a vacation moment

OK, there i am. standing in the yellowstone river. Fishing the Yankey Jim Canyon. I had just released a nice cutthroat trout. With blue skies above and the mountains on both sides of me i stop to take it all in. Then I see an osprey flying up the river towards me, now I am drooling from the corner of my mouth. Just doesn't get any better than this.......

just then the osprey hits the power line crossing the river. And with a puff of smoke, the darn thing falls dead about twenty feet from where i am standing.

all i can think is, another Griswald vacation!

Just my luck, that will always be stuck in my mind.

And yes, we are already saveing for another trip back. what a beautiful part of the country.

Don

Sooooo...what can you tie with Osprey hackle? (Just kidding, I know raptors are off limits...)

Hey backbeach,

The flies tied with those cooked Osprey feathers would probably be true to their heritage, and end up stuck right back in those power lines. :roll: LOL!!!

Terry

I was fishing with a friend on the Madison last fall. He walked over to me and we chatted for a few minutes. Pointed to a bend in the river about 25 yds away and said "I'm going to fish over there, I think there will be a nice trout next to that big rock"

As we were finishing our conversation, we spotted an Osprey. I said something about how great that was, because you don't see them at home. He made a comment about how he hated them - because they eat trout.

Just then the Osprey went into a dive. Landed just by the big rock - and pulled out a very large, stout trout. My buddy was speechless - I couldn't stop laughing.....

:cry: How many BIG trout have I seen these birds take in front of me?? Please don't make me count!

They are a very beautiful bird to watch though, and there are a lot of them around the Wind River Range, especially around Pindale, WYO.

Personally, I LOVE seeing an osprey swooping down and grabbing a nice fat fish......that means that there are nice fat fish for ME to catch as well! :D

Regards,
Joe Martin
Salem, OR

ME TOO :D

My Osprey story has to do with fishing a pond trying to get a nibble from a trout and getting totally skunked. As I paddle away I turn around to see an Osprey dive and then climb up with a nice trout in its claws, the trout moving as though it is swimming in air.

It goes to show you that the professional fishers really are better than us amatures.

jed

A couple of years ago I was fishing a lake in Rocky Mountain National Park that has Greenback Cutthroat. I was sitting along the shore line waiting for the fish to start rising to a midge hatch when I see a Bald Eagle swoop down the lake, drop in, and pull a nice Greenback out. As he flew away I couldn't help but wonder, "What happens when one endangered specie starts feeding on another endangered specie?"
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/053906.gif

Grizzz, then the ball is in Mother Natures court.*G*
Survival of the fittest! In the case of the trout,
they rarely eat eagles.*G* Warm regards, Jim

Anyone notice that the Osprey will turn it's prey "nose to the wind" as it flys off? 8)
....lee s.

I worked in the Penticton Airport tower for 22 years . We were lucky to have an osprey nest right out the back window toward the parking lot. Osprey that caught too large a fish would struggle to get it into a nearby tree then cut it in half with their beaks. They then always flew the front half to their nest leaving the back half on a wide flat limb. By the time they returned for the back half it was always gone! Crows and Ravens always got it.

I love fishing in Yankee Jim Canyon, but I don't recall seeing power lines. They must either be at the top or bottom end of the canyon.

I caught a dozen or so fish there a couple weeks ago - all on drys - what a nice place to spend a September afternoon.

John

My nephew Preston and I were float tubing at Rock Creek Res., on the east side of Mt. Hood., when a bald eagle dived down and caught a fish, RIGHT BETWEEN US! Ospreys are cool!, but seeing a eagle that close and seeing it's claws catch that trout was amazing!
Doug :D

I'm actually a big Osprey fan, despite my comment about tying materials. As a kid, cutting my teeth learing to fish for stripers on the Westport river (SE Mass.) my Dad and I always saw a few opreys working the river. He told me that it was one of the few places they were doing well at the time due to problems with DDT in other watersheds. Evidently it got in their systems and made their egg shells too fragile to hold up until chicks hatched. I've seen them take schoolies, but never begrudged them a meal. As far as a vacation mement goes; my Uncle had shot a rabbit that made it out on the ice of the Taunton river before it "expired". While we were trying to figure out how to reteive it safely, a large redtailed hawk settled the issue by swooping down and taking it. Our beagles, arriving just after the fact, were very confused!

A couple years ago when I worked at a hatchery, I was stocking a lake in NE Washington. Out of nowhere an osprey showed up to pick up an easy meal. Well the resident bald eagle decided it looked good and dive bombed the osprey making him drop the fish. The eagle grabbed it and took it to a nearby tree to enjoy his stolen meal. The osprey, more than a little mad, began buzzing the eagle, and was then joined by his mate and they both buzzed the eagle. The eagle who was nearly falling on every pass decided eventually that it wasn't worth the hassle and let the opreys have the fish.

It was so cool to see, but I couldn't understand why they didn't just pick up another fish. I could see them swimming around near the surface so surely the birds could have.

Adam