A shiner in my pond was a lot smarter than I thought any fish should be. While fishing from the bank with a catfish food pellet I hooked a shiner about 10 inches long. They feed with the bream and put up a pretty good fight on ultra-light tackle.

When I reeled this one to the bank and lifted him with the line, my four pound test line broke right at the hook. The shiner dropped back into the water and quickly darted out to deeper water. As I looked at my line and wondered if I had another small hook in the truck, the shiner came back and beached himself at my feet. I picked him up, took the hook out of his mouth and released him again. This time he did not come back.

Did that fish bring my hook back so I could keep fishing? Or did it know I would get the hook out of its mouth? Probably neither thing, but I swear this is a true story. That fish came back to me and swam out of the water right at my feet!

A snake was not so lucky. Several years ago I bought a bird net to put over my fig bush. It is a big, bulky thing made out of fine nylon netting. I had stuffed it on a shelf in my garage and was not using it this year.

One day last week I walked into my garage and was looking for something on the floor near the shelf with the net on it. I got this strange feeling and looked up to see a three foot long rat snake hanging just over my head. After my feet stopped running without moving me anywhere I realized the snake was not moving either.

That snake has worked its way into the net and got stuck. I did not think a snake could get stuck, but this one’s body about half way back was so jammed up in the net I had to cut it in half to get it out. Luckily for me the snake had been dead a very short time and was just beginning to smell bad.

Now I watch real carefully where I walk in my garage and look up before bending down to search for something near the floor. My heart stopped pounding after several minutes but that dead snake almost scared the life out of me.

Keep a watch out for crazy critters. There is no telling what you may see or find. And listen out for other tales of strange happenings. Even if you don’t have a good story to pass on, someone else probably will!