TexasKayakFisherman.com

I wanted to fish this morning but the wind wouldn't let up enough for me. I decided to get some excercise instead. I peddled around for a while, taking pics of pelicans and the sunrise. When I got bored with that I figured I'd fish for a little while. During one of my casts a group of pelicans flies by really low and one of them catches my line. I figure "no problem" he'll just keep flying and the line and lure will just slide off him. NOPE!! My weedless hook decided to catch this poor bird right in the joint of its wing and down he came. Now I'm in the yak, pelican beside me, in deep water, and trying to figure out how to fix this problem. Well, after many tries at poking the hook with the rod tip, I decide to cut the line as close to the hook as possible. Every time I tried though, it tried to bite me. Then I thought well, I'll just cut the line by the reel. When I did that, it got tangled around the rod tip! Now I have an angry pelican on my rod, I'm way out there close to the end of the rocks, and its getting hot. I decide to peddle all the way back to the boat ramp and hopefully get some help. The problem with peddling is that the bird was turned backwards so when I tried to go faster, it would flip and go underwater. So I had to peddle slowly so he wouldn't drown. I finally get to the ramp, jump out, drag this bird to the fuel station and knock on the door. The guy comes out and looks at me kinda funny. I said "yeah I know" I have a pelican hooked to my fishing pole. We try to throw a towel on its head to calm it down but it kept catching it and tossing it off. Then another fisherman comes by and between the three of us, we managed to free the poor bird. The fisherman held the fishing rod, the fuel guy held the bird down with my paddle, and I aimed for the birds head and beak with a towel. I took out my trusty leathermen, cut off the barb, and let it go. It sat there for a few seconds, then flapped it's wings and flew away. And that was how I spent my morning.

This morning watching the sunrise.





this big guy ain't having a good day.



Pulling my catch back to the boat ramp.



I wanted to take pics of the release, but I figured it had been through enough for one day.

Congrats! That is really a cool story! I am glad you had the patience to work the bird free!

This seriously made me LMAO! My wife has been telling me that a Pelican is going to knock me out of my yak one of these days while I am fishing.

Again, great story and thanks for sharing!

fishingoncredit,

Wow, great report and a cool pic of towing the pelican behind you. Congrats on a sucessful release!

In my fishing life I have hooked a couple of pelicans, a blue heron, a couple of seagulls and even two bottlenose dolphins. Thank goodness none of them was in a kayak.

Kim

Strider - I am sure the bottlenose dolphin made a heck of a story. Please share if it was as interesting as I think it might be!

Really cool that you took care of that bird. Many fishermen would have lost patience and left the hook in that fellow.

Cool story! Great Pics!

Where's Tony Amos when you need him?Glad it turned out OK

I thought crap like that only happened to me. Its great you got him off in good shape. I looked for you around B&R, not a bad day, a lil breezy though. George

I guess we know the answer to "How many anglers does it take to get a hook out of a pelican".

Very cool story!!! I'm glad the pelican is ok. Now he has a great story to tell his pelican buddies!

"There I was, flying along with Mike and Joe and this guy casts a lure right over my back. Then he tows me in and nearly drowns me a few times. I'm trying to figure out how to get the hook out of my wing when one of his friends tries and throws a towel over my head! I knew I was in for it then and fought my way out. I took off one guy's hand and broke the other 2 guy's legs and then used a mansfield mauler that was laying on the ground to get the hook out of my wing. As I flew off I pooped all over his kayak and set the fuel pumps on fire. You guys shoulda been there!"

lol great story

Good to hear that you would do all that to free a pelican.

I like BB's twist on the story. So fishermen aren't the only ones who exagerate a little. That is good to know.

The real kicker to this story is going to come when some PETA nut finds that pick on the net and has Pamela Anderson and a whole army of hairy armpit women down in Corpus protesting. You might get made out to be the next Michael Vick

That is a great story! And, I am proud of you for caring enough about that rascal to help him out. Pelicans can be tough. They are big, strong and have a powerful beak; they just look ungainly, cute, cuddly and safe.

We had one fly into a surf line one day on PINS. It wrapped and came crashing down. I raced out to grab it before it hurt itself and that bill started popping at me. They appear to have tremendous power there. I deal with big macaws at the clinic that can really hurt you, amputate fingers, etc., so I backed off. We got a towel and went after him again. It took three or four people scrambling around in the water, but we finally got him unwrapped and loose. He sat there in the surf for a minute and then off he went.

Ray

Man you should of wieghed that thing, you might of had a new state record for Pelican on 14lb. test.

That IS a great story and really good pics!! You definately showed great compassion for that pelican. Way to go. You da Man!

trolling for big fish using a pelican . --- you did the bird fine .some people would have just cut the line & said see ya . somewhere i have a picture on the computer at home of a blue heron at LHL with a large string hanging from his beak i think it has a large hook at the other end ? poor guy I tried to catch him but no luck .

Nice story and pics.

When I was a kid, my dad and I had just spent a day fishing Lake Livingston. We had just put the boat on the trailer and still had some rods on the deck of the boat. One rod had a chrome Rat'L Trap hanging from it and it caught the attention of a cat that was walking by.

The cat decided to swat at the lure and the next thing we knew, the rod was flying across the ground behind the screeching cat. I instintively grabbed the rod before it got away and in the process accidentally set the hook in the poor feline.

I loosened the drag allowing the cat to continue on and he ran under a car. My dad ran to the cat and it sat there hissing and swatting at my him, until my dad was ready to just cut the line. Finally a woman who had witnessed the whole scene convinced her husband to try and get the lure out of the kitty. He managed to do it, but not before the cat clawed/bit the hell out of hiim and in the end the lure wound up embedded in the mans hand. He had some choice words for his wife. My dad let him keep the Rat'L Trap for his bravery.

Fish-Ninja wrote:Nice story and pics.

When I was a kid, my dad and I had just spent a day fishing Lake Livingston. We had just put the boat on the trailer and still had some rods on the deck of the boat. One rod had a chrome Rat'L Trap hanging from it and it caught the attention of a cat that was walking by.

The cat decided to swat at the lure and the next thing we knew, the rod was flying across the ground behind the screeching cat. I instintively grabbed the rod before it got away and in the process accidentally set the hook in the poor feline.

I loosened the drag allowing the cat to continue on and he ran under a car. My dad ran to the cat and it sat there hissing and swatting at my him, until my dad was ready to just cut the line. Finally a woman who had witnessed the whole scene convinced her husband to try and get the lure out of the kitty. He managed to do it, but not before the cat clawed/bit the hell out of hiim and in the end the lure wound up embedded in the mans hand. He had some choice words for his wife. My dad let him keep the Rat'L Trap for his bravery.

thats funny. The whole time we were trying to free the bird, the old fisherman kept saying, " careful they like to go for the eyes" I never asked how he knew that.

...and no he wasn't wearing an eye patch, and I caught it using a 3 inch white gulp shrimp. my usual setup.

That's some funny chit!

I had a summer job with the Louisiana Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries back in the mid-'70's, right out of highschool.

Anyway, one of my jobs was banding pelicans that we corraled with nets at their rookery on Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay.

What you did was hold out your gloved hand and let the pelican snap its beak down on it.
It didn't hurt at all, just made a lot of noise.
The old guys didn't even use gloves and laughed at us young guys for being afraid of pelicans!

Anyway you grabbed the pelican by the beak with the other hand, dis-engaged the first hand, and held the bird down while another guy put the band on the bird's leg.

The pelican was not happy about this, by the way...

The old guys didn't even use gloves and laughed at us young guys for being afraid of pelicans!

Next time, I'll just grab that rascal and unwind the line! The snapping beak sounded ominous. Don't ever try that with a macaw unless you want fewer fingers!

OMG! Tarpon_Tamer and I have been thru similar experiences out at a pier. Only instead of pelicans, it was seagulls. Nice to know you took the time to help the bird out.

Do we add Pelicans to the Dolphin list? I'll ask Dave what he thinks. LOL

BTW, GREAT job !! Knowing you I expect nothing less than you doing exactly what you did. I'd like to say I have fished with FOC many times now and I have not met anyone who cares more about the well being and is very respectful of nature. Again, GREAT job !!

I hooked one also one day while throwing spoons in the jetti