Great Blue Heron

[Tightline]

Was close to outlet 1 this mourning at 6:00, caught and released 8 trout by 8:00 (had a 20 minute rain delay)one of them being a beautiful colored up brown that was almost 18 inchs. I was feeling pretty good about my catch when I heard a big splash behind me , looked back to see a Great Blue Heron had grabbed him a rainbow so big he couldn't lift it out of the water,he dragged that trout up on the bank and stabbed it a few times with his beak to kill it,(I thought theres no way that bird can eat that big of a trout) ,he grabbed the trout by head tiped it up and swallowed it like we would a spoon full of soft icecream.I was amazed.Anyway I ended up with 10 trout and left at 10:00 am.But the Heron won big fish award!

[Thom]

I was at Coopers creek one day when they were stocking fish and watched the Herons do the same thing. I laughed and thought like you that the bird must be crazy with whth that 13 inch fish. He will have to tear him apart like an eagle or a hawk. The Heron flipped the fish up and around a few times and swallowed him shaking his head until he slid down. Several other herons were doing the same thing. Swooping down carring them to the island and swallowing them.

[MTM]

I caught a striper one time of about 20 1/2 inchs. They had to be 21 to keep them. I let him go even though he had been hooked deep as it was the law. He was on the surface and a Seagull landed picked it up turned it head first and swollowed it and flew off with the tail sticking out of it's mouth. True story. I guess it is just mind over matter?? LOL :-S Ron

[crappiefisherman]

i saw an ant eat a bale of straw one day.He was a persistant son of a gun

[Phil Lilley]

There are dozens of herons just on the upper lake. I counted 28 herons one day on the bluff bank down from Lookout. If a heron only ate one trout a day each day of the year, multiply 50 herons (low estimate) from Branson upstream times 365 equals 18,250 trout. That's 2.7% of the trout stocked annually. I did a quick Google search and didn't find what I wanted... how many fish on average does a heron eat? I've seen one eat 4 in one hour at the dam.

[Tightline]

Crappie, don't know if your trying to say I exaggerated or not? But I have caught and measured enough walleye to know that this fish the heron ate was pushing 18" easy ! I would mot have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.I never have thought those birds had any effect on our fishing, but I have CHANGED my mind.I am starting to change my mind about alot of things on upper Taney, it had been 20 years since I had fished up there until this summer. TL

[crappiefisherman]

I was trying to be humorus.I attend church with James Civillo who is I believe the hatchery manager, he has told me many times of the heron problem, seems they even try and often sucessfully ,to pick fish right out of the ponds.Have you ever seen the heron nesting grounds in upper bull creek>thousands of ther darn birds are there,trust me you cant sneek up on anything in there with out them raisng a horrible ruckus.also a rookery on bull shoals in the tucker hollow vacinity. Also it was a very large ant

[Tightline]

Crappie,it was funny ,you come up with some pretty good ones,makes me think you must be a born and bred Ozarker like me.I think this Heron was the great grandaddy also! TL.

[crappiefisherman]

born at skaggs hospital june 15 1963, grad of branson high school 1981, which by the way is 25 years, come to the radison tonite and see a bunch of hillbillies, also tightline it was one of those big round bales and the ant was drinkin

[MTM]

The Gull that eat the fish in my story was measured by the warden that is the reason I let it go. I had it on a stringer in the water because it was hooked very deep and I knew it would die and felt bad about it. Din't know just what I should do. He came up and told be to let it go or he would have to fine me. I let it go. He also saw the Sea Gull eat that fish. Get close to a gull some time and you will see they are not a small bird at all. True story. Dang them Ant's. Ron