Did You Ever see an Eagle Swim?

One day my buddy and I were bottom fishing for halibut in a small boat near his cabin outside of Ketchikan, Alaska when we heard a noise behind us. Looking around we saw an eagle thrashing in the water. Immediately we realized that it had caught a salmon that was too big for it to fly and carry back to the nest.

Now you have to know that in the evolution of eagles, they survived because they caught fish, not because they let go of them. In fact, the muscles which operate the eagles talons freeze when activated so that the eagle just can't let go until his muscles relax several minutes later - usually back at the nest while he is eating the fish away from his talons. (Old fisherman tell tales of eagles being drug under and drowned when they hook onto a salmon that is too big.)

Well, since he was only about 30 feet from shore, this eagle turned towards shore and started swimming with his wings, using sort of a butterfly stroke. He then climbed up on the rocks and flapped his wings to dry them out. It then became obvious that the salmon was caught on only one foot, so the eagle was able to turn around by hopping, face the water again, and take off again. But to no avail, after about 10 feet he and his salmon were back in the water, so he swam to shore again. This time, while he dried his wings, he called his mate who shortly flew in and landed in a nearby tree - talking back and forth all the while, especially since my buddy had maneuvered our small boat over closer to the shore so we could take videos of all this action, and they were quite worried by our presence.

The eagle then hopped further up on the rocks and in turning around was able to dislodge the salmon from his talons. He then quickly joined his mate in the tree, with all kinds of scolding commentary between the two of them about us being there.

The next thing you need to know about fishing in Alaska is that when you catch a rock cod, instead of the halibut that you had hoped to catch, it will usually bloat up (and die) due to the expansion of its air as it is pulled up from the deep water below. As a result, fishermen usually curse their bad luck and throw them back onto the surface of the water so that the eagles may retrieve and eat them.
Well, my buddy quickly said "I've fed those eagles enough rock cod, so I'm going to go get that fish." He did! And we enjoyed a nice six pound Coho salmon for dinner that night.

And ever since, whenever the eagles fly around us in that little fishing boat, I remind my buddy that "You better throw them another rock cod or those eagles are just watching for a chance to get back at you."

WashingtonianGene Dyer gets lost while fishing and contributed the September article "Sex In a Cornfield."