A very stealthy fisherman--photo

[BULLFROG-1]

AA-Blue-Heron-2013-sle | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[NYHellbender]

Nice picutre. We have Green Herons around our area now.

They are smaller and a bit more cautious around people than the Blue.

[BULLFROG-1]

Cool,i call them little ones "grobecks"

[BULLFROG-1]

[LBM]

Several years ago while fishing a tree line there was a blue heron setting in a tree not far from from my location and after I caught a short crappie I tossed it below where the heron was perched and it swooped down catching the crappie and went back to it's perch and swallowed it. I continued working the tree line and the heron moved to a another tree closer to me when I caught another short crappie I again tossed it towards the heron but this time the fish landed too close to the boat and the heron didn't go for the fish. That heron stayed with me for about 45 minuets to a hour as I continued working that tree line and finally gave up on me and left.

Since that time on several occasions when a Blue Heron is near by while fishing I have tossed caught fish to them with probably less that a 50% successful catch rate but something I find as and enjoyable diversion while on the water fishing.

One time while a friend (slabby joe) and I was on a catch and release outing while we were working a large tree where a heron was perched on the other side. We struggled for some time to get a bite. During this time I was trying to catch a fish just to toss to that bird and finally my friend caught a legal 10 inch crappie. I told him to hold the fish above his head and wave it around to get the heron to notice it then toss it in a high arch getting it to land as close below the bird as he could. It was a good toss and the heron swooped down and scooped the fish up returning to it's perch holding the fish tail first in it's mouth. At this time we both had the mistaken notion that the heron wasn't going to be able to swallow this fish. We both enjoyed watching the bird sitting on it's perch as it skillfully manipulated that 10 inch crappie in it's mouth toward a head first position and swallowed it as we watched the bulge descend down the heron's long neck. After watching that I regretted that I hadn't been running my camcorder that was on the boat.

This past December I was tied up to a submerged cedar tree catching crappie and a extra large heron was sitting on top of a tall tree probably 40 yds away where I had waved a crappie at this heron getting it to extend it long neck looking at this fish but I wasn't able to toss this fish close enough to entice the heron leave it's perch. Shortly after that I noticed a previously caught and released crappie had floated up about 16 ft away. Catching crappie from 25 ft deep in 35 degree water it sometime takes a couple attempts at getting the fish to swim back down. Since I was about to finish up working this tree I was planning on untieing and assisting this fish to swim away. Before I could finish up working this tree I looked up and saw that the heron and decided it wanted that floating fish and saw this large heron so closely approaching the boat with its wings set as it swooped down on the water picking up the fish and then flying over to shore to consume it. The bird had left a four or five foot oily bird poop sheen on the water where it had landed to picked the fish up. Since then I kind of wondered if perhaps I had previously fed this bird since it was so large and did come rather unexpectedly close to the boat to get the fish.

Anyhow just trying to share some of the tidbits about some of the enjoyable incidents I've experienced on the water with what I consider as the very visually and strikingly shaped Blue Herons.

Here is a picture of one that I thought turned out very well.