SFR Cool stuff you see while fishing

[Dave Boyle]

14' Hewescraft - That's the second rattlesnake I've seen in this lake (same one your buddy had those two close encounters). I float tube in lots of lakes and rarely think about a reptile swimming up to me thinking I'm an island.

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This snake was wind drifting rather than swimming as the water was cold, only a few weeks after ice off. His drift was pretty close to a line on an anchored pontoon* boat.

* Similar to your buddies pontoon........

Makes me so glad I changed up from my Watermaster to a Journey…

Dave

 

[albula]

I witnessed something a number of years ago that I will never forget. Homosassa is famous for its tarpon fishing but it is also a phenomenal fishery for shallow water redfish especially during the non summer months when cooling temperatures make the normally tea stained water in the back country turn gin clear. I often fished an area only 10-15 minutes from where I kept my skiff called Porpoise Bay. It was a group of many small islands and oyster bars surrounding a larger basin with a turtle grass bottom. One day while poling the edges of the bay looking for reds we saw a porpoise, bottlenose dolphin actually, swimming on the surface in the deeper part of the bay pushing a tannish white floating object in front of it occasionally both disappearing below the surface of the water. Wondering what the porpoise was doing I poled over for a close look. Upon inspection it became apparent that the object being steered around by the porpoise was a small and obviously lifeless baby porpoise that a devoted mom was just not ready to give up on.

We returned to Porpoise Bay 2 days later to fish. The female porpoise was still there and still pushing the now deflated and decomposing body in front of her. It almost looked like a large dirty towel and no longer resembled what it once had been. I remember thinking what a different world we would be living in if all human parents showed the same devotion and degree of responsibility now being exhibited by what some would consider a dumb animal.

 

[5 Weight]

On a recent trip I saw a couple of things going on that were really cool. The first is that I thought hummingbirds were strictly vegetarian or at least nectarfarians…one morning my buddies parked raft had a pile of emergers resting on the wind free side but from time to time some blew/flew off. A humming bird was stationed above it and picked them off one by one, very deliberately. Apparently they do eat bugs, especially for their chicks re more protein which makes total sense.

The second was watching a duck work the tules picking off damsels as they crawled up to hatch, it was dialed in and neat to watch, including it reaching far up to grab ones up high. It was cool and the fishing was obviously shite for me to be engrossed by it.

Again in my naivety I thought ducks only looked down re weeds and maybe scuds and bloodworms. But this was totally focused and looking up and was working it hard.

Probably more an insight into my ignorance of birds and critters but I thought others will have seen other “who knew they did that” kinda stuff.

Dave

A large mountain goat standing in the middle of the St. Joe

A set of large,fresh wolf tracks in the muddy shore of upper Kelly Creek

2 wolves chasing a small group of Elk through the trees across the stream from our campsite on Salmon South Fork.

While fishing a small St. Joe tributary 4 Cougar kits popped out in the reeds across the creek 15 feet or less from me.

Camped in Payette Forest campground I was browning up taco meat when a young bear came in wanting some. He was colored up black and white sort of Panda like. He was reluctant to leave and got close. Finally, he gave in to our aggression and noise making.

Floating a Jefferson County lake I saw an eagle hit the water and without taking off sort of wing swam toward shore about 50 yards away. I thought he was drowning so I kicked my way toward the end of the lake while watching him drag a fish onto a log near shore. It was quite a distance to his location and when I got near he took off and left half of the Rainbow he’d been eating. The remaining half on the log was at least 12 inches long!

 

[bobduck]

I witnessed a bald eagle swim a fish to shore and drag it out. I assumed it must have been a big one. But even crazier was a time on a high cascades lake I watched an eagle take a trout away from an osprey in midair. That osprey made noises I've never heard from an osprey before or since. The funniest thing I saw was when my fishing buddy was building a rock cairn in a stream to keep his booze cold. He was placing the last of several bottles in the rocks when a doe stepped into the stream not twenty yards upstream and started pissing in the water. I was laughing at the WTF's he was shouting and said by the time it gets to the cairn you won't know the difference. It was if the doe heard that and took two steps further into the stream and started crapping. My buddy threw his hands into the air and said screw it, if you guys don't like deer shit then don't drink it.

 

[Skimr]

Unfortunately no pics, two experiences with golden eagles while river fishing. Was an eagle nest cliff up above our camp and the eaglet was learning to fly. The adult had flown with it down close river and it was sitting on a large boulder. Meanwhile the adult made a sneak attack and snagged a young flightless mallard out of the river right in front of us. It then dropped the still alive duck on the ground just below the young eagle and flew off to the sit on a different rock. Pretty soon the young duck start flopping/running back towards the river and with cries of encouragement from the adult the young eagle glided down off its perch and tried to snag the duck. Missed a couple of times but was finally successful and got to eat.

The second was at the same camp and an adult golden snagged a mallard out of the air. Piercing cry and whack, puff of feathers and down onto the ground. Was right next to the paved road, so wing walked up the hill into some taller sage/rabbit brush to eat.

Goldens are pretty incredible