Fish Tales

John and Vic drop by from time to time to tickle trout. At least that's their story. Often they'll head out from Bondi and set their lines just beyond the points, where the water starts to shelve deeply down towards the Island. Sometimes, they'll take a shortcut and hit the lake down by Bigwin. Today was a Bigwin day for the fishermen -- who both caught the sun (that healthy glow is not all coming from reflections off the survival suits!)

They did well. Guess what's for dinner!?

But this reminds us of another fishing trip for the boys, about two years ago, here in our bay. They had set their lines about 100' apart -- John had already pulled out a big trout, and it was lying on the ice.
Lunch had been unwrapped, coffee was poured, and the men were sitting half-way between the two lines enjoying the spring sun.

Unexpectedly, something dropped down from the air, wings wide. Vic and John stared at each other, simultaneously saying "That was a Bald Eagle!"

These spectacular birds are quite rare here, and that was about the first winter that we were starting to see them around the Lake of Bays. The rangers in Algonquin tell me that last summer they identified four nests in the Park, so the birds are starting to be seen more often, but on that day, on the lake, this bird was the last thing the fishermen expected to see.

There was a moment of silence, as they watched the bird leave, and then the sad truth of the moment struck home.

I can't repeat the language here, but it was to the following effect: "That bird just stole our trout!"

And so it had.













I've borrowed a Robert Bateman image of the eagle for this post, partly because I like it, and partly because I met Mr. Bateman once, when I was riding one of my horses and he was painting one of his pictures. He didn't know who I was -- which is a good thing, because I didn't recognize him either, and I suggested, upon seeing the canvas he was working on, that his work was really very good, and had he ever considered selling it?
Luckily, when you're on a horse, you can make a pretty good getaway from an embarrassing moment such as that...

Sort of like an eagle, with a trout in its talons.