When building a home, location is important!

  The other day, Darling Daughter and I headed to the pier for a little fishing.  She insisted on using one reel that just did not seem to want to wind.  It was all she could do to turn the handle but she refused to take my pole.  All I could think about was how was she going to reel in a fish if she could not turn that handle.  It all ended well, though, as we did not get a single bite.  No reeling for her.  

  I mentioned the problem to Mark while we were on the pier today.  He promptly took apart the reel and discovered the problem.  The reel had been left unused in the boat for quite some time.  It was that time that led to the turning difficulty.  A critter had taken up residence inside the reel!  Once Mark took the whole thing apart, he found a nice size, hairy spider inside!  Oh, geez!  At least this was not a dangerous sort as it was just a Daring Jumping Spider.  (Yes, that is its actual name.)  The spider itself was not holding the spinning parts of the reel but it (or she!) had spun webbing to house its eggs.  While most jumping spiders to not spin webs, the females do to protect their eggs and little ones.   Mama Spider had spun a nice size cocoon inside the housing of the reel.  I suppose she was seeking some safe place to raise her brood and what better place than a completely enclosed reel?

The red circle shows the Daring Jumping Spider that made its home in my fishing reel!

  Once he scooted the spider from the reel, Mark tried to remove the webbing.  That was probably the toughest spiderweb we have ever had to tear!  That stuff did not want to rip apart at all!  He finally took his knife and scraped the spiderweb from the innards of the reel and added a bit of grease.  With that, we are ready to go!  Elizabeth and I can wind the handles of our reels without the worry of a giant spider scurrying out to bite us!  Now we can just concentrate on fish bites!  You just never know what you will find on the Bayou!