When birds attack....(tip)

[Aquaman01]

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting a naturalist from the Raptor Center who does rescues, and she gave me a couple of great tips for handling wild animals if you ever have the need (accidentally hook one, or whatever).
1) if you are going to cut the line from the tangled animal - try to get as close as possible. It takes very little mono or net stuck on them to render an animal unable to feed or move effectively.

2) Turtles - grab 'em by the tail. It doesn't hurt 'em and they can't claw or bite you hanging upside down.

3) To break a raptor's grip, slip any available slim object (finger, pliers handle, whatever) under and between it's opposing claws. Grip seperates immediately.

4) To grab 'em and hold 'em (if you absolutely have to) get the bill or high on the neck first, then the main body like a football, and have the kicking legs hanging out behind you. Bird tucked under your arm.

5) BEST ONE OF THEM ALL! Any threatened or scared bird will always go for your eyes first. Be prepared.

The pelican they were out trying to save was dead when they got there. Leg was gangrenous (couldn't lift off to fly) from the netting, and the small section of net they pulled from around it's beak was sufficient to starve it.

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Aquaman
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Peace and Fishes

[MT Net]

Thanks, good tips to remember. My retired boss caught a loon a few years ago. After hearing his story and what he went through, of trying to release it, I get a little nervous when a loon is near. Both of them were worse for wear.

[EBass]

MT Net,

Tell me more about the loon story. I see loons when I'm up north. I would HATE to catch one.

I saw a bald eagle dive bomb for a fish. However, it was too close to the mama loons nest and she took off trying to intercept it. Luckly the eagle swooped down and grabed the fish cause the mama loon was making a B-line right for it. Way, WAY cool to witness.

Sorry, he was talking about a loon and I just got excited to blurb.

[MT Net]

Hey EBass,
I haven't seen Bob, my old boss, for some time now. He pops in now and then. He tells it much better.

He was out walleye fishing with a slip bobber and minnow rig. Next thing he knew, line was peeling off his reel taking it nearly to the end. The loon finally surfaced with a ruckus. He said he had a heck of a time trying to reel in a spool worth of like to land the loon to release it. He said he at least wanted to get as much line away from the loon as possible.

The loon squaked so loud that other boats came over to help. They finally unhooked the bird where it quickly took flight. Both were frightened, and each had battle scars from the ordeal, not to mention loon dump all over his boat.

On another note;

On our property, washed up on shore, I found the remains of a young osprey tangled up in a large ball of mono and a hook in it's leg. It looked like a full reel's worth. I suspect it dove after someone's minnow, and flew off breaking the line at the end of the reel.

[Steve Foss]

I was fishing with ultralight tackle and a small-spooled reel with 4 lb test for crappies when the slip bobber disappeared and the reel started singing.

Seconds later, before I figured out that those loons swimming nearby had a hand in things, the reel was spooled and the line snapped. Loon surfaced and tried to shake the hook from its beak. It was trailing my line.

It took off and flew away with my line still trailing, and the slip bobber, caught against the bobber stop, pinwheeling in the wind. Don't know what happened to the loon. I've never quite been able to shake that off. Now I pay close attention if there are loons near my live minnow baits.

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"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 07-17-2003).]

[CrappieJohn]

I was casting off the TwoHarbors breakwater for salmon and trout one morning and had a loon surface a few yards away. I got startled by my being there and did that hurried half- flight number and went into my line and eventually hauled up the 1/2 ounce cleo I had on and it got stuck with the hook. The six pound line didn't offer up much resistance and I saw that bird for several days following wearing my hardware. I guess if you are going to tangle with the wildlife, that was the way to do it.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[ladylikestofish]

You guys have brought up a subject I've wondered about many times while fishing. My kids and I often fish off a pier where we see snapping turtles, blue herons, seagulls, and a cute muskrat the kids named "Bob" (because he bobs his head out of the water for a while then disappears again). What if one of these creatures takes our bait??? How are you supposed to get close enough to a snapping turtle's (nasty) snapping jaws to relieve the poor thing of your hook/lure? I'd feel awful if I caught any "critter" other than a fish! (so why don't I mind hooking the fish? hmmmmm)

One other thing.... there have been many times I've found OTHER PEOPLE'S GARBAGE (wads of fishing line, hooks, sinkers, pop cans, bait containers, etc) on the fishing pier and in the water around it. I have thrown away other people's junk AND I've actually handed it to them & asked them to throw it away. I'm sure some of the creatures found all caught up in fishing line happened upon somebody's left-behind garbage! I think that would be a terrible way to die! (Can you tell this is a sore subject for me?) People need to be responsible and take ALL of their stuff with them when they leave, not just their poles and tackle but their trash too!
I'm done now, thank you.

[kslipsinker]

Here is one that happened in Florida a few years ago. My brother and I were fishing the bays around Sarasota for sea trout. Every time we would release a small one a commorant would dive down and come up with it. They would swim close to the boat and wait for a easy meal. My brother tried to scare this pest away by swatting it with his fishing rod, but got his jig wound around it's wing. He wanted to get his jig back, so he reached down to grab it, but the bird clamped it's hooked beak onto his finger. My brother grabbed the bird by the neck and the tighter he squeezed, the harder the bird would chew on his finger. I was laughing so hard I almost fell in. I composed myself enough to pry the beak apart with a needle nose, releasing my brother's mangled finger.

[fishlips]

kslipsinker,
Your Florida story reminds me of my Florida fishing story (true). I was out on a group fishing charter with about 15 other anglers fishing somewhere out of the keys for small yellowtails and whatever else would come by the chum bag.
Most of us were catching these 3 to 4 pound tuna shaped fish (forgot the name - but they looked like little footballs). I hooked into one of these smaller fish that fought pretty good and all of a sudden the drag started singing and the line was running out faster than I had ever seen. My biggest ever fish to this point was a 20# king salmon, and the fish that grabbed this 'tuna' was waaay bigger. Anyway - I was fighting whatever this was when the first mate gave me a disgusted look and said "you're snagged". I told him that it was a fish and he didn't believe me, telling me to move to the front of the boat away from everyone. By this time the line was almost gone...in the distance, I saw a dolphin (porpoise) surface directly out from where my 200 yards of line was pointing. Of course, noone else saw the dolphin and soon after that the line ran out. It had to be at least 350 pounds - probably more.

Back to the subject at hand. I've hooked a huge, hissing snapping turtle before. I believe the best thing to do is to try to grab the hook with a pliers if the hook is visible. If the hook is not visible, cut the line as close to the head as possible while the animal is in the water. More damage is done trying to get a bird or turtle into the boat.

[Dr. Bob]

Aquaman1,

Thanks for the tips!

Thankfully I have never had any of this happen, but I have thought about it many times.

These are very good things to know .

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CWCS Supporter - Keep it open for Everyone.

Crank the Shank!

[Guest]

I've been lucky enough to have never hooked a bird, but I can relate to the snapping turtle experience. I don't know if they are still available, but I have a couple of "hook out" pliers, and interesting tool; with a squeeze handle, a long shaft, and a small jaw on the end. Very usefull for retrieving hooks from places you do not want your fingers to go.