We had good feedback for our “Amazing Fishing Stories” series. Some submissions were amazing, some were heartwarming and some were even a little goofy. But most of them were compelling in one way or another. Here are the favorites selected by the content staff here at FLWOutdoors.com. Enjoy, happy holidays and keep on fishing.
– FLWOutdoors.com staff
Fowl-mouthed Kenny
by Kenny Hill, Blevins, Ark.
It was Saturday morning Nov. 3, 2001, on Millwood Lake in southwest Arkansas. My longtime good friend Armil Morgan and I were fishing in the annual company “Poulan/Weed Eater Bass Classic Tournament.” We were in Armil’s boat running up the boat lane through the timber. Armil had found some keeper fish just a few days earlier and we weren’t wasting any time getting there early that morning. I am not sure how fast we were going, but with a 200 Yamaha running wide open, you do the math.
It was pretty nippy outside, so I am just sittin’ there minding my own business, kind of looking down and enjoying the cool morning ride across the lake. (I couldn’t see nothin’; my glasses were foggin’ up and the mist off of the trolling motor wasn’t helping either.) Anyways, to make a long story short, I heard this split-second change in the motor RPMs and, all of a sudden, BLAM! Before I could look up I felt a big BLAM! Something had hit me in the face.
I immediately thought the trolling motor had came loose and ripped off the side of my face. When I finally looked up and tried to figure out what the heck had just happened – I am sittin’ there and I can’t see nothin’ but this big, durn, crane-lookin’ black bird – I am spitting out feathers left and right. I said to myself, “Self, I can’t believe Armil has done hit this bird.” There were at least 500 boats on the water that day and we have already seen hundreds of birds. I have been boating for at least 30 years and have never even come close to hitting a dad-gum bird. This thing must have hit the butt seat, then bounced off of that and hit me. This bird was black, had long legs, a long neck and a big ol’ beak.
I begin to notice that, hey, man, that hurt like crazy! So I looked over at Armil and asked him if I was bleeding anywhere. By now Armil is laughing, and he said, “Did that hit you?” I said, “Yeah that hit me. Duh!” So I asked him again if he saw any blood running down my face. He said no, so I grabbed the bird and airmailed him about 5 foot above the boat. The only time Armil got off the throttle was just long enough for him to duck, and then he was right back in it. He didn’t say, “Hey, Kenny, look out for that bird!” or anything.
By this time we were going by several crappie fisherman, they must have seen the whole thang. I could see `em over there “hee-hawing” as we flew by them.
Ha! I still can’t believe Armil hit that bird.
It ended up being a beautiful day, and we actually caught a lot of fish. Although we never caught the big one, or even let the big one get away, we dang sure had a big one get in the way.
By the way, if ya know of any fly fisherman out there looking for some feathers, tell `em to come and see me. I am still picking feathers out of my cap.
Previous Amazing Fishing Stories:
“Catfish caper” by Chris Wilson
“Serpent’s revenge” by Ted Angers
“Christian’s keeper” by Chris Bahl
“Hubba Bubba hawgin'” by Edmond Brown