Drama on the Skagit
I had made about a half dozen casts in the run when an eagle passed directly over my right shoulder only a few feet up. The whoosh of his wings surprised me and focused my attention on him. He flew directly across the river from me where he dove into the water very near the edge of the river. Now I was totally focused on the eagle to the point of letting my line dangle for an extended period below me. What was that eagle doing? He had something but I couldn?t tell what. There was some kind of commotion going on over on the other side of the river.
My line had been dangling below me for some time now and a bull trout had decided to impale himself on my fly. Too much happening all of a sudden and I had more to do then my mind could keep track of. After stripping in the bull and releasing him I returned my attention to the commotion on the other side of the river.
The eagle had a 10 or 12 inch fish but there was something else over there also. A river otter! The eagle has stolen the river otter?s fish and the otter wanted it back. The eagle was on a snag hanging about 3 feet off the water eating the fish. The otter worked himself up on a lower limb and grabbed the fish. He dangled there trying to pull the fish from the eagle before falling into the river. Next the otter found his way up on the same snag the eagle was on and attempted a frontal assault but was quickly repelled by the eagle. Man this was fascinating. I was totally transfixed by the mini drama being played out across the river from me.
The otter made several more attempts at liberating his fish from the eagle. He tried hanging from the fish a couple more times and he tried taking on the eagle directly. All futile. After 5 minutes or so the drama ended with the otter giving up.
I resumed my fishing.
"The reason you have a good vision is you're standing on the shoulders of giants." ~ Andy Batcho
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