After a long day of work, I decided that I needed to go visit my therapist for some unwinding. So I changed clothes, and zipped over to the Jordan for some fishing. Yes, fishing is my therapy.
I fished for a couple of hours with only a few nibbles, and a small catfish, that got off right at the shore. Then after I had enough of the guy playing fetch in the river right next to me, I decided to go downstream to a quieter spot.
Shortly after rigging up, and casting in to the calm water, I saw a few twitches on my line. I waited to see if the customer would give it a go, and after a few seconds he did, I began reeling in, thinking I had a small catfish again. Then I noticed it was not putting up much of a fight…I figured I was most likely dragging in a watter logged stick…again. Then as my line got closer to the bank, I looked down, and what did I see? It was no stick…It was a &^%$#ing TURTLE!!!
I have heard people saying there are turtles in the river, but I have never seen any. Well, in case anyone is wondering…they do exist there, and will eat raw shrimp. I was shocked. I did my best not to upset him, and luckily he was not hooked, so I just had to wrestle the shrimp out of his mouth, and set him free.
**I am now submitting a new “crazy fishing story” This by far is the strangest thing I have ever reeled in.
**After letting the turtle go, I re-rigged, and cast out in to the calm water a little bit downstream from where I got the turtle. After a few minutes, and a few text messages to friends about the turtle…I saw my line take a hard tug. It sat still, then zing! I picked up the pole, and set it. I thought I had a big carp on at first, based on the sheer weight on the end of the line, and the amount of fight it was giving me. Wrong again. After a nice fight, I reeled in my biggest kitty ever. 18", and fat. I managed to snap a picture after I got it loose, and then set him free to live another day.
Amazing evening down on the Jordan. Mother Nature is a weird, wild woman.