Otter also
I second Radiomix’s Otter theory. They hunt at night and make a loud splash at times, either sliding or jumping into the water off of shore or when rentering the water when in the lake already. I have been out on the water a few times where otters are sticking their head out of the water, and when you get too close, they go under, and then after you pass by, they come up out of the water behind you and you hear a loud splash.
Could have been FE after a Beanie
Weenie dinner.
Possible otters
I’ll 3rd the otter theory. I stumbled on this thread after trying to do some research into what I saw last evening. I discovered a family of otters a few hundred yards from our house down a creek bend that leads into a lake. I’ve seen them multiple times when fishing in my kayak, and have been slowly trying to get closer to them to check them out. Last night when paddling down the creek, as a previous post stated one was appearing to maybe be leading me away from their den, swimming right toward me then by/under my kayak toward the lake opening and would stay swimming above water zig zagging and going in circles for several minutes. I could spot at least two others up stream about 20 yards, and one was also zig zagging between the banks with his head above water. This is the fist time I had seen 3. I lost sight of the one behind me & Suddenly about 10 yards behind me was an enormous splash sound (as stated, like a frozen turkey dropped from a plane) I almost jumped out of my kayak it was so loud and startling. I thought maybe it was a really REALLY massive Bass, but was hesitant to throw my shad lure in the direction not knowing where the otter was and if he might go after it. About 2 minutes later I saw an otter in front of me disappear under water followed by the same massive splash sound a few feet away. I was trying to research if this was normal or perhaps an aggressive or territorial action towards me. I also never actually saw the otter make a thrashing motion while above water to cause the splash so maybe it was a massive Bass or cat he was chasing out of the bank? But really was just too loud for that and no double splash sound like a fish jumping just a really loud pop.
I know exactly what you are talking about. I got caught on a small river in Ohio.“Cuyahoga”. I had a cheapo flashlight in my mouth barely able to see the front of the kayak and started to hear those bolling ball dropped sounds… they left a wake of a ten yr old child atleast. Spray up to three feet… perfect plunks.
It was creepy as hell. If I spooked something on land and I’m on the river, why in the hell would it jump in? Yea, big foot tossing cinder blocks… hell maybe… I was just trying to remember the choke points and paddle as fast as I can to get the hell out of there. Was atleast 8 different splashes, all next to shore but loud. I could never see it whatever it was drop.
I know there are river otters in that area, I’ve filmed them but they really don’t seem big enough. Although a river otter would certainly give the aero dynamic plunge that I heard. So yea your not crazy lol… maybe I’ll pack a bigger light next time.
Really… on the crooked river that’s like 70 miles long? Starting from just above East Branch reservoir till Lake Erie? yea that’s a small river…
And, they were most likely carp
Salmon jump in the air to knock off sea lice. I hear em all night long in the fall on the Sacramento River.
Beaver…
Beavers?
Some of the other suggestions are certainly possible, but if I heard something like that, I’d think it might be a beaver.
If it was in Florida, I would say a gator. If it was the Suwanee River, I would say a sturgeon jumping.
Up country I have heard beavers slap their tail on the water.
Often, first impressions are correct, so I’m saying that you were right and it almost certainly was an aircraft disposing of used bowling balls.
All I know is that I’ve experienced this same thing at night on a run off of the Hudson river in ny , my first thought was beavers but the thing is I always go catfishing with very powerful headlamps I have never once seen a single beaver at the spot ,the spot I fish at had soft ball sizes rocks on the bank and the splashes got very close to us bout 8 feet away got a little water on me from it , here’s where it gets strange we are hearing "tree knocking " from the other side of the river where no one goes … I used a stick and knocked last night and we heard it back seconds after , happened twice seems to me it’s beyond coincidence , later in the night only got more large splashes back instead of tree knocking back
beaver
Beaver or otter are the right answers.
They were live turkeys not frozen one’s in that WKRP episode. More’s the pity.
Kids throwing bowling balls is my guess. That or beavers