My Fishing Partner

[Greg]

I had an unusual fishing partner for some time on this past Sunday afternoon. A seagull. He was just upstream from me. I watched him for probably close to 20 minutes fishing for trout. He actually caught one 2 different times. But he couldn't lift them clear of the water. They were too big for him. He dropped both. It was kind of comical.

Greg

[Daddy Carp]

I know just what you mean! There are 2 birds that live in the bluffs across from Rockaway's fishing dock. I believe the are Osprey. When I'm sitting out there fishing for table stock, I love to watch them fishing. They will circle an area, tighten the circle to a few yards, fold their wings back to the appearence of an arrow, then SWISSSHHH - head first into the water with talons extended. Rarely see them miss. Quite often they will fly just off the water & make a large circle trying to gain some altitude with a trout almost as big as they are. Never have seen one have to let it drop. They are amazing birds to watch.

[Trav]

DC...I know those birds! I havent seen them in a week or two though. Might be afraid of the big Bald Eagle that has been roosting above my dock the past week or so.

[Greg]

I saw a pair of osprey on the upper lake last year. Got to see one of them fish too. Whereas the seagull was comical - I agree the osprey are awesome. I saw one come away with a huge trout. I had never seen them in MO until last year.

Greg

[Thom]

Greg:

A couple of weeks ago I was at chute 3 down from the ladder and had the same experience. I had tried to wade very quietly just out from the shallow water and just as I positioned myself to fish a couple of gulls began to dive. They just couldn't lift the fish but continued to try until they had chased them into the deeper water.

I just wondered if those gulls went back to their nest that night and commented about the disgrundeled angler that they saw at outlet 3 who was waving a long stick at the fish that they were trying to bring home for supper?

[zander]

When my parents lived in Florida they had paid good money for triploid grass carp to put in their pond to eat all of this aquatic fern and cattails that were choking it out. They bought 75 carp and within 6 months they had none left. I used to watch the ospreys come down and take them, scared me half to death if I was out cutting their grass and i see a dark shape blot out the sun. They raised a fuss with the fish guy and he brought out some carp that were too big for the ospreys to take, and luckily no gators in their lake.

[Trav]

My Father breeds and sells show birds up in Urbana. He was always having problems with falcons, chicken hawks, and the occassional eagle swooping down and snagging his precious hundred dollar chickens. Eventually he ended up netting over them all. They still tried but either got caught in the netting or crash landed in the ground. Was funny to watch. Once they had the netting figured out they quit trying.

[fly2fish]

I was fishing with my dad and uncle of the Fall Creek dock last summer when a bald eagle caught a brown trout about 15 inches and flew up and landed in a tree just above us. The whole time he sat there small birds kept diving on him but he would not let go. He sat there about 15-20 minutes with the other birds swooping and diving until he headed down stream with the trout still in its grasp. I don't guess the eagles are subject the minimum length limit on the browns. I did take a picture with my cell phone but you have to know what you are looking at to know it was a bald eagle with a fish.

[Quillback]

Speaking of Seagulls and Eagles..

About 10 years ago I was on a Salmon trip near Bamfield on Vancouver Island. We were fishing with a guide out in the bay. We were trolling anchovies behind a flasher using downriggers. The guide would bait up an anchovy and let line out until the anchovy/flasher was about 50 feet behind the boat, then he would attach it to the downrigger ball and send it down. The anchovy would be on the surface until he dropped the ball down. Anyway, one time a seagull swooped down and grabbed the anchovy and got hooked. The guide did not want to battle with an angry seagull to try and get the hook out, so he let the downrigger ball go down which took the seagull under. After the seagull was underwater for a couple of minutes he brought the downrigger ball up and reeled in a stunned but still alive saegull. He unhooked the seagull, put it in the water and we went back to trolling, as we slowly pulled away from the seagull, it came to life and started flapping it's wings, other seagulls started coming in from everywere, and for some reason were flying in circles around the stunned seagull that was sitting on the water. There were four of us in the boat and we were watching the gulls, when out of no where an Eagle swooped in and grabbed the gull that had made the mistake of trying to eat the anchovy. The other gulls scattered and the eagle flew off towards land with the gull. That was the first and last time I ever saw an eagle grab another bird, but I guess they will if the opportunity presents itself.

[zander]

I wish I have seen some cool sights like that. Closest would have to be looking a golden eagle in the eye about forty feet away. What made it cool was that I was on the edge of a 1200 ft cliff On Hermits Peak, NM and he was flying along side it. I have seen birds do some really stupid things though. I was fishing by a small bridge in Oklahoma one summer evening. A bunch of poule d'eau's (what we called them in Louisiana I think you guys call them coots) flew past right off the water. They were heading across the bridge to the open lake. Some of the birds chose to go over the bridge, some under, but one bird was just staring back at me flying along and WHAP! right into the side of the bridge it went. A couple more lost their train of that after that and hit the bridge as well. One of those times I wish I had a video camera and ESP.