At the pool

[cassidyta]

Warning....PETA/Reptile lovers will be offended at this

My Friday evening was pretty much like most of them throughout the summer. After dinner, the kids wanted to go swimming so I went to change into my suit and grab a towel. Next think I knew, my wife was screaming her head off in a tone that was obviously one of fear. My first thought was that my daughter must have jumped in and got hurt. I ran out the back door to see my wife holding my daughter while shaking. (BTW, when attempting to exit a sliding glass door, it is important to open enough to fit through.) So after banging the daylights out of my shoulder on the first attempt, I was out back.
I wasn't too sure what was going on, but my son was the one who said snake. I could see the little guy (maybe 8 inches long swimming around the deep end). Then my heart jumped because I figured someone had gotten bitten. Nope, all of the commotion was over a small garden snake swimming around the water. Once I realized that there was no real danger I found the situation funny. Believe it or not, my bride did not share in my sense of humor at this. Well, once I stopped laughing, I figured I should get the snake out of the pool. It turned out to be a quite simple task as I had my son use the cleaning skimmer to send the snake my way. I lowered a 5 gallon bucket and the fella swam right in.
I had figured I would let this guy go a couple of miles from us in the woods. As I drove over to the park, I passed by the pond I usually fish on the weekend mornings. I am sure most of you can figure out where this is heading.
I used a size 8 mosquito hook and hooked him about 3 inches beneath the head. Since I am no expert on the tensil strength of a snakes skin, I figured casting wasn't the best plan, so I pitched him about 6 feet and then let him swim out the rest of the line. Luckily for me, he headed straight towards the tullies. I expected to see a blow up on him, but I counted 7 of them before he finally went under. I ended up with a 4 lbs largemouth.
I am not making plans to actively hunt snakes for bait, but if another one makes it into the pool, then I am pretty sure what I will do with it.