Jindabyne trout trolling and Eagle rescue

[GordoRetired]

With lock down over and being allowed to travel to regional NSW my mate Steve and I decided that we would head to Jindabyne for 3 days of chasing Trout.

So we get to Jindabyne and it’s pouring, not one to let a bit of bad weather mess up the plans we had the boat in and lures in the water by 4.30. After all we had both bought our best waterproofs with us! ! ! Well, the rain just did not let up, by the time we got back in around 8.30 we were both soaked to the skin, and I mean drenched, even my undies were soaked 😊 The water proof gear was useless. However on the positive side we hooked 11 fish, a lot of them small, 30-35cm both rainbows and browns but we did keep 4. We then had some fresh fried trout for dinner.

This forced us to review our plan of launching at 5.00am the following morning as w were going to wait for the local hardware store to open and get some serious wet weather gear. $150 lighter we get to the ramp at 7.30 and head out. What a slow day, We trolled till around 12.00 for 5 hits, 1 hook up that jumped off and 1 fish landed and released as quite small.

Launched again around 4.00pm and started trolling in an area known as Hatchery Bay and round into Cooley Bay. By 6.00 we had not had a touch so decided to head over to Sids Bay. On the way over Steve spotted something unusual in the water so I drove close, we then realised that it was a water-logged eagle floating around 200m from shore.

We stopped around 5m away and killed the engine wondering what to do. As soon as we shut down the motor the eagle started to paddle towards us, using its wings to move through the water, obviously wanting us to do something to rescue him from the water.

Due to his rather large beak and fierce looking talons we did not want to try and handle him so I offered up the handle of my landing net. Without hesitation he wrapped his talons around the handle and allowed me to gently lift him onto the back of the boat.

Now we were in a quandary, rather large eagle sitting on the boat and no way that we wanted to try and handle him. So calls were made to a couple of local wildlife rescue people, the first one suggested calling the second who did not really seem to know what to do so I asked if we should just get him to land which they agreed with.

We then slowly motored across to a spit of land which was separated from the main land mass by a short stretch of water. We figured that if we left him there there would be minimal chance of any foxes or other wildlife getting to him and he would have a good chance of recovering in his own time.

He did not seem keen to let go of the net handle but with some gentle coaxing we managed to get him off and onto dry land.

All that night we wondered how he would manage so the next morning we headed back up to Sids planning to drive round to where we had left him, then we saw a wonderful sight. Up flew the eagle and landed on the top of a tree. Obviously we can not be 100% sure that it was the same bird but we got to within 30m of him and could see that the eagle in the tree had all the same coloring as our friend from the day before and he was still looking a bit wet and bedraggled. So we are pretty certain that it was the same bird.  

This was cause for high fives on the boat as we are sure that it was the happy ending that we had hoped for.

We have since had him identified by a bird expert as a wedge tailed eagle, who hopefully will be flying around the Jindabyne area for years to come.

It was an amazing experience to have a beautiful wild bird of prey put his total trust into humans and allow us to rescue him, an experience that we will never forget.

Now back to the Saturday fishing, later that day karma paid us back for our efforts with a couple of lovely Brown trout. We trolled Sid’s Bay for a couple of hours and boated 4 Trout, a nice Rainbow and 3 Browns. I then wanted to show Steve the scenery up the Eucumbene River arm so we headed to the start of the river and dropped in the lures. Around ½ way up we get a nice Rainbow, then right at the top we hook into what I can tell is a solid fish. After a good fight Steve nets a lovely 58cm Brown for me, just short of my PB 60. Shorty after that Steve hooks into another solid Brown in the mid 40’s. All told we hooked 5 fish in the area, a total of 9, with 5 returned and 4 kept.

Interestingly we got 5 fish after 11.00am when a lot of the keen trout fishermen are off the water.

After a break off the water for lunch we launched again at 4.00 and trolled around Sids where I caught a long and very skinny Atlantic Salmon. We then headed to Cooley Bay for Zip.    

Then the weather hit us hard again, conditions were idea and within 1 minute it all changed, torrential rain, howling winds, white caps everywhere.

So headed back to call it a day and end our fishing.

Was a strange 3 days, we fished 5 separate sessions, 2 of those producing 20 of the 22 fish caught.  

Looking forward to my next trip down and to eating some nice smoked trout this week. 🙂

 

[Isaac Ct]

Sounds like an excellent trip mate, well done with the handling of the eagle.

[jenno64]

Great read and pics! This could be a Netflix series👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Go the good karma and congrats on some fine fish👌

Dont forget to upgrade your PBs with the wedgie🤪

[BigHorse]

Great report mate!

Sounds like an adventure with that egale!!!😅

What do you think happened to it?!?!?!

[leonardgid]

Mmmmm! smoked trout is one of my favorites

 

[GordoRetired]

27 minutes ago, BigHorse said:

Great report mate!

Sounds like an adventure with that egale!!!😅

What do you think happened to it?!?!?!

As I said, we saw him in a tree and later he had flown off so think he's OK 🙂

[kingie chaser]

Sounds like an amazing freshwater trip fellas & an animal rescue to top it off

The eagle has landed  

[61 crusher]

Sounds like you had a very eventful few days from ringing your jocks out, saving a beautiful wedgie (pun intended)👍😎 & almost cracking a PB 

I saw your post in another group & was going to tag you with “is this Gordo retired well now I know. Great report & photos 👍, funny about you mentioning catching a few around midday as I’ve experienced that on a few occasions & done quite well 

PS you’re making me jealous       love smoked trout 😋 yum

Edited November 8, 2021 by 61 crusher

[Centrepin]

That is just a wonderful story about the Eagle.

He was doing it tough, just so special.

I have often thought to build a relationship with the sea eagles I see, and can come in contact with.

Thanks so much.

 

Inspired,

 

Geoff

[dirvin21]

Cracking trout, that eagle rescue woykd have been an awesome experience 

[Berleyguts]

Cracking report… well done! I wonder what the wedge tail did to wind up struggling in the water??? 🤔 I’ve seen footage of a North American bald eagle swoop on a large trout or salmon and really struggle to move it back to shore. Apparently, once their talons are locked into prey like that, they can’t release them until they land somewhere… don’t know if that’s true or not. Looks like the eagle knew you meant it no harm and came to you for help. A towel placed over their head will often calm them down.

Great effort!

Edited November 8, 2021 by Berleyguts

[mrsswordfisherman]

@GordoRetired what a story and congrats on the beautiful trout captures 🎣🐟

This is truly a magnificent experience with that eagle and thanks for sharing with us all. 
 

I have awarded this post with a “Superstar badge” and 50 points. 

True raider spirit 👏⭐️🦅

[GordoRetired]

1 hour ago, Berleyguts said:

Cracking report… well done! I wonder what the wedge tail did to wind up struggling in the water??? 🤔 I’ve seen footage of a North American bald eagle swoop on a large trout or salmon and really struggle to move it back to shore. Apparently, once their talons are locked into prey like that, they can’t release them until they land somewhere… don’t know if that’s true or not. Looks like the eagle knew you meant it no harm and came to you for help. A towel placed over their head will often calm them down.

Great effort!

We did think about putting a towel over him but the size of his beak and talons had us very wary of getting too close. Also he seemed to be quite happy to just sit on the back of the boat, even hanging on to the net not wanting to get off when we were trying to put him on shore. 🙂

[masterfisho7]

Well done some fine trout there love your photos and the eagle supper photo 

[LuckyFil]

Great story about the eagle rescue (and some cracker trout !).

We had a similar experience in Weipa a few years ago, we were having a break from fishing and the heat enjoying a coffee/beer on the houseboat when someone noticed something odd floating on the water about 50 metres away, we watched it for a while seeing some movement but couldn't figure out what it was so two of the crew jumped into one of the tinnies and motored over to find a kangaroo with just his head above water and obviously struggling. They put a landing net beside him and he latched on straight away. They slowly motored into the shallows and eventually coerced him into letting go as he could easily stand by then. He slowly hopped away. We had seen a dingo on the beach earlier so assumed that had spooked the roo into the water. We were amazed he hadn't been attacked by the many sharks and odd croc we often encounter up there.

Strange things happen on the water and yours is a great story to remember and tell the grandkids one day

Cheers

Fil

[Rebel]

Super report and Super photos.

Well done with the Eagle.

Cheers.

[GordoRetired]

8 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

@GordoRetired what a story and congrats on the beautiful trout captures 🎣🐟

This is truly a magnificent experience with that eagle and thanks for sharing with us all. 
 

I have awarded this post with a “Superstar badge” and 50 points. 

True raider spirit 👏⭐️🦅

Thanks Donna. 🙂
What does the 50 points mean?

[Yowie]

Sounds like a great time with the number and size of the trout.

Good work on the wedgie rescue. Not usual for them to end up in the water as they normally feed on land critters.

[Pickles]

What an adventure - brilliant report Gordo, thanks for sharing.

[mrsswordfisherman]

12 hours ago, GordoRetired said:

Thanks Donna. 🙂
What does the 50 points mean?

Means a fine report.

You can see the badge on your profile 👍

[Scratchie]

What a great account of your trip Gordo! Isn’t it good to be back travelling again. Congrats to you both on rescuing that Eagle. Something you both will never forget and neither will wedgetail. 
 

cheers scratchie!!!