Strange looking rainbow this morning 5/20

[netboy]

I went to the C&R area below the dam this morning. The sun was out and there were caddis coming up when I got there so I tied on an elk hair caddis. Caught a half dozen rainbows and 1 cutthroat on the elk hair and then the clouds moved in and fog started to form. That was the end of the surface activity so I switched to a soft hackle and caught another 10 including this big male. It had three big puncture wounds, two on one side and one on the other. He put up quite a fight so he was still healthy. 

Any ideas on what would cause this? I thought maybe an eagle, but the fish was pretty big for an eagle to target.   

[FishnDave]

Nice fish!

Heron?  Osprey?  Lamprey?  Gigger?

[fshndoug]

spoonbill hooks

 

 

[tjm]

Three punctures reminds me of a gig, but I watched a Great Blue Heron kill and eat a small mouth bass about that size.  Any guess is just a guess. Back when sheep ranchers out west were claiming eagles carried off lambs, I recall reading that they could fly with 4-5 pounds. And an eagle dropped a nest building stick that was weighed art 12#. Ospreys have some very large sticks in their old nests, I think  that fish wouldn't be too big for them to carry.

[netboy]

2 hours ago, tjm said:

Three punctures reminds me of a gig, but I watched a Great Blue Heron kill and eat a small mouth bass about that size.  Any guess is just a guess. Back when sheep ranchers out west were claiming eagles carried off lambs, I recall reading that they could fly with 4-5 pounds. And an eagle dropped a nest building stick that was weighed art 12#. Ospreys have some very large sticks in their old nests, I think  that fish wouldn't be too big for them to carry.

I have seen many eagles swoop down and catch smaller trout but they always get them with both talons, which would make more smaller punctures. Whatever this was had at least a 6 inch spread and two claw marks on one side and one on the other side. Also no spoonbills that I know of below Bull Shoals, never seen a gigger up there, but who knows what goes on after the sun goes down???

Still wondering what he ran into but glad he survived and was the best fight of the day. Probably made 6 jumps clear of the water and took me into the backing twice.