Tell tale signs

[goblueM]

man follows from loons can scare the bejeezus out of you. hope i never have to deal with one

last year i had a great blue heron take a swipe at my weagle, it was something to see!

i also hooked a mallard on a muddler minnow fly when i was younger. I was asking for it too - taught me never to cast near a flock of ducks ever again

[Nick Kuhn]

I was definitely surprised by how fast a loon can swim under water. A 5.1 gear ratio isn't enough to get your bait in fast enough, just hope they wise up before they hit the bait.

Can't really say I have any tell-tale signs for bass. Occasionally surfacing baitfish, and sometimes just the look of a cluster of pads or a fallen tree.

[mabr]

Hiya -

I'm at three seagulls and one loon, and counting.

One gull swooped on a muskie jerkbait as soon as it hit the water and got hooked in the foot (didn't fight all that well on a muskie rod and 80# braid), one grabbed a walk the dog topwater, and one picked a #5 shad rap out of the air.

The gulls weren't too bad to deal with actually. The loon on the other hand... It grabbed a bucktail (had many, many loons follow, but this was the first one that ever hit a lure), and getting it unhooked and on its way was a nightmare. Loons are a lot bigger than a guy thinks, and their beak is nasty. Guy I was fishing with helped me wrestle it, and the fact that there were two complete sets of eyes on the boat by the time the loon was unhooked is a miracle. That thing was going right for the head... Never want to do it again. Ever...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

Thats funny right there!!! Plenty of follows but no hook ups.

1 sea gull.

untold snapping turtles.

2 gators.

thats it for me. You get down to fla better watch where you cast. Gators are tough on buzz baits.

[leech~~]

Originally Posted By: RK

Hiya -

I'm at three seagulls and one loon, and counting.

One gull swooped on a muskie jerkbait as soon as it hit the water and got hooked in the foot (didn't fight all that well on a muskie rod and 80# braid), one grabbed a walk the dog topwater, and one picked a #5 shad rap out of the air.

The gulls weren't too bad to deal with actually. The loon on the other hand... It grabbed a bucktail (had many, many loons follow, but this was the first one that ever hit a lure), and getting it unhooked and on its way was a nightmare. Loons are a lot bigger than a guy thinks, and their beak is nasty. Guy I was fishing with helped me wrestle it, and the fact that there were two complete sets of eyes on the boat by the time the loon was unhooked is a miracle. That thing was going right for the head... Never want to do it again. Ever...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

Thats funny right there!!! Plenty of follows but no hook ups.

1 sea gull.

untold snapping turtles.

2 gators.

thats it for me. You get down to fla better watch where you cast. Gators are tough on buzz baits.

mabr, what kind of hook remover do you use for gators! 22 or 410?

[mabr]

Schrade knife 1 time - 3ftr, the other cleaned the spool. Over 12 ftr on that one.

[Hoffer]

Interesting post.

I wonder if anyone else can comment on the loons?

I have always thought that if the loons are nearby and feeding - then there must be baitfish nearby and thus good potential.

However, I have rarely had good fishing around loons :-(

Anyone else care to comment on their experience?

[waterbound]

The only experience I've really had with loons was one that wanted to eat my bobber up in the BWCA. I was able to watch a pair hunting in shallow water but I wasn't able to tell what they were after although I had caught small perch there earlier that day. Something tells me that when loons come around for baitfish the big ones scatter because they were smart enough to run away and not get eaten before, why would they risk it again?

[Hoffer]

yeah I tend to think along those same lines...

I just have never had any luck around loons. Up in canada I have even tried to follow loons and mark things on the graph where they had just been...never would catch any marks or any fish...

[Stick in Mud]

I hooked a loon on a slip bobber and minnow on Mille Lacs two years ago...boy can they pull. I thought I had a muskie for a second until it came to the surface, and there was no way I was going to get it to the boat with 8 lbs test. Ended up breaking it off.

I don't know if it ate the lure or if I just snagged it. Either way, I'm glad I didn't have to give a loon--Carmike UFC battle to the guys in the boats around ours.