Just a brief report today and a little story with it. A very warm greeting to all to The Journal on FWR, your top fishing web page in the Northwest for fishing information, education, tips, tall tails, videos, discussion of environmental issues and much more.
Arrived at the river first light and saw it was in nice shape, up a tad too. Only one other angler within my sight. Tried some different runs for a change but that did not help get my week off on the right foot, fish wise.The rain that was falling made it cool and later on two different anglers I met asked how I could fish without gloves as it was sure cool on the hands. I said "worked 35 years in such conditions so this is no different than that."
While fishing one run I saw a golden eye duck floating down river, I thought at first it was deceased. Then I noticed it flap it wings a couple of times. Whats going on here I thought. Then I saw the predicament the hapless bird was in, a mink has caught it and was towing it downstream, with the aid of the river's current.
Thinking of a picture opportunity and feeling a bit sad for the duck at the same time I took off, running down the spill over to try and get a photo. I reach the gravel bar just as the mink finds a bit of a backwater and starts to pull the duck up the rock bank. As I put down my rod and brood capture tube to get at my camera in my back pack a Merganser flies to the scene. I notice he is trying to distract the mink and flaps around the area. Amazing, wish I had a video camera to film this.
The mink is not distracked and drags its lunch up 10 feet or so up the bank. Both bird and the mink are now hidden from my view, behind some bush.
I wait, camera ready to see if the mink will appear, suddenly it does and darts in between some large rock rip rap, into its den. A few seconds later it appears and goes into the bush and comes back towards its rocky lair, dragging the duck. Click goes the shutter, a split second before the mink and the duck disappear into the labyrinth.
The pictures turns out not that great but one can see the duck in the frame but not the varmint. A display of nature at work that seems cruel but that is life. Me shooting ducks is far worse I have to admit even though we, the animals are are all hunters and gathers, it is in all our genes that goes back to the beginning of time.
I continue my hunt too, working down the run and I meet up with Pete who was interested in what I was doing running downstream a few minutes before, I tell him what I was doing. He laughs "thought you had a fish on" he says.
I then get near the Leaf Mobile and an anglers says he has just lost one, "had it on for a few second, took off a bit of line before it fell off" he tells me. A few minutes later the cell phone rings, it is the Master. I tell him not much going on here, he tells me he is heading for Cookies, of course. As an after thought I say "by the way anything down your way", the answer is "Yes just took a 12 pounder. only fish I saw", he answers. i guess he was waiting for me to ask. Might have known it, if there is one fish in the river he would catch it.
I decide to join him for breakfast calling it an early day as seeing the drama of nature at work as sad as it may seem making for an intersting outing.
Tomorrow is another day on the river, one never knows what is around the next corner, it even may be an Ironhead.
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Topic: Vedder River Feb. 11, A Mini Journal (Read 1364 times)