Stolen trout

Went trout fishing this afternoon/early evening with my 96 yr old father in law Ralph.

He was having a good day. Caught a nice rainbow and it broke the surface about ten feet behind the boat. I’m standing next to Ralph with the net. Next thing you know a large bald eagle grabs the trout. As it begins to fly away with Ralph’s dinner it reaches down and bites the leader off.

I thought Ralph was going to have a heart attack. All ended well Ralph caught another fish and we were careful to keep it below the water surface until I netted it.

It would have been spectacular to have caught that on video. That's a great fish story.

That eagle was of the opinion you were fishing in his river.

I have a friend who has lost two fish in the past two years to marauding muskies.

Another buddy had to fight off a sea lion to keep his salmon.

I've lost dead ducks to Eagles when they drift away but I've never lost a fish!!

Still Afloat said:

Went trout fishing this afternoon/early evening with my 96 yr old father in law Ralph.

He was having a good day. Caught a nice rainbow and it broke the surface about ten feet behind the boat. I’m standing next to Ralph with the net. Next thing you know a large bald eagle grabs the trout. As it begins to fly away with Ralph’s dinner it reaches down and bites the leader off.

I thought Ralph was going to have a heart attack. All ended well Ralph caught another fish and we were careful to keep it below the water surface until I netted it.

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We have the same problem down here in Florida with the Alligators in fresh water and the sharks, barracudas and Goliath Groupers in salt water! They many times get your catch and it becomes their catch! )

I’ve had that problem with sharks on the Pacific. First time for eagles though.

So is it true that Goliath Groupers eat people?

Ray Clark said:

That eagle was of the opinion you were fishing in his river.

I have a friend who has lost two fish in the past two years to marauding muskies.

Another buddy had to fight off a sea lion to keep his salmon.

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Also had problems with seals and sea lions in the lower Columbia.

When I was kid my Dad, brother and myself were fishing for bullheads one evening. Dad was reeling one of about 50 in. Suddenly the fight got reallly wild. Once landed the bullhead was on the hook and a Northern had about twenty tight wraps of the fishing line around it’s snout. It was one ticked off Pike too.

A guy I worked with has a nice pond with some really nice bass. Some are over 8 lbs and last summer they heard some unusual swooping wind sounds and looked out their patio doors as two large Bald Eagles carried away two of his biggest bass ! By summers end they had taken most of the big bass out. Accordng to DNR...can't do a thing to stop them..

Still afloat that’s great that you were able to get the old fella on some fish and a good memory for him of the “ one that got away”

When I was a kid my dad somehow latched into an owl during a cast fishing at night from a boat. Was nuts for a few minutes. The line finally broke.

I've seen eagles take fish and squirrels, but never from my line. Sounds like he was well experienced to cut your line off!

I've had a muskie swallow the head first half of a walleye I had on. It took some effort to get them apart.

My son got a owl, last year at camp. Casting off the dock after dark. It went after the wopper plopper. We didn't know what to do outside of cutting the line as short as we dared. Hopefully it was able to dislodge the lure.

FuzzyGrub said:

I've had a muskie swallow the head first half of a walleye I had on. It took some effort to get them apart.

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We had a Northern do that to one of my buddy's walleyes up in Canada

Still Afloat said:

I’ve had that problem with sharks on the Pacific. First time for eagles though.

So is it true that Goliath Groupers eat people?

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Well I have never been a witness to it but I have heard that a scuba diver or two have been gotten by them.........I heard the unfortunate diver(s) were spearfishing and had their catch with them when the Grouper attacked them. It is understandable as these monstrous fish are predators and the really large ones (500/600 lbs) have a mouth large enough to contain a 50 gallon barrel. I have caught them as a by catch when bottom fishing for snappers and groupers in the Gulf of Mexico where they are quiet common and they often swallow whole your catch as you are frantically trying to boat your fish..........you will know when you got one too as it is like hooking a Volkswagen that is slowly driving away.........we hook the babies all the time in shallow water around bridge pilings, etc and they weight 30/40 lbs..........

Caught a pelican when fishing in FL. Brought it in and put a wet towel over its head began to remove the hook...it kept my fish and some skin off my knuckles. It flew off no worse for wear-I guess so was I!

Never hooked a bird but I battled a muskrat for about 10 minutes one time.

surfsidenick said:

Caught a pelican when fishing in FL. Brought it in and put a wet towel over its head began to remove the hook...it kept my fish and some skin off my knuckles. It flew off no worse for wear-I guess so was I!

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Oh yes.............those Pelicans are bad to get your fish!!

flatheadsteve said:

Never hooked a bird but I battled a muskrat for about 10 minutes one time.

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Wait till you get a Jackalope on the line!! Now you got a battle goin..........watch out for those horns though!! )

I’ve heard of guys catching water moccasins. The story usually ends with someone cutting the line.