Running bear - - -

While Brian C. was catching fish Sunday on a rainy, cloudy olive kinda day, I was home grinding  my teeth, knowing that I was probably missing good fishing and yet, because of the rain, unable to get much accomplished on the bass pond restoration project. Got out early this morning and finished up some of the work I had planned for Sunday, then packed the car and headed for the Lordville Estate with a heavily overcast sky and fog, (maybe just maybe??). Alas by Cortland the fog had lifted and there were patches of blue. At Binghamton the sky was blue with the sun shining brightly.

Was out front when the postmaster went by, (our mail lady is on vacation), and he stopped to talk fishing. Told me that the eagle that patrolled the lower section of the BK and took fish that were hooked by fishermen had met his demise. Apparently landed on a hot wire and was fried. I may have commented in my reports that I hadn't seen him on my recent visits to the BK. I love to watch eagles and it is a credit to the caring parts of our population that they have recovered from the use of DDT that nearly wiped them out. (As a young boy my grandfather pointed up to a bird high in the sky over Oneida Lake and said: "That's an eagle, the last one you'll ever see".) Thankfully he was wrong, the banning of DDT, and the work of state and federal wildlife employees reintroducing the eagle to the northeast has brought the eagle back in numbers nobody could have foreseen. But, IMO, Ben Franklin was right, the turkey should have been our national bird. Why? The eagle is an opportunistic bully/bum. He is more than happy for the Osprey to do his fishing for him, waiting for the Osprey to fly by and then taking his catch. The BK eagle was playing the same game with fishermen, including me on numerous occasions. There is also a little vulture in them as a meal from a dead deer or fish is never turned down.  Enjoy the regal sight of an eagle perched on a limb, watch them soar high in the sky and dive to catch a fish for a meal but also be aware that they are thieves, bullies and willing recipients of welfare handouts. I'll shed nary a tear over the BK eagles demise.

The fishing - First of all, thanks to the fishermen for taking time to report both their successes and their failures. There are very few fishermen on the river and information is hard to come by. I went out at 4:30 this afternoon, (temp when I left the car at 5:00 was 59), There were half a dozen or more trailers at Buckingham, three at Stockport and two at Balls Eddy, (drove by Shehawken). River was dead upon arrival and remained so until after 6:30 when I checked my phone. A few olives came late along with a good spinner fall of Sunday's small olives. Some fish fed during the last half hour but it was clear to see why there was but one car at lower gameland's lot and two at upper.

On the way back to Lordville in the dark a young bear jumped out on the Lordville Road and ran ahead of me for about fifty yards before turning off into the woods. It's the first bear I've seen this year.