Match the hatch
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 1:27 pm
As a teen my family had access to a cabin on the Myakka river. My buddies and I spent a fair part of our misspent youth hunting, fishing, and partying, as we buzzed up and down the river in john boats. I saw some incredible sights of nature on that river, but none blew my mind more than this one.
Early one morning I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on the bank outside the cabin to watch the sunrise. It was awesome to listen as the woods came alive around me. One troubled sound caught my ear. Across from me, on the other shore was a squirrel fussing. He was chittering and jumping and standing on his back legs looking towards the water. It took a few minutes before it was light enough for me to see the object of his agitation. About ten feet off the shore was a palm stump with the top rotted out. Apparently some kind of large nut, about the size of a small plumb, had been deposited on the top of the stump as the tide had changed. The squirrel acted incensed that his breakfast table had been set beyond his reach. After a few minutes of complaining the squirrel leaped to the stump, almost. His front paws made it, knocking the nut into the water, but his lower body hit the side of the stump and the water. The explosion was instantaneous. The water below the squirrel opened up like a flushed toilet and a very surprised squirrel disappeared into the maw of a huge largemouth.
I barely had time to formulated the thought “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen” before the thought became a lie. I fell out on the ground laughing as I watched that bass spit the nut back on top of the stump.
Talk about matching the hatch.
Early one morning I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on the bank outside the cabin to watch the sunrise. It was awesome to listen as the woods came alive around me. One troubled sound caught my ear. Across from me, on the other shore was a squirrel fussing. He was chittering and jumping and standing on his back legs looking towards the water. It took a few minutes before it was light enough for me to see the object of his agitation. About ten feet off the shore was a palm stump with the top rotted out. Apparently some kind of large nut, about the size of a small plumb, had been deposited on the top of the stump as the tide had changed. The squirrel acted incensed that his breakfast table had been set beyond his reach. After a few minutes of complaining the squirrel leaped to the stump, almost. His front paws made it, knocking the nut into the water, but his lower body hit the side of the stump and the water. The explosion was instantaneous. The water below the squirrel opened up like a flushed toilet and a very surprised squirrel disappeared into the maw of a huge largemouth.
I barely had time to formulated the thought “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen” before the thought became a lie. I fell out on the ground laughing as I watched that bass spit the nut back on top of the stump.
Talk about matching the hatch.
Beautiful!
