to the local grocery store to pick up a can of bug spray with (no joking here) 14 mosquito bites on my legs alone. About 7:50 I am back to my spot and make my first cast at which point a medium sized snapping turtle does his best to make a meal of my frog.

Fished till I couldn't see my frog 10 feet from the bank. Final count for the night was 7 bites, 2 hooked fish, and nothing landed. The first 6 bites where surprisingly light, no big splash just a gentle slurp. I think most of these were either smaller fish who missed the hook (as I did remember to wait a second on the hook set) or larger fish just non aggressively grabbing the legs. Last bite of the night was that classic giant swirl that I somehow just screwed up. Interestingly, no fish would come back for a second shot at the bait, it was all one and done.

Fun night on the water anyway. Wound up seeing 3 different Great Blue Herons, one beaver, about 100 turtles, a high school aged couple making out in the woods, and some type of small owl that didn't like my being where I was at all. The owl (I think perhaps a small Sey-Whet Owl) flew at me several times screaming and then would land close to me (within 15 feet) on a branch and clip/snap his beak at me. Really funny now, a little un-nerving in the dark.

Going to try again later this week.