April 15th has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean the taxes of life aren’t still being paid by each and every one of us.
We generally think only of the government when it comes to “paying taxes”, but in the outdoors world, the phrase has taken on a new meaning.
When fishing, have you ever had your catch stolen by a larger fish or different animal? If so, you’ve “paid the tax man”.
Can it be a frustrating experience? Sure, especially if it had been a slow day to that point and one of the few fish you’ve hooked gets eaten by the big guy you’ve been targeting all along, but it can also make for an incredible video, like this bald eagle stealing a trout off a fly fisher’s line or this hawk swiping some fresh cut snapper.
If you’ve done any fishing in Florida then you know to be aware of the various predators that lurk in all the Sunshine State’s waters. Inland you’ve got alligators as your biggest threat but in salt water there’s a lot to be worried about. Bull sharks and goliath groupers are two of the main ones that will steal your fish, but turns out the creature that everyone loves will get in on the action from time to time.
Dolphins are extremely intelligent creatures, with some researchers believing they are the second smartest animal on Earth, following only us humans. So because of this intelligence, they often find creative ways to score some food, which we can see play out in this video.
A man and his wife were out on a charter when the guy hooked up with a snook. Naturally, his wife grabbed her phone and started recording and just as he was about to lift the fish out of the water, a dolphins came up out of nowhere, swallowed the snook, and took off.
I’ve actually had a dolphins hit my bait before. In my case there was really nothing I could do; he easily broke the line before I could even think to grab my knife and swam off to live his life. But according to a comment by (allegedly) the man’s wife, this dolphin got away without a hook in its mouth.
“Hi I filmed this while on a fishing charter with my husband! Trust me, nobody loves dolphins more than me and the dolphin let go on the snook and hook pretty fast. No line was cut and everyone was fine including the dolphin”
All’s well that ends well, but how about we get the fish into the boat a bit faster next time, yeah? Avoid the whole “dolphin eating your catch” ordeal and the online hate that inevitably comes with it.
Regardless, it’s a cool moment and another reason why everyone should get down to Florida for a fishing trip.
