When we stopped at the boat launching car park on the Barwon River (3rd June) we had a wonderful
view of a darter that surfaced with a very large fish maybe 30 cm long,
probably a mullet. The darter then tried to fly off but the fish was way too
heavy. And a second problem for
the darter was that it had impaled the fish so it wasn't even really holding it.
The result was a staggering, tail slapping run across the surface of the river, the bird’s
head falling forward and the fish sliding off, at which point the darter threw its
head back in disgust and screamed before it finally flew away up stream.
I am sure the scream was in
frustration that it had lost the biggest fish it had ever caught, the ultimate
fishing story! The boys on the sandbank will just never believe this darter's story
about the one that got away; it will hold its wings this [
] far apart and they will all look, smile, shake their heads, and go, "oh
right!, go on, tell us another one" and go back to their beers (smile).
Joy Tansey took the following photos.
 |
| After surfacing the darter tried to fly off with its prize impaled on its bill |
 |
| The weight was too great and the darter's head tipped forward and the fish slid to freedom |
 |
| The darter gave a cry of dismay and flew off |
No comments:
Post a Comment