ODD Encounters by Jeff Woleslagle A 38 ny angler who spends enough time on and along Pennsylvania's bountiful waters is likely to experience a few less-than-normal occurrences. When strange things happen, it makes for some great memories and stories that will be told for years. Some immediately come to mind. On a humid August night, I was wade fishing on the Raystown Branch Juniata River near Everett. I made a long cast across the river in the darkness. I didn't even turn the reel handle to begin the retrieve of my surface lure when suddenly my rod tip started bouncing wildly. I took my flashlight from Pennsylvania Angler & Boater my vest but couldn't see. Once I waded to shore and brought the rod lower to the ground, I could see that somehow on the cast, my line had looped around the wing of a little brown bat. I carefully removed the line. The bat sat for a few minutes on a rock before vanishing back into the night. It is always neat when two anglers in a boat or fishing near each other along the bank hook fish at the same time. Someone usually proclaims " Doubles! " as the battles ensue. It happened too many times to count over the years, but only once was it a catch of the same fish. My father-in-law and I were enjoying a morning of bass fishing from his boat in a nearby lake. We were throwing wacky rigged stick worms toward the shore and doing well. I must have been daydreaming after I made a cast, and I looked over to see my father-in-law set the hook into a solid bass. I immediately saw my own line jump, so I set the hook, too. " Doubles! " I yelled, fishandboat.comhttp://www.fishandboat.com