Encounters with animals whilst fishing.

[iain t]

I seem to attract the local nutter whenever am out. You know the ones. They often start by asking how you doing then for the next hour or so tell me about their whole life. This also happens to me is shops, sitting alone on benches and mowing my front lawn. I just seem a magnet to these people.
Other encounters also include a Red Robin sitting on my rod. This happens quite regularly in the winter months. I've had a Cow munch my ground bait in a bucket. A Kingfisher grabbing a fish i was reeling in. Been knocked in the water by a pee'd off sheep. Had another Cow lay right down behind me. So close i could feel her chest breathing. Every now and then poking her head out over my shoulder.

 

[thecrow]

I have had a few unwanted visitors in my bivvie over the years, a hedgehog wandered in, I had a bat fly in and couldn't find its way out and a rat that chewed through my groundsheet to get at my bait that was under my bedchair.

The hedgehog I didn't mind the bat was funny but the rat had me up all night checking no more were trying to get in and the bait went up a tree.

 

[binka]

Just found these pictures from a couple of years ago whilst looking for something else and this thread sprang to mind.

It's a small mouse on the banks of the Trent and I remember thinking that he must have reached the point during a bitterly cold January day where he thought it was worth taking the risk for the food I was putting aside for him and I shared his company under the brolly for the best part of the day...

new upload photos



We're all a load of big softies at heart! :laugh:

 

[john step]

I seem to attract the local nutter whenever am out. You know the ones. They often start by asking how you doing then for the next hour or so tell me about their whole life. This also happens to me is shops, sitting alone on benches and mowing my front lawn. I just seem a magnet to these people.

I am glad its not just me then. A new neighbour moved in and on an hour long bus ride into Lincoln he saw me and I was the object of his life story diatribe OUT VERY LOUD. I just wish people would shut up and sit quietly on public transport. Don't get me started on those who have loud telephone conversations in public. Humbug Humbug.

 

[flightliner]

Just found these pictures from a couple of years ago whilst looking for something else and this thread sprang to mind.

It's a small mouse on the banks of the Trent and I remember thinking that he must have reached the point during a bitterly cold January day where he thought it was worth taking the risk for the food I was putting aside for him and I shared his company under the brolly for the best part of the day...

new upload photos



We're all a load of big softies at heart! :laugh:

Here's another one Steve. A little bait thief!

 

[S-Kippy]

Moles.

Had one surface right next to me one evening. I knew something was afoot when my discarded cap started shuffling off down the bank.

On another occasion while trite fishing I watched this thing swim right across the ressie. Wasnt until it got close that I realised it was Moley. Dont ask me how he got into a concrete bowl or how he was going to get out. I gave him a lift over the wall and he scuttled off as happy as you like given that he'd just swum what must have seemed like the Channel.

Used to see shrews all the time but I've not seen one for years. Why is that I wonder ?

 

[peterjg]

I've seen 3 otters this season, 2 on the Kennet and 1 on the Thames at Sonning.

Seen several barn owls over the years. One evening a barn owl flew round a field behind me, I took a few photos but they were not very good.

I once found a weasel in my carp landing net, I grabbed the net and ran into the next swim to show my mate.

Once when carp fishing 2 squirrels were fighting on a branch above me, 1 of them fell from the tree into the edge of the lake between my carp rods and then managed to climb out and run off.

I was woken one night in my bivvy by something scratching around underneath my bedchair - it was a huge yellow toad!

Once I set up my bivvy to find that at the edge of the groundsheet was a hole with bees coming and going. I moved swims straight away and later at home identified them as cuckoo bees.

Twice I have been chased by a herd of cows - those big white ones - I think they are French and called Charolet?? Very frightening.

Seen a few mink over the years. They are on the Thames, Aylesbury Arm, at Harefield, not at all rare.

Seen shrews over the years, they are very good at stealing your bait and make neat piles of it.

When carp fishing once I had been eating pieces of cold chicken wrapped in silver paper, I had put the used bits of silver paper in a rubbish bag. That night a fox came in the bivvy and stole the rubbish bag - I told my mate and he said that the fox defiantly wouldn't want my bait!!!

 

[flightliner]

I once watched a rat bringing its young out of a hole on a rapidly rising river Witham and carry them to a higher one , I counted around six or seven that took some twenty minutes.

 

[peterjg]

Flight liner your post reminded me of an encounter with mice - loads of 'em! I had made a new swim on a carp lake, bivvied up was nicely dozing off. Then a huge gang of mice appeared and I just couldn't scare them away. They drove me mad all night and in the morning I found that they had made a hole in the side of my bivvy, and bitten through the lid of a bait bucket. I gave up on that swim and moved.

 

[thecrow]

Stretch of a small river I used to fish always had sheep in the field along with 2 llama's one black one white, if the black one saw you it would make a beeline for you, I was always very wary of the thing although It never harmed anyone as far as I know, perhaps it was after food?

 

[MRWELL]

In one outing i came across a Mink,Snake,Mice and to cap it all i caught a terrapin all in one days outing at a local farm pond,that Mink was a local as i had seen it many times during my visits,of course it could have been one of the offspring but that Terrapin Turtle was a right pain to get off the hook,seemed he liked luncheon meat better than the fish did.

 

[JONM14]

I was roving along the River Teme with my dad when I was about 12, walking about 6ft behind him at the top of the bank i hear a loud buzzing noise, a split second later im being stung on the back of my neck. The buzzing just gets louder and louder. Turns out there was a wasp nest in the bank that my dad had trodden on. As he had carried on walking im the prime suspect and ended up being attacked by the whole nest. The rod and landing net got chucked to 1 side as i try to run accross a field in waders while removing my bait apron and my coat while my dad laughs at me. Ended up at Tenbury wells hospital to get checked over and the promise of some new tackle if I didnt tell my mom.

 

[Keith M]

I was roving along the River Teme with my dad when I was about 12, walking about 6ft behind him at the top of the bank i hear a loud buzzing noise, a split second later im being stung on the back of my neck. The buzzing just gets louder and louder. Turns out there was a wasp nest in the bank that my dad had trodden on. As he had carried on walking im the prime suspect and ended up being attacked by the whole nest. The rod and landing net got chucked to 1 side as i try to run accross a field in waders while removing my bait apron and my coat while my dad laughs at me. Ended up at Tenbury wells hospital to get checked over and the promise of some new tackle if I didnt tell my mom.

I remember back in the late 70’s a mate and I were poaching a weir pool during the night on the river Kennet; which went alongside the front garden of a house situated on the far bank.

In the dark I could feel what I thought were those sticky seeds which stick to your clothing on my knees and shins and thought little of it.

Untill a light suddenly turned on and a lady came out of her front door on the far bank walking her dog along her front path.

My mate and I kept very quiet, but in the light I happened to look down at my knees and I saw that my legs were covered in wasps where I was standing on top of a nest, and I gave a muzzled shriek and ran off trying to brush them off of my jeans.

And there was also another angler who we hadn’t known was also fishing there who also scarpered off pretty quickly too.

Keith

 

[David Gane]

I got home from fishing a secluded lake a few years ago to find my wife watching Bill Oddie doing one of his birdwatching programmes on the TV. He was talking about a shy, secretive and relatively uncommon water fowl called a water rail, that is apparently almost always only glimpsed through the reeds. A couple of hours before I'd had one standing on my foot.

 

[kevt]

Hi

A few years ago I was sitting on the side of the local canal, next thing a dog ran past me followed by the biggest swarm of angry wasps I've ever seen. I ran for what seemed ages before the wasps stopped chasing and stinging me. I think my wife counted 80 stings while she applied TCP - ouch!!

I rang a friend who is an A&E nurse and she said if I didn't get a reaction withing minutes I would be okay.

All I can think is the dog dug / disturbed the nest and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, story of my life!!

I also remember a slug crawling up my jeans while night fishing and it was still there when the jeans came out of the wash - not a happy wifey!!

KevT

 

[xenon]

Apart from the standard run-ins with cows (some truly scary) my most memorable incident was once when stalking some chub on the Colne. These were about the spookiest chub I have ever known so the approach had to be full on SAS type lurking in the undergrowth-worth it because these chub were at 5 Ib plus. During this creeping about I disturbed a bunch of about half a dozen pheasants who simultaneously shot up into the air in high dudgeon making an almighty racket. I have never actually needed a change of underwear but that was as close as i want to get to it.

 

[bonjqvi]

the 2 most memorable encounters are we were fishing a small pond called long clawson in Leicester after crucian carp when this bright coloured snake slithered across the pond towards me oranges reds whites all in bands ,it slithered into the reeds to my right and I did not relax the rest of the day I had one eye on the float and the other on the reeds ,ps untill then I had never seen a snake in the wild.
the other I was fishing maythorne in southwell which has a farm gate looking at the pond we have never give it a mind as its always shut ,
so me and the gf were fishing opposite the gate when we heard a snorting ,we turned arout and this 2ton bull was scrapping its front foot just like you see in the movies about to charge ,we looked at each other prepareing to die I kid you not it charged full pelt and all of a sudden this farm Labrador jumped inbetween it and us and barked its head of at it and stopped it ..we shut the gate pdq after that and the dog got all my luncheon meat all night

 

[bonjqvi]

great story