The Swan and the Fishing Bobber

One day, I decided I wanted to go fishing. Instead of going fishing on a public lake, I decided I wanted to go fishing on a private pond. It would be much quieter. The pond is about 4 acres in size, so fairly small compared to the public lakes I could have chosen to go to. On this particular day, there was no one else fishing there.

I looked around and further saw that I was not alone after all. On the shore line across the pond were two huge, beautiful swans. These swans were as white as snow, except their beaks, which was black. After a while, the cattle that also come to the pond to cool off and get drinks, started to appear over the hill. The swans were still on the shore and a calf started walking over to the swans. The calf got close and one of the swans looked at the calf. The calf stopped for a few minutes and then started walking towards it again. The swan, again looked at the calf, as if it was daring it to take another step. Needless to say, the calf took another step and the swan let out a noise. It was a strange noise, even hard to describe the sound it made. The calf jumped back, turned around, and ran away. The swan had scared a calf away! I couldn't believe it. A swan is little compared to a calf, so you would think a calf could scare a swan. Boy was I wrong!

After the incident with the calf, the swans decided to go out in the water. By this time, I was not getting any bites, and I had not caught any fish, so I decided to use a bobber. The bobber I chose to use was a round red and white one. I chose to have the white side up, out of the water. It was a little windy, so my bobber kept moving around, and I really couldn't tell if I had a bite or not. I continued to watch the swans swim around the pond. The swans saw my bobber, and decided to investigate it. They swam up to it and looked at it. Both of them sat there for a few minutes and just watched it. A gust of wind came up and moved the bobber a little bit. I guess that was an invitation for the swans, and one of them decided it would peck at it. When I saw it begin to peck at my bobber, I yelled, "NO, don't mess with my bobber!"

The swan continued to peck at the bobber. I pulled my line in a little to try to discourage the swan from pecking at it. Once I had done that, the swan continued to follow it and peck at it. Again, I yelled at the swans and said, "Leave my bobber alone!"

After about four pecks at the bobber, both of the swans decided that it was rather boring, so they swam away, leaving my bobber alone. Maybe that is how the fish see it too. Boring!

After the little game with the swans, I decided I was going to stop fishing and go home. At least this fishing trip wasn't completely boring and there was a little excitement. Maybe next time, it will be just as exciting.

Written: 08/28/2007