I have several quotes etched in my feeble mind. One of my favorites came during a sampling expedition.
While electrofishing at Savannah Dhu in upstate New York back in 2004, we were netting too many 12-14" skinny bass from the Lodge Pond. Overcrowded fish, not enough forage fish, to say the least.
As the fish came into the live well, I noticed one with a bulging belly.
After we collected enough fish to stop, weigh and measure, our crew went to work.
Intern Dave Beasley, had the quote of the night that night. Many of you met Dave at the Pond Boss conference.
Every one of those bass, all 70ish something of them, were carbon copy, cookie cutter copies of each other...except the one with the punchy belly. As the guys did what they do, I saw one of them grab that bass. I asked him to pass it to me. One look down the craw of that 12 inch bass and I started to laugh a little. There were feathers sticking out. I grabbed the tail feathers, gave them a little tug, and out came a barn swallow. Beasley looked at the semi-digested bird, looked at me, looked back at the bird and said, "I never knew bass could fly!"
