wordsworth

Fishing improved in Lake Estelle this morning around 11:30 when a flock of four hundred double-crested cormorants arrived and began feeding on bait.

This is at least the second time in the last three months that a large flock of cormorants has landed on the lake to feed.

It’s really worth watching. They work the shallows in a mass all the way around the edge of the lake. Moving with them along the shore, waiting for any fish fleeing toward the bank, are the long and lean great and little blue herons, the wood storks, the great and snowy egrets, and the tri-colored herons. In the air overhead, waiting for any fish driven to the surface, are the gulls, and terns, and even the pelicans that have come inland for the feast. There are osprey, too, exploiting the frenzy. And today there was even a red-shouldered hawk intimidating the other fishers to drop it their meal.

So, anyway, now that the bait fish are scarce, fishing should be easy for anything big and hungry.

That’s the kind of fishing I like – easy!