[Chris Scoones]

At last light of an outstanding evening on the river, I pulled the line in to switch to an easier fly to see. I had the leader through my fingers, the fly hanging a couple feet below. I felt the familiar pull of a small Forks fish, then I realize it was pulling out, then up... then it came at my face. So, I did what I think most would do... I screamed and dropped my rod and fly box. I quickly picked the rod back up and the little guy kept flying around till he tuckered out a couple minutes into the fight. I was close to the house so I brought him back, had my wife grab me a glove and removed the fly. He then took off like a bat out of hell.

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/images/visitorpics/chris_bat.jpg

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[514]

Nice catch chris. Looks about 10" or so. I was fishing on a local lake a few years back. Me and 2 buddies were in our floattubes and one of my buddies was casting when something hit his rod tip. The bat fell in the water and started making a noise and flipping around. The bat was really close to him and starting trying to climb up onto his floattube. He starting screaming and kicking! So damn funny! :THUMBSUP YT

 

[Rob Blomquist]

Bummer! for both of you, and I feel sorriest for the bat. Man I would hate to be hooked by the wing....

But I would probably scream too.

I was in NorCal a few years ago, staying at an ex-hippy commune, and I got into my bedroom, which was entered from outside the house, and a bat got in at the same time. I didn't notice until I was in bed, and it was flying around looking for a way out, so in about 20 minutes I figured out how to not get hit and get the bat out. I rose from bead with the covers over my head and body, and opened the door. It took the bat about 20 seconds to know what to do 60 times faster than me. Oh, and the bat never collided with me.

Rob
---------
Genetic pollution damages wild
stocks, bonk those Hatchery Zombies!

 

[Tom Merrill]

Nice one! :EEK

I've often wondered what would happen if they went after a fly. Now I know. I hope you revived him well prior to release! :WINK

Thanks for sharing the picture. Submit it to the PETA web site for publication next to the picture of the dog with the hook in its mouth.

-Tom

 

[Nailknot]

Talk about matching the hatch! I gotta admit, bat fishing intrigues me more than the 6" little shooters up the forks. What fly were you using? :BIGSMILE (Kidding! I dig bats and was a regular watching them dump out of the "bat houses" we had posted on trees in N Minnesota. They eat more mosquitoes in one night than a damn bug zapper gets in a season of annoying *ZZAping*!)

 

[Greg]

Way to go, Chris! Talk about expanding your flyfishing opportunities!
One thing is certain, your fly patterns are very realistic. I can see this is one case where a Ketchum Release would come in real handy.

Greg

 

[saltchuck]

Boy I've had days where I would give anything to feel a little weight at the end of my line but I've never been that desperate.....just kidding!!! Hope the little guy was OK.

I grew up on the east coast and the weirdest thing I ever saw back there happened in the early '70's. I was bass fishing at the time with conventional gear (spinning rod and plugs) and another guy nearby was fly fishing for bass. It was dusk and he had a small popper on when a similar thing happened to him only his bat fell in the water. Before he could pull it in to release it, a 4 pound largemouth exploded on the poor bat and the angler had his hands full just trying to land the fish. Well when he finally landed the fish, a Game Warden (also standing nearby at the time) came over and started to write the guy a ticket for using an illegal bait! The angler tried to explain the story to the Warden and I backed him up but the Warden said he should have tried his best to release the bat before it fell in the water. The angler said he would fight the ticket but I never got called back as witness so I don't know what the end result was...but for all you would be future "unintentional bat anglers" beware...big brother could be watching!!! :AA

 

[Steelheader69]

OMG Chris LOL

That's hilarious. I've seen something similar. I was fishing on the Chehalis near the mouth of the Satsop about 8 years ago. This guy hooks up on a freight train. Well, it started coming directly toward him and then it jumped. Then it started to fly. A seagull that had been under the water scavenging found his eggs and grabbed it. Luckily for the angler (but not the seagull) he long lined released it since he had light line on.

But not sure about a bat, that'd be interesting. Luckily most of my evening fly fishing is for salmon/steelhead, and normally things that look nothing like what a bat would eat. LOL

 

[Old Man]

OMG Chris LOL

What do I know---I'm just an old man

Had that same problem in the summer time once. The house that I live in was painted black and we lived in a hollow. Well it was in the summer time and the kids slept with the windows open. A bat flew in and scared the begeebers out of the kids. It sure is easy to fly into a room but it is harder that hell to get it out. After that they slept with the windows shut. I know this has nothing to do with fishing but I just had to add it.

Jim

 

[mr trout]

Funny story! I actually nailed one with my rod tip up at mud lake near yakima a while back. I dunno what happened to him, I couldn't see where I was casting let alone a little furry black thing flyin around. Though I did manage a nice 18 inch bow on a caddis just before that. And for those of you who try float tubing in the dark, be careful of stumps and weeds, they can really get you thinkin your not alone in the water when they wrap around your legs- if you have an imagination like mine. any way I should stop talking before I get too stupid. - Trevor
Money can't buy a perfect presentation.

Ps I just read the thing about the seagull. I have done that as well, and boy do those fight. I actually got mine in mid air, he swooped down and yoinked my lure right out of the air. then my grandpa cut my line off ( ps. I was 8 and it was a spin rod)

 

[Rob Blomquist]

OMG Chris LOL

Well, try fishing the travelling sedge hatch in canada. The gulls are trying like hell to grab your fly on the water surface. last time I fished it, it was outrageous. I must have had to chase a bird away every five minutes of fishing or so.

But I would go back for more in a heart beat.

Rob
---------
Genetic pollution damages wild
stocks, bonk those Hatchery Zombies!

 

[Dan]

Reminds me of an experience on the Elk River above Steamboat Springs last summer. I had hooked a good fish in the tailout of a pool in the morning. The fish was really hot - he was out of the pool and down into another one thirty yards away before I knew it. Needless to say, the fish broke off. I came back that evening hoping for another go. After a few casts, I noticed something fluttering in the bushes across the stream. It was getting dark and I couldn't see very well. Curiousity got the best of me, so I waded across the tailout to the far bank. Finally worked my way up to the area that I had seen the movement and saw a small bat suspended motionless in midair. Curious. It fluttered a little, so I got closer. Then I saw the monofilament. Someone had broken off a two fly rig in the bushes. The first fly, a beadhead pheasant tail in sz. 16, had been hanging down about 8 feet over the water. The bat must have taken it for a big juicy bug. I was able to cut the mono and eventually able to work the hook out of the corner of the bat's mouth after bending the barb back. The bat fluttered off weakly into the bushes. I don't know if it made it or not. Since then, I've been extra careful about trying to retrieve broken off flies. I catch plenty of fish, but don't see many bats anymore. Just another reason to bend down your barbs, too.

 

[hopper]

A word of advice--leave the hook in the bat and don't touch them. They can have rabies. A couple from my hometown here in WA tried to rescue an injured bat recently and they both got rabies.

On a lighter note, I once caught a baby duck with a flash back pheasant tail. Had him on for about 30 seconds and brought him in to shore while the momma duck was going berserk. The fly slipped loose before it got ugly. It was all I caught that day.

 

[Dan Reynolds]

REMEMBER TO CHECK FOR AN ADIPOSE FIN...RELEASE ALL NATIVES! :THUMBSUP

 

[KerryS]

:LOVEIT

 

[Dan Reynolds]

You can even see the Sea Lice on him! :CLOWN

 

[nodice]

I can't believe that you held that sucker close enough to get a picture...I would have some bat fur stuck to my boot if I would have caught that flying rat. heheheheheheh

EVIL