You know sometimes you just get lucky, and find yourself in the right place at the right time...

This afternoon, I was out fishing on Big Bear Lake where I live. I was trolling, fishing for Rainbow Trout (I caught three in the hour and a half I was out there, but I digress) by myself, just enjoying the afternoon. CD playing some of my favorite music; there wasn't another boat within a couple miles of where I was... I even had an ice cold Beck's in my hand.

Suddenly, I notice this big bird flying from north to south, behind my boat. I knew it was a big bird, but looking to the west into the sun, I really didn't know what kind if bird it was. Then, I noticed that it had a white head. A moment later, I noticed its tail was white also. It was a Bald Eagle! There are something like 9 breeding pairs of Bald Eagles in the Big Bear Valley, so seeing one is a treat. A moment after I realized what kind of bird it was it swooped to the water as gracefully as you please and grabbed a trout bigger than any of the three I had in the live well. Effortlessly, it rose into the air again, and flew to a pine tree about 300 yards away from where I was.

It's actually the second time I've been lucky enough to see that. The first time time was at a lake in Northern California called Loon Lake about 6 years ago.

Like I said, sometimes you just get lucky. Would that I had my camera with me.

I guess this is one of my moments of
"reading the right post at the right time",
because I really enjoyed this post,
and it touched upon memories of some similar moments
I've had in my life.

Thanks Richard. I hope that the enjoyment you got from reading it was close to the special feeling I got after being lucky enough to witness it. It is certainly a moment in time that I'll remember until I can't remember moments any longer.

I couldn't help but share it. I was sure that someone here would appreciate it. I'm glad you did, and that I could share it with you.

because of the way you described it, thanks.

That's exactly what I meant to convey. It doesn't always happen that way for me though... the conveyance I mean.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to be in Santa Barbara for the return of the pelicans. I was in a restaurant on the pier at about sunset, when suddenly the pelicans that had been circling started diving straight down into the water after sardines. Straight down. SPLASH!!! This wasn't like that... the Bald Eagle simply increased the angle of his descent in a heartbeat, and swooped. He pulled up at the very last moment, allowing just his talons to dip below the water. He reached forward with the talons, and came up with the trout.

Damn, I wish I could fish like that.

Granted, he was in a rehab center in a festival, but he looked AWESOME.

I also saw a kestrel in front of my parent's yard taking a bath. It was SO cool to see. In the middle of an urban area - 30 miles from the mountains.

It shows three eagles in a tree. Two are wearing sunglasses and the third is wearing sunglasses and earphones.

In my town there's an animal sanctuary called the Moonridge Animal Park that has a couple of Bald Eagles. To be within a few feet of such a majestic bird is breathtaking to say the least.

There's a nesting pair of Bald Eagles there too. On this same trip I saw one of the eagles trying to steal a trout from an osprey. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera for that scene.

I once took a normally housebound older gentleman out fishing at a stocked pond a year or more ago. The "we provide the pole, the bait, the moderate sized pond stocked with fish, we gut, prepair, whatever you want to make this an easy fishing experience" kinda place.

We spent darn near an hour with him casting and recasting. The fish stole countless worms and red egg things right off the hook, one after another, no matter how much time I spent affixing them, cleverly trying to outwit the fish. Just as he decided this was his last cast before giving up, fishless at a stocked fish farm where its supposedta be like shooting fish in a barrel literally , a brownish hawk of some sort swooped down, and grabbed a decent sized trout right out of the pond, flipping around lively, and flew off. After proof that they were there, he decided to keep trying.

He never did catch a fish that trip.

They were "country bumpkins". I don't mind saying that, as they've both gone to their "just reward", and they lived productive, good lives... They were pretty naive though, God and the Great Spirit rest their souls.

We were actually camped at a place where it was "pay to fish". The caveat was that it wasn't pay TO fish, like they thought, but pay PER fish. Sunday afternoon we broke camp and were going home. My Grandpa went inside the office to square up and the trout I caught (using a cane pole, a cork bobber, and some kind of wierd dough, provided by THEM), cost him something like $60. In the early 70's, that was a LOT of money, and boy was he PISSED.

Ya know, he died almost 20 years ago and to this day I still get misty when I think about him. He taught me more than my own father EVER could have or tried to. He was born on the Cherokee Reservation in Tahlequah, OK, and can be counted as one of the few who left, and made good.

Now I'm going to go to bed and channel the old man, and hopefully relive some of those good times in my dreams.

I fucking miss my Grandpa.

I know this was off-topic, but damn... two glasses of wine and the THOUGHT of my Grandpa, and I'm useless.

my bf and I rented a houseboat at International Falls - when we returned to a cove some houseboat company guys motored a small boat to us and got onboard to steer the houseboat back home. They told us they had seen an eagle in the water that appeared to be struggling so they pulled up along side of it - the eagle had caught him a monster of a fish but was unable to fly up with it so it was one-winging it in the water to the nearest island shoreline - the guys said the eagle glared at them like, "What the fuck do YOU want" and kept going. :D

:)

when the talons grip it is like a pair of ice tongs
he cant let go un til he has a solid surface under him

Thanks for sharing it. I've only been to Big Bear once, but I remember it being a beautiful place.

I was fortunate enough once to see a bald eagle in the wild in Oregon years ago. Something you never forget.