Osprey - 1 -- Gentlemen - 0

[Incredible_Bulk]

So I saw something quite interesting at Walter Wirth Lake this evening with my fishing group from school. My group and I were set up on the banks casting, wetting lines... When the guy next to me (who mind you -- showed up about 10 minutes before this happened) had a fish on. Muttering under my breath as I had been there for about 30 minutes already with nothing, I tossed my line back out, and the gentlemen a ways over headed back to his vehicle. I took a look at the fish flopping around next to his chair, and then focused on my line in front of me. Watching the tip of my rod carefully, I heard a commotion in the direction of the guy's chair, and glanced over quickly to see an Osprey taking off with his fish in its talons...

The man was running back from his vehicle trying to scare the Osprey to drop the fish, but it wasn't having anything to do with it, off it went with the still flopping fish in its talons. The man kind of hung his head and then finally applauded the Osprey as it flew away.

I'd never seen anything like it. Felt bad for the guy, and wish I would have noticed it happening so I could help him out or something, but my kids got kind of a kick out of seeing it happen. They're pretty into watching the Ospreys while they fish.

Kind of an interesting thing to see. Glad it wasn't me.

Cheers,
Bulk

[hooksetter1]

They're pretty aggressive out there! Two weeks ago I had one dive on a fish I was fighting about 20ft from the bank, swing and miss. PS - I've noticed the trout like the East side of the lake this time of year...:wink:

[Cold Snack]

Two years ago at Wickiup, we had an osprey actually grab a koke about 50 feet behind the boat and lift it out of the water; fish, wedding ring, trolling gear and all. My friend managed to pull the fish from the bird's talons about five feet above the water. He was a reelilng madman after that. The bird dove a second time and my buddy pulled the rod hard to make the bird miss. Got the koke into the boat, talon marks and all! Was pretty crazy.

[GraphiteZen]

hahah That's pretty funny. A while back I was fishing with a really shallow diving Rapala and sure enough I look up and see an osprey lining up over my bait and getting ready to dive. Man I cranked that reel into hight gear and luckily it dove deep enough and they osprey took off. Whew....

[Got Fish?]

Two years ago at Wickiup, we had an osprey actually grab a koke about 50 feet behind the boat and lift it out of the water; fish, wedding ring, trolling gear and all. My friend managed to pull the fish from the bird's talons about five feet above the water. He was a reelilng madman after that. The bird dove a second time and my buddy pulled the rod hard to make the bird miss. Got the koke into the boat, talon marks and all! Was pretty crazy.

Glad to hear you got your gear back, I would feel pretty bad if an osprey headed back to it's nest with fish and hooks in tow.

[FshnFool]

Ive got a buddy from Idaho who was out ice fishing a few years back first thing in the morning and he got a nice fish set it aside to deal with re rigging his rod and an owl flew down a stole his fish. I didn't believe it till he had someone tell me the story that was there with him.

Matt

[Incredible_Bulk]

Yeah it was just unreal. One of my students looked at me and says, "Did that just happen?!" :)

[Loner]

Ok, I got a bird/fishing story. About 10 years or so ago I was trout fishing with a buddy in a boat on a small lake. For what ever reason he was reeled in and had his wedding ring with a worm hanging off the end of his pole. Evidently we were not paying attention because a mallard swam up and grabbed the worm.
So now the duck rodeo started, the duck hooked him self somehow, freaked out and took flight. Well my buddy was not willing to loose his rig. So here was are two idiots in a mildly crowded lake hooked up with a mallard making a ton of noise flying circles around us in a 8’ boat. Buy now the bewilderment had started to wear off and I was enjoying the sight of my buddy cussing as he is getting spooled by a flying duck.
The duck probably only made two or three circles around before he landed but it was enough time and noise to get everyone’s attention. We managed to catch up to the now swimming duck by using a combination of the boat and a reeling cussing fishing buddy telling be how the duck is not going to get his bran new green wedding ring. He managed to get the hook out of the duck and it flew off again. I can t imagine what everyone watching was thinking but I felt like a just lived one of those Patrick Mcmanus stories.

[just_hunt'n]

We watched an osprey fly by at Wickiup with a fish followed by a complete trolling rig. We watched it until it went out of sight. The tree it eats at must have looked like a christmas tree with all the tackle hanging from it.

[12244]

This is a good read on the subject. OSP also recently ticketed some folks teasing Osprey with a Trout on their line.

Trout fall from Salem Sky.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006804120316

[TTFishon]

I've never caught an osprey but I caught a bat once while flyfishing just before sunset. He grabbed my fly right off the water. Luckily I was using a barbless hook.
Another time at the same pond I was using a brand new buzz bait straight out of the package when a blue heron decided it looked pretty tastey and snatched my lure good right through its beak. That sucked.
And then once at Wickiup I had an owl grab my bobber and try to fly off with it. He was a pretty big owl. I had to throw rocks at it to leave me alone.

[Incredible_Bulk]

I hooked a Painted Turtle at Newman Lake in Washington when I was growing up, talk about a pain in the hind end to get a hook out of... head goes into shell.. yeah. Good luck. We finally managed to get it out, and the turtle survived, but it was a harrowing experience for all. :)

[domo-kun]

I've had an osprey grab a fish when I was fishing last summer at Lake of the Woods. I hooked a trout trolling a rapala in near the shore and as I'm reeling in my dad is like "Uhh.. hey that osprey is going to dive", so I just reel faster (mistake) as the fish is only a foot below the surface now. I'm thinking "No freakin way" as the osprey dived and grabbed the fish and took off with it. The osprey made it about 15 feet up. Then without thinking, I yanked hard sending the rapala flying back at me. The osprey dropped the fish, so I'm calling it a draw :D

[Incredible_Bulk]

Great Story Domo!!

Welcome to iFish! :) Definitely post a fishing story over in the main Fishing board.

Cheers,
Bulk

[Geemo]

Last month while fishing Detroit, the Osprey were doing better than me. I couldn't believe how close they were to my boat when they'd crash the water for their fish. They were doing it so often, I had no trouble getting a photo of this one.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/aa_2008-04-27_011.jpg

This is my sorry catch for the day. I let the fish re-coup and then released it.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/aa_2008-04-27_008.jpg

[Half fast Toyn]

I have two Osprey stories.....

One happened up at Smith Res. about 14 years ago. I caught a Bull Trout from the bank about 10 inches long. This was the year after the law made you release all the Bull Trout so I did. Just as I threw the fish back into the lake I saw a shadow and flinched back in my folding chair as an Osprey broke the law and harvested that poor endangered creature. It was close enough that I got wet from the splash.

The second one happened a few years earlier at Crane Prairie Res. We were anchored up fishing the tree's for footballs when we heard a splash some 30 feet behind us. An Osprey was flailing around in the water trying to get a fish airborn. The Fish had other ideas. It was towing the Osprey sideways and an epic battle ensued. Id say it lasted only 3 minutes but the Osprey finally gave up. We could see the size of that fish was just under the wingspan length of that bird.

[SilverBullets]

I was fishing up at Paulina Lake a couple years ago, and I new it was a slow day of fishing, but I didn't realize how slow until I looked up at my rod and a bird was sitting on the tip resting, getting in a breather out in the middle of the lake before flying to shore! That hurt!

[Big Sur]

A few years back I fished the Rogue just above tidewater. We had our rigs out, at anchor and were waiting for the magic rod down. There was an explosion in the river just behind the boat and an Osprey surfaced with a sea-run cuthroat about a foot or longer. he tried to take to the friendly skies but could not lift the fish well enough to get to his nest, which was very visible. He took it to the opposite bank to eat and was met with two turkey vultures walking their funny walk. He took off again and sailed into the timber on the other side of the river and disappeared. I have never seen something like that before and I loved it. my buddy caught a run-back steelhead,( released) and I caught a 35lb springer. The guide made us omelettes and hashbrowns while we fished. Good trip, I have a pic but geting it to this forum is problematic.

[Kokanee_hub]

On the trout opener at Wickiup, a friend of mine had an osprey dive on his rapala. He fought it for about 10 minutes before finally cutting it off and letting it go, of course with the rapala. Hope it did well.

Last weekend, I was at Wickiup, fishing the Davis channel for browns with a rapala. Sure enough, a big ol' bird thinks he likes my rapala better than the brown does and takes off with it. However, this time, it's a seagull. Now, for a little history. Last year, I had a 24 inch brown bury a rapala in the joint of my thumb. Could not get it out, even with a triple shot of Seagrams. Ended up at St. Charles hospital in Bend, costing me $600 in the emergency room. Yes, my money, not very good insurance. Back to the story. I reel the seagull in to the side of the boat. Pull out my needlenose pliers as he has one set of hooks in his nose and two sets in his wing. Got the hook out of his nose. While working on the wing, he flapped in frustration (pain) causing me (the hook shy guy) to drop the pliers into the lake. Cut off rapala and wished him luck as I wasn't going to deal with him with my bare hands.