Fishing Keuka Lake (NY) by myself one June Friday afternoon (hooky, shhh) I was in a cove just up from the college. Calm overcast day, very little wind. I was throwing ...more a Texas rigged worm, catching a couple of keepers. There was a mama duck and her 6 babies in the cove with me. Otherwise pretty quiet as the weekend cottage dwellers hadn't made their way to the lake yet.
One of the baby ducks seemed very interested in what I was doing as he was right alongside the boat checking it out. The mama felt he was too close, and she let out a quack to bring her baby back closer to her protective eye. They were about 20 feet from me when I set the hook on another bite, only this one was a good one! I am fighting this fish and going after the net when this largemouth came out of the water about 3 feet from the ducks! Well, this mother duck went ballistic because she was sure this lunker was looking for a duck dinner! She was diving frantically after this fish, which by now was about 10 feet from the boat. I was sure she was going to get into my line and cost me my best fish of the young season! She was relentless, and I was fighting the fish with one hand and fighting the duck with the net in my other!
I managed to get the fish in the net and she sat there next to the boat honking her head off at that fish, giving him a good scolding! I am quite sure she wasn't cheering me on for landing this 4-lb. largemouth!

Largemouth with a plastic worm

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