In Luck?
- Thread starter sheepfarmer
- Start date
Local news stations made a big ordeal out of it, and we were only supposed to be between 80 and 95% totality depending on where you were.
I was off work. Weather was nice and hot. And humid. No clouds to speak of, so I said ya know what, I'm going to the lake. Loaded the boat up and headed over to the closest fishn' hole.
Eclipse max happened at 1:38. I was on the water at 11:30, give me plenty of time to study things before it started. And I'm glad I did.
Some things I noticed. I saw the weird crescents under the trees. I don't know what causes it but it's really weird. Daylight turned into dusk over a longer period of time than normal evening twilight. So this confused the wildlife. I was watching a momma bear and 2 cubs on the bank and they were acting differently than they normally do. Also, I got to my fishing hole at about 11:40 and fished for an hour & a half without anything but a little 4" long largemouth and a bluegill. But the 30 min or so before max, the fish came alive, moved up the water column. I was fishing over about 30 foot of water on the bottom which is typical for this time of year. Started catching crappie in 9 foot depth over the same hole, and they were crazy until about 30-45 min after max. I guess they thought it was getting close to bedtime or something.
There were weird lines in the sky, like shadows or something. Never seen anything like it.
The shadows under all the trees did not fade. Like when a cloud blocks the sun, the shadows from the trees kind of fade away, but as the moon blocked most of the sun, the shadows never faded. I found this to be one or the weird things about the eclipse and I still haven't found an explanation.
The birds were chirping as if it was close to dusk. Saw bats flying. Buzzards were circling above my boat, out in the middle of the lake. Also odd. A woodpecker was making 10 kinds of racket over near the bank. Pileated woodpecker I think they're called. Big, with a red head and obnoxiously noisy at times.
The temp dropped significantly. It was 98 when I got there at 11-ish. At eclipse max, it was maybe 85. The blocked sun kept the air (and water) from heating as much. Perhaps that's another reason the crappie went crazy. Dunno.
Neat experience that I won't forget. Total eclipse goes RIGHT over (supposedly) that same exact area in 2024. If I'm around then, I'm probably going to be on that same spot-weather permitting. It will be in April so it's possible that the weather won't cooperate. That's tornado season #2 for us.
I was off work. Weather was nice and hot. And humid. No clouds to speak of, so I said ya know what, I'm going to the lake. Loaded the boat up and headed over to the closest fishn' hole.
Eclipse max happened at 1:38. I was on the water at 11:30, give me plenty of time to study things before it started. And I'm glad I did.
Some things I noticed. I saw the weird crescents under the trees. I don't know what causes it but it's really weird. Daylight turned into dusk over a longer period of time than normal evening twilight. So this confused the wildlife. I was watching a momma bear and 2 cubs on the bank and they were acting differently than they normally do. Also, I got to my fishing hole at about 11:40 and fished for an hour & a half without anything but a little 4" long largemouth and a bluegill. But the 30 min or so before max, the fish came alive, moved up the water column. I was fishing over about 30 foot of water on the bottom which is typical for this time of year. Started catching crappie in 9 foot depth over the same hole, and they were crazy until about 30-45 min after max. I guess they thought it was getting close to bedtime or something.
There were weird lines in the sky, like shadows or something. Never seen anything like it.
The shadows under all the trees did not fade. Like when a cloud blocks the sun, the shadows from the trees kind of fade away, but as the moon blocked most of the sun, the shadows never faded. I found this to be one or the weird things about the eclipse and I still haven't found an explanation.
The birds were chirping as if it was close to dusk. Saw bats flying. Buzzards were circling above my boat, out in the middle of the lake. Also odd. A woodpecker was making 10 kinds of racket over near the bank. Pileated woodpecker I think they're called. Big, with a red head and obnoxiously noisy at times.
The temp dropped significantly. It was 98 when I got there at 11-ish. At eclipse max, it was maybe 85. The blocked sun kept the air (and water) from heating as much. Perhaps that's another reason the crappie went crazy. Dunno.
Neat experience that I won't forget. Total eclipse goes RIGHT over (supposedly) that same exact area in 2024. If I'm around then, I'm probably going to be on that same spot-weather permitting. It will be in April so it's possible that the weather won't cooperate. That's tornado season #2 for us.